Scott, I really like your MyCurrentProjects widget idea to be displayed on the homepage when you are logged in. Great Suggestion.
Peter On Mar 9, 11:42 am, Scott Newson <[email protected]> wrote: > 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] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
