Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Mikel Maron
Ævar


 Agreed, but you personally control the openstreetmap twitter account
 don't you? If you think waze's twitter account is nice (what it mostly
 does is answer a bunch of user questions, which implies a dedicated
 support team sitting behind it). Then perhaps you should give other
 people access to that account so they can field user questions under
 the of OpenStreetMap banner.

Access to the Twitter account, and to posting on OGD, is open.
I think your suggestions to answer user questions through our media
streams is a good one.


 More generally, I agree with your point that we should have more of a
 let's just do it culture, but it also doesn't help much to have what
 are essentially unfinished drive-by improvements like the website
 redesign and now the logo which just seem to stir up a lot of dust,
 and never go anywhere. I don't mean that it's your fault, just that
 there's obviously a lot of disagreement about what we should be doing.
 
 I we keep having these discussions because don't have any clear
 direction for what we want to *do* with OpenStreetMap.org.

I think the most effective way to push forward what osm.org could be
is by demonstrating ideas with code. Isn't the code base now on github?
Start forking, trying out ideas ... things that work are going to be more
convincing than our descriptions of what to do. Code that works
(in all senses) should make it out to production.

These can even be small details. I really really like the additional
icons on the browse pages.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/dankarran/diary/10695

Best
Mikel
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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 07:38, Mikel Maron mikel_ma...@yahoo.com wrote:
 I think the most effective way to push forward what osm.org could be
 is by demonstrating ideas with code. Isn't the code base now on github?
 Start forking, trying out ideas ... things that work are going to be more
 convincing than our descriptions of what to do. Code that works
 (in all senses) should make it out to production.

Yeah I'm aware of the GitHub mirror, I put it there. Some things lend
themselves well to experimental patches. I don't think this is one of
those things, for reasons that are about to become apparent.

Here's a mockup:

http://v.nix.is/~avar/insert-stuff-here.png

The contents of the white area would be determined by the
aforementioned user editable  reviewed page. The brief about blurb
that's now right below the logo should probably be the first thing
merged into it.

Actually, here's what the main content area might look like (this site
is based on a mockup Richard did IIRC):

http://www.openstreetmap.ca

Or perhaps even:

http://www.openstreetmap.de

The idea is simple. Make the main page something that provides the
user with some context, useful (e.g. Garmin) downloads, direct him to
other interesting projects (e.g. printouts, routers etc.).

What exactly makes the above list we can decide together, that is if
we decide that the main page for osm.org shouldn't be one giant map
view.

I'm not going to spend more time implementing the required code
without there being some interest in deploying it. Spending many hours
hacking the JS/CSS, setting up a wiki - Git sync (along with a
preview) just to be told thanks, but no thanks isn't my idea of fun.

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Tom Hughes
On 18/05/10 09:39, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
 On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 07:38, Mikel Maronmikel_ma...@yahoo.com  wrote:
 I think the most effective way to push forward what osm.org could be
 is by demonstrating ideas with code. Isn't the code base now on github?
 Start forking, trying out ideas ... things that work are going to be more
 convincing than our descriptions of what to do. Code that works
 (in all senses) should make it out to production.

 Yeah I'm aware of the GitHub mirror, I put it there. Some things lend
 themselves well to experimental patches. I don't think this is one of
 those things, for reasons that are about to become apparent.

 Here's a mockup:

  http://v.nix.is/~avar/insert-stuff-here.png

 The contents of the white area would be determined by the
 aforementioned user editable  reviewed page. The brief about blurb
 that's now right below the logo should probably be the first thing
 merged into it.

Unfortunately that mockup leaves all the worst bits of the current site 
intact ;-)

Before you all get too carried away with this extra tab idea of Ævar's 
I would just like to point out what I've said before about adding more 
tabs, namely that we already have too many and that any attempt add more 
without doing something about the layout is going to have a hard time 
getting merged.

Tom

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http://compton.nu/

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 08:49, Tom Hughes t...@compton.nu wrote:
 On 18/05/10 09:39, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
 Here's a mockup:

     http://v.nix.is/~avar/insert-stuff-here.png

 The contents of the white area would be determined by the
 aforementioned user editable  reviewed page. The brief about blurb
 that's now right below the logo should probably be the first thing
 merged into it.

 Unfortunately that mockup leaves all the worst bits of the current site
 intact ;-)

You'll probably like this one better, it takes the concept of insert
neat stuff here even further, just add imagination:

http://v.nix.is/~avar/insert-neater-stuff-here.png

 Before you all get too carried away with this extra tab idea of Ævar's I
 would just like to point out what I've said before about adding more tabs,
 namely that we already have too many and that any attempt add more without
 doing something about the layout is going to have a hard time getting
 merged.

Yeah, adding tabs is a pain. Mostly because the spaces the tabs take
conflicts with the space the Hi {{user}} ... line takes.

I suggested (and patched it) at one point to solve that the way
Wikipedia does, by moving them apart. That would leave ~20px less
space for the main map. Not such a big deal if it's not *the* site
element anymore.

It would solve our existing overflow problems, and give us space for
small notices at the top like Would you like to view osm.org in
$language, or head over to the wiki for Haiti mapping... We might
even be able to move the search bar up there, users like the search
field at the top of the page. At least so Google, Wikimedia and others
have gathered.

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Tom Hughes
On 18/05/10 10:08, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
 On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 08:49, Tom Hughest...@compton.nu  wrote:

 Before you all get too carried away with this extra tab idea of Ævar's I
 would just like to point out what I've said before about adding more tabs,
 namely that we already have too many and that any attempt add more without
 doing something about the layout is going to have a hard time getting
 merged.

 Yeah, adding tabs is a pain. Mostly because the spaces the tabs take
 conflicts with the space the Hi {{user}} ... line takes.

Quite - it's already an issue with some languages and/or screen sizes 
and adding more tabs just makes it worse.

 I suggested (and patched it) at one point to solve that the way
 Wikipedia does, by moving them apart. That would leave ~20px less
 space for the main map. Not such a big deal if it's not *the* site
 element anymore.

That doesn't work well on netbook type screens though, where vertical 
space is at a premium.

Worse than that, whatever you do the tabs will always overflow if you 
have a particularly verbose language and/or narrow window. They are, 
basically, just asking for trouble unless you limit yourself to only 
having a very small number of them.

 It would solve our existing overflow problems, and give us space for
 small notices at the top like Would you like to view osm.org in
 $language, or head over to the wiki for Haiti mapping... We might
 even be able to move the search bar up there, users like the search
 field at the top of the page. At least so Google, Wikimedia and others
 have gathered.

I don't dispute that it might be nice to move the search bar up there 
but I think we should also remove the tabs and find some other way of 
navigating between the other major elements of the site.

Tom

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http://compton.nu/

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Frederik Ramm
Hi,

Tom Hughes wrote:
 Worse than that, whatever you do the tabs will always overflow if you 
 have a particularly verbose language and/or narrow window. They are, 
 basically, just asking for trouble unless you limit yourself to only 
 having a very small number of them.

Or unless you get a good designer to draw little icons for each of the 
tabs. Advantage: no translation necessary, takes very little space. 
Disadvantage: user feels like reading an IKEA instruction leaflet.

Bye
Frederik


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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 09:16, Tom Hughes t...@compton.nu wrote:
 On 18/05/10 10:08, Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:
 It would solve our existing overflow problems, and give us space for
 small notices at the top like Would you like to view osm.org in
 $language, or head over to the wiki for Haiti mapping... We might
 even be able to move the search bar up there, users like the search
 field at the top of the page. At least so Google, Wikimedia and others
 have gathered.

 I don't dispute that it might be nice to move the search bar up there but I
 think we should also remove the tabs and find some other way of navigating
 between the other major elements of the site.

I think having a non-giant-map mainpage could be a very large step in
that direction.

User blogs I think could be moved to such a mainpage (under some
Community heading). Rarely do I need to suddenly go to the blogs,
I'd be fine with freeing up some space by adding a level of
indirection to it.

Similarly, perhaps Edit / History / GPS traces could all be
consolidated under a View or edit the map. So we'd have:

  * About - Lists all the neat things about OSM
- Short blurb about what it is
- You can view/edit/download data
- Get in touch, participate, read blawgs
  * View or edit the map
- Get an editing interface with a big map
- Edit the data
- View / upload traces
- See history / browse objects

Adding a proper main page could free up a lot of the interface in the
long run, since there'd be some non-layout place to put some of the
links now in the layout.

I think I've advocated this enough. If you want patches you know where
to find me.

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Roy Wallace
On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Tom Hughes t...@compton.nu wrote:

 Before you all get too carried away with this extra tab idea of Ævar's
 I would just like to point out what I've said before about adding more
 tabs, namely that we already have too many and that any attempt add more
 without doing something about the layout is going to have a hard time
 getting merged.

Easy fix: Remove the GPS Traces and User Diaries tabs and add
links to these near Help  Wiki in the left column.

This would add length to the left column, but remember that the blurb
under the logo would no longer be needed - this would be moved to the
landing tab.

I like it.

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Tom Hughes
On 18/05/10 21:07, Roy Wallace wrote:
 On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Tom Hughest...@compton.nu  wrote:

 Before you all get too carried away with this extra tab idea of Ævar's
 I would just like to point out what I've said before about adding more
 tabs, namely that we already have too many and that any attempt add more
 without doing something about the layout is going to have a hard time
 getting merged.

 Easy fix: Remove the GPS Traces and User Diaries tabs and add
 links to these near Help  Wiki in the left column.

Yes, because we never get any complaints about things in the left column 
being pushed too far down the page so adding more things there won't be 
a problem at all.

Those other links on the left would quite likely move to the landing 
page anyway, so wouldn't be there to be added to ;-)

 This would add length to the left column, but remember that the blurb
 under the logo would no longer be needed - this would be moved to the
 landing tab.

Removing the blurb certainly helps, though that only appears when you 
aren't logged in anyway.

 I like it.

I don't. We need to be radical, not just fiddle with the details.

Tom

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Re: [OSM-talk] How can we spread the tribal knowledge?

2010-05-18 Thread Roy Wallace
On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 6:12 AM, Tom Hughes t...@compton.nu wrote:

 Easy fix: Remove the GPS Traces and User Diaries tabs and add
 links to these near Help  Wiki in the left column.

 Yes, because we never get any complaints about things in the left column
 being pushed too far down the page so adding more things there won't be a
 problem at all.

 Those other links on the left would quite likely move to the landing page
 anyway, so wouldn't be there to be added to ;-)

Ok...problem solved then, right?

 We need to be radical, not just fiddle with the details.

No we don't - we just need a good result. I thought I addressed your
major concern with Ævar's idea (i.e. too many tabs). What else is
wrong with it?

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