Task:Improving maemo.org

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 This article is continued discussion from the maemo.org brainstorm
Please see the 100 Days agenda for more.
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 This is an ongoing task, planned to be completed during the current maemo.org development sprint. Any help is appreciated!
Please see the talk page for discussion.

Connected to Task:Content Cleanup

Contents

Goals

We will:

  • Reorganise existing content to allow most common use-cases to be fulfilled easily
  • Create new content where appropriate to fulfill use-cases
  • Remove or move information which does not contribute to the most common use-cases
  • Make the site visually attractive and fresh, to match the maemo.org visuals
  • Make different maemo.org sites visually consistent
  • Ensure the site works well on the tablets

Non-goals

We will not:

  • Re-write all content
  • Move away from Midgard
  • Load the site with heavy content such as flash (see tablet goal).

Use cases

The following are the core use-cases to be addressed by the website rework:

  1. A new tablet owner wants to install some software on his tablet.
  2. An interested application developer comes to maemo.org to learn how to write a new application for the tablet.
  3. An existing application developer comes to maemo.org looking for information on modifying his application for Maemo.
  4. A Maemo Community member is looking for the latest news from around the world of Maemo
  5. An interested user wants to know how he can help make Maemo better or give feedback
  6. A tablet user has a problem which they would like to resolve.

Content

We need to change some of the content substantially:

We don't need to substantially revise the Intro, News or Downloads pages.

The front page will primarily be portal pages to help get people where they want to go, but also to let people get a flavour of the Maemo community.

The community page will show the Maemo community in all its glory - covering communication, people, projects, what's new, what's cool, what we're up to. The page will be almost entirely dynamic and will reflect the current state of Maemo.

The Development page should respond to four different needs - getting software development kits and images for development, getting general introductions, tutorials, overviews of the platform and other general information, exposing searchable reference documents for the Maemo platform APIs, and finally (but very importantly, giving a visitor a map of the developer-focused communication forums that exist in Maemo, including itT, mailing lists, IRC and the wiki.

Maemo.org Homepage refresh

The concept of the existing maemo.org homepage is good and we should keep it.

Several proposals for front page layout have now been submitted: 

1 (sidebar) 2 3
  • Andre Cunha: Hi everyone, I work with Marcelo and Glauber in OpenBossa and here is my proposal based on the sketches submited by you. Front page [1], [2], [3] and second level page[4]

Community

Main Article: Task:Improving_maemo.org/community

Functionality and navigation

  • Single sign on for maemo.org/garage.maemo.org/wiki/bugzilla -> would make community participation easier and the 'karma' calculation (if needed) too.
Ferenc is working on bugzilla, IIRC. The others already have one account for all. --xfade 13:49, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
The "one account for all" is not the same as Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO would need additional software and integration. The one account for all feature will be completed when bugzilla will use garage for authentication. This is work in progress and will be completed in the June sprint. --feri 14:08, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • The user login process really is broken. Secondly, the login for the wiki has terrible user interface design, as it does not point to a page where one can register, despite the fact that it is called the "Log in / create account" page. --mee 13:54, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Style and format

Proposal: Open proposal for community generated mock-ups, and one or two Nokia sponsored mock-ups from INdT.

Moved to Task:Maemo.org facelift

Content organisation

There are two aspects: content and its organisation.

  • Content: Need to evaluate existing content for its usefulness for common use-cases. Need to ensure it is obvious when content is out-dated/deprecated.
    • Delete old wiki content completely - it is polluting Google juice, and confusing users who see it as new information
    • News page should include links to outside articles, blogs, official announcements, high-ranked ITT threads, etc. It should be a window on the highest-ranked Maemo time-sensitive content
  • Integration with sub-sites and partner sites:
    • Midgard vs Wiki vs gtkdoc vs ...
    • Ask gronmayer to take site off-line, in favour of a really useful extras (we're getting there)
  • Organisation: Existing content should be presented and linked to in a way that makes popular tasks easy, and unpopular tasks available through linking, and also through search (site search and web search).
    • We will reorganise information on tutorials, SDKs, and platform APIs so that the site user will encounter the most up-to-date information by default, and must dig a bit deeper to get out-of-date legacy information
    • Move to OS2008/tutorials, OS2008/SDK reference, etc...
    • Currently, OS2008, OS2007, ... docs are all mixed together in each category
    • Link to HTML reference documentation in favour of PDF
    • Promote useful wiki pages to http://maemo.org/documentation

We need to look at 3 things:

  • Clean page layout for all portal pages - pages must bring you easily to the content you're interested in, if you are in the most common use-cases
  • Efficient search on website
  • Web search indexing of Maemo content
  • Ensure all outdated content is removed from the primary navigation paths of users interested in common use-cases.

Smoothing the introduction of new users to maemo.org

  • The development section should be organized in a simple, clear and centralized way to beginners. The following information is important and should be presented to the newcomers immediately they enter the development section.
  1. Simple steps of getting started should be presented in a clear and definite way ,on a conspicuous area with color. for example:
    1. Sign up a maemo account (link to register page)
    2. Download and set up development environment.(link to detailed method page)
    3. Create hello world application, Package and Test(link to several typical and simple examples,and useful links to advanced docs should be included)
    4. Collaboration on maemo.org and Launch app on the download section (link to pages including usage of project homepage)
  2. Key features of maemo platform should be presented on the section page explicitly.
    1. Free to develop and launch applications.
    2. Powerful enough to create advanced applications.
    3. Flexibility in programming (Gtk+/C,Python,Qt and etc)
    4. Easy to port existing application.
  3. Wiki on frequent technical problems in programming(the how-tos part),and entry to developer's disscusion board(link to ITT's or a new one) to help newcomers to find solutions to difficulty and ask for help.
  4. All docs in a catalog with good classification for look up.
  5. Maemo's roadmap and history, technical news and announcement about maemo.
  6. Maemo app gallery and entry to experienced and recently active developers' tech blogs.
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