White House opens Web site coding to public

[cal04]

Open-source platform aims to use outsiders to improve, protect access
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33463174/ns/technology_and_science-internet/

A programming overhaul of the White House's Web site has set the tech world abuzz. For low-techies, it's a snooze — you won't notice a thing.

The online-savvy administration on Saturday switched to open-source code for www.whitehouse.gov — meaning the programming language is written in public view, available for public use and able for people to edit.

"We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site," White House new media director Macon Phillips told The Associated Press hours before the new site went live on Saturday. "This is state-of-the-art technology and the government is a participant in it."

White House officials described the change as similar to rebuilding the foundation of a building without changing the street-level appearance of the facade. It was expected to make the White House site more secure — and the same could be true for other administration sites in the future.

[Cha]

1. Good on the White House! There aren't enough

MediaWhores in the World to bring them down.

[boppers]

2. PHP+Drupal

Probably the best choice out there for this sort of thing, Drupal was basically re-built a few years back to handle the latest security and code changes in PHP... and I get to feel a little bit of personal pride, as years ago, I bought one of the drupal release managers his first laptop (so he could contribute more hours to PHP).

[vaberella]

3. WH---Please open a forum with moderators. So we can chat. n/t

[Irreverend IX]

4. Lousy reporting.

The White House isn't "opening their web site coding to the public," they're switching to an open-source CMS. But it's to be expected, as most reporters have abysmal levels of technical knowledge.

[Arkana]

5. Well, we did ask for transparency...but I don't think this is what we had

in mind.