(replying to lists as well... I swear reply all should be my reply button's default)

I completely agree that most of those sites linked were pretty messy and imho didn't always communicate well what their product could do right off the bat. That's why I said the 3d sites from that article were probably better examples of a course to follow. Something more similar to (but again, more organized): http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/ or http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio3?_m=d Basically a key thing is having something (a prominent area) immediately showing "look at the flashy stuff you could be making". But again, revisiting the blenderguru analysis of the basic thing which should be more up front.

Cheers, Josh

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 7:20 PM, Ian Caldwell <inchosting@...400...> wrote:

I like the idea, however personally I find most of the sites linked above as fairly Messy, I do like the redesign points blenderguru lists it does look nice. Also I personally like the simple sites such as http://www.pixelmator.com/ etc.even sites such as ubuntu are decent and clean. I think the issue is the current site was created awhile ago and from there the project has evolved and of course more stuff has been added, so it's full the brim and things got lost, we need a new design that'll fit all our stuff and allow for a nice backend as well. I do like the idea of pointing out sites we like and asking for mockups similar with inkscape integration Respectfully, Ian Caldwell

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 7:02 PM, Josh Andler <scislac@...400...> wrote:

...

Hey All,

I had seen a well done comparison of the Blender website with the alternative commercial tools websites by Andrew Price. I was putting together a similar comparison for vector apps but the websites vary a bit more and reading what he had done is sufficient enough for people to get the point. I think that his analysis is just as valid for Inkscape's website too. Visit http://www.blenderguru.com/the-big-issues/ and do a quick search for "marketing" and scroll down just a little to see what his observations were. At this point I have to say that we should really follow a similar approach for our redesign too. Following are the links to a few commercial alternatives in the vector editor category, to compare their sites to ours.

http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1281109933608 http://www.xara.com/us/products/designer/ http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/design_overview.aspx

My main observation? 3D software is marketed much more nicely and I actually think we should approach the redesign in a similar way. Realistically I think we can be a bit more playful with the design, but we should have something that communicates what inkscape is and what it's capable of in a better way for non-existing users.

What are other people's thoughts? If most people think the "similar to 3d apps websites" approach is good, I will post something to deviantart requesting designs there too.

Cheers, Josh

---

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Thank you donna, Here's the deal with the recommendation that we go Django. #1 more people are comfortable with Django, #2 it's easier to build our apps separately outside of a cms than to build modules for everything we want to do. such as user submitted artwork and plugins etc etc. Just looking at the big picture it's a little easier. Also nice mockups, for a general idea. A lot of the content would be changed tho. I do like some of the ideas though... thanks, Ian

On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 12:26 AM, Donna Benjamin <donna@...2182...>wrote:

Did some low-fi mockups... http://kattekrab.net/inkscape-site-mockups

Haven't yet had a chance to look over the mindmap and google docs - but will do that now.

I totally agree with Josh that the website should focus on attracting new users, serving current users, and finally helping developers find developer resources and news...

It also needs to market the potential of Inkscape... be a showcase of what it's good for.

It needs to be easy to use... it needs to have clear links to the license and the bug tracker - with instructions on how to report bugs.

It needs to show users they can get help in learning, and get help in getting better...

We could learn a little from Kathy Sierra here too - users want to create art (or diagrams or mockups) if we can help them be awesome, they will love us.

Sorry for missing the first part of this discussion - I've long been keen to help in the website redev - but my time has been crunched.

And if the decision has been made to go with Django - then there's not much I can do about that.

If that decision has not been made I would ask we leave Drupal on the table until the requirements are clear.

• Donna

-- Donna Benjamin - kattekrab.net

Inkscape: Open Source Scalable Vector Graphics http://www.inkscape.org