[maemo-community] maemo.org redesign

[From: Quim Gil]

Hi, proposal for the hybrid solution:

http://wiki.maemo.org/images/8/80/Maemo-org-joint-mockup.png

No boring and no overwhelming, useful the first time you visit it and
also the second, third... don't you think?

Highlights:

- No design, no wording: look only at the modules and how they relate to
each other. Also no necessary endorsement to the sections in the top
navigation bar. This will come later once we have agreed on the
structure of the home.

- Downloads is the most prominent item because at the end this is what
matters most for new users, regular users, developers...

- ... together with people, because this is the only thing that you
really need in a real community - and we have a real and exciting community.

- News because they tell you what these people and these projects are
doing. Nowadays they are quite developer oriented but this is just a
consequence of the current blogs aggregated and the people that rates them.

These 3 dynamic items below tell you also implicitly how you can get
started as an active contributor: downloads, rates, hearts, a picture
and an intro in your profile...

The right column shows the static blocks that provide the basic pointers
for newcomers: about, support, developers, get involved (again, wording
is not relevant now).

At the bottom, pointers to the related sites: maemo.nokia.com, Forum
Nokia and ITt. In the final design they could/should have a tagline to
know what to expect in each one.

ext Tim wrote:
> Here is an idea from me...
> 
> The first is the "home" page:
> 
>     http://samoff.maemobox.org/maemo_redesign/samoff-maemo.org-redesign_idea_0006.png

I like the graphical part, but it is another proposal that leaves more
real state to static information than to dynamic information. I think
that nowadays this is unexciting both for new and regular users. Unless
you want to make a marketing site of a static product, which is not our
case.

> 
> As you'll see, I've taken much of Andrew Flegg's idea (and a few others)
> and designed it more around the "community" aspect (likewise, I designed
> it so that most of the "important" info can be seen on the tablet's
> screen without scrolling. The text needs a little more thought
> (especially the intro -- which was taken from the current maemo.org
> site), but it's close. Many of the "links" are redundant, but I think
> that's important -- we need to do what we can to guide new users into
> community participation. /(Note that the upper header should butt-up
> against the top of the browser window, rather than float a few pixels
> under it like most browsers insist on displaying images.)/
> 
> The second is the right sidebar from the above example (admittedly,
> taken from my Community Improvement idea on the wiki):
> 
>     http://samoff.maemobox.org/maemo_redesign/samoff-maemo.org-redesign_idea_0006-sidebar.png
> 
> It shows what could be done in that space with a variety of
> information-types.
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> ---
> Weblog ~ http://tim.samoff.com
> Kidblog ~ http://kc.samoff.com
> Photography ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/timsamoff
> Film ~ http://www.youtube.com/timsamoff
> 
> 
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *Subject: *Re: maemo.org redesign
>     *From:  *Dave Neary <dneary at maemo.org>
>     *To: *"List for community development" <maemo-community at maemo.org>
>     *Date: *10/01/2008 10:38 am
> 
> 
>     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
> 
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> 
> 
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-- 
Quim Gil
marketing manager, open source
Maemo Software @ Nokia