Hi Cristian, Nicu, [snip]
> >Quoting: >"One question that does work well in a website survey is "Why are you >visiting our site today?" This question goes to users' motivation and >they can answer it as soon as they arrive." > > >This could show us a map as to what they look most on the website and >then we can decide better regarding the content of the HP. > >A simple poll with predefined answers and with a "Other (please >specify)" text box at the end could do the trick. > >If we were to develop it into a survey we would only need to add other >non-usability related questions such as: >- Since when are you using OOo ? >- Is this the first time you are coming to OOo site ? >- Are you a registered member of the website ? >....etc > >What do you think ? I think it would be interesting but at the same time we have to be a little more enterprising: we want users to know some things about our project and product. The key point is to make those things we want known to be easily known. Usability is one side of the debate. Most of the people on this list, I'd imagine (and I am sure Matthew and Maarten are groaning now), have long been familiar with Nielsen, who of course was most popular in the 90s as the strongest exponent of "usability." The other side of the debate was held by designers, who believed in captivating aesthetic design as the way for websites to succeed. Nowadays, few designers think the debate is worth pursuing: good design means good usability but does not mean only usability or only aesthetics. Some rather clear documents on the debate are here, more or less in order of usefulness. http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/sphere_of_design.cfm http://www.digital-web.com/articles/end_of_usability_culture http://www.alistapart.com/articles/marsvenus/ http://www.lighthousedigital.co.uk/approach/usability.cfm > >> >>> Building such a study should have been a marketing task: to collect >>> feedback, judge it, prioritize the needs based on facts and then work >>> with the website designers and usability specialists to reach the best >>> HP formula, no matter if the initiative came from Website project or >>> from Marketing project. >> >> >> Louis directed us to website statistics, to see what pages are >> really used by visitors, but this information should be taken with a >> grain of salt, because usage is influenced by our current design Indeed the stats are to be taken with a pinch of salt... but they are revealing. For instance, lots click on "todos" but fewere on "development"; tens of thousands on "product information" but hardly any on "awards" (same box). Clearly usage is influenced by design--no one would dispute that. Good design makes what we think important for users obvious; it also makes what users want (eg, product information not awards), also obvious. And to reduce clutter, we need then to have unique signifiers for signifieds. We have now "development" and also "contributing" ; "todos" competing with "contributing" competing with "development"; all cater to slightly different audiences but the real result, I think all would agree is clutter: the visitor to the site does not konw which to go to or even which relates to her. So far that reason a good design should have unique elements only for those things we want to showcase. > >But without studying the user a bit we stay on the "I think", "I >believe", "I feel" types of statements on which we can argue forever. > >This is why I proposed a poll or if more usefull a several questions >survey. It may help deciding and it completes the picture. I think it adds to the picture. I do not think getting naive visitors' views on what they want helps us decide what we want. For the homepage, we need to, yes, make it easy for visitors to download OOo, as many come here for that purpose. But we also want to demonstrate what the project is, what it is doing and in a fashion that is clear without distracting from our other goals. For the problem of the current site is that it does not present a clear picture to the visitor of any one thing. it's not a busy space but it is a confusing space. I think the three contenders--Maarten's, Matthew's, Jacqueline's--all are real improvements on the current page. I'll present a summary critique later today that Kay and I can send on to the project leads. > >> >>> The current SourceCast does have forums included. Only that they are >>> not used. Why ? >> >> >> i believe because those are hidden and compared with other solutions >> (like phpBB for example) hard to use and unfriendly The forums are occasionally used. They are not, as Nicu points out, as friendly as oooforums, but there is no compelling reason not to use them. I think they make a useful addition to ad-hoc discussions. One must be a project member to use them, however. >> > > >Best, >Cristian. best Louis --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
