Kubuntu Website TODO

[Ryan Kavanagh]

Hi everybody,

As most (if not all) of you know, Kubuntu has had a lovely new website for close
to two weeks. I would love to have people comment on and help out with the
suggested tasks below. At the moment, contributing to the website isn't very
easy, and I'm hoping it will become more of a community project. This email is
mostly a jumble of the Ubuntu Web Presence team's meeting on Tuesday (logs [1],
minutes [5]) and suggestions from the community.

The current Drupal theme can be found at
lp:~kubuntu-website/kubuntu-website/kubuntu-theme-v2 .  At the moment, only
members of the kubuntu-website team can commit to it, but feel free to email me
patches to it, and I should be able to eventually add you to the team. (At the
moment, the team only has write access to the branches).

[ Kubuntu Start Page ]

One thing that has been suggested is a start page similar to Ubuntu's[2]. This
page is localised and the content is written by the Ubuntu Documentation team.
The goal is to have new users want to keep this page as their web browsers
default home page, since it provides a way to quickly communicate with users
should any major bug happen (think the broken X upgrade a few releases ago), and
it's Google search box *might* bring in revenue to Kubuntu (still unsure
if it would be possible for us).

I was thinking of a variation of the Konqueror start page, with  ``[x] Search
the Web  [ ] Search Kubuntu Documentation'' under the search box. Using the
Konqueror start page as a base would also permit us to have a look that's
already integrated into KDE4, and since it already resizes with the browser
window, it's nice for those with smaller screens/etc. At the meeting, it was
also suggested that we have a tip of the day with random KDE tips that would
help our users feel even more at home and help them get that extra ``Ooomph!''
out of their software.

What's the mailing lists opinion? Anybody have lovely mockups of other ideas?
Whomever decides to tackle the page should probably collaborate with Ubuntu's
driver. A bunch of great ideas were also proposed at the meeting, starting at
21:47.

[ Website Header ]

Kubuntu.org has a header / masthead where we currently place the latest
headline.  Several people have suggested that we better use this prime piece of
real estate, and I remember Hobbsee having a great idea in the early hours of
the morning (Sorry! I was half asleep and forgot to jot it down, mind refreshing
my memory?). One suggestion (unsure if it was hers) was to display a
motto/slogan/catch phrase that would really sell Kubuntu; another was to have
mastheads similar to Ubuntu or the count down banner. Up to discussion, what
does the rest of the mailing list think we should use this area for?

[ Rounding Script Bugs ]

Our rounding script seems to be slightly buggy, anybody willing to fixing it can
find the JS file in kubuntu-theme-v2/shadedborder/shadedborder.js , if you're
wondering about the bug, you can see it on some of our site's longer pages
(example, http://www.kubuntu.org/support ) along the sides. I would be indebted
to whoever fixes this annoying bug :)

[ Countdown banners ]

Will Kubuntu have snazzy countdown banners on the website for 8.10?

Assuming that people on the list / from the community are interested in
designing these, here's what requirements from the web presence team's meeting:

 * Target dimensions are 180x150
 * 30 images numbered 1 - 30
 * one image saying ``It's almost here'' or some similar message
 * one image saying ``It's here, download 8.10 now'' or something similar
 * The images should not make reference to Intrepid Ibex

It shouldn't really be one person making all the images, so feel free to submit
lots of gutsy proposals, we can always refine them after if needed.

[ Feature Tour ]

We currently have a ``Tour''[3] of Kubuntu, except that it is mainly text. This
should probably be updated to something nicer. To quote the web presence team's
suggestions for the feature tour[4] and the meeting minutes[5]:

 * The Tour should be modular - so bits can be added and removed as needed
   without having to take down the entire tour and individuals can look after
   each module.
 * The Tour should be non-linear.
 * It should feature applications in standard Kubuntu that a newbie should
   expect to get.
 * It should have multimedia.
 * Localisation would be AWESOME.
 * The audience is Windows users; they should not be addressed directly but they
   should find the information they are looking for and be convinced to give
   Kubuntu a try. [The audience part could be broader imho, any comments on it?]
 * The feature tour can't be made with Flash since the standard (K)Ubuntu
   install doesn't have Flash/etc. Ajax and js were suggested at the meeting,
   but the choice of language would really be up to the implementor. An idea
   with ajax was to use it to hide text, and then display it with a cool effect
   when people click.
 * The tour must also function without js, though it's reasonable to expect less
   functionality/visual appeal.


Really, up to discussion, it would be lovely to have input and for people to
``adopt'' some of these tasks :)

Cheers,
Ryan

[1] http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2008/07/22/%23ubuntu-website.html , starts at
21:00 and ends at 22:16. See [5] for the minutes.
[2] http://start.ubuntu.com/8.04/
[3] http://www.kubuntu.org/tour
[4] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Website/IntrepidFeatureTour
[5] https://lists.canonical.com/archives/ubuntu-website/2008-July/000240.html

-- 
Ryan Kavanagh (ryanakca)
Get my public key: http://blog.ryanak.ca/E95EDDC9.gpg
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