-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Devl Digest, Vol 46, Issue 39
From:
[email protected]
Date: Tue, July 21, 2009 3:46 pm
To:
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Hello Freenet (& design feedback) (Ian Clarke)
2. Re: Hello Freenet (& design feedback) (Cl?ment)
3. Re: Installer file name (
[email protected])
4. Re: Installer file name (Ian Clarke)
5. Re: Installer file name (Zero3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:40:56 -0500
From: Ian Clarke <
[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [freenet-dev] Hello Freenet (& design feedback)
To: Discussion of development issues <
[email protected]>
Message-ID:
<
[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Hey Brendan,
Thanks for sending this, I can't tell you how valuable it is to get a fresh
perspective on this stuff from an expert.
As far as color, do you have sense of what you want the brand colors to be?
> It looks like the new release of the app, and the logo mark, are blue.
> Perhaps consider having a blue-tone color theme rather that the black grey
> theme. Having the header black makes it feel "dark". I would be mindful of
> the connotations that "darkness" has (good and bad). Might be interesting to
> see a lighter treatment. Perhaps blue and grey of beige?
>
Yes, its a tough one - I agree that it would be valuable to see a few
options. We went for a white "open" feel with the current website, and
there are advantages to this to combat the sense that anonymity is something
negative.
> 2. Screenshots are great to have. Consider adding a trigger that says
> "Click to View Screenshots" under the one on the right, and on the
> destination page, add more screenshots and label what those screens are.
> Currently the destination page is just a single larger screenshot. Add a
> description telling the user which screen they are looking at and add
> additional screens of other parts of the app beneath it on this page and a
> link at the bottom to take the user back to the previous page, the home
> page.
>
Yes, we definitely need a better screenshot. Problem is that the current
Freenet UI isn't all that photogenic :-)
<--
I think that's okay. The screenshots here can reveal functionality by
showing different areas of the app. I think the aesthetics are
secondary to giving the visitor an understanding of what the app is and
what it allows you to do. I'd keep that in mind when selecting the screenshots.
-Brendan
-->
I agree with pretty-much all your other points. Clement, can you comment on
this?
Ian.
--
Ian Clarke
CEO, Uprizer Labs
Email:
[email protected]
Ph: +1 512 422 3588
Fax: +1 512 276 6674
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:33:44 +0200
From: Cl?ment <
[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [freenet-dev] Hello Freenet (& design feedback)
To: Discussion of development issues <
[email protected]>
Message-ID: <
[email protected]>
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="utf-8"
Le lundi 20 juillet 2009 18:08:50,
[email protected] a ?crit :
> Hi All,
> Over the past couple months I've been speaking with Ian about your
> fascinating project and recently, he's asked me to give feedback on the new
> site design so I've included a previous email addressing that below.
> Looking forward to more conversations with each of you!
> -Brendan
> p.s. Here's my brief bio: I am a digital product designer, interested in
> interactive design, information architecture, user experience, business
> strategy, and generally making life easier and more fun.
>
> //////////////
>
> Hi Ian,
>
> Overall, I think that this visual design is a nice step forward. The
> navigation is clearer, and having a single column structure gives you room
> for a left hand navigation down the road on lower-level pages, should you
> need it.
>
> As far as color, do you have sense of what you want the brand colors to
> be? It looks like the new release of the app, and the logo mark, are blue.
> Perhaps consider having a blue-tone color theme rather that the black grey
> theme. Having the header black makes it feel "dark". I would be mindful of
> the connotations that "darkness" has (good and bad). Might be interesting
> to see a lighter treatment. Perhaps blue and grey of beige?
>
That's true that we (I and my girlfriend) didn't think of that when we choosed
the colors. We took black and gray color because it generally looks clean, and
it help making a contrast with the reading zone (which is white here). But I
agree those colors don't mean anything.
With the current site, I choosed a blue gradient (which looks old) to white,
because it give a feeling of "freedom" (sky, ...).
Anyway, all that to say : I'll try with the colors you mentioned :)
> (As far as information design and the presentation of the content on the
> pages, see the comments below on structure and content. It makes sense to
> address the larger questions prior to focusing the presentation of
> page-level content.)
>
> That's pretty much my first blush on design.
>
> I think there are a couple quick-wins that are usability related, that
> I've included below (1&2).
>
> PAGE: Home page:
>
http://amphibian.dyndns.org.nyud.net/freenet/newsite/index.html
>
> 1. Since you've opted to have the app installer automatically begin the
> install after they click (instead of downloading first) Here are a few
> preparatory steps you might want to include to prepare the suer. Make the
> label on the button more descriptive and consider adding a few bullets
> above the button to describe the installation process. For instance:
> "Getting started is easy! When you install, you'll do the following:
>
> ? Download and automatically open the installer
> ? Set your security preference and connection speed
> ? Explore the feature through the Getting Started Tutorial"
> ["Install Freenet now" = button label]
>
Hum, that's a good idea, but I can see a problem : we use _javascript_ to detect
the OS, and display only the right button. But, if _javascript_ is turned off, or
the browser doesn't send the name of the OS it's running on, we show all three
buttons.
So, if we add the little paragraph above, with no js, it will looks like this
:
[Win button]
[Paragraph above]
[MacOS button]
[Linux/unix button]
And I'm not sure it would be clear for the user.
<--
Can we auto-detect their platform and just serve them the appropriate
button (and content) for that platform? (we can include a link to a separate download
page where they can download for other platforms - "Click here to
download the app for other operating systems").
I think the main idea is to make it as simple as possible for them to
download it for their platform off the homepage AND to let them know
what will happen whne they initiate the download/install process.
How does that sound?
-Brendan
-->
> 2. Screenshots are great to have. Consider adding a trigger that says
> "Click to View Screenshots" under the one on the right, and on the
> destination page, add more screenshots and label what those screens are.
> Currently the destination page is just a single larger screenshot. Add a
> description telling the user which screen they are looking at and add
> additional screens of other parts of the app beneath it on this page and a
> link at the bottom to take the user back to the previous page, the home
> page.
>
Yeah, screenshot suck right now. To tell the truth, I didn't focused on it,
since we don't have any good looking screenshot, and I was waiting for it.
Plus, we don't know what to do :
one screenshot, as it is now, reduced (which looks ugly), linking to the
screenshots page ?
several screenshots focused on features, like
http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/ ?
I'd vote for the second one (but it needs more screenshots...).
> I like the "Latest News" item. Feels like a 'heartbeat' on the site.
> That's good.
>
Cool :)
> Here's some additional food for though regarding content and structure.
>
> Have a look at panic.com or
http://www.panic.com/transmit/ and check out
> how they have loads of features on the product page. Consider having a
> "product features" page with iconography and a quick description of each
> feature. This is a nice way to pay off your central product 'value
> proposition' (Ex. "Share, Chat, Browse. Anonymously. On the Free Network."
> - Then give a list of features somewhere on the site that explains this in
> a bit more detail.)
>
Good idea.
> Here's a big structure idea. It looks like there are two main content
> areas: Content related to the app: And, content related to the Freenet
> Project. In the future, restructuring the site, and making a clear
> distinction between these two types of content, could really help the
> overall UX and usability of the site. This type of structure would also
> help a broader audience to self-segment and get to their desired content
> more easily.
Well, I'd like more input on this if it's possible, because that's what I
wanted to do, but didn't figure out how to do that (for instance, do the
about/people page concern the app, or the project ? I'd say it concerns the
project, so, where do I put it (since I can't let it in the same menu than app
related items) ?). The problem is how to make this separation visible on the
site (separate menu, domain, ...) ?
<--
I agree, Clement. This is a bigger discussion, but it sounds like we're
on the same page in agreeing that it would be good to try to make these
distinctions in the content. Ian, this would be a good example of an IA
engagement/exercise ("content strategy" resulting in a new "sitemap").
When and what do you think next steps would be on this?
-Brendan
-->
>
> Best,
> Brendan
