[REPORT] Apache Tiles June 2016

[mck <mc...@apache.org>]

Report from the Apache Tiles Project

## Description:
 Apache Tiles is a free open-sourced templating framework for Java
 applications.
Based upon the Composite pattern it is built to simplify the development
of user
interfaces.

## Activity:
 Apache Tiles remains an stable but low traffic project. There remains
 two
responsible and responsive PMC ready to help users and discuss
development
ideas. Other PMC come out to help when needed.

 Currently no members are active in development, and no contributions
 have come
in. The majority of activity happens on non-apache sites like the
StackExchange
forums. StackExchange sees a few questions and answers each day or two.

 This quarter saw input from an emeritus member Antonio, who had
 contributed much
of the rewrite to Apache Tiles-3. While Antonio looks not to actively
contribute
again, but is using Tiles-3 again and will offer related contributions
and ideas
when appropriate.

## Health report:
 Apache Tiles is a stable project seeing little new momentum. There are
 currently
two responsive PMC, other PMC help out with votes when needed.

 An initial effort was made to subscribe the StackExchange traffic into
 the users
mailing list, without luck. Since this is the best representation of
active
traffic that we have this effort should be retried. Current members need
to be
reaching out to other forums to show that the Apache community is still
there
for them. Everyone is aware of the how little momentum the project has,
but it
does not feel abandoned by members, nor not in use by the public.

 The pending patch release really should be made the next quarter so to
 verify
the presence of 3+ PMC, as described above.

## Issues
 The board requested last report that less emphasis on the output of the
 health
reporter be used, and a more direct statement used to describe the low
health status that the project holds. Hopefully this has been addressed
this
report.

## Releases:
 No releases were made this quarter. There is still a patch release
 pending, no
action has been taken so far.

Re: [REPORT] Apache Tiles June 2016

[mck <mc...@apache.org>]

Brett,

> Maybe we should float ideas on how to keep with the principals of tiles
> but somehow modernise it to give it an agile feel?


This is a shared opinion. At just what it does (composition) Tiles is
effective.

There was some initial progress on getting Mustache templates working
with tiles both client and server side. A composition implementation by
Tiles that was able to seamlessly work on server and in client would see
new adoption I believe. Even though current trends in a microservices
platform is for more isolated UIs, I do believe the need for composition
will always remain in places. The work that Antonio did in Tiles-3
created the platform to keep Tiles as a composition tool regardless of
the trend and technology of the day.

Making Tiles work with Thymeleaf would be a fantastic improvement. If
you had time to skeleton out the beginnings I'll offer my help for sure.

So far my understanding of stuff around Tiles and Thymeleaf is limited
to these types of efforts:
 - https://github.com/thymeleaf/thymeleaf-extras-tiles2
 -
 http://spring.io/blog/2012/10/30/spring-mvc-from-jsp-and-tiles-to-thymeleaf/

~mck

Re: [REPORT] Apache Tiles June 2016

[Brett Ryan <br...@gmail.com>]

I just tot out of the shower while thinking about this project and how it could really be livened up to get some more attention.

I embarrassingly admit I have a pull request that I can't even remember what it was, I had my wife in hospital for 4 months then a little baby to worry about.

One thing sort-of new on the scene has been thymeleaf [1] which has gained more momentum IMHO mostly with spring replacing tiles with thymeleaf in its examples, though; I still maintain that while cool thymeleaf is as a JSP replacement, it can't compare to the page fragment (tile) model of tiles and both serve a separate function. I've not tried the two together, I think I shall some time, it would be killer.

Maybe we should float ideas on how to keep with the principals of tiles but somehow modernise it to give it an agile feel?

[1]: http://www.thymeleaf.org

> On 10 Jun 2016, at 21:15, mck <mc...@apache.org> wrote:
> 
> Report from the Apache Tiles Project
> 
> ## Description:
> Apache Tiles is a free open-sourced templating framework for Java
> applications.
> Based upon the Composite pattern it is built to simplify the development
> of user
> interfaces.
> 
> ## Activity:
> Apache Tiles remains an stable but low traffic project. There remains
> two
> responsible and responsive PMC ready to help users and discuss
> development
> ideas. Other PMC come out to help when needed.
> 
> Currently no members are active in development, and no contributions
> have come
> in. The majority of activity happens on non-apache sites like the
> StackExchange
> forums. StackExchange sees a few questions and answers each day or two.
> 
> This quarter saw input from an emeritus member Antonio, who had
> contributed much
> of the rewrite to Apache Tiles-3. While Antonio looks not to actively
> contribute
> again, but is using Tiles-3 again and will offer related contributions
> and ideas
> when appropriate.
> 
> ## Health report:
> Apache Tiles is a stable project seeing little new momentum. There are
> currently
> two responsive PMC, other PMC help out with votes when needed.
> 
> An initial effort was made to subscribe the StackExchange traffic into
> the users
> mailing list, without luck. Since this is the best representation of
> active
> traffic that we have this effort should be retried. Current members need
> to be
> reaching out to other forums to show that the Apache community is still
> there
> for them. Everyone is aware of the how little momentum the project has,
> but it
> does not feel abandoned by members, nor not in use by the public.
> 
> The pending patch release really should be made the next quarter so to
> verify
> the presence of 3+ PMC, as described above.
> 
> ## Issues
> The board requested last report that less emphasis on the output of the
> health
> reporter be used, and a more direct statement used to describe the low
> health status that the project holds. Hopefully this has been addressed
> this
> report.
> 
> ## Releases:
> No releases were made this quarter. There is still a patch release
> pending, no
> action has been taken so far.