On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 9:36 PM, Miles Fidelman <[email protected]>wrote: > > Not to get into a contest here, but I've been building web sites since > about 1995 (and gopher sites > before that). And doing sales and business development since 1974. >
*rolls eyes* > Web sites are, by and large, NOT like print ads - they generally are not > the first point of contact that someone has with a "product." Rather they > are "collateral" - akin to brochures, spec. sheets, case studies, and the > like. Someone is likely to go to the CouchDB web site AFTER > hearing/reading about CouchDB somewhere else, and goes to > couchdb.apache.org (or more likely couchdb.org) looking for details - > specs, white papers, slide shows, a list of who's using CouchDB, a live > demo, and signs that the project is alive, widely used, and supported by a > strong community of maintainers and developers, (and perhaps a commercial > ecosystem that can provide hosting, development, and other forms of > support). > Good point. Gonna add it to the wiki? (I never said it was like a print ad, I think I side the exact opposite, no?) > By and large, at least when I'm evaluating software for use on a project > or internally, I'm looking for two things: > - a quick understanding of the software (who, what, where, why, how, etc.) > - PPTs, screen shots, demos, white papers > - a strong community > > By and large a user and developer oriented site, with a highly visible > "learn more" link is far more effective as a marketing vehicle than > something that looks like a print ad. Do you think we disagree on this? > Ummm... it's pretty hard to find. I had to go back through the email > thread to find it, and the archives are not even searchable. What? I presume you've been following this thread? Did you not open it the first time I linked to it? You're complaining that you had to go back through your emails to find a link? What? The archives are searchable if you use Markmail. > The quickest way to turn off potential users is to make information hard > to find. There's no link to the Wiki on the front page. Yes there is. It's in the Quick Links section. > Absolutely. Pretty much everything anybody might look for is right there > - including WTF is MongoDB and Download. Please add SPECIFIC suggestions to the wiki. > Well, if it were me, I'd have a single link to a mailing list page like > http://www.erlang.org/static/**doc/mailinglist.html<http://www.erlang.org/static/doc/mailinglist.html>- > not clutter up the front page with all the details. We chose to go with a single serving website.
