RFC: Bazaar Web site Home Page Redesign

[Ben Finney]

Emma Jane <emmajane at ubuntu.com> writes:

> Martin Pool has asked me to help out with the redesign of the Bazaar
> Web site. I'm very excited.

Great! I'm very happy with the attitude and work you've been putting in
to the project recently, so I'm glad Martin and you hooked up to improve
the project website.

> Desired Feedback
> ----------------------------------
> 1. Does this wireframe have spaces to accommodate all front-page-worthy 
> material?
> 2. Can anything be omitted from this wireframe because it is not front-page-
> worthy?

I'm confused about the distinctions between the following:

  * Help
  * Documentation
  * Support

Shouldn't one of those go away (by being incorporated into the others)?

> Rationale
> ----------------------------------
> Going through the "competitor" Web sites taught me that people clearly
> do not pick a VCS based on the project's Web site. In my experience of
> doing conference presentations about Bazaar for newbies this is
> definitely true. Most people choose their VCS based on (1) what has
> already been implemented by work/project or (2) what trusted friends
> are using.

Perhaps so, but I know that when I was VCS shopping years ago I was very
impressed with the Bazaar web site and documentation compared to the
competition.

Also, I know many people whose “Yep, I'm sold” moment with Subversion
came when they saw the website and documentation.

Being able to understand the project from browsing the website, and the
ability to browse documentation and get reassurance that furtrher
investigation is warranted, is a significant factor for those who have a
free hand in choosing a programming tool — including a VCS.

> I went through the following Web sites:

One website home page that I think is very effective at communicating a
technical project to various levels of user is the OpenID site
<URL:http://openid.net/>.

> The following front page elements were found looking through each of
> the sites listed above (and the Bazaar site):

A significant factor in choosing software tools is the license terms
under which I will receive the tool. I spend far too long on many
products hunting down the license terms on the website.

This should be on the front page (as a link to the actual license text),
at least as prominent as the product's short description, to ensure that
a newcomer can quickly check that criterion.

> Although I had originally divided the page in a left-to-right
> progression (Features, Download, Extend, Participate), but decided
> this LTR progression was not relevant for RTL languages and
> potentially made the software look difficult to use because it assumes
> that the final step in the procedure is to participate in the
> development of the software.

Good catch, and I agree.

-- 
 \          “What I have to do is see, at any rate, that I do not lend |
  `\      myself to the wrong which I condemn.” —Henry Thoreau, _Civil |
_o__)                                                    Disobedience_ |
Ben Finney