Hi all,
I had a quick IRC chat with David a week or so ago about the timing
for the Bricolage 2.0 release. Needless to say, it sounds like the
release is close enough to start thinking about a push to get it done,
promote it, etc.
On that front, I jotted down some ideas for updating the
bricolagecms.org site and would like your input. The notes below,
already incorporate input from David.
KEY CHALLENGES
When thinking about where the Web site is failing right now, I would
highlight the following as issues to resolve:
* Lots of pages with very little content (annoying, unnecessary)
* Hard to remember everywhere updates are required, e.g. pages that
say Bricolage only supports PostgreSQL and Apache 1.3, etc.
PROPOSALS
To address these two issues, I'd like to recommend that the site:
1. Be *incredibly* simplified (less navigation, fewer pages, etc.)
2. Eliminate redundancy of where features are mentioned to ensure
updates are quick and thorough
To simplify the site, I'd like to recommend:
A) Move the following pages to the GitHub wiki:
* Team
* Sites
* FAQ
* Summer of code
B) Create a new "Community" (/community/) page that combines these
pages:
* Documentation overview
* Support overview
* Support - commercial
And simply provides an overview of where to find the documentation
(GitHub, API, etc.) and community (mailing lists, Lighthouse, IRC,
etc.).
The two types of content that will require some greater consideration
are:
* Screenshots: Would like to think about a different approach to
showing these. Lightbox, slideshow, or something similar.
* How-to articles, News, Announcements, etc.: These are all just text
content and could be condensed into one single category -- basically,
a blog. Again, there don't seem to be enough of them, or frequent
enough updates, to bother with so much categorization. Perhaps it's
also time to add comments to these types of entries?
SIMPLIFIED SITE STRUCTURE
In summary, I'd like to propose a much-simplified site structure that
would follow current conventions for helping people make a choice
about a software product. To that end, I would see the new site
structure to be roughly as follows:
* Home: A long-ish page that presents Bricolage's strengths quickly,
and visually
* Take a tour: A simple and short walkthrough of the key features
* Showcase: Similar to the tour, but highlighting five or so of the
best Bricolage sites and some endorsements
* Download: Roughly the same as it is today
* Community/Support: An overview page that links to the GitHub wiki,
mailing lists, and so on.
In the interest of keeping this project moving forward, it would be
great to hear any input that you have before Friday, October 23rd.
Otherwise, my next steps after getting your feedback are:
* Quickly wire-framing the ideas proposed above
* Updating the basic marketing copy / migrating pages to the GitHub wiki
* Building out an HTML version of the new site
(And should any of you be able to help with the above, it would be
greatly appreciated!)
Look forward to your thoughts,
Phillip.
--
Phillip Smith // Simplifier of Technology // COMMUNITY BANDWIDTH
www.communitybandwidth.ca // www.phillipadsmith.com
I had a quick IRC chat with David a week or so ago about the timing
for the Bricolage 2.0 release. Needless to say, it sounds like the
release is close enough to start thinking about a push to get it done,
promote it, etc.
On that front, I jotted down some ideas for updating the
bricolagecms.org site and would like your input. The notes below,
already incorporate input from David.
KEY CHALLENGES
When thinking about where the Web site is failing right now, I would
highlight the following as issues to resolve:
* Lots of pages with very little content (annoying, unnecessary)
* Hard to remember everywhere updates are required, e.g. pages that
say Bricolage only supports PostgreSQL and Apache 1.3, etc.
PROPOSALS
To address these two issues, I'd like to recommend that the site:
1. Be *incredibly* simplified (less navigation, fewer pages, etc.)
2. Eliminate redundancy of where features are mentioned to ensure
updates are quick and thorough
To simplify the site, I'd like to recommend:
A) Move the following pages to the GitHub wiki:
* Team
* Sites
* FAQ
* Summer of code
B) Create a new "Community" (/community/) page that combines these
pages:
* Documentation overview
* Support overview
* Support - commercial
And simply provides an overview of where to find the documentation
(GitHub, API, etc.) and community (mailing lists, Lighthouse, IRC,
etc.).
The two types of content that will require some greater consideration
are:
* Screenshots: Would like to think about a different approach to
showing these. Lightbox, slideshow, or something similar.
* How-to articles, News, Announcements, etc.: These are all just text
content and could be condensed into one single category -- basically,
a blog. Again, there don't seem to be enough of them, or frequent
enough updates, to bother with so much categorization. Perhaps it's
also time to add comments to these types of entries?
SIMPLIFIED SITE STRUCTURE
In summary, I'd like to propose a much-simplified site structure that
would follow current conventions for helping people make a choice
about a software product. To that end, I would see the new site
structure to be roughly as follows:
* Home: A long-ish page that presents Bricolage's strengths quickly,
and visually
* Take a tour: A simple and short walkthrough of the key features
* Showcase: Similar to the tour, but highlighting five or so of the
best Bricolage sites and some endorsements
* Download: Roughly the same as it is today
* Community/Support: An overview page that links to the GitHub wiki,
mailing lists, and so on.
In the interest of keeping this project moving forward, it would be
great to hear any input that you have before Friday, October 23rd.
Otherwise, my next steps after getting your feedback are:
* Quickly wire-framing the ideas proposed above
* Updating the basic marketing copy / migrating pages to the GitHub wiki
* Building out an HTML version of the new site
(And should any of you be able to help with the above, it would be
greatly appreciated!)
Look forward to your thoughts,
Phillip.
--
Phillip Smith // Simplifier of Technology // COMMUNITY BANDWIDTH
www.communitybandwidth.ca // www.phillipadsmith.com