[maemo-community] maemo.org redesign

[From: Dave Neary]

Hi again,

Quim Gil wrote:
> I wonder how useful is to prioritize users that don't know what is Maemo
> or why they ended up in our website.

Let me just reiterate the various use-cases which I think we need to
address in maemo.org:

* A tablet user is looking for software to install on his tablet
* A developer is interested in developing or porting an application to Maemo
* An enthusiast is looking for ways he can participate, give feedback,
complain and contribute to the direction of the project
* An existing community member, the press or an interested by-stander
wants to find out what's new & what's been happening in the community
* An existing developer is looking for some reference documentation
* A tablet user has a problem he wants help fixing
* Community members want to communicate with the rest of the community

Of these, all will know what the tablet is, but roughly speaking you can
break them into 2 groups: those who are already part of the Maemo
community and those who aren't (in Berlin, you referred to this as
"people who know where they're going and people who don't").

Not community members:
* Downloading software
* Looking for news & info (press, by-stander)
* Wants to give feedback and contribute
* Looking for help getting started with development
* Has a problem that he wants help with

Community members:
* Looking for news (community member)
* Looking for reference documentation
* Wants to communicate

Each one of those non-community-members (with the possible exception of
the ones downloading software and those looking for info on what is
Maemo and what's new) have a high potential of becoming community
members. Someone who gets help on a forum or in Bugzilla might stick
around to help others. A developer looking for docs on getting started
or a contributor looking to complain about his pet feature is someone
ready to engage the community.  And I believe we need to cater to those
more than the existing community member.

I hope this clear things up - I hope you'll see that you're being unfair
in suggesting that I think we should prioritise "people who don't know
what Maemo is" - I think we should focus on people who know what Maemo
is, but don't know where they're going.

> You and me know the problem very well: is http://www.gnome.org/ homepage
> showing how exciting is to be part of the GNOME community?

I agree that the GNOME site has many problems. Most of them come from
the fact that on the front page, no-one has analysed the type of person
who might arrive there, and the types of questions they might have that
would need answering.

> You tell me my proposal is overloaded, I tell you your proposal is
> oversimplistic... They are different approaches and we need to agree on
> the approach we want, or go for a tender based on both models.  :/
> 
> But I insist on one thing: "a new user coming into the site who doesn't
> know what is are looking for" shouldn't be our primary focus.

Let me put it differently - I think that the site needs to focus more on
potential community members than existing community members.

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
maemo.org docsmaster
Email: dneary at maemo.org
Jabber: bolsh at jabber.org