making the website better

Juan Camilo Prada juankprada at gmail.com
Wed Feb 6 13:51:38 UTC 2008


Hi Máirín!

On Wed, 2008-02-06 at 02:02 -0500, Máirín Duffy wrote:

> Hi Juan!
> 
> Juan Camilo Prada wrote:
> 
> > 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?

I was thinking exactly what you said, what its important about it is
that (imo) we have to give the user the idea the project is ongoing,
that the website is constantly updated showing the latest information
available related to the project (thats the news).

The thing about static websites is that, if the content is always the
same, the website will become something not worth to visit, as you
already know whats in it. By adding some kind of dynamic content, there
might be always a reason to visit it.

> > * A direct link (or links) to download the liveCDS or iso DVD
> 
> We already have this, no?

Yes we have it, i was just thinking it was a good idea to put some info
about the current release of the operating system in the front page

> > * 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.
> > 

Then lets work on the implementation!

> > 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/

Extactly, something similar to that, withouth sending the user to the
wiki, or any of the listed "tools", as i said before, the main site
should provide as much basic information about the project as possible.

> > 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's easily determined. Most of the old fedora
contributors/users, know how to use the wiki and they use it as their
primary information source. So they would be our primary target

The idea would be to attract new people, coming from whatever other
distro/OS they are using, encouraging them to join the project and
contribute!

> 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:
> 

I got your point and i totally agree with you, Ive managed to get some
non-linux users to visit the website (about 15 people) , and all of them
agree that, we are promoting the project and the distro, but we are not
highlighting the pros about using it instead of some other distro out
there.

> 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.)

You are right about number 3, but we really should encourage them to
join, The project is about contribution, and so it should be
highlighted, and new people should know they can and they should
contribute!

> 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.
> 

Great, that's is what i was expecting. Lets define exactly the items
that we should work on, lets do it. :)

> > 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
> 
Thanks Máirín for your reply, you really helped me clarify mi points about this!





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