Re: new design: request for comments

Adding the arch list (for those who do not keep track of infra and not registered to board list) On 16/08/12 20:17, Garrett LeSage wrote: > Hello all, > > Warning: This email is long, but important. > > I've been working on a new website design for oVirt, and gave folks > a > preview during yesterday's weekly status IRC meeting. > > The website mockup is at: > http://people.redhat.com/glesage/oVirt/website/mockup-1/ > (This is simply a static PNG exported from Inkscape, wrapped in a > very > simple HTML page. Therefore, don't expect it to scale with your > browser, > have selectable text, etc.) > > The mockup has many different sections and updates, and I will > explain > each change, as well as the thought process that went into each, > below. > > There are two main things to remember about this design: > 1) It's a bunch of individual changes that work together. > 2) It's a work in progress. > > Also, the mockup was designed with our target audience in mind: > administrators (setting up and running the software), enthusiasts > (who > may run instances at home), and programmers (tinkering with and > contributing back to the project), all with experience using Linux > or > some form of UNIX. It is also important to note that our audience > is > specifically _not_ casual desktop users (although they could > benefit > from someone setting up and maintaining oVirt for them). > > I'm eager to hear feedback on any and all changes, and work with > you to > refine everything. > > When you do provide feedback, and want to discuss more than one > point, > please limit each email to one aspect of the site at a time. If > you'd > like to talk about the logo and the site structure, for instance, > please > send one email specifically talking about the logo, and then > another > discussing the structure. This should make conversations easier for > everyone to follow and make it easier for me to track requested > updates. > Thanks! > > > == Detailed changes == > > = Logo = > > The oVirt logo is actually quite similar. I altered the "o" glyph, > to > make it more aesthetically pleasing. > > Comparison graphic between current and new (in simple greyscale, to > make > it easy to see the difference): > http://people.redhat.com/glesage/oVirt/logo/ovirt-logo-proposed.png > > > = Color = > > oVirt.org, right now, uses a green color throughout the site. The > oVirt > administration UI also features green in its header. As a result, > I've > pulled in that green and used it as the primary accent color for > the new > site design. > > (It also has the advantage that it is not blue, which is overused > for > iconography, on the Internet, and for software in general.) > > > = Style = > > Based on the typeface of our logo and our highlight color, our new > style > reflects simplicity, openness, vibrancy, and elegance. > > We can make this style work for both the WordPress and Wiki parts > of the > site. > > > = Site structure = > > A revised site structure is hinted at in the front page mockup. You > can > see this reflected in the top navigation. I did some overall > categorization, strongly influenced by Dave Neary's pre-existing > work on > the topic. > > You can see a proposed sitemap here: > http://people.redhat.com/glesage/oVirt/website/ovirt-sitemap.txt > > This is a general grouping of types of content, not necessarily a > view > of the top-level page, or of sub-pages. In some cases, these items > would > be sub-level pages, in others, they would be part of the navigation > page. > > The documentation page would highlight the best documentation > available, > regardless of format - e.g. wiki, blog posts, etc. - and also have > a > prominent link to the wiki. Other sub-pages may also link to the > wiki, > if there is pertinent information (such as live docs for > developers, > linked to from the develop section). > > > = Tagline = > > This is a short, catchy phrase to indicate what the project is all > about. Since the target of oVirt is running on a server, most > likely in > a datacenter, and it's open source, I figured we should make this > prominent. > > Usually taglines are simple and direct, and often have some sort of > play > on words. "Open your virtual datacenter" can be interpreted in a > few ways: > 1) You can use oVirt to start (open up) a datacenter with > virtualization > 2) Take your existing datacenter and virtualize it > 3) Use oVirt as an open source solution to manage your datacenter > > > = Supporting lead-in text = > > It's important to start with some powerful explanatory text to > state the > overall goal of the project. Usually, this ranges from a phrase to > around a sentence or two. > > I wanted to express the purpose of the oVirt software in a very > high-level view, as a hook to get people interested to read more. > > > = Call to action = > > "Start using oVirt now »" is a call-to-action button. After the > simple > text explaining what oVirt is, it's important to provide an obvious > next > step. > > After clicking the button, it would take the viewer to another page > where it provides a quick and simple way to start using oVirt. > Naturally, one would have to download oVirt to use it, so it should > be > super-easy to do on this page. The page should also start a simple > step-by-step guide on getting oVirt working on one's own system(s). > > I'm thinking that this may be, perhaps, simply a link to the > "Download & > Use" section. Yes, it's in the navigation, but it does provide a > very > important and clear next step, which helps with a natural-feeling > progression for an interested viewer of oVirt.org. > > (BTW: If the simple guide is too complex, then we need to work at > further simplifying the process of setting up oVirt. It's important > to > try to lower the barrier to entry. Part of this is making sure that > oVirt can run on one machine as well, and possibly booting from > live USB > media for first-time evaluation purposes.) > > > = Front-page sections = > > Most of text on the mockup is, in some way, based on content from > the > current oVirt.org website — it's just edited a bit. > > While most everyone appreciates a clean aesthetic, our primary > target > group *also* likes to get to the point and see the information > right up > front. The mockup of the front page that I'm presenting is based on > this > concept. > > In addition to being an overview of the project and the software it > produces, it also makes it really easy to explore from the content > areas > to relevant other parts of the website. By bringing the top-level > navigation into the context of the overviews, we make it easier for > someone to jump to other sections, instead of having to scroll back > up > to rely on the navigation. > > The order of the front-page sections is important too. A goal with > this > design was to: > 1) Introduce people to oVirt, with a simple explanation > 2) Let people know right upfront that it's an active project > (release > blurb) > 3) Detail some of the most important features > 4) Make it clear that it's a community project > 5) Provide timely news & a way to easily get more info > 6) Publish information on upcoming oVirt-related events (currently, > in the > mockup, there's filler text for the time being) > > Items #5 & #6 should both have a way to subscribe so that someone > could > access this information without visiting oVirt.org. Twitter solves > the > news component for us; we have to make sure the calendar is able to > be > subscribed to as well. >

> > -=-=- > > Thanks for reading all of this! I'm looking forward to all > conversations, especially if it's constructive (regardless of a > positive, negative, or neutral slant). > > Garrett > _______________________________________________ > Infra mailing list > Infra(a)ovirt.org > http://lists.ovirt.org/mailman/listinfo/infra _______________________________________________ Arch mailing list Arch(a)ovirt.org http://lists.ovirt.org/mailman/listinfo/arch