Summary of current home page: 09/27/2012

The current home page of the user portal (http:www.openoffice.org) consists of seven basic areas (see annotated attachment):

  1. Logo and title
  2. Additional annotation (currently Apache Incubator identification)
  3. Search box
  4. Main body navigation
  5. Current news items (with link to older News)
  6. Announcement area
  7. Tabbed navigation area

Of note is that the Download link in the body navigation is now the same as what is provided by the "Download" tab due to recent changes. In years past, current news items have been recycled to the top of the News link items.

Is it time for a update?

Some questions to be answered:

  1. What can we do to make our graduation as an Apache TLP more apparent when that occurs?
    A: Consensus is to NOT change the logo now but wait for a complete rebranding opportunity at a major release. We may opt for just removing "(incubating)" from our site title, and changing the upper left Apache incubating box to a smaller Apache Software Foundation logo, maybe similar to:
    http://activemq.apache.org/.
  2. Can typical visitors find what they are looking for?
    Google analytics can help answer this question. Most visitors are seeking to download OpenOffice, and can find it readily but what about others?
  3. Can potential developers find information they need?
  4. Do we still like the functions of the main body navigation vs the top tabs?
    What are the philosophical differences?
  5. Do some of the main navigation entries and tab navigation need to be changed? Should some be removed, should other items be added?
  6. Do we need style changes? And if so, what?
  7. Are we making good use of the Announcement area? Do we like the current styling? Can it be changed? (this is an Apache CMS element)
  8. Does at least the home page scale well for mobile devices? What about the whole site?
    A: Style changes are being undertaken to at least fix the majority of the home page. After seeing how this goes, we'll likely make whole scale sitewide style changes.
  9. Are the home page news items serving a useful purpose? What other means are there other than page editing to do this? Do we want to continue to archive them to the "news" area – http://www.openoffice.org/news?
    A: We definitely want a change here. We have not yet determined exactly what or how to implement it. A large "include" type process would work better.
  10. Do you need to include a mechanism for translations on the fly, as pages are viewed? (one comment in regard to this. More investigation is needed.)
  • No labels

2 Comments

  1. Alexandro Colorado

    One of the biggest challenges is a trully global site, where users can be redirected to their own native language based on the IP they are coming from OR can easily find a visual element that can have them looked for their own language.

    Skype (website) for example has a drop down menu. Maybe an ajaxy drop down module that allow the easy location of the language in each language.

    On OpenOffice news, should it be a dynamic rollover of headline, should the same be with twitter?

    AOO should mantain the sober, soft colors about the application.

    I think programatically CSS should be evaluated, and simplified.

    Responsive design means that the site will morph depending on the size of the screen, example, news will disapear and change from a dropdown to only a Naviation item = "touch friendly".

    1. Kay Schenk

      Alexandro...we discussed the language translation idea briefly with respect to supplying a way to do this (a widget etc) a few months ago, but nothing was decided. So, your comments are pertinent but no conclusive way to do this...yet. Some felt the automatic translations were not very good.

      Re News---I'm not sure what you mean here. Please explain more fully. I think we're in agreement that something "better/different" should be done with the News area but what?

      Re simplifying the CSS. I'm with you there! I had little to do with designing these styles but now we must maintain this. I tried to make a case at that point in time regarding ease and maintainability. I think, given what we're doing on the home page right now, a lot of the styling can surely be simplified.

      Re resizing/morphing...yes, I am working specifically on that aspect. This has been one of my pet peeves for a while.