Hi Alex,
I tried to emphasize that user/dev areas are not meant to separate in any case. But, to optimize the display of the information based *on the roles* we take as visitors.
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I believe it would be beneficial to the community by showing more depth to the Inkscape project, from two distinct and easily graspable standpoints. I believe it would allow both aspects to shine clearly.
The main issue I see with this is that there are many more than two roles that visitors to the Inkscape website might fall into. So instead of imagining *roles* I think it makes more sense to imagine specific *goals* a user might have in mind when they come to the site. The distinction is perhaps minor, and often the two might seem to align. But certain goals will be common across various roles, and it probably makes sense to keep those together. When these goals overlap, the page/section should focus on either the most common, or on the user who is likely to be least familiar with Inkscape.
Naturally, different parts of the website will end up being more user-focused or more developer-focused, and with the right menu names & structure this should be clear. But it sounds like you might be looking to define two explicit sections or 'modes' on the site? I don't think that is the best approach - let me know if I'm not understanding this correctly.
It's also important to remember that inkscape.org is only one part of the community, and a lot of the imporant 'playground'-like activity happen elsewhere. Sites like Launchpad, the DeviantArt group, and various 'unofficial' parts of the community will remain important. These sites could be promoted and perhaps partially integrated to inkscape.org, but it would be impossible for Inkscape.org to organize and control these things all the way down to 'everything you need, and then some' for a particular role.
Your suggestions about showing off Inkscape as a powerful tool with quality examples are important, and this is what newcomers to the site will see. But I think its also fine to show the development community aspects as well, even if the user is only interested in using Inkscape and not getting involved.
-- AJ