The Joomla! Community Portal ™

The Joomla project is requesting comment and feedback for a proposed new site that is planned to be deployed in 2009.  The working name for the site is the "Joomla Services Directory".  This site is to be a directory along similar lines to the Joomla Extensions Directory but with the purpose of connecting people or companies that provide Joomla related services, whether they be free or commercial, to people who need those services.  It has been identified that providing a centralised directory will have a significant positive impact on Joomla user and business community.  The scope of the site is yet to be decided but it is envisaged it may include services such as consulting, free-lancing, training, professional advice, legal advice (pertaining to Open Source or operating a software business), Joomla-ready hosting, and so on.

Feedback or comment is desired and may cover, but is not limited to, the following areas:

• The scope of services to list.
• Conditions for listing.
• Potential category structures.
• Details required for listings (web site, address, geographic locators, etc).
• Ways in which a user should be able to search the site listings.
• Potential for reviews and ratings.
• Anything else you can think of that would help make this a fantastic site for the community.

We are also researching via our legal and financial advisors whether it is possible to derive revenue from paid services such as premium listings, etc.  While we don't know what shape or form this might take (or even if it is possible at all) we would nonetheless like your feedback on this aspect as we are investigating such possibilities for the site.

The minimum conditions for listing will at least be in line with other Joomla sites (for example, JoomlaConnect).

Submissions are to be made by email to services_feedback@community.joomla.org by 11:59pm UTC 31 January 2009.  All reasonable submissions will be considered but the final specifications for the site are at the discretion of the project.  Generally no response will be given to submissions, however, we reserve the right to contact the submitter to clarify matters where appropriate.  A release date for this site will be advised in due course.

Addendum:

Email submisions are for your comments and feedback about how you think this directory can work for you as either a service provider or someone searching for a service.

Feel free to comment on this article via the comments form but these will not be considered when are trying to make sense of the jigsaw puzzle before us.