Hi; On Mon, 2007-12-03 at 22:16 +0100, :murb: [maarten brouwers] wrote: > Hi Graham, and everybody else who is still with us ;) , > > First, to all, I would like to see others to join the discussion if they > are interested in something besides aesthetics, the actual content and > information to be presented. Taking that liberty.
[snip] > >> 4. http://www.apple.com/iwork/ > > > > Nobody at apple has dialup, that is obvious. > > :) I think that the http://www.molcan.cz/download/ooo3.jpg is still the best so far: I laid it out, using tabs in my browser, next to other attractive sites, particularly to the iWork site. Try it. I think you will find it draws your attention more than any other except iWork. Other suggestions presented are prettier and more sophisticated, but to me, the main factor is drawing the viewer in, to encourage him to explore the possibilities. The page has four easy to follow quadrants that a viewers eye moves to one-by-one: First Quadrant: Picture of a person - always holds attention. In the molcan example, the picture is a bit amusing, indicative of fun, not heavy lifting. Asks the main question for a newbie "What is OpenOffice?". I would drop the '.org' here only. New users might not have figured out yet they are looking only at an office suite. They don't have to buy into a whole organization. I would link to a page which uses the why.openoffice.org copy. There could be several sub-pages if necessary. The picture should be placed on a big obvious 3D button with lots of depth. We are inviting them to explore. I would make all the buttons in white and grey tones; with the picture pasted on top but button edges visible. Second Quadrant: Pictures of OOo. The user knows or can confirm instantly what he is getting -- an office suite. I would change the screen shots to more obviously a word processor and a spread sheet and fade into Draw, Impress, Base. Other than that leave screen shots on 2D surface. I would leave the download tag (I like the curled right bottom as an extra attention getter) 2D but chose a more prominent colour; green or orange. I would continue to use the blue tittle bar of one of the faded screen shots to point to the download tag. A viewer's eye subconsciously follows it to the next quadrant. I would try to invent a title that is snappier than "Open your office with OpenOffice.org". Third Quadrant: The link buttons should be the same but like the picture button in the first quadrant; more 3D depth in white tones. Each button should lead to the equivalent of a home page for each sub-topic. It would be nice, if the tags could be drawn to appear to be three dimensionally bending up and over the corner of their button. If possible, I would change the title of 'CONTRIBUTE' to 'PARTICIPATE'. Contribute right in a viewers face at the start sounds like money is involved. Participate has definite overtones of community. The 'DOWNLOAD NOW' home page should contain lots of assurances. I.e. warnings can be writing positively so that the feel supportive rather than threatening. I wouldn't change the name 'EXTENSIONS', but perhaps have a link to upgrades on both the download and extension page. Or add an additional button that says 'UPGRADES' or 'ADVANCED UPGRADES'. Fourth Quadrant: The eye only rests here momentarily -- it *is* the last space (quadrant) but it is enough to balance the page. The RSS indicates that OOo is a cutting edge, on going, progressive, widely used and supported office suite worth exploring. Fifth Quadrant: (An intentional oxymoron.) As I said elsewhere, once the home page is perfected, slap a big garish 'FREE' on it. Perhaps placed in the centre beneath the screen shots and next to the 'DOWNLOAD NOW' tag. I wouldn't be afraid of an ellipse with a red background, the word 'FREE' in bright yellow, with a white outline attached to 3D extending rays. It could be a link button to a page describing all the conditions under which OOo is free, with a PDF copy of the GPL license if someone wants to download it. > > > Not bad, still requires reasonable level of web sophistication. > > > > Non intuitive links, slow loading graphics. > > > > But give it a 7 > > because? > > > This should then refer to the extension page. > > > The need in each statement is to connect the " I " with OpenOffice.org in > > the > > Users mind, through an action. The above fulfills that > > So then I questioned, how does it fit in with the user requirements ( > http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Pages_Requirements ): > > >> - international users (you have indeed the map, but why should this > >> follow the same approach) > > ?? > > >> - we want to promote extentions, should we add "I have OpenOffice.org, > >> but want to extend it" > > > > Next level? Not sure. Sophisticated Users recognise tool bar type links > > easily in the same way we have now. Perhaps we gear the links up there > > toward that market. > > > > You could have > > Issues | Native Language | Uno | Extensions | Forum | Login | Search > I don't think tool bars are necessary on the home page, but would be needed on a sub-page if transferring around to other sub-pages. > I think you are skipping hear a group, enthousiastic people, who know > that Office suites can do more, and think computing can be fun as well. > Those people want new fonts, images, cliparts, or want a small program > that can help them with their household finance, and then I have left > out this discussion the interest of companies, who might be interested > in what can be done with OpenOffice.org after some more advanced > tweaking using extensions they might create themselves. However those > users shouldn't yet be bothered with Issues, Uno etc. Btw., why is > Native Language there? There is a large non-English audience... > I agree with the use of the word 'enthusiastic' -- means people who are a little more OOo and web page literate. They can more easily handle more specific links. Maybe 'EXTENSIONS ETC.' on the home page then a choice and a toolbar in the 'EXTENSIONS' sub-home page. > >> - do you think it is still appropriate to include some lines explaining > >> in very global terms, e.g. "OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and > >> multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with > >> all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and > >> distribute. " > > > > Yes and No. It's about prominence on launch and so long as it is readable > > but > > not the most prominent thing when the page launches. However the above > > statement is clear and concise and relevant and gives our casual "Foot > > traffiic" client one more nudge to hit the "I want to learn more...." > > button / icon / link. I'm more in favour than not KISS. Put definitions in sub-domains. In this case, the 'What is OpenOffice?' sub-home page. > > Something different though, > > you have always said that buttons on the main page could directly refer > to the most appropriate subdomains. I think this is a bad idea, and I > would keep things more under control of one 'authority', being this > group. Only then we can guarantee style consistency, which is important > for the user experience as well. Maybe you don't think this is that > interesting, but I don't think the landing on the why page, which has a > totally different lay-out than the normal OpenOffice.org website (~first > page ;) ) is communicating quality. Imho, this years redesign should > include subpages for the main buttons, thus including learn, download etc. > > g., Yes. I believe this process should develop both the main home page and the sub-home pages that go with it. Regarding one-click downloads; I don't think a download would be used or expected off of the home page. In fact, some new users might get annoyed at having an office suite dumped on their machine when all they wanted to do was to take a look at what a download and installation involves. Give them a download page; give them reassurances and explanations on that page; then, let them have the one-click download. Regards Bill --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
