A bit of ranting about Ubuntu.com

Mon Feb 6 11:18:43 GMT 2006

Hi all,

Triggered by the latest events on sounder I decided that it's time for
me to send in a little rant about the website. But be not afraid, it's
not just ranting, I'm trying to be helpful and propose solutions too.

So let's start. Where do we start? Well, that is actually my main point,
there are quite a few errors in the navigational structure. So let's
just start at the main page and work down from there.

==

The tabs. The tabs are a nice concept, but on ubuntu.com they are not
always used correctly. Tabs should divide a website into sections. The
"Developers" tab is the most useless one there is. There is completely
no information behind it. The wiki is no longer the official
documentation, help.ubuntu.com is. So move the tab and point it to
help.ubuntu.com. I propose the following:
 ________ _______________ _________ ___________ __________
| Ubuntu | Documentation | Support | Community | Partners |

Which I think is pretty much ordered by "Things users need first".

== 

The menu. Where did the mini ubuntu logo go that indicated where you
are? That was a very nice visual clue and I really miss it.

==

The main page. The propaganda is nice but quite a few essentials are
missing. 

* "The latest release is XXXXX, download <a href="...">here!</a> or 
  order a <a href="...">Free CD</a>!
* The community promotion should be extended a bit, we really want 
  people to join!

== 

The pages in the "Ubuntu" menu.
* A link to screenshots should go in the "The latest version is" 
  section I proposed. That section should also include a prominent link 
  to the release notes.

== 

"Developers" tab. Scrap it, it's horribly useless. Since the developers
are part of the community, a section on the development team should be
there. Not on a separate tab that has no information at all.

==

"Community" tab. This one really needs some 'pimping action'. The way it
looks now is horrible and does not really invite to join. The Ubuntu
comunity is 'divided' in teams, the Community section should also focus
on that, promoting the teams more and the processes less formal. The
teams can then again be divided in LoCoTeams and other teams. The
LoCoteams should not be on this page, but instead a very prominent link
called "Ubuntu Worldwide" oslt should be present on the community page.
This locoteam page should be a "really cool" hub to all locoteams.
Really cool does not mean really complicated, a simple google map with
markers for all teams that link to website, forum and planet of the team
will rock massively. Spatial navigation works ;)

The other teams should be prominently linked from the community page, eg
with a short description each. A short mockup of what I have in mind

__________________________________________________
Ubuntu logo
                                            Tabs
--------------------------------------------------
The Ubuntu community                        Menu

Ubuntu is not only canonical but also a
huge community...
[include link to CoC and the participate
page, do some heavy pimping and promoting]

<h1>Ubuntu worldwide</h1>
Promote the locoteams.
<h1>The teams</h1>
[Explain the team setup]
<h2>Development team</h2>
[Promote dev team]
<h2>Docteam</h2>
[Promote docteam]
etc....
--------------------------------------------------
(c) 2006 Canonical
__________________________________________________

==

The pages in the "community" menu. This menu needs some spicing up too.
Currently it's

Community home
Participate
Governance and processes
	Governance
	Members
	Developers
	TB
	CC
CoC
The Fridge
Planet
Forums
Mailing list and IRC

This menu has no clear focus, In the first paragraph of the community
page the community should be promoted. Links to planet, the fridge, the
forums and ml/irc should be THERE, not in the menu. The Forum also may
deserve a place at the top, near documentation and community, I won't
judge that since I don't like forums :)

A strcuture that would please me much more:

Community Home
Code of Conduct
Join Ubuntu! (include governance/members on this page)
Ubuntu Worldwide
Teams
	Development team (include governance/developers on this page)
	MOTU
	Docteam
	...etc...
Governance
	CC
	TB

A team page should be all about promoting and information on how to
join. The MOTU already have a pretty good section on the Ubuntu wiki
which can be taken as example.

==

"Support" tab and menu. The Support page itself offers no support, this
is obviously wrong. Just because there are several ways to get support
does not mean that the support page can't link to any of them.

The "Documentation" link is misplaced, it should be a tab. The FAQ is
documentation and thus should move to help.ubuntu.com. After these
changes, the frontpage is suddenly even emptier. To give it some real
content, make the section flatter and move the content of
"supportoptions" to the front page. That means "Free support" "Paid
support" "marketplace" and "Local language" move to the main Support
menu, making them visible. The "Local Language" page is far from
complete and ideally should just point to "Ubuntu worldwide" as
descrived before.

==

"Partners" tab. No comment here, but when will the certifications be
available?

==

This concludes my ranting, I sincerely hope that no one feels offended
by it and that my suggestions are useful. Please comment on and improve
them and hopefully the Ubuntu community structure will become more
transparent. 
-- 
Dennis K.
  - Linux for human beings: http://www.ubuntu.com
  - Linux voor iedereen:    http://www.ubuntu-nl.org
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