On 1/3/06, vinjvinj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I would not put the latest messages on the front page. I agree with you > about the importance about the mailing list. New users will not be > relaly interested in the actual messages in the mailing list but more > about how much activity there is and that the activity has been > growing. > > Maybe a sparkplot (with num users and num messages by month) would be > good.
I like the idea that Kevin raised about putting a mailing-list subscription box right on the front page. And a brief plot of some kind showing mailing list involvement does sound like an interesting idea. But neither of the two really fit graphically into the design of the rest of the "Help evolve" box. Here's what I suggest: Pull the "latest mailing list message" section out of the "Help evolve" box. Replace it with latest changeset (with the first dozen or so words of the commit log message, and an ellipsis if the log message is too long). Place the mailing list message in its own newsbox, with text like the following: Get connected! The best way to learn more about TurboGears is to get connected to the mailing list. With ### members and an average of # posts/day over the past month, the TurboGears mailing list your the most useful tool for learning how to use TurboGears to its full potential. [Plot showing list membership] [Plot showing posts/day] ___________ [Button: "Join the list!"] Once you've signed up for the mailing list, check out the Community page to see what else is happening. In the above text, "Community page" is, of course, a link. Something else I just thought about: I don't like the "Help evolve" name. Evolution is a biological concept, whereas the name TurboGears suggests a mechanical theme. We already have a Toolbox and we're going to have a Dashboard; let's call the recent-project-happenings section "Latest tinkerings" or something that keeps with the mechanical theme. -- Robin Munn [EMAIL PROTECTED] GPG key 0xD6497014
