Website Redesign/2009

= James's Thoughts 2009-06 =

General Design issues
I don't want to argue about matters of taste, but I will point out a few things:


 * The page width is too large which makes the page hard to read
 * RP: 2009-06: I've reduced this a bit. The problem is we have a fluid layout and that causes problems on big monitors -- only real solution is to go for fixed width.
 * On the project page, the images used with each project are too small and are not at all interesting to the eye. Better to put something that can be understood visually.  eg. for open shakespeare you could use a zoom on a piece of text.
 * RP: Agreed - so who wants to volunteer :)
 * 2009-08: DONE
 * I would like the site to be more visually distinct to the wiki - I have moved between them without realising.
 * See http://knowledgeforge.net/okfn/tasks/ticket/180
 * img floats are a nice idea ;
 * DONE
 * clicking on the 'blog' tab appears to take you to a different site (ie you miss the header)
 * Need a wordpress theme.

The Front Page
If this is the expected landing site, I would like to see this a much more dynamic page. Some ideas:
 * pull the feed from the okfn blog
 * RP: Completely agree -- already got an item on RSS embedding below. Again need help to sort this out in moinmoin
 * have a featured project box that you can plug a particular project (or rotate a few)
 * RP: great idea. How would we implement this?

The call to action is too confused. Do I want to get involved, or support? I would prefer one click through off the front page that explains these options for involvement later.


 * RP: ok. I'll sign you up for an account and you can edit the text ...

Projects page
I think this page needs to list all projects by area of interest at the top, otherwise a quick glance of the page you will miss a lot of stuff below the fold. You can link within the page to the project descriptions.


 * RP: ditto to previous comment

Get involved page
I would like to see the tasks at the top, and the mailing lists and email stuff underneath. I also think some example tasks would make people more likely to click through to the volunteer wiki. Or even a quote from a contented volunteer.


 * RP: ditto.

= Sebastian Hellerman Feedback: 2009-04 =


 * http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-help/2009-April/000184.html
 * RP: tried to respond on quite a bit of this e.g.:
 * Fixed up about page to have better info on open knowledge (less links elsewhere)
 * Better volunteers info -- see also http://knowledgeforge.net/okfn/tasks/ticket/27

= Backlog =

MAJOR: Port main site to Wordpress

 * So whole site has one visual style (see this post on okfn-help list)
 * This is a major change and should be considered separate from changes to layout/design of site

Recent updates on front page

 * RSS from blog and activity embedded on Front page

For MoinMoin macro see: http://moinmo.in/MacroMarket/RSSReader

Or we can use javascript:
 * http://p3k.org/rss/
 * http://www.google.com/uds/solutions/wizards/dynamicfeed.html
 * http://www.puuba.com/translator.html

First 2 js solutions have problem that a) they insert a little logo and do not give us good control of design b) moinmoin seems to strip tags so some work is needed to get them to work in any case.