This repo is a template that can be used to easily create custom budget and spending
visualization sites using data from OpenSpending
_.
An example of the kind of site that you can create (very quickly) using this
template is Where Does My Money Go?
_.
.. Where Does My Money Go?
: http://wheredoesmymoneygo.org
.. OffenerHaushalt
: http://offenerhaushalt.de
.. _OpenSpending
: http://openspending.org
Satellite sites runs as simple static websites built out of plain HTML and JS
and pulling data from OpenSpending
. All data is stored in the OpenSpending
platform and the visualizations and search are driven directly from its API
.
.. OpenSpending
: http://openspending.org
.. API
: http://openspending.org/help/api.html
The repository contains a basic layout for the site, based on Twitter's Bootstrap 2
_
CSS framework, and a skeleton site based on Jekyll, a simple generator tool for static
web sites. The key component is code samples for embedding most of the widgets that are
currently available for OpenSpending:
.. _Bootstrap 2
: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/
bubbletree.html
holds the classic BubbleTree <https://github.com/okfn/bubbletree>
_
diagram, which can be used to easily break down a multi-level hierarchy of
classifications (such as the COFOG codes in the UK budget).bubbletree-map.html
combines the BubbleTree and a simple vector map of the UK. This
would be more work to adapt for a custom site, but the beautiful view may well be worth
the effort.dailybread.html
contains the Daily Bread custom tax viewer, which breaks down
government expenditure over the approximate tax contribution of the visitor.browser.html
is a search interface for transactional spending information, used
for the UK's departmental spend in this example. This is useful for datasets which are
too unstructured for proper aggregation but contain interesting information at a
detailed level.If you want to set up a budget monitoring site for your own country, you first need
to acquire some budgetary or spending data and load it into OpenSpending
using the
site's web interface. Once the data is loaded, you can fork this repository
and
change the titles, styles and arrangement to meet your individual needs. Finally,
you can either host the site yourself, or let GitHub Pages
_ do it.
.. _load it into OpenSpending
: http://wiki.openspending.org/Loading_into_OpenSpending
.. fork this repository
: http://help.github.com/fork-a-repo/
.. GitHub Pages
: http://pages.github.com/
The pages in this repository are built to their final form by combining them with
the template in _layouts/default.html
using Jekyll
_, a Ruby-based static site
generator. To build the site, you first need to install Jekyll
(works on either
Mac OS X or Linux)::
sudo gem install jekyll
A good tutorial for Windows is available here
_.
After that, you can simply build the site or even run a local web server by running this command from the repository root directory::
jekyll serve --watch
If your jekyll version is less than 1.0
, run this command instead of the above::
jekyll --server --auto
Even if you cannot install jekyll for some reason, you can still experiment with the site by deploying its contents after each change.
The easiest way to deploy the site is via GitHub pages. To use them, simply adapt the
CNAME
file in the root of the repository and push to the gh-pages
branch. All
pages will be automatically built and deployed.
.. Jekyll
: https://github.com/mojombo/jekyll
.. install Jekyll
: https://github.com/mojombo/jekyll/wiki/install
.. _here
: http://www.madhur.co.in/blog/2011/09/01/runningjekyllwindows.html
In order to create a new, white-label site, there are a number of easy tweaks you can make.
_config.yml
to set the overall site title and
some basic parameters, such as the OpenSpending installation to be used. Further
configuration options, mostly regarding page generation, are available for Jekyll._config.yml
css/style.css
to use your own theming; in particular
fonts and colorization.img/logo.png
to set a custom logo._layouts/default.html
to extend
or shorten the menu and any other page elements.To get a basic understanding of the terminology and concepts involved in the API
calls to OpenSpending, take a few minutes to read up on the technical background:
How does OpenSpending store data? <http://openspending.org/help/api-olap.html>
_
This repository is a community-supported resource and there are several places where you can call on the community to help you customize it for your needs:
OpenSpending Developers List <http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/openspending-dev>
_Issue Tracker <https://github.com/openspending/satellite-template/issues>
_ at
GitHub (please report any problems here.#openspending
channel on the FreeNode IRC networkThe OpenSpending team can also offer tailored support to build a customized site about government finance, to help you create your own visualizations or to answer specific questions related to budgetary or spending data.
This additional level of support comes with service level agreements and is ideal for projects working to a tight deadline, those looking for new-types of visualisation, high-stake or long term projects. If you are interested in finding out more about our availability and what we can offer please get in touch with the OpenSpending project at info@openspending.org. We'd love to work with you!