I think Kelcey nails I think we have adopted the format of most Apache sites but not sure that it provides a clear cut experience for each of our there e
- Prospects - Potential users that come to CS.org and want to learn screenshots, feature list, video webcast, case studies of successful users etc. - User - Resources for users including user guides, documentation, support mechanisms, IRC logs etc. - Developers - Users who want to extend or integrate with CloudStack including developer guide, wiki links to integrated technologies (e.g. Puppet Manifests, Chef Cookbooks, Nagios Plugins, etc.) I think that should be a design point should lead each type of user down the path. Right now we provide a smorgasbord and users of the site pick their own adventure. Perhaps we should be more prescriptive to help improve their success. I know Sonny floated a design already but I don't think it addressed these points specifically. Maybe we could take the feedback from this thread and have him do a rough wire frame and critique it to get to where we need to be. Also I would be glad to donate a Crazy Egg or we could use Google Analytics to figure out what people do on the site. Pre-Apache I knew what things people used the most and helped make those things easier to consume (screenshots, downloads and manuals where at the top of the list). Mark On 3/5/13 12:42 PM, "Kelceydamage@bbits" <kel...@bbits.ca> wrote: >I agree 100%, this is why I pointed out that at my company te ratio of >frontent Dev/artists to back end is 2.2:1. Marketing is a different world >then technology development. And it's generally lead by distinctly >seperate visionaries. > >We can not approach marketing and website appearance from a developer >point of view. The wiki is for devs/users, the website is for >sales(accept without any money) and marketing. > >I think researching similar sites is important, and if we get a mock-up I >am more then happy to have my web guys critique it, and provide >suggestions. > > >Thanks. > >Sent from my iPhone > >On Mar 5, 2013, at 9:05 AM, John Kinsella <j...@stratosec.co> wrote: > >> First thought: "noooooooooooooooo!" ;) >> >> Second thought: As ACS is a fairly major project and not a CI engine >>(sorry, butŠ), our website has three purposes: >> a) Get operational folks to want to try ACS >> b) Get developers interested in contributing to ACS >> c) Educate others about why ACS is so #@$@#$ awesome and they (or their >>teams, or their companies) should be using it. >> (feel free to expand/contrast on this) >> >> So, with that said - From my experience, the stereotypical Twitter >>Bootstrap sites do not say that to me. They say "this is a site that was >>quickly set up by a developer so he could get back to something else." >>There's not a single graphic element on inria's site - except for 2 >>buttons. Not pretty by any means, IMHO. I'm reminded of Ruby projects or >>Github projects who think 15 lines in their README.md is AWESOME for >>their project's website. >> >> Take a look at the other cloud provisioning project's site. Both looks >>better and does a better job of communicating what it is. >> >> Here's a few sites I've seen recently that I consider "pretty" and >>"modern" sites: >> >> https://jawbone.com/up - admittedly complicated >> https://www.meldium.com/ - probably bootstrap based, but at least looks >>good IMHO >> http://www.qualtrics.com/ >> http://couchdb.apache.org/ - Just pulled it up while looking through >>the ASF project list - not bad! >> >> One thing that we should probably do - look at the websites of other >>players in the space - OnApp, Eucalyptus, VMWare, etc. Our site has to >>play at that level, not a website built for an engineer looking for a CI >>platform (sorry, butŠ) >> >> I realize we need a site that's easy to manage and update, but let's >>see if we can balance that with something that people remember. >> >> John >> >> On Mar 5, 2013, at 5:11 AM, Sebastien Goasguen <run...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi, thinking about website designs, I ran into this one: >>> >>> https://ci.inria.fr >>> >>> It's simple, yet modern. >>> >>> I think something along this line with CloudStack logos and some good >>>thinking of categories would work well. >>> >>> -sebastien >> >> Stratosec - Secure Infrastructure as a Service >> o: 415.315.9385 >> @johnlkinsella >>
