[Owncloud] Re: Website brainstorming review

Thu Jul 14 00:08:52 UTC 2011

Hey, sorry guys I'm quite slow these days to answer and to do things...

On Monday 11 July 2011 14:22:58 Jan-Christoph wrote:
> For everyone on the mailing list, Damien’s mockup is also at:
> https://gitorious.org/jancborchardt/jancborchardt/blobs/master/ownCloud/web
> site%20design%20Damien.png

Thanks to put it there.

> 
> That’s great! You’re right with removing the second row, that doesn’t
> belong on the front page and makes it too busy.

Ok cool that you agree!

> 
> I did some testing with my earlier mockup and an explanation video seems
> very important. Instead of having a separate screenshots gallery we should
> make a slider out of the image/video box and also incorporate them on the
> Features page.

Yes I agree that a video would be awesome but it's quite long to do I think. 
To make that video, do you know some free softwares we can use to create 
simple animations?
In the very first version, we can put some images (not screenshots but images 
that explains what ownCloud is).

> 
> Yes, having the main site be the index site of the standard ownCloud
> installation would look like http://joindiaspora.com – instead of the
> functions & links on the top bar we could even put both username &
> password fields there so people can log in directly.
> The basic idea is that every ownCloud installation should provide a little
> info on the project. For example if you get a public link with
> http://domain.com/webspace/LINK you could go to domain.com/webspace and
> check out what it’s about.

Yes I understand now a bit more the concept and the point of doing that. And 
in fact I was just thinking exactly like you about putting the fields in the 
top bar ;-)

> 
> 
> Here’s my idea of a structure with sub-entries and short explanation:
> 
> News: blog, contributor blogs (ownCloud entries), Identi.ca #tag & !group,
> Diaspora #tag, commit feed, the web about ownCloud

I agree about the content. Then, there are different ways of presenting them: 
either separate the different things or gather them one page.
I think that putting all on one page will be too much and they have different 
target people (commit feed for techies). But maybe one section for each of 
them will be too much. For example, should we separate the blog from the 
contributor's blogs?
This part will need to be designed properly.

> 
> Discover
> * History: http://owncloud.org/index.php/Main_Page#Introduction
> * Features: what is already available?
> * Compare: to Dropbox, iCloud, Ubuntu One, SpiderOak,etc.
> * Roadmap: planned features

Ok, I would just rename History to something different. Nobody (or few people) 
cares in fact about the History of the project. Whereas if we put Mission,  
Vision or something like this, it is more engaging for them to come to see and 
discover the ideas behind ownCloud. The only important thing for now is to 
make sure this part is not just links about the conferences and... but also a 
presentation of ownCloud values. That is really important IMHO if we want to 
get new contributors (and also users in a second level): we have to present 
our values.
For the rest, Great!

> 
> Use (just for users, no coding / terminal whatsoever)
> * Try it: live instance, reset regularly
> * Web: list of providers
> * Desktop: download links to desktop app / WebDAV connection info
> * Mobile: download links to mobile app
> * Apps & plugins: list of currently available
> 
> Host: Requirements (for admins or providers wanting to set up their
> ownCloud) * Install: download, instructions
> * Configure

In the first look I had about this with your first mockup, I was not really 
agree. That's why I changed it to Get and Use parts to separate 
Installation/providers (how to get?) from the Use of ownCloud clients/web (how 
to use?).
But now reconsidering the all thing, I think your idea of separation depending 
on the user is better ;-).
If we make things easy to use, they won't need a "how to use?"  section.
Let's go for it!

> 
> Contribute: opportunities / tasks, similar to
> http://owncloud.org/index.php/Tasks
> * Report a bug: http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?product=owncloud probably
> best to have a small explanation. But even then you need an account which
> is cumbersome.
> * Develop: development setup: http://owncloud.org/index.php/Contribute,
> apps & plugins http://owncloud.org/index.php/Developer
> * Translate: http://owncloud.org/index.php/Localization what about
> Transifex / some interface?
> * Website: develop, documentation etc.

Ok that's fine.

> 
> Contact: Team, mailing list, IRC, logo

Ok but what does logo mean here?

> 
> 
> Let me know what you think!

Great, it is improving! the sharing and mixing of ideas is working ;-)

Could we setup a meeting on IRC to discuss now the development of the website? 
Or maybe you are on IRC everyday?
This Thursday evening will be fine for me.

Cheers,
Damien