On Tuesday 04 December 2007 21:59:01 :murb: [maarten brouwers] wrote: > Hi Graham, Hi Maarten,
> > >> 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. > > > > I have no issue with that, the important thing with the Why page is the > > richness of the content. We have nothing anywhere that approaches it > > in terms of information for newbies > > Well, I don't want to throw it away, I only think that if you have a > minimalist first page and you get thrown at the why page (less good > example to make my point), or the support page (better example)... the > pages we send most people to (which are connected to the 5 action > statements) should follow the same guidelines as the main page. Else... One of the reasons I like the Why page is the way the information is framed in nice short "sound bites" It gives a lot of information but does it in a way that is not in the least overwhelming > > > We have to be careful that we don't isolate the Homepage from all of the > > project pages, that would simply be bad management. > > We were using the shop metaphor. Not including the subsequent pages in the > redesign would be comparable to window dressing a factory warehouse. Fair comment, I'll retain an open mind then. > > > The homepage is the gateway to the rest of the site. It is true that > > we should have some Interface Guidelines, however uniformity can be > > viewed as conservative, lacking in imagination, lacking in Dynamism when > > in fact OOo is completely the opposite > > I am only talking about the first pages, not about the entire site, that > would also simply be impossible. I only think it is a bad idea that just > after the welcome you should send users into grey hallways, second door > left, and there you'll find it probably. One of the reasons I stuck with Why - Support - Contributing - Download is that they actually all have good content but possibly need a little visual tuning and any tuning of content will just be about removing unneeded content. or Editing toward a certain goal > > [...] > > > It certainly doesn't seem to worry Microsoft > > > > http://support.microsoft.com/ > > http://www.msn.com/ > > http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/default.aspx > > That is an unfair comparison, since it is about totally different > products, and even these pages have things in common like the use of blue. > I don't want to adhere to the Sun website guidelines, even though I like > the visual appeal of it. Well two have a direct comparison to the OOo site. Support is different to Office, We still have to adhere to our CI but I think that within that we should have some flexibility, just like MS > > > I'm also mindful of the timeframe. Creating a new Homepage that > > leverages what we have already is achievable within the timeframe, then > > downstream we update the others. They are a resource that should not be > > wasted > > The timeframe can be extended if we need more time, we shouldn't launch a > half-baken website. I think what Louis wanted is merely a good proposal. > Before going online it probably has to go through the community council > and or project leads etc. So we need to come with a convincing proposal. I > don't see why, given the activity we have seen lately, that creating a > good proposal is impossible before the 15th. Hell no me neither, it's been really productive up till now, i see no reason for that to change. I'll just toss it in the ring every now and then for the hell of it ! ;) > > g., > > > > Maarten > > -- Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Moderator New Zealand www.theingots.org.nz GET DRESSED : GET OOOGEAR Gear for the well dressed OOo Advocate www.ooogear.co.nz --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
