Re: wgo pages

[Claus Schwarm <clschwarm googlemail com>]

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate that. I think we could
solve the points you mentioned within my suggestion:


On Wed, 2009-05-27 at 11:48 +0100, Lucas Rocha wrote:

> Agree. Even though one of the things I wanted to see more on wgo (for
> 2.30 release) is a nice way to highlight all the cool apps that are
> being created based on our platform and are part of the GNOME
> ecosystem. Example: GNOME Do, Gwibber, GNOME Recipe, Banshee, F-Spot,
> etc. Also, we must think of more meaningful ways of showing users how 
> to install those apps (other than pointing to a non-sense tarball,
> which is indeed ridiculous). 

That's easy. What about a box on the frontpage (or in the footer) called
"App of The Week"? Each week a new text (or button) to highlight a
different app.

I have no clue about Plone but maybe there's a way to make a "plug-in"
or extension. 

After all, a rather static wgo is boring. People are more likely to come
back when something happens.

However, the most natural way to promote an application is to promote a
new version. (Via reddit, linux.com, gnome-files, etc.)

With a homepage on projects.gnome.org, Autopackage could be used to
provide an easy-to-install package. I also have a list of other options
that may be more acceptable to developers. They would just need to agree
on one.

With an installer, it's also easy to make reviews for Linux journals. I
once wrote a column about GNOME apps for a European journal, and the
most ugly part was always installation.

> I also want to see GNOME "hotsites" about
> specific topics like GNOME.Play (for media stuff) or GNOME.Office (for
> productivity stuff), GNOME.Fun (about games, kids, etc), GNOME.Online
> (for web integration stuff), etc. With a CMS, we can have easy ways to
> create and maintain this kind of thing. This should be discussed later
> (2.30) though. Now we should focus on the core elements of the
> website.
> 

OK. But I wonder why you want these pages? Maybe, you can explain that
in more detail, then.


> I'd say we have two "institutional" products to sell: the desktop
> *and* the platform. I think we're doing a really bad job on selling
> both. 

Yes, I agree.

> Not sure yet how to organize the content around those products
> but the important thing is that we don't mix content for developers
> with content for users. In practice, this (obviously) means it should
> be clear where to go depending on what you're looking for. 

Hm, I wouldn't say so. People don't read web pages, they scan them. If
they hit something they are no interested in, they will simply jump over
that part of the page. 

> One option
> is to leave the 'About' with general content about GNOME as a project
> (our mission, our goals, our history, who we are, etc) and have a
> top-level section for Products (Desktop and Platform). I see things
> like www.gnome.org/desktop and www.gnome.org/platform, dunno. So, the
> Products section would only have points to Desktop and Platform pages.
> 
> So, the top-level navigation would be:
> 
> About
> Products
> Download
> Support
> Community
> Contact
> 
> About would be:
> 
> About
>     * """ Index provides short overview of the project (our mission),
> desktop, platform. """
>     * History
>     * Foundation
> 
> And Products would be:
> 
> Products:
>     * Desktop (www.gnome.org/desktop)
>       * Why GNOME Desktop?
>       * (Take the Tour)
>             o (Slide 1)
>             o (Slide 2)
>             o (etc.)
>       * Testimonials
>       * Deployments (Success Stories)
>     * Platform (www.gnome.org/platform)
>       * Why GNOME Platform?
>       * (Take the Tour)
>             o (Slide 1)
>             o (Slide 2)
>             o (etc.)
>       * Testimonials
>       * Users (Success Stories from GNOME-based product developers)
> 

I can't really say why but whenever I imaging myself as a user reading
"Products" in the Top-Level navigation I get a shudder. "Projects"
wouldn't do, too.

It just doesn't sound "right", know what I mean? It sounds
"complicated", like something that wants to make me think. As a user who
accidentally or intentionally hit the GNOME homepage, I don't want to
think. I want to keep my relaxed browsing mood.

So I'd like to suggest to move Platform sales points like "Why",
"Testimonials", and "Success Stories" on a single page and put that into
"About":

www.gnome.org/about/applications/

There, we start with applications written for GNOME, and maybe a short
sentence about gnome.files. After all, the amount of applications is a
good selling point! Then, we add a second headline like:

============
<h2>Make Your Own Applications</h2>

With GNOME, it's easy to get started programming. All tools are free,
there's lots of documentation, and <whatever> ... Several different
programming languages are supported: Classic ones like C and C++,
Enterprise ones like Java and C#, and <b>easy ones for beginners</b>
like Python or PHP.

<Success Story 1>

<Testimonial 1>

<A short feature list here.>

<Success Story 2>

<Testimonial 2>

<a href="/download/">Get GNOME today</a> and you can soon <a
href="/support/development/">dive into making your own applications</a>.
=========

Support > Development is then an index page to our support options for
developers (like documentation, mailing lists, etc.)

I don't know about the kids today, but back then -- when me and my
friends started using computers --, many of us dreamed of becoming
developers (well, game developers, but that's a minor detail).

Even users who wouldn't like to start programming probably take this
part as reassurance that somebody else might program the apps they need.


> Side note: I think selling a "desktop" is a very tough task as it's a
> too abstract concept for end users. What they "see" is Ubuntu, Fedora,
> openSUSE, etc, not a desktop environment running on an operating
> system. Anyway, not saying it's not possible. Just making sure it's
> clear to everyone that this is a challenging task which will demand a
> lot of work and creativity to get right.
> 

Yes. "Selling" is probably not quite the right word. What I would like
to create is the impression for a reader that trying GNOME would not be
a waste of their time.

This is what people reluctant to try Linux (and GNOME) probably fear
most, I believe.


Best regards,
Claus