Hi all-- On 06/27/2010 04:15 AM, Ivan M wrote: > Hi Bernhard, all, > > On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Bernhard Dippold <[email protected]> > wrote: >> Just two single cent ideas from my side: > > I'm sure they're worth a lot more :) > >> On the branding list Isma�l Grammenidis proposed [1]: >>> >>> A while ago there was a discussion at the Dutch NL project about creating >>> a >>> customized frontpage. >>> Perhaps we can implement that idea in the international site as well: >>> >>> http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/NL/Stappenplan#Voorpagina_.28Homepage.29 >>> >>> There are 4 sections on that frontpage with each 5 links: >>> - OpenOffice.org >>> -- Download >>> -- For who and why? >>> -- About the project >>> -- Licence >>> >>> - Support >>> -- Installation guide >>> -- Manuals >>> -- Forum (Bulletin Board) >>> -- Wiki >>> -- Tips& �Tricks >>> >>> - Announcements >>> >>> - Contribute >>> -- Background information >>> -- Projects >>> -- Bugs >>> -- FAQ >>> -- Contact >>> >> >> I heard several comments about improving the main page - on the other hand I >> know about the intensive discussions when the last main page update took >> place in 2008 (I think). > > It might not be a bad idea to reopen that item up for discussion for > the following reasons: > > 1) Every now and then it pops up on a mailing list and my standard > response has been to point people to the past discussion threads and > ask them to look at the arguments for and against, and if they have > anything new to add, then please feel free to do so. No one has added > anything, probably because it's a big ask for people to re-read old > discussions. The redesign provides an opportunity for re-evaluation > (personally, I'm a big fan of iterative development). > > 2) As it stands, the action statements are inconsistent with the rest > of the site (or, perhaps, the rest of the site is inconsistent with > the action statements): we have action statements on the homepage, but > not on the rest of the site. The website fails on the point of > consistency. Among many other things, a good user experience relies on > consistency (e.g. Nielsen's 10 Heuristics, #4: Consistency and > standards [1])
well maybe we don't really NEED action statements on many of the other pages...however, I think the Projects tab and corresponding pages might use some "actionable" help to get people involved. What I find most annoying in terms of consistency if you want to know the truth is the difference in what appears in the left-hand nav column from page to page at times. > > 3) We have the opportunity to create a broader consensus - by having a > stronger UX project play a more significant role, as well as the > native language projects, which you have mentioned. Of course, we need > to reach out to them first. This thread has shown considerable > interest in the website list - are we ready to make some announcements > on the other mailing lists about the redesign effort? I think it would be vitally important to discuss this with the UX folks... > > 4) The circumstances may have changed - OOo is considerably more well > known in 2010 than it was in early 2008; the previous website was > launched around the release of 2.4. The web itself has also changed in > that time (i.e., become considerably more social). Does that change > what we want to do with the homepage (and other pages for that > matter)? > I'm just really wondering about any HUGE overhauls in light of eventual Kenai migration, which I still haven't learned much about. >> If we think we should talk about changing the general structure, this would >> be the right time - I just don't know if we want to do it at all... > > The task would be huge, certainly. We've started 'brainstorming' some > ideas for changes, but no one has said this is in, or this is out. > That could be useful. I think we need someone (or some people) to lead > the redesign effort and provide guidance like Maarten did in 2008. The > website project has a lead and a co-lead - perhaps they could offer > some advice? > >> My second thought starts with a different point of view, but leads to a >> similar question: >> >> With the new Branding Initiative we work on establishing a common >> look-and-feel for OOo containing not only the same symbols (logo and gull >> orb), but also the same color language, graphical element positioning and so >> on. >> >> The goal is to define an OOo brand that "lives" in every visual >> representation of OOo, supports the perception of a consistent and unique >> community and creates certain positive feelings for our visitors, users and >> contributors. >> >> A common design (containing an area for individual concepts and project >> related goals) on our project's main pages might help a lot to reach this >> goal. >> >> Therefore we should try to include the designers of the sub-project's main >> pages (especially some of the accepted projects and native-lang's), that >> showed vivid and interesting approaches to reach people. >> >> I invited Terada Kazuhiro, the designer of the Japanese main page [2], to >> join this list - perhaps we could find others too. > > I fully agree, and I'm sure we could find others. My question(s) now > is/are, are we ready to take that step? That is, can we send out an > announcement to relevant mailing lists inviting people to join the > effort? If so, what do we tell them - what is within scope and what is > out of scope? How do we structure the redesign effort? Do we need to > wait for something first (e.g. from the branding project)? > > I think these are enough questions for one day :) > > Regards, > Ivan. > > ---------------- > > [1] http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- MzK "I only answer to two people, myself and God." -- Cher --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
