This past weekend, the OpenStreetMap.org front page launched with a new design. This was a big step for a site whose design hasn't changed much in 7 years [1]. The goal of the redesign was to make the site more inviting for newcomers, easier and more efficient for veterans, to clean it up and refresh its looks, and to resolve a number of longstanding usability issues and bugs.
See for yourself - before Friday last week: http://cl.ly/image/1P3f2N2z0b0p Since Friday last week: http://cl.ly/image/350W0v023A0u Concretely, here are the improvements we implemented: - A better experience for new contributors. There is now a concise explanation of what OSM is and an invitation to get involved that isn't lost in the noise of other elements competing for attention. Secondarily, the new help and about pages provide a dedicated place to expand on that initial introduction -- something that simply can't be done effectively in the confines of a sidebar. - A better experience for veterans. There's now more space for the map and a sidebar that functions efficiently for the task at hand, whether it be searching for a location, browsing data, or reviewing changes. There's no longer a needless distinction between "browsing" a feature and "viewing it on the map". And navigating between features and changesets is fluid, fast, and preserves more context. - A modern look and feel. While there is no doubt design is to some degree subjective, the fact is that any design communicates a message. In short, the old design looked dated, haphazard, and uncoordinated. The new design aims to communicate the fact that the OSM community is alive, growing, experienced, and competent. One comment on the pull request said the new design "looks way too 'professional'" for a community website -- well, I think that's a good thing. :) - Bug fixes and usability improvements. Most notably, the site works much better on mobile devices. For other fixes, see the linked issues at end of the pull request ([5]). It's noteworthy what we didn't change: - We didn't add or remove major features - We didn't change the logo or color scheme - We didn't change the prominence of key features such as viewing, editing or browsing changesets - User profiles, diaries, messaging, and other interior pages have seen only minimal changes This work brings to culmination a process that involved multiple talks and birds of a feather sessions at conferences [2], conversations on mailing lists [3], several previous design iterations [4], and the longest pull request in the history of OpenStreetMap [5]. A big thank you to everyone who's been involved in making this happen. This effort involved many hands. From my colleagues Saman, Eden and Aaron who laid out the design and slugged through many lines of code to get the pull request ready to merge, to Tom Hughes who helped reviewing and got the pull request ready to launch in one last final push. A big thank you also to anyone who helped along the way with reviewing, testing and pointing out issues -- it greatly helped improve the result. This redesign is a leap forward, but not the end-all be-all. There is most definitely room for improvement, and constructive feedback and hands-on help is always welcome. If you'd like to get coding on OpenStreetMap and you'd like a hand, please hit me up on IRC. If you're looking to file an issue [6], please follow these steps: - Describe the problem rather than a particular solution. It is much easier to communicate if there is a common understanding of the problem that should be solved. - Be as specific as possible. - Search for existing reports. - Use a good title :) In the days since the launch on Saturday the openstreetmap-website issue tracker has been busy with adjustment and polish work. Here's a run down of key fixes: - Added a close button to the welcome message for non-logged-in users - Restored support for bbox and min/max/lon/lat URL parameters - Fixed opening browse links in a new tab or window - Fixed cosmetic issues with long tag keys or values - Fixed errors when clicking on certain search results - Fixed issues with changeset feeds Tom, Aaron and I will continue to look at important remaining issues in the days ahead. Again, thanks to everyone who helped out with this work. Constructive, community-driven collaboration is what makes OSM great. cheers, John [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20060105000147/http://www.openstreetmap.org/ [2] http://vimeopro.com/openstreetmapus/state-of-the-map-us-2013/video/68093877, https://vimeo.com/mapbox/review/75978159/984cfdb5af [3] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2013-November/068555.html, https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2013-November/068577.html, https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2013-July/067564.html, https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2013-July/067595.html, https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2013-July/067730.html [4] https://www.mapbox.com/blog/improving-openstreetmap-dot-org/ [5] https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/498 [6] https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/issues _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
