Please don't worry about the criticism possibility. This sort of
feedback and interest in the site is just what we need to get some
improvement going!
I guess in general I'd just like to see bigger changes to really make
a good site.
-David
On Sep 15, 2006, at 11:48 PM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
David,
I see what you mean and for me it's fine.
By the way, my comments were not intended to be a criticism to the
current site (that, all in all, I like) but things that I have
noticed because I use those links everyday (to go to new/old Jira
etc...) and in the last few months (with the migration to the
Incubator etc...) we had to add a lot of new ones.
Yes, all in all I like the current site, even if I concede I'm not
the best one who could judge the look&feel of a site: this is one
of the things that I tend to ignore when I visit a site and I'm
also a bit colour-blind!
Jacopo
David E Jones wrote:
I very much agree that the ofbiz.org web site could use some
improvement, although I rather think that at this point it needs
more of a planned re-design rather than iterative improvements.
First maybe some background of the current site:
1. the structure of the site, except for reorganizing and adding
some color to the home page about a year and a half ago (looks
like April 2005), has not changed in a few years and is basically
the original structure of the site
2. the intent of the web site from the beginning of the project
has been to serve the needs of developers and hopefully attract
contributors, ie people that are detail oriented and have the
skills and/or interest necessary to be able, and likely to,
contribute to the project in a meaningful way
3. the project is now reaching a point where we do want to attract
more end-users that will likely not contribute directly to the
project, or even interact directly with it, but that are certainly
still extremely important to the long term success and stability
of the project
4. the web site has been created and maintained by a single person
(yours truly and sincerely) with little feedback except for
occasional small mistakes or needs for change or contributions
like testimonials and case studies (which we could use a LOT more
of); the person who has created and is maintaining the site has
done quite a bit of research on web site usability including
reviewing various case studies (the current "big page" design for
the home page was based on a case study of amazon.com) and studied
human-computer interaction in his one semester of graduate school,
and so he knows very well that one of the big problems with the
current site is that it has had no usability studies, and not
enough feedback from actual users to substitute for that; he is
also not a graphic designer and has demonstrated this by creating
the current layout and color scheme of the ofbiz site
Because of this history of the site and the changing direction of
the project, my opinion is that instead of starting with what
we've got and talking about moving things around, perhaps we
should start with more of a blank slate and talk about what we'd
like the site to look like, and then after something is in place
there review the current stuff and decide where everything should
go (including a trash bin option...).
With iterative changes at this point, like the ones you've
proposed which are individually good, I think it could hide
resources or make the site more difficult to navigate for a while,
ie until it finally settles down, and during that period it could
be even worse than it is now in terms of usability, find-ability,
et cetera.
-David
On Sep 15, 2006, at 4:31 AM, Jacopo Cappellato wrote:
Hi all,
what about simplifying the main page of the OFBiz website:
http://incubator.apache.org/ofbiz/
?
I've started reviewing the links in the left column (that for
your convenience I've copied at the bottom of this message), and
I think that some of them are unnecessary and can be removed or
at least moved to a new web page named "Misc Resources" (or
something like this).
In detail:
1) the section "Cool Sites" could be removed
2) the sections "Apache OFBiz Communities" and "Apache OFBiz
Related Blogs" could be moved to the new "Resources" page
3) in the "What is OFBiz?" section, the links "Brochures",
"Conference Videos" and "Framework Intro Videos" should be moved
to the http://incubator.apache.org/ofbiz/documents.html page
4) in the "Download OFBiz" section:
4a) the links "Getting And Using OFBiz", "Production Setup
Guide", should be moved to the http://incubator.apache.org/ofbiz/
documents.html page
4b) the "Documentation" link can be removed
4c) the "Release Notes" link can be removed (or hidden) because
it the referenced document is too old
4d) the "Download Releases" link should be hidden or should point
to the new (temp) folder where the RC1 is stored: I think that
the reference to the OLD sourceforge release can be very
confusing for new users
5) in the "Resources & Tools" section:
5a) add a new link to the new "Misc Resources" page (that needs
to be created)
5b) move the "Old Mailing Lists", "The Old Java.net Site",
"The Old SourceForge.net Site", "Old Wiki" links to the new "Misc
Resources" page
5c) remove the "Old Jira (Issue Tracker)" link
5d) all the following links can be moved (they are already in the
"documentation" page): "Documentation (Confluence)", "Production
Setup Guide", "Documentation" (maybe we could leave just this),
"Conference Videos"
Thanks for your time,
Jacopo
===================================================
***What is OFBiz?***
General Overview
Is OFBiz for Me?
Feature List
Features Coming Soon
Brochures
Documentation
Conference Videos
Framework Intro Videos
***Demo Site***
Extended Demo by Open Travel System
eCommerce Demo
Management Console
Hotel Frontend
Hotel Backend
***Download OFBiz***
Getting And Using OFBiz (PDF)
Production Setup Guide
Source Access (Recommended)
Release Notes
Download Releases
Weekly Builds
Documentation
Copyright & License
***Resources & Tools***
Apache Incubator Status
dev Mailing List
user Mailing List
commits Mailing List
Old Mailing Lists
Apache OFBiz - Jira (Issue Tracker)
Old Jira (Issue Tracker)
SVN (Source Repository)
Documentation (Confluence)
Docs Site: Wiki
Old Wiki
Production Setup Guide
Documentation
Conference Videos
The Old Java.net Site
The Old SourceForge.net Site
***Apache OFBiz Related Blogs***
OFBiz and Open Source by David E. Jones
What's New in OFBiz by Si Chen
***Apache OFBiz Communities***
Locales
United Kingdom
Germany
France
Netherlands
China
Industries
Government
Travel
***Cool Sites***
Java.Net
SourceForge
FreshMeat
NewsForge
Slashdot
JavaLobby
TheServerSide
