On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 8:33 AM, AJ Ashton <aj.ashton@...400...> wrote:
One important aspect of the site that we think needs work is the information architecture. We propose reducing the main navigation menu to:
- News
- Download
- Documentation
- Resources
- Gallery
- Community
- Development
I would like to open a discussion about people's thoughts on this, and perhaps get into some specifics regarding what pages/sections would need to be consolidated, rethought, or perhaps eliminated in order to do this.
Hi AJ and everyone, If it means anything, thank you for thinking about this! :) The website information structure is important, I agree. Using the mentioned structure, I am playing the roles of a visitor here, and I would like to list some of the possible problems... The good sides are many, but i am not listing those here ;).. sorry. So, for example, dropping by the Inkscape website I glance and I ask...
-What would be the difference between the Documentation and the Resources? i.e. If I want to learn how to use that new Inkscape pattern thingy, where should I go? Where do I find the tutorials? Where do I find the function references? Documentation or Resources?
-If I was a developer, where do I find dev docs? In 'Documentation' or 'Development'? i.e. I just dropped by because I need some references for the UI functions. Where could I find it?
-How do 'Community', 'Development' and even 'Gallery' relate to each other? i.e. I would really like to submit and see what people think about this new illustration I made... Now, where do I submit it? Community? Gallery? Or, I'd like to ask the dev-masters what do they think about this little piece of code I made... submit to Community? Development?
These cases might seem silly to someone already familiar with the website, but to the others, the first experiences are incredibly important and usually those first experiences define the decision: I like this place!/I'm lost at this place, I'm outta here!. I believe that more people we manage to make feel comfy, the better.
If you allow me, I think it would be good to rethink this information structure by the roles of the visitors. I'd like to excuse myself in advance for the 'philosophical' approach to this ;). A brief mental sketch for this would be to establish two, *role based, transparent and complementary* information structures. One for the girls and boys who create using Inkscape - the Users, and one for those girls and boys who create the Inkscape itself- the Devs; plus one more area that I will mention later. All of them are intertwined in many places and probably equally represented on the homepage.
First, the User and Dev sides. Those are only role based information structures, meaning that sometimes you feel like a developer (your dev-role) and sometimes like an artist (your artist-role). In either case you will find useful info according to the role and with no effort you can switch between the two. Those two structures are not kept apart, it's more like two sides of a coin ;) ahh... ye olde sayings. In other words, there's no 'border' in between, it's just a matter of information optimization; i.e, they both share the same visual identity, navigation principles, etc. but at any point it is clear to the visitor that a lot of care has put into serving the 'good' information that fits the role.
*-User side:* Purpose: to be honest, besides serving the user-base, it is also showing-off the power and general appeal of Inkscape. ...Here, a visitor can witness how inspiring, useful, sophisticated and purposeful Inkscape can be. And fall in love with it! /News (Inkscape sightings, achievements, release announcements, cool art/artist features...) /Tutorials and user documentation. /Stable Inkscape downloads & additional resources (templates, palettes, art, plugins ...) /Gallery of excellent finished works, etc. ...
*-Dev side: *Purpose: A library, map-room and a reading room of the Inkscape development. Or, 'the war room' perhaps? ;) ...Here, a visitor can witness how open, diligent, skilled, tidy and cool Inkscape development is. And dive into it! /Development Resources (Everything you need to develop Inkscape is here, Guides, Dev-documentation, Dev Tools...) /Milestones and roadmaps /Dev Inkscape downloads (e.g. Nightly/unstable builds) ...
The third 'area' due to the lack of a better name, I will call 'the playground'. The Playground is meant to be an 'in between' area. An area of dynamic discussion, shared idea creation and test rides. Some users would like to contribute but cannot code, or some developers are interested in how the users are using some newly implemented function, or have an idea for a new one? The Playground is the place. For example, those users that want to try a new funky function that's still under the development, here they can download a build good enough for the testing, with some brief description. They can also submit their opinions and suggestions. When a development effort needs some reference or guidance, here we can put UI surveys, brainstorm sessions, etc. Basically, this is the place for Devs and Users to learn form each other's magic.
*Playground:* Purpose: To initiate and support the symbiosis of all those involved with Inkscape. ...Here, a visitor can witness and experience the integrity and common sense approach to evolving Inkscape. /Cutting edge stuff to try and 'demand'! ;) (builds with experimental functionality, UIs, abilities...) /Analytics (shoutbox, surveys, analyses, etc.) /Community (forum for both Users and developers) ...
OK, this is already getting too long for the first post. So, I believe that the good side of this kind of approach to information structure is that it will provide two focused environments where both creative roles of our character can shine, Master-user and a Master-developer, without the risk of stepping on each other's toes. Still with no effort a person can switch between. I will stop here... promise! ;)
Cheers,
Alex