Create an illistrated web magazine

[mercmonster]

Well folks I have decide that I would like to help with this process!

Things that we will need:

Web Designer
Graphics Designer
Layout Designer
Editor - a couple of people to look for technical issues and a couple to proof read, combined skills would be a plus
Columnist - at least 10 articles or more per issue - the more people to write the better, suggest article inputs from community
Web host - I may be able to help here!
Domain - I may be able to help here!

This is what I think we need to start!

I would like to help head this up, if you are interested, have ideas, or helpful knowledge then pm me so that we can get this started!

[beauvin]

I can help with the following:

Web Designer
Graphics Designer
Layout Designer

oh and a little edit on the templates above, the helmet icon is not made by me, it is apart of KDE's Oxygen icon theme and the mint orb icon is made by dlkreations, rest is created by me using 'The Gimp'. Also those mockups do not have articles, just a dummy template text in latin called 'Lorem Ipsum'.

[johonunu]

Just wanted to say hi
I am still willing to do artwork for magazine. I will do some mockups this week. I'll keep you posted

P.S. I don't think it is important to have a website for the magazine. First, lets create a magazine and than we will see

[terrorblader]

Hey!If you guys need one more grammar checker I am willing to help too bad I am not that experienced in Linux to write articles ...

[vrkalak]

I think a Mint Magazine is a great idea!!

Count me in.

I can edit copy. I am fluent in both, English and Spanish (Certified Interpreter)
I have been known to write an article or two.
I'm not very good with Gimp, but I'm learning.
I do have a keen eye for detail ... I'm a little on the Obsessive/Compulsive side.

I like what I've seen, thus far. Mint rocks!!

[vrkalak]

Thank you all
I have made some corrections on front page of the magazine, added web 2.0 kinda badge to fill some space on the top and moved date and number of the magazine to the center (I am not sure about this). Please comment this if you want that I improve it ! Here is updated version :

Great cover design and art!!

Do we need to make an Official MintMagazine Website ... or can it somehow, become a part of the LinuxMINT site?

[ibm450]

still alot of talk and no action

would love to see alot of GIMP tutorials and user resolved section in mag relating to hardware issues work a-rounds - i say its the biggest draw back on linux in general

[ibm450]

Thank you all
I have made some corrections on front page of the magazine, added web 2.0 kinda badge to fill some space on the top and moved date and number of the magazine to the center (I am not sure about this). Please comment this if you want that I improve it ! Here is updated version :

Great cover design and art!!

Do we need to make an Official MintMagazine Website ... or can it somehow, become a part of the LinuxMINT site?

i vote for this cover page - awesome

[Erdejo]

Alright then,

Again from me I would volunteer some of me (rae) spare time to do some editing and checking of the articles written. I have some other skills as well, but bot developed enough to make good use of....
I can write an occasional article concerning things I run into as a newbie and how I resolved them....

Let me know if you can use my "services".

Eric

[Ozz]

OK, this is crunch time!!!!

Is there already a group set-up for this project? If yes, please make it known.

If not, I am creating a forum this week-end to further the communications and centralise all the information.

This project needs to get off the ground.

I am not taking ownership of this project in any way, but just helping it to open its wings.

Watch this space.

By web magazine, do you mean a magazine which is only online, or a PDf version like Full Circle?

[ibm450]

PDf version like Full Circle?

thats all they are Ozz, ive downloaded afew and there have been some interesting articles in there.

yes your right, this project has been spoken about too long and nothing has been done about it - please keep me informed with your progress - ill be interested.

[toolz]

By web magazine, do you mean a magazine which is only online, or a PDf version like Full Circle?

And by 'illistrated' we mean 'illustrated'. Fixing the thread title might do wonders for this project.

[Chris Hooper]

True Toolz.
Although I used keywords "Linux Mint Magazine" to find this article.

[dequire]

Count me in. Someone has to emerge to lead this project. This is something I can probably do and I have several years of project management experience. To be realistic, I would say at the start that maybe it should be a semi-monthly magazine in order to keep quality high and not put too much stress on team members who have all stated that time would be at a premium (as it is for all of us).

Our community editions could be featured with highlights of the features they contain. There are a lot of good features that go un-noticed in reviews. Have articles on how to work around important issues, like the Intel issue and things like that so people are more aware that these things can be fixed. Maybe have something about what goes into the making of our releases and how they differ from the base they are built from. Maybe feature some articles on creating artwork, we have some very talented artists in the community that go above and beyond to help others.

This is an excellent idea! The mag could have a spotlight feature in each issue that highlights some unique aspect or application for a given distribution. Examples could be Amarok for KDE, GnomeBaker for Gnome, etc. etc.

Just happened to see this post. I am willing to participate if this ever gets off the ground. I use to be a high school teacher, so if any proof-reading is required for grammatical and spelling errors, I am willing to do this.

The magazine would definitely need to be Final Proofed before publication, so your input would be most welcome here!

johonunu - Excellent work on the cover! i agree with other comments made here that people would want to read this based on the cover alone! Well done, and I like the fact that it uses the artwork from Gloria. Very professional looking.

Count me in to write some articles.

You can start now! hehe.

Questions:
Who is the leader? I would say a 2-person team would work well for this. I can certainly volunteer to help run the project, but by no means would turn away other's help and skill sets
Who would like to participate? Draw up a list, get the contact details etc.. Maybe. as stated somewhere else in this thread, there should be a separate development forum for this project. If not hosted here BBS's are certainly easy to set up.
Who would host it? Only 10 might download it, then again maybe a 1000, who knows... Websites and domains are cheap! We could certainly look for advertisers down the line if the web traffic warranted high-bandwidth. Then again, as an aside, we could solicit advertising from the beginning and donate the contributions back to Mint.
Format? Online websity kinda thing, or PDF downloadable document? Size matters, lets keep it under 4 megs
Would it come out monthly? Every three months? My thought was semi-monthly with the goal of getting it to monthly ASAP. There certainly are no shortage of available topics...Only a limit on time and resources....
Content: How would it differ from the Full Circle Magazine? Would we just be writing the same articles or adding some mintyness to the whole thing? I would think we could "borrow" ideas from Full Circle, but I would think it would be a totally separate Minty Magazine with acticles 100 pct driven and written by the Mint Community.
Marketing of the magazine: We need to get it out here on Digg, forums, google SEO, etc... I am proficient at Web 2.0 marketing and could easily facilitate the marketing of the mag through avenues like Twitter, Facebook, Stumble, etc etc. I also have a few friends who do SEO for a living and could probably donate some expertise on Google-fying the mag.
Proof reading: we should use the services of Dlkcreations for Grsammar, but also (and I believe in freedom of the press), maybe an approval from the Mint team before it goes in the press. 100 pct agreed.

Above all we need a structure to prevent the project from fizzling out!

1,000 pct agreed!

I would think the magazine should be an online magazine - where we cross promote LinumMint.com and other excellent side projects like MintCast.org. This also helps for SEO. FullCircle is a pdf download. It definitely has its merits, and looks really nice. This should be open for debate and all options should be discussed. But my vote would be for a 100% online magazine. That way people will find the Mag who have never even heard of Linux Mint. This is a good thing.

I'd like to write an article (with screenshots) about some useful programs for the terminal. Just to show new users that the terminal is nothing to be afraid of

Thx - That is an excellent idea. The terminal is something that definitely scares the hell out of people looking into Linux!

To everyone else who posted in this thread - You would all be needed. I will jump in and help starting now. I think the 1st step here is to see if we can get a section here in the forums to work on this a little bit and flesh out who's doing what.

If you are still interested in contributing to the project, email me at ronnoc78_AT_netscape.net with your name, LM board name, email, and area(s) you can contribute to and I will start helping to put this together. My goal would be to make a core team and, for now, create a shared Google Doc with who would be doing what and go from there.

Let's do this!

EDIT - I had the wrong email address listed to contact me to get involved in the project. This has been fixed. My apologies to anyone who had tried to email me earlier. Please re-send. Thanks.

[Chris Hooper]

WOW
I'm all for Dequire being Project Leader!
Go Dequire GO !!

[johonunu]

Thanks Dequire, I'm glad you like it
I am very bussy at the moment, I have an exam in a week so I have to study
But I am willing to do artwork for this project and maybe write some articles

[dequire]

Thanks Dequire, I'm glad you like it
I am very bussy at the moment, I have an exam in a week so I have to study
But I am willing to do artwork for this project and maybe write some articles

Sounds great. I will wait a week to see who has responded via this thread and / or my request for an email in the above post. Then we will try to move forward from there with who we have. If we can get a solid team of 2-4 people to do various parts of managing different aspects of the mag, we will be in good shape. From there, we can decide on content and features and then solicit the Linux Mint community to drive content.

I have some ideas for articles and I am creating a list as we speak. But please, let's keep this thread active and the ideas coming!

[dequire]

Also, please throw your 2-cents into the ring for the name of the mag - we need this done ASAP!

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=163&t=32164&p=185156#p185156

[dequire]

What we really need more than anything are contributors and someone who can do the newsletter in HTML magazine format. There are many great templates out there already so no use re-inventing the wheel - Though I like the idea of a splash-screen type intro that would change issue to issue with the great artwork already present in this thread as an example.

So far I have someone willing to do artwork and a few people willing to contribute some articles and proof the articles. So if you are a web designer, free-lance writer, or artist, please feel to get involved!

Here is the list I have for some regular features discussed in this thread:

Regular Feature Possibilities:

Letter From The Editor - (ME)
Reader Feedback
Mint News
Linux News
Newbie Section
Advanced Section
Mint Community Interview
Gnome App of the Month
KDE CE App of the Month
XFCE CE App of the Month
Linux Gaming News (LinuxGaming.com is a good starting source for news)
Artwork of the Month
Mint Links

* Official Webpage
* Forums
* Podcast
* Newsletter, etc.


Top 5 Linux Links of the Month
- (These should change from month to month, like a spotlight Linux site (ex. Linux Today). Also available to include could be artwork sites, blogs, major news stories, and anything else we find interesting in the community.)

Keep the ideas coming and contact me privately to get involved. We need a few more good people who can contribute if we are going to do this right.

[Ozz]

I have submitted my ideas. We should try to fix ourselves the goal of releasing the first issue at the same time as Helena. That would be neat.