Intranet

[niggle]

I live in a block of flats & we were thinking of setting up an intranet to publish information for residents to access.

How hard is this to do?  Assume little knowledge on our part.  How much maintenance is required?  I don't mean updating information but technical maintenance.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Nigel

[Michael]

Are you sure you don't just mean a website? What are you actually trying to achieve?

[niggle]

I want to provide a site that provides information to residents - both "standing data" and any current information re ongoing issues.  So maybe I do mean just a website but I want access to be restricted to residents.  I also want the facility within it for residents to respond.  Not sure if that makes it just a website or an intranet.

Thanks for the response Michael.

[Dr Keyboard]

Set up a  forum like this one perhaps? It allows for moderated access by password/username, 'standing' information, chat threads and so on. Click the link at the bottom of the page to find out more.

[Phil]

Failing that a wiki, many many out there, but www.screwturn.eu do a reasonable one for free.

[niggle]

Thank you Dr K & Phil, plenty of food for thought and I should be able to find a way forward.

Thanks again.

[Dr Keyboard]

Ask yourself too: would a simple cork noticeboard in the foyer be more efficient?

[Ian in Northampton]

Ask yourself too: would a simple cork noticeboard in the foyer be more efficient?

Luddite alert!  Luddite alert!

[Dr Keyboard]

Appropriate technology, Ian.

[Jon]

What?? You mean I shouldn't be using a 24 MP digital camera and a colour laser printer to make out our shopping list?

[Dr Keyboard]

Colour laser printers are pretty big so I guess you could write a lot on it using a felt pen, but it might be a bit bulky to carry round Tesco.
This is the system we use: roll of paper (10 for EUR3 from Office Depot, about 8 lifetime's worth), biro and felt pen on a bit of string, dry-wipe board. I have tried the various shopping list apps for the iPhone but access is difficult for my wife....

[Ian in Northampton]

One of the best uses I ever found for Word was to create a 'standard' shopping list.  If your household is anything like ours, 90% of what you buy each time you go to the supermarket is the same as you bought last time and the time before - so I created a list of those, with space for 'different' stuff.  Then, each time we went shopping, we'd just tick off the items we neededed.  The best thing about it was that the list was in the order that the items appear in the supermarket - making the shopping process dramatically more efficient by reducing significantly the amount of time taken, saving the going back and forth.  That plus, of course, not wasting time writing things down.  Plus, of course, it is an invaluable aide-memoire, eliminating the frustration of forgetting vital supplies.  Naturally, it became a living document, being edited as and when the bloody supermarket rearranged things or the family's eating/cleaning habits changed.

Who was that at the back muttering "sad, sad, sad..."? 

I fear we have strayed off topic here - but I didn't start it.   

[Michael]

Ye gods what is this madness. www.tesco.com - all the bounteous goods any man could desire, delivered direct to your door by a surly functionary, and it even keeps a shopping list for you. You people are like cavemen!

[Jon]

I tried that once - the salt water got in their van and spoiled everything . . .

[Ian in Northampton]

Ye gods what is this madness. www.tesco.com - all the bounteous goods any man could desire, delivered direct to your door by a surly functionary, and it even keeps a shopping list for you. You people are like cavemen!

Yeah, but - I'll tell you a secret...  I was talking to one of their staff who wheel those huge great trollies up and down the aisles, getting stuff together for customer oreders to be delivered and generally getting in the way of 'real' shoppers, and she confided in me that, if something is on a two-for-one (aka BOGOF) deal, if there's just one on your list, you just get one.  And, of course, for items where you're not brand sensitive, you don't get to choose the 33% extra free Andrex toilet tissue or the £2.00 off on Finish dishwasher tabs and...

Welcome to the shopping thread!  (With apologies to Niggle for one of the most blatant pieces of thread hijacking I've ever seen...)