On 8/3/07, Jesse Ross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > With 0.2 out the door and work starting on 0.3, I think it's time to put a > fresh face on the website. Some site-related issues I've noticed: > > > Technical > ------------------------------ > - Our Mediawiki installation is in desperate need of an upgrade (we're > using 1.4beta4, the current version is 1.10.1) > - The blog is using a different content management system (Blogger) than > the rest of the site (Mediawiki), thus we're all maintaining two separate > accounts to get content onto the site. > > > Content/Navigation > ------------------------------ > - Our blog is not functionally integrated into the overall site (URL or > navigation-wise) > - Content management/navigation of Mediawiki is problematic (pages are not > in well-defined parent categories, end-users have difficulty accessing > relevant content) > - Recent code progress is still not in a prominent location (making it hard > for users to know that we're still alive) > - We need good, recent documentation in an easily searchable/browsable > format > - URLs have a lot of cruft (ie: the About page is > at > http://www.etoile-project.org/etoile/mediawiki/index.php?title=EtoileWiki:About > , which would be much better as just http://etoile-project.org/about ) > > > Visual > ------------------------------ > - Our identity is using violet, white, gray and black now -- the blue, > green and patterned background are not a major part of our current identity > as of 0.2, and will not be used at all for 0.3 > - Large images (such as screenshots) overflow the page's edges > - The large central flower image, while attractive, provides no functional > information and becomes quickly redundant on subpages > - The blog should be using a similar theme as the rest of the site > > > > I know most people are comfortable with Mediawiki based on conversations > we've had before, but I'm wondering if using something else wouldn't be > better. In the past I've proposed WordPress, but Drupal looks like it might > be a good long-term solution also/instead. I'm wondering if anyone has any > other suggestions about what to do with the site, or if there are any major > objections to moving to something drastically different in the process of > building 0.3. > > I have some proposals for a new site hierarchy, which I've outlined below -- > if no one has any objections to it, I'd like us to move to something that is > more closely in line with this structure, regardless of what underlying > technical solution we use. A clean URL hierarchy will help us keep new > content focused and near other relevant content. It will be important to add > redirects into .htaccess so that old links are redirected to the proper > location. This won't be easy as it'll have to all be done by hand, but it > needs to happen to make sure people are ending up in (approximately) the > right location. > > Home etoile-project.org > - News /news (blogs, press, feeds) > - Etoile /etoile -> /etoile/$version (overview) > - Download /download -> /etoile/$version/download > (should also provide a link to /more) > - Features /features -> /etoile/$version/features > - Support /support (contact, bug submission, etc) > - Get More /more (apps, add-ons, etc) > - For Developers /dev -> dev.etoile-project.org > - Getting Started dev.etoile-project.org/start > - Installation dev.etoile-project.org/install > - Documentation dev.etoile-project.org/docs (needs to allow for user > comments) > - Status dev.etoile-project.org/status (CIA feed) > > ( -> represents a redirect) > > Please let me know if there is anything I'm missing. Other comments, > suggestions, flames, etc are always welcome.
I agree that we need to make the web site better, but I also concern the bandwidth, especially when we make a release. So personally prefer to use existing free services as much as possible. Why spend money while we can get the same result from free service. Download can host on GNA, especially for LiveCD. That's what we do now. Etoile Blog can host on blogger.com Currently, blogger.com is just an interface for our blog. The data is still on etoile-project.org. I see no reason to do that considering blogger.com offers almost everything except image storage. And because of that, we actually cannot fully use what blogger.com offers, for example, putting a RSS feed on the side bar. To me, it is better to move the whole blog onto blogger.com. We certainly can change the theme, which I do strongly support that. We also have space on GNA for web site (http://home.gna.org/etoile/). I would like to host API and user manual on it with a directory structure one-to-one mapped to source code. So for each components, you can also find either API for frameworks or user manual for applications. I think we can do static html with css since the document is either automatically generated or write by hand. Considering GNA can afford bigger bandwidth, I believe ANNOUNCEMENT and INSTALL can also host on it at root level. In that case, we can drive most of the traffic to GNA for each release. So what left is mostly discussion and design of Etoile environment, which is perfect for something like wiki. I seldom use content management, so I have no comment on the choice. But I believe it can be a place for more interaction while other place (download and manual) are more for static information. We can use GNA as front page with links to blog and wiki (or other choice). I believe in this way, we can reduce effort on infrastructure and spend more time on the content. Yen-Ju > > Thanks! > > > J. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Etoile-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/etoile-discuss > > _______________________________________________ Etoile-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/etoile-discuss
