My general path through the front page: +I'm a 'developer' in that (currently) I'm working on a couple projects using WE to produce content and not spending much time browsing WE to find new or interesting projects or to find content on a given topic. This means that I have a couple specific project pages that I want to go to, and I want to be able to get there quickly. +Generally I know how to get to the home page of my projects by typing keywords into the Firefox url bar, which will just take me straight to where I want to go. (Just like if I had a couple bookmarks to the pages.) +If I end up at the WE homepage for some reason, it's very hard to get to a specific project. If I haven't signed in, then that's the first thing I do. After that, or if I'm signed in, I click on the link to my user page and use the collection of links to 'current projects' to get where I want to go.
Conclusions? =I think I'd spend more time on the WE homepage if I could somehow have a portion of that space with my list of projects. Of course no one else wants that list of projects, but maybe they want their own list of current projects. Could we somehow set up a space that will display a portion of one's home-page if you're signed in? And if you're not signed in the homepage can't assume anything and so displays what would be appropriate to a general passer-by (links to tutorials or explanations of WE, for example)? =On another note, I'd personally suggest making use of complete boarders or colored boxes (like those used to make the Activity template: http://wikieducator.org/Template:Activity ) to better show which parts of the text go with which headers. As it is, I find it difficult to follow which sections of text are part of which header and to read that while shutting out the rest of the content on the page. (Perhaps a mockup would explain it better... ? ) Scott On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 2:02 PM, Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Peter, > > No worries in taking a simple page design idea into something bigger -- > appreciate your well founded (and experienced) post. Responses in text > below. > > On Fri, 2009-03-06 at 07:58 -0800, Peter wrote: > > Wayne (et al), > > You have just initiated a big discussion. I'd be willing to call it > huge. I believe you have also jumped to solution a little too quickly. > > I was wondering myself whether we're jumping to a solution too quickly -- > but thought we should put the topic/idea out there and explore all the > options, possible solutions and plot an achievable path that will help us > achieve our goals. > > I don't believe main page and landing page redesign is going to be the > optimal way to achieve what we are after. Information / Site design > needs to be driven by the next iteration of requirements and page > design may be a small part of meeting the requirements. You touch on > the requirements in this post; ability to be notified of changes, > project nodes, search engine optimization, I am sure their are other > important requirements to this next phase of WE. > > I believe we need to go through an open requirements (user stories) > gathering phase and come to agreement which of these stories are most > important and then build toward that set of requirements (features). I > believe an Agile software engineering approach could be well applied > here. > > Absolutely --- we need to begin with use case scenarios. We're always > going to be challenged with striking a difficult balance between optimal > requirements (what we would like to have) & technological/other constraints > (what we are able to do.) Creativity is the ability to innovate and design > within constraints -- which is why I like your suggestion for use case > scenarios. > > I believe our current goal is in encouraging the development of OER > content and its use and reuse. We need this content to become a part > of the internet's OER "ecosystem". > > Agreed -- our strategic vision is to promote and enable our participation > in a sustainable OER ecosystem. The question is what can we do? What is our > part in this eco-system. > > I believe WE needs to become a > platform that encourages Communities of Practice clustering around > project nodes and subject areas. I believe page design is a small part > of this. I believe we would have better results in focusing on > changes / enhancements that tie WE into these communities. > > Anyhow, that's my $0.02 worth. I could add more, but that can wait > until we have an agreed upon next step. > > Great post -- we haven't decided on any steps -- lets get this right. Are > we saying that use case scenarios are the first step? > > > Sorry if I have taken a simple main page redesign idea into something > bigger. > > Sincerely, Peter > > On Mar 5, 8:28 pm, Wayne Mackintosh <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi everyone > > > > Open questions: > > > > 1) Should WE redesign its homepage and important landing pages? > > 2) Will improved information design of the WE main page and important > > landing pages improve retention? > > 3) Should WE form a working group to consider proposals for Website > > redesign? > > 4) If so -- do we have any volunteers who will put their hands up in > > thinking about redesigning the website? (Especially folk who have good > > experience in this area -- but everyone is most welcome to give a hand). > > > > A little background info > > > > Website referrals and direct traffic account for 26% of our total visits > > with search engine referrals making up the balance. On average visitors > > to WE view 3.62 pages per visit. What's interesting is that our home > > page makes up only 3% of our total page views -- suggesting that folk do > > find specific content pages in the wiki. > > > > Other top ranked pages, include, for instance: > > > > * The recent changes pagehttp://www.wikieducator.org/Special:RecentChanges > > * The Content page which lists content > > projectshttp://www.wikieducator.org/Content > > * The India national page nodehttp://www.wikieducator.org/India > > * The Iniatives page which lists projects in the > > wikihttp://www.wikieducator.org/Initiatives > > * The Otago Polytechnic sales and marketing course > > pagehttp://www.wikieducator.org/Sales_and_Marketing > > * The eXe online manualhttp://www.wikieducator.org/Online_manual > > * A lesson on Forms of Energy developed by the HOD of Technology > > Education, University of Education, Winneba in > > Ghanahttp://www.wikieducator.org/Lesson_1:_Forms_of_Energy_and_Energy_Tran... > > > > It's risky to postulate definitive conclusions based on these stats but > > I guess its reasonable to say: > > > > 1. Educators are interested in monitoring and observing changes in the > > wiki > > 2. Important landing pages include content listings, WE > > initiatives/projects and national project nodes > > 3. Individual content projects in WE do attract significant traffic. > > > > What does this mean for the information design of our site? > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
