Re: Website Improvement Ideas

[Christopher Rawnsley <rawprawns@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10 Apr 2008, at 22:42, James Frazer wrote:
> Okay I just want to summarise what would happen to existing content:
>
> 1.  History and Team are combined and renamed About as they seem to go
> together, as the history page was rather short anyway -- certainly
> undeserving of a link unto itself.

I think that putting the team information on the about is slightly  
unnecessary. A newcomer to the project doesn't really care about such  
things. I do think that maybe a link to further information on the  
about page which would give more in depth information on the project  
including team information.

> 2.  The Goals page is moved to the top as I think it's somewhat
> important to newcomers who want a more detailed idea than the About
> page provides

I think that this should be also worked in to the about page in a very  
brief form. There is a lot of information in there which is very  
technical that I think many newcomers would find overwhelming.  
However, if that person follows what is said on the about page they  
will search for more information they can be linked to from the about  
page.

> 3.  The Mascot & Images pages seemed without major value to me.  I
> figure they can either be nuked, or any important info on them can be
> moved to the wiki.

Totally agree. Maybe ol' Fred can make an appearance on the about page  
though. :)

> 4.  The Download page has been promoted to a slot closer to the top.
> Something should be said about the page itself:  If I was someone
> wanting to download DragonFly I'd have to do a lot of reading before
> finding a useful download link on that page... this page could use
> some tweaking.

While I agree that the download page should be nearer the top in a  
more obvious location I don't think that it necessarily needs a  
mention on the about page as it is now in a prominent position on the  
navigation bar.

> 5.  Bugs is combined with the page on the security officer PGP key as
> it seems that they go together, and the security page was too short to
> get a top-level link by itself.

Agree.

> 6.  It dawned on me that the Mail, News, and Archives links were
> somewhat of a holy trinity, and surely far too insanely complicated
> for any mere mortal to decipher... these all point to different ways
> of accessing the same information -- right?   Well I would put them
> all under the same page "Mail & Lists"

Totally agree!

> 7.  The Release link was removed as I think it can be quite easily
> confused with Download -- Furthermore it exists on the main content
> area and probably always will.  However, I recognize the difference
> between "Download" and "Release" and think the only sane solution is
> link to a redesigned Download page that will in itself require some
> kind of sanity check so that it's actually possible to find something
> to download.

I think you're right to have one link on the menu bar. On the download  
page, I think access to the ISO images should be in a more prominent  
position near the top. There should also be a link to release  
information close by. Many things could be done though and these are  
just a few quick ideas off the top of my head.

> 8.  Wiki was renamed to Documentation, and it's my opinion that's
> where the documentation should go.  In the past I've observed
> (exaggeration alert) a tendency to have 16 different versions of the
> same information available in 12 different places...  This is too
> cluttered and becomes a maintenance nightmare.

Agree.

> 9.  I'm not sure what can be done with the Donations page -- does
> anyone actually donate?  I think I'd shove it onto the wiki... with a
> link from the About page that can lead to the wiki entry.

Agree.

> 10.  The diary can be moved to the wiki -- I don't feel it's important
> enough to be on the main page for two reasons:  1.  it's rarely
> updated -- the last update was 8 months ago;  and 2.  Most of the
> recent (and relevant) information is also on the Release page.

Agree.

> 11.  Digest is moved from status to Community as it seemed more
> fitting there, and since Bugs was already moved this allows for the
> Status section to go away.

I would also suggest that it be on the mainsite rather than off site.  
But I guess it is Justin's baby so it is up to him. I would consider  
renaming it to news...

I initiated a "redesign" of myself before writing this email. In my  
design and I have considered more about reducing the overall number of  
menu items. While this sometimes means that you have to use two clicks  
to get the same location I think that it may make things even easier.  
Interested to know other people's thoughts?

I tried my hand at redesigning the overall page as well. I'll put up  
my work up in due course to allow for a comparison but we share many  
of the same ideas about content. I think that perhaps the website  
should go that one step further and have some form of CMS that could  
be edited by anyone who doesn't particularly want to get in to the  
details of learning HTML, CSS etc.

--
Chris