Talk:Main page ekopedia-like

Marie.Byleen 13:51, 6 February 2011 (PST) It seems like the main page is trying to do several things: 1) introduce new people to what OSE is and what is being worked on 2) point people towards ways they can help, contribute, donate, get involved 3) be a portal for those working on the project to gain quick access to specific areas.

Can one page do all these things, and if so, what should be the priority? In thinking about which categories are important, I think it is key to imagine the experience of users with different relationships to the information. User feedback could be invaluable, if there were some way to collect a significant amount of it.

My first reaction is to build separate pages for the first two uses and feature links to them on the main page, while using it mostly as a portal for quick access. Just a easily, the main page could be dedicated towards introducing people to OSE's work and feature a prominent link to a separate portal for people working on the project. Alternately, there may be a way to combine all three purposes without clutter that has yet to be pioneered.

What are important elements for the three different uses of the site? My initial thought is:

1) New Users: The 2-minute introductory video and short description of OSE on the current main site, highlights of the project?, the FAQ page and access to the forum to ask questions, links to good places to begin in exploring deeper, the blog? Is there some material that might help orient the curious that is lacking?

2) Potential Contributors: the True Fans page seems key, ways for people to get in touch with other people who are working on the projects they are interested in, instructions for getting involved, the blog What else?

3) Project Developers: this is where I think having a list of the GVCS as it currently stands that links to category pages for each technology in development becomes valuable. access to the latest blog posts, and to forums general and specific to projects.

I think the question of who the front page is for needs to be addressed before a discussion of the most relevant categories can really blossom.

Some questions: Who is the front page for? Which visitors are most important? Is there a way to get user feedback on the site? Is there a more relevant way to categorize users than the three-part one I have laid out? Which categories do you think are most important to feature on the front page? Why?

--Conor 15:06, 6 February 2011 (PST) It's definitely possible to do those three things on the front page -
 * Front and center grabs their attention
 * Below that is the call to action. You've gotten their attention with the video, then they move down to this.
 * Side navigation menu is for project developers who are looking for something in particular

I've found that one of the best ways to get user feedback is just to grab a friend who knows nothing about the project, sit them down at the website, and have them talk you through their thought-process as they learn about the project via the website. What confuses them? Where do they click? What do they read? What do they ignore?

Marie.Byleen 15:11, 16 February 2011 (PST) from email (Feb. 11?):

I didn't think to include something that Nikolay brought up: the main page could be used to share announcements with all those contributing to the project to keep everyone informed and working together. As it stands, the choices of placement and content I made are generally to privilege the first group of people. Right now, I think the blog does its job as an announcement board for the community. However, as a larger collaborative group solidifies, using the main page for this purpose might be just the right thing.

It's been correctly noted that the subtext in the Welcome panel is largely unneeded. I wanted to emphasize that the blog is the place to look for the latest news and updates, and the rest just makes the block symmetrical and evenly divided. Others are marginally useful, but no one really needs to be told what FAQ or Donate means. Still, I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks in keeping it.

There is some redundancy in the categories in the main panel and the listing in the right panel. I decided to alphabetize the right panel content because the categories include more than just pages for the GVCS technologies. Also, the overlap and interaction between the GVCS elements means it is plausible that people looking for a specific element might think it was categorized differently than we have it. Presenting similar information in two different ways can help people find what they are looking for.

Question:

Does the Introduction page serve the same, or a different purpose from the introductory text on the main page?

RSS Feed
From blog to main page? Needs the RSS Reader mediawiki extension?

Sections for news
We currently have a news section showing the blog's RSS feed.

I think we could have another section for a different kind of news, maybe below the intro video.

To see what I mean, take a look at this page: http://p2pfoundation.net/ The gray box with Towards an Open and Autonomous Internet and Society on it is regularly updated to reflect new developments and to attract visitors to various important parts of the wiki.


 * Marie.Byleen 12:37, 1 March 2011 (PST) I agree. It is a bit like the section in the site map that points out some highlights to look at, but it is not assumed to be static. I'm happy to put one in when I have a good idea about which exciting developments to highlight, and of course you're welcome to add one in. It seems like collaboration spinning out of the TED conference might provide some of the first material for a section like this. What do you think?


 * Good, let's wait a bit then --Elifarley 17:05, 1 March 2011 (PST)