Top Ten Tasks For www.fedoraproject.org

Máirín Duffy duffy at redhat.com
Fri May 9 05:41:09 UTC 2008


Hi folks,

We had a pretty active discussion tonight in #fedora-websites about how 
to move forward with our website's static pages and how to best improve 
them. We decided that it would be a good idea to focus on the top ten 
things we want people to be able to do on our website, in priority 
order, and really strive to make those things as simple and easy to do 
as possible. We could first do usability testing to see how difficult it 
is to do these 10 things on the website today, and from that get a 
pretty good list of things we're doing wrong to inform an improved design.

Here are the ten items we came up with in order of highest priority to 
lowest priority. After the list of ten are some of the more detailed 
ideas we came up with for achieving each. I've tried to pose these 
details as action items when possible so it's clear how folks can dive 
in and start helping out!

Let us know what you think!

Top 10 Tasks www.fedoraproject.org Visitors Should Be Able To Do
================================================================

1. In one click, download the x86 Fedora Desktop Live Media ISO image. 
(or whichever we deem is/would be the most popular / best for new users)

2. Easily access to support tailored for NEW users.

3. Figure out what Fedora is / what the project is all about.

4. Join Fedora

5. See / Learn about all of the cool things you can make and do with 
Fedora and how other people use Fedora.

6. Catch up on what is happening in Fedora, right now? What's the latest?

7. Give back to Fedora. (different from joining. Joining is more of a 
commitment)

8. Download specific versions / form factors of Fedora. (as opposed to 
#1 which is one click)

9. Get Fedora bling! Spread Fedora!

10. Access developer tools and documentation for Fedora.

Detailed Discussion
===================

1. In one click, download the x86 Fedora Desktop Live Media ISO image. 
(or whichever we deem is/would be the most popular / best for new users)
    - ACTION ITEM: Research: What is our most popular download?
    - ACTION ITEM: Mockup what this button/link/etc will look like, 
where will it be on the page, will it be persistent throughout the whole 
site?

===

2. Get access to support tailored for NEW users.

    - Basic Info to make accessible as easily as possible:
      - Common Bugs page - what are known issues and their workarounds
      - How do I use the ISO I just downloaded? / Burning Media
      - What is Live Media? Will it hurt my computer?
      - How do I do a full install from Live Media? Dual Boot? (new 
users less likely to go full-on Fedora)
      - How do I install new software on Fedora?
      - How do I keep Fedora updated?
      - How do I upgrade my older version of Fedora?
      - Desktop User Guide?
      - instructions for folks without network access (using yum without 
network)
    - ACTION ITEM: Research:Ask #fedora folks what people ask for help 
with the most
    - ACTION ITEM: Mock-up where a link to a page of newbie help 
information would be and what the page would look like, plus have an 
area for more advanced how to get help
    - ACTION ITEM: Remove the need of the wiki for basic information and 
set it in fp.o (I'd like to see how the new wiki works organizationally too)
    - ACTION ITEM: docs.fp.o is working on a user guide and an admin 
guide, find out what state that is in, and its home
    - ACTION ITEM: Theme docs.fp.o to better match www.fp.o

===

3. Figure out what Fedora is / what the project is all about.

    - This is explained well by the blurb on the front page now, but 
could have more information
      - ACTION ITEM: Mockup about Fedora website section
      - ACTION ITEM: Writeup: Integrate more of /wiki/Overview for 
extended information "About Fedora"
      - ACTION ITEM: Writeup: Cite articles aboout Fedora - Fedora in 
the news +1
      - ACTION ITEM: Writeup: What makes Fedora different from other 
operating systems? From other Linux distros?
      - ACTION ITEM: Decide placement for screenshot tour link on www.fp.o
      - ACTION ITEM: Writeup & gather content for a "For The Press" section
        - archive of press kits
        - media contact information (pfrields, Kara)
        - interview archive
        - All the things a newbie reporter type needs to know
        - Learn more - talk to a local ambassador?

===

4. Join Fedora
    - ACTION ITEM: Move content: Current list of skillsets mapped to 
teams/SIGs is good, but make it all static rather than dumping people 
into the wiki.
    - List of sigs => align to skill set
      - ACTION ITEM: Mockup: Maybe have a details page for every SIG to 
talk about what they do, how they communicate, when/where they meet, 
what software they use, etc.
      - ACTION ITEM: Decision: We need clear divide about where the 
functionality of the wiki starts (this has always been annoying)

===

5. See / Learn about all of the cool things you can make and do with 
Fedora and how other people use Fedora.
    - ACTION ITEM: Writeup: What are 10 cool things Fedora users can do, 
and what applications can they do them with? For example:
      - "With Fedora you can manage the family photos. Download images 
from your camera with gphoto. Upload images from your computer to flickr 
with Flickr Uploadr. Or set up your own webserver and gallery with 
gallery. Burn a photo CD with nautilus. Create greeting cards using your 
photos with glabels."
      - Focus on people.
    - ACTION ITEM: Case-studies: some of the user stories pfrields has 
been collecting would be wonderful especially with photos and 
interviews, and with call-outs to the relevant Fedora applications 
involved in each case study. Pick a few of these and write them up, 
gather photos, links, and other content.
    - Fedora Spins
    - ACTION ITEM: Writeup: Maybe pick a dozen or so of the most popular 
applications in Fedora and have writeups and banner ad promos?)

===

6. What is happening in Fedora, right now? What's the latest?

  - ACTION ITEM: Mockup: What's happening in Fedora page/section
  - Planet Fedora
      - planet fedora divided up by language plus across all languages
      - planet fedora divided up by SIG/team (e.g. planet fedora: art team)
    - giant RSS feed aggregate like planet fedora for bodhi, koji, etc
    - bodhi updates? rate the package? security updates? package builds?
    - fedoranews
    - meetings (#fedora-meeting)
      - meeting logs
      - scheduled meetings / upcoming meetings
    - new artwork feed :)
    - Events
    - News articles about Fedora? Red Hat magazine articles? (Different 
than Fedora News, more like mainstream media mentions)

===

7. Give back to Fedora. (different from joining. Joining is more of a 
commitment)

- bugzilla - file/report a bug!
   - nice tutorial for writing a useful bug report?
- support fedora free media?
- become a mirror
- put bling on your site / link back to Fedora (link to bling page)
- ACTION ITEM: Research: what other things can folks do to give back to 
Fedora?
- ACTION ITEM: Mockup: What will the give back to Fedora page/section 
look like?

===

8. Download specific versions / form factors of Fedora. (as opposed to 
#1 which is one click)

- KDE spin
- Full DVD ISO
- alternative arches (x86_64, ppc?)
- older releases (fc1, fc2, etc)
- download/get the source
- mirror list
- ACTION ITEM: Mockup: What will the full 'get Fedora' page look like?

===

9. Get Fedora bling! Spread Fedora!

- ACTION ITEM: Mockup: What will the Fedora bling page look like?
- ACTION ITEM: Gather: What bling do we have out there? What license is 
each under?
- website banners
- t-shirt designs with iron-on instructions
- stickers and printing instructions
- forum sig bars / im avatars
- posters
- etc :)
- kind of like spreadfirefox.com
- Fedora elevator pitch?

===

10. Access developer tools and documentation for Fedora.

- Links to all useful developer tools like:
   - koji
   - bodhi
   - FAS
   - wiki
   - how to find out who owns a package - koji?
   - commonly-used documentation like package-building guide, cvs 
policies, etc
   - J5 is working on a myFedora project for developers... this might be 
that or very strongly related
- ACTION ITEM: Sync up: discuss with J5!

~m






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