discussion? where? well, not here...

[Mat Colton]

Am Samstag, 23. November 2002 15:09 schrieb marko faas:
> Hallo,
>
> On Sat, 2002-11-23 at 02:01, Mat Colton wrote:
>
> <snip>
> I like your requirements, Mat, but I would like to go a step back. Who
> do we expect to use the homepage the most? (we haven't really discussed
> this, we just went off with the graphic design without thinking first)
>
> I have argued a couple of months ago that there are several main user
> groups so we should have several entry's to accomodate them (like
> suse.com has done). That wasn't acceptable, so we have to make sure
> everybody is served in another way.
>
> I estimate that the main visitor groups of KDE are:
> - Newbies
> - Current Users
> I guess developers will go directly to develop when they are developing.
> We should accomodate a link to their respective communities, but the
> developers ending up at kde.org behave as current users.

Seems fine to me so far.

> What do they want to have?
>
> * We could have a jumppage, like http://www.bbc.co.uk/ That is imho a
> bit like "Chop down the big oak with the ribbon" and then point to to
> forest were it stands in...
> Currently, we have a kind of jump page.

Not really intended, but it grew that way.

> * We could have a portal, like msn.com. You can find a mixture of
> information and links. This site is a but cluttered, but the point is
> that we would offer all kinds of goodies and explain where the links
> will take you. Now, one has to know what KOffice is.

A portal is not very user friendly, it's cluttered as you wrote. But it's 
"hip" nowadays...

> There are a couple of other types of sites (like shop), but I think
> those are not suited.

What is http://www.apple.com/ for you? They have a lot more to offer then the 
KDE project (in terms of products). It seems they get along quite well 
without cluttering everything. Oh, and the navigation is easy to use. 

> Imho, we are working on a portal.

Yes, I pointed that out in one of my first posts to this group. I also wrote I 
don't like the idea.

> So, what do we want to offer on the homepage?

> My suggestion:
> MUST HAVE:
> * logo
> * menu

Ok.

> * breadcrum (although that would break when you go to the KDE family)

What's that?

> * links to the KDE family

Hmm, maybe. The KDE family thing is one of the things that has been bothering 
me on the currect kde.org reincarnations. Everywhere I look, KDE family. I 
KNOW WERE THE SITES ARE...I bookmarked them years ago...
So to me this mostly a newbie issue and should be mentioned on the newbie page 
and be part of the links section on every *.kde.org site. 

> * a few announcements
> * news (dot.kde.org)

Yes, sounds good IMHO.

> * a few new applications (kdeapps)

No, the content of this site is not in the hands of the KDE project.

> * Events

Maybe. Actually, no. :P
What about this: If you want news on the front page, then put all news 
(announcements, dot and events) in one place. In the header of each news use 
different icons for the different sources, or use additional text, like:

[Official] KDE 3.1 released 
Blah blah blah blah blah blah
[User] The KDE KC 1001 for your pleasure 
Blah blah blah blah blah blah
[Events] Visit KDE at the show in Vegas 
Blah blah blah blah blah blah

Not saying the labels are good, just wanted to give you an idea. With that we 
can save space, globalize the news and make all the news look the same. At 
the moment every news type is different on kde.org. 

> * To facilitate the newbies, we have to explain about KDE. But do we
> want to do that so extensively right on the first page? I think not. A
> easy to find block or button: "New to KDE? Let us explain..." (where
> explain is linked to a explaination site), is suffient imho. But it
> should be VERY visible and stand out from the other links!

Great idea! 

> NICE TO HAVE:
> * a ' the press about KDE'

Well, maybe as a label in the global news?

> I would stress that we have to find a way to explain EVERYTHING. So not
> only: Events: LISA! But what, where, when, how (how much) in a short
> paragraph and link to get more info. Visible metadata is very, very
> important. Users must see what and why they click on something 

You're so right about that.

> (Mat,
> that's another one for the requirements).

I will.

> The menu:
> Well, I think of three levels:

Can you think of any way to get the labels to be usable on all *.kde.org 
sites?
I made a possible structure, just a first idea: 
http://www.web-xs.de/~dev/kde/nav/

> 1. Introducing KDE
> 	1.1 FAQ
> 	1.2 Documentation
> 	1.3 Screenshots
> 	1.4 Myths about KDE (link right now, should be in kde.org)
>
> 2 KDE Software
> 	1.1 Stable Version
> 	1.2 Source Code
> 	1.3 KDE on CD-Rom
> 	1.4 Applications
> If we do not find room on the homepage to put explaination about the
> applications (which we might have to rename in KDE Programs to be
> clearer), we should think about putting a link to a page with
> explainations about the applications. If the visitor sees KDE software,
> he might expect also other software besides KDE. If we do not put
> something there, it might be a pain to find the software on the left
> site. Not everybody would know what Konqueror or KOffice is. The links
> on the right site are nothing more than shortcuts for those who know. So
> they leave those who don't know out in the dark. Thus, a new page on
> KDE.org where the major applications are explained ("No, you don't have
> to download Konqueror if you installed KDE. Yes, you do have to install
> Koffice as it is not part of the KDE distribution) and linked to.

Interesting aspect, I'll have to think about it.

> * IMPORTANT!!! *
> WERE DO WE PUT THE THIRD LEVEL IN THE MENU???

In the content area. It's most likely to be directly related with the current 
content, at least from what I have seen.

> I would looove it when someone designs another page too. We really need
> it, to get the flaws out of the homepage.

What do you mean? Sorry, but I'm not getting the point.
-- 
Bye,
Mat