Forum OpenACS Q&A: Openacs.org - website UPDATE mockup is now live!

We have a proposal available for everyone to critique. We decided to put together a mockup of what we think the updated OACS website should look like.

Please bring your best and your worst out during this session. this is JUST proposal, we are happy to make changes and arrive at a design that the whole community can live with.

** FLAMES, CRITIQUES AND COMPLIMENTS SERIOUSLY ENCOURAGED **

I'm not kidding. If you want to flame away please do so, flames are nothing more than truth in its raw form so if it strikes you, please let it out. You don't haveto tippy toe around me.

RULES:

1. Post all comments in this thread and not on the forums package on the mock website. I will track everything said in here and adjust as required. The community is our client, thy bidding is our command.

2. DOCUMENTATION: all project documentation is here - http://69.67.174.135:8000/xowiki

3. BIG PICTURE: read about why we did it here - http://69.67.174.135:8000/xowiki/Big_Picture

4. DESIGN RATIONALE: read about logic behind the design here - http://69.67.174.135:8000/xowiki/Design_Rationale

5. SIGN IN: you can sign up for an account without approval to get a chance to look around if you like. Feel free to fake your e-mail, we don't want it and you don't need it as you can always sign up again.

6. VIEW THE DESIGN HERE: http://69.67.174.135:8000

I look forward to everyones commentary.

Here is the link to the homepage if you want to bypass the login:

http://69.67.174.135:8000/home/

I think it's a huge step forward, and I only have a few suggestions:

1. Remove or alter the reflective text in the buttons - it makes them hard to read.
2. Move the mashup of About, News etc at the bottom below the central image.
3. Eliminate all but the most essential links from the bulleted list and put them into the mashup. I'd suggest that only CVS, Chatroom logs, and OCT links should be preserved.

Well, that's my two cents! The three central buttons are great!

Thanks again, Rob
Ryan

Its a good step forward, simpler and more Web 2.

I think it can go even further in that direction.

My version of Ryan's 3 points.
1. Agreed Reflective text doesn't work.

Accomplish Ryans points 2 and 3 by eliminating all the bullet points and working them into the About column below.

We also need to highlight the OpenACS XOWiki content. Maybe work it into the top text, certainly make it a high level link in the About section.

I think we can further reduce clutter by thinking about things that do NOT need to be linked to from the front page because they are not really that current or useful to a newbie or do not need to be one click away.

Here are some suggestions

• Blog - Remove the direct link, the last post was in March, we mostly use forums and news.
• File Storage - REmove the direct link. Files are more likely to be accessed by follow a pointer into file storage from the forums or XOWiki then to find something by going there directly.
  IRC Chatroom - Make this one clean link then have that page direct people to the logs etc.
• Replace CVS and browser options with a nice clean "View the Code" and a page that explains the options in details.
• Move the link to the test servers to the Project status page and have the project status page point to the new XOWiki page referenced in the page it currently points to.
• Combine the Technical decisions OCT bullet point with the team and credit in about
• Combine the How to Contribute bullet point with the contributing to OpenACS under about.

Is really up to date design. I love this.

A "what you can do with OpenACS?" will be more helpful for new visitors, maybe instead of "why use the framework".

Also, "how to get started?" instead of "how to install / how to work with...".

Home / Community / Wiki will be nice to use as first tabs. We do not use too much file-storage or calendar, while bug-tracker can be inside community tab. I will use Wiki, which is more common rather XOWiki that might confuse someone (as it is used now).
Forums deserves its own tab (and news as well), while photos might go somewhere else (not too many new things there).

What goes in the first page needs more though, although at this point the most active areas are forums, wiki and then news.

Use OpenACS instead of OpenAcs or other combinations.
Great!