making the website better

Wed Feb 6 07:02:26 UTC 2008

Hi Juan!

Juan Camilo Prada wrote:
> So the people from the websites team encouraged me to lead an effort to
> work on this issue, im already thinking about the basic information the
> main site of the project should have and so im already working on the
> design of the new sections. 

Cool, glad to see that you are interested and ready to help!
> 
> As a prospective member of the marketing team, i want to work on the
> website by providing the really important information about the project
> (for specific information we have the wiki) while, at the same time,
> working on some banners or sections to encourage people to join the
> community specially on areas that are weak on man power such as the
> websites team. 

Sure.
> 
> So far this is the list of important items that should appear somewhere
> int http://fedoraproject.org on the Index (home) page

I do have some questions here:
> 
> * A small article explaining what fedora is (its already in the website)

As you mention, this is already on the front page.

> * A small div with the News (Fedora Weekly News)

What are you imagining here? A small preview of the latest few articles 
from FWN with links to more detailed stories? How important is this 
relative to the other ideas?

> * A direct link (or links) to download the liveCDS or iso DVD

We already have this, no?

> * List of the mos significant Spins currently hosted on the mirrors

The spins site actually already has some mockups made and just needs to 
be implemented. I would be very willing to help out with the html/css.
> 
> Also there should be (imo) a new section which explain how to get help
> and support.

Are you imagining something like this? http://www.gnome.org/support/

> If any of you have another idea about some other item that should be in
> the main site share it.

Here are some discussion points that I think could be brought up to help 
determine this:

- Who is the audience for these pages? Who is NOT the audience for these 
pages?

1- Windows and/or Mac users looking for information on Fedora (what is 
it?) and try to figure out if it's the right choice for them vs other 
Linuxes?
2- *nix users who are already comfortable with *nix and want to see what 
Fedora is about (compare it to their other options)?
3- Fedora contributors?
4- Fedora developers?
5- FOSS developers not necessarily affiliated with Fedora?
6- Fedora enthusiasts?

I personally tend to think the site should be catered towards (1) those 
who are not yet Fedora users but are looking for information about 
Fedora (think media, think potential converts) and (2) those who are 
Fedora users who would like some help using Fedora or some ideas on how 
Fedora can help them or who would just like to share their enthusiasm 
about Fedora.

I think that contributors and developers are currently served by the 
mailing lists and blog planet and will in the future be served by the 
'My Fedora' project.

- What is the purpose of these pages? What is NOT the purpose of these 
pages?

1- To provide basic information about what Fedora is to a general audience?
2- To provide downloads of Fedora?
3- To recruit new users?
4- To recruit new community members?
5- To disseminate news and updates about Fedora?
6- To announce Fedora events?
7- To provide help, documentation, & support for Fedora users?
8- To highlight how cool Fedora is, e.g. articles with examples of what 
you can do with Fedora, tutorials on how to do cool shiz with Fedora? 
(How can Fedora make my life better?)
9- For Fedora users and developers to discuss Fedora?
10- To make available Fedora (and FOSS-related cultural stuff) advocacy 
materials (think spreadfirefox.org)?
11- To excite people about Fedora
12- To highlight specific features in Fedora
13- To highlight specific groups/projects within Fedora

I kind of think 1, 2, 3, 7, 8 are most important to the audience members 
I think are who we should focus on. I think we've got all but 8 right 
now although of course we could be doing them much better. I think these 
are most important because I think these materials are most useful and 
focused towards folks who are not yet Fedora users - I think these might 
meet the sort of goals they might have (although talking to non-Fedora 
users about our website may enlighten us a bit better about what exactly 
their goals are. The goals I'm guessing they have are:

1- Figure out what the heck Fedora is.
2- Get Fedora.
3- Get involved in Fedora. (although I think this is probably the bottom 
of the list for them. We have to get them excited first.)
4- Find the answer to a problem they are having using Fedora.
5- Learn about what they can do with Fedora - get ideas for cool things 
to do with it.

You can see the correlation of the purpose <=> target audience goals.

That's only part of it, though. We also have to consider OUR goals as 
well. What are our goals for these pages? What do we want these pages to 
accomplish?

1- We want more users!
2- We want more contributors!
3- We want Fedora to look GOOD. We love Fedora and we want others to 
love it too!
4- We want to share FOSS and FOSS inspired ideas and culture because we 
believe it's better than the alternatives.
5- We want to help people. We want folks who can't afford proprietary 
software to get through school to have another option, to be able to 
learn and create new and cool things, to be able to share. We want 
Fedora to help solve their problems.

Any others? Any of these on crack? If we can figure out which is the 
most important to us RIGHT NOW that can maybe suggest some first steps? 
I think if we figure out:

(1) Who is our target audience?
(2) What are the goals of our target audience?
(3) What are our goals?

Then, the things we need to display on the website and their relative 
priorities and thus prominence / complexity I think will become more clear.

> BTW, this is not official, and its just a proposal that i think its
> necessary for the project.

Juan, I want to tell you that nothing is official. Don't feel that there 
is some kind of 'this is official' rubber-stamping process that has to 
take place before you can take any action, because there really isn't. 
You do it, it happens, no stamp needed. :)

~m