It's not only dial-up. It also depends what you call broadband. That is not true in the western world but very true in developing nations. A broadband connection is pretty much anything that is not dial-up. For example here, in Vanuatu, My ADSL connection is 128Kbps. Add to that congestion and satellite delay and dial-up in North-America actually sounds good. :)
We can push a nicer image without creating a burden. As long as we don't go all flashy and graphic. Nice does not have to be complex. What is important is that people with slower connections are able to get the information they need. More importantly documentation, support and tutorials. Text is not heavy graphics are. As far as downloads go, the fact of the matter is that people in developing nations (specially the Pacific) don't typically download things like OpenOffice.org. The web is not the main distribution vector for FOSS, CD's are. Ubuntu for example is gaining a lot of ground because Canonical ships free CD at the click of a button. UNDP I believe also distributes software in bundles such as the now defunct Open CD and the Open disk. So to put it simply. In my opinion as far as the website goes it does not really matter to developing nation as long as support material is available to slower connection. S. On Dec 7, 2007 7:41 AM, :murb: [maarten brouwers] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > Graham once wrote: > > I'm on a dialup connection so it feels like that to me. :) > > > > Although I do not want to ignore dial up users, if we want to make a > choice, and we can significantly boost somehow our on-line identity, > then it might be good to have some numbers. > > In the old continent (Europe) these are the numbers published by > EuroStat, an official body of the EU. > > I believe that I read the numbers correctly when I say that ~80% of the > European households with an internet connection has a broadband internet > connection: > > http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_PRD_CAT_PREREL/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2007/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2007_MONTH_12/4-03122007-EN-BP.PDF > > Of course, when we are considering the 3rd world, we definitely > shouldn't make a website that is demanding from a bandwidth perspective. > > Nor is it good for server traffic. > > g., > > > Maarten > > > > Basically what I'm saying is that we provide little or no information to the > > new arrival but we expect him to blindly download an unknown piece of > > software. > > > > > >>> People come to a website for two main reasons > >>> > >>> *Curiosity > >>> *To solve a problem > >>> > >>> They will leave for more reasons: > >>> > >>> *Their curiosity has been satisfied and they leave informed > >>> *They find a solution to their problem > >>> *They can't satisfy that curiosity within a reasonable time and they > >>> leave frustrated > >>> *They can't find the solution or it is not obvious and they leave > >>> frustrated *Fear of the unknown > >>> > >>> Our problem is right now, and the discussions up to this point are > >>> reinforcing this point, we are not asking the User what he wants to do we > >>> are telling them what we expect them to do, We inform them where to > >>> download, but we don't give them information that will make them feel > >>> comfortable about hitting the download button, or to stretch our metaphor > >>> a bit further, we talk to our horse about the trough but not about how > >>> good the water is, while the horse is still worried about drowning.. > >> I think we're all concerned about ALL of these aspects, but we're our > >> presentation is flawed. There seems to be an emerging philosophical > >> discussion, on this list and elsewhere, about just HOW MUCH information > >> a homepage should provide (that old how many clicks will it take Marta > >> to really get what she wants), vs a more uncluttered presentation. This, > >> in essence, is what we're grappling with I think. I, for one, having > >> used open source products for quite some time now, don't have a good > >> feel for our "average" user if you want to know the truth. Maybe one of > >> the user support folks could weigh in more here. > >> > >>> So I've put together a draft of a front page continuing on the simplicity > >>> idea which I'm a fan of. The difference is that we provide "Answers to > >>> the Question" > >>> > >>> "You have arrived at OpenOffice.org what would you like to do now?" > >>> > >>> http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/mwiki/images/a/a3/Home_page_draft_11- > >>> 27.jpg > >> Well...this is actually a somewhat reasonable approach. I kind of like > >> RJ's version(s) a bit better, > > > > > >> also simple, because it seemed to provide > >> a bit more sophistication than your design but I think the basic idea is > >> the same. > > > > Actually I agree that Randy's is excellent, but I like this one even better > > > > http://www.patentpending.co.nz/images/openoffice/siteconcept1.png > > > > From IvanM off the art list, a variation on one of Nik's, except I would > > substitute the Statements as I have written them on mine rather than the > > How, where, what questions. At this point, I'm more focussed on the > > language > > we use to help the New Arrival because that will tend to define the next > > level pages. > > > >> I do feel, as some others have also said here, that *some* additional > >> elements, like a few "news" items, are good PR. > > > > At this point in the New Users connection with OOo I think News is > > unnecessary, that's the job of the why.openoffice.org page or similar > > > > I think we offer, at the first connection, as few options as possible. > > That's > > what my design was aimed at. Basically four choices all answering that > > question: > > > > "What do I want to do now?" > > > > Detail can be added further in and that detail can be geared toward the > > user. > > > > For instance someone clicking the "I want to know more before I download" > > would want to know about news of Major Deployments of OOo, or maybe > > testimonials, but probably wouldn't give a toss about really cool > > developments around UNO or Extensions Development. > > > > I think we provide that detail after we find out a little about the new > > arrivals. They will give us a clue as to what news they will want to see > > simply by the choices they make from that first click. > > > > PR is good but it works better when tuned to the individual. > > > > Cheers > > GL > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
