Fw: Really Quick Mockup

["digitect" <digitect mindspring com>]

Oops. Meant to send this to the list, too.

From: "digitect" <digitect mindspring com>
To: "Ryan Muldoon" <rpmuldoon students wisc edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 7:40 AM
Subject: Re: Really Quick Mockup

Some general comments about Ryan's structure and the discussion in general...
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Ryan Muldoon's structure

A B O U T
  ScreenShots
  Press Kit
  FAQ
  Contributors

C O M M U N I T Y
  Support
  GNOME Roadmap
  Project of the Week
  Developer Interviews
  Mailing Lists
  Events
  News

D E V E L O P M E N T
  Tutorials
  Whitepapers
  API Reference
  CVS

F O U N D A T I O N
  Charter
  Meeting Minutes
  Board Members
  Adisory Board
  Membership

P R O J E C T S
  Localization
  Documentation
  UI Improvement
  Icons
  Sound

S O F T W A R E
  Application List
  Bugzilla
  Download
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1. "Download" is a snare. It means two different things. For the user, Download
means "Get It". For the developer, Download means "Here's a new version of an
app you can try". We need to have some sort of "Get the Whole Core" place for
users with easy instructions and HowTos for newbies. I think our current
Download section is much more suited to the developer.

I definitely agree with the current direction we're headed for a clear outline
structure with quick link/headline shortcuts into the structure from the front
page or other. The entire content needs to be organized in a clear structural
format, but we'll always need to jump across it. (After all, this is why Al Gore
invented they hyperlink.) So in regards to my Download dilema above, maybe we're
just talking about creating a quick link to a new user section of downloads from
the front page.

2. To me, in the structure above, "Foundation" seems to have a disproportionate
share of visual realestate. I think I'd prefer to see it as a single jump from
Community or About. I realize that they're important, but I'm guessing that very
few visitors will want to use this section. The few important ones that do, can
easily be transported to a whole corporate section of the site. (I'd also
suggest making a History section so that folks can read up on the history of
GNOME and be pointed to a history of GNU, and possibly Linux/BSD/Unix.)

Otherwise this is a great structure and I vote we stop suggesting new ones and
just develop this one. (Not that development alone won't turn it on its head.) I
think we need to develop this by now trying to describe the third tier of areas
and really try to be exhaustive with all the content we know about (like project
for example). I'm sure we're going to find at least one major adjustment that
needs to be made. (And BTW, I might suggest that we do this in HTML, or at least
post a "latest copy" so that we don't all get confused.)

Steve  [ digitect mindspring com ]