Task Analysis

[Shawn T Amundson <amundson eventloop com>]

Joakim mentioned the importance of task analysis, and it's
role in the current design of the gnome.org website.  I think
that just listing the tasks is a mistake.  Instead, we should
make sure that the structure of the site makes performing
that tasks possible.  Listing verbose task descriptions isn't
the best way to achieve this.

First, the current list on the menubar on the left of the 
site are a bit overwelming.  They seem randomly organized 
initially and are too long to scan quickly because they are
phrases and not one-word nouns.  This makes the entire site
pretty difficult to use. 

A simplier navigation system would have something like this
(translating from task to noun):

Find out what GNOME is     =   Introduction
See GNOME in action        =   Screenshots
Get GNOME                  =   Download 
Learn to use GNOME         =   Quick Start
Learn to use GNOME         =   User's Guide
Get more software          =   Software Map
Develop with GNOME         =   ?
Contribute to GNOME        =   Contribute

The important part is that the user who wants to "Learn
to user GNOME" recognises what a "User's Guide" is.  I
think most would.  

>From this list, we can start to create navigation system for
the website which is organized a little more sensibly.  (And
this list is task derived.)  
  
Here is an example:

  General
 
    Introduction
    Screenshots
    Download
    Calendar
    News 
    Mailing Lists
    Commercial Support

  Documentation
    Quick Start
    User's Guide
    FAQ
    Published Books
    
  Software

    Download GNOME
    Software Map
    GNOME Office
    ...

  Contributors
    Speaking about GNOME
    Documentation
    Translation
    ...

  Developers 
    Getting Started
    Architecture
    Documentation
    List of Developers
    ... 

(I'm sure there are problems with this list - I present it
 as an example and starting point.)

There are also a few confusing things in the menu bar 
right now.  I had no idea what would be in "GNOME resource
index".  If it was "GNOME resources", I probably would have
had more of a clue, but the "index" part made me think it
would be a more complex thing than just a simple simple
list.  Also, "Translations".  I thought that might be where
I could find translations of the website.  I'm not sure how
you fix that problem exactly.  The first time I saw 
"Contact and press" I thought that section was *for* the
press.  (Which left a bad image of GNOME in my mind.)

One option, for the PHP-happy crowd is to implement something
like on www.gimp.org, were the left nav bar expands as you go
to sections, so you can list everything and more becomes 
available as you get closer and closer.  I personally think
this type of nav bar would work wonderfully for GNOME's sites
while allowing a consistant interface.  (And it doesn't have
to be graphical.)

-Shawn

--
Shawn T. Amundson                       amundson eventloop com	
Research and Development                http://www.eventloop.com/
EventLoop, Inc.                         http://www.snorfle.net/

"The assumption that the universe looks the same in every
 direction is clearly not true in reality." - Stephen Hawking