[UbuntuWomen] [troy.sobotka at gmail.com: Website]

[Thorsten Wilms]

Hi!

On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 20:18 -0400, Elizabeth Bevilacqua wrote:

> The following are our static pages that could use some review:
> 
>  * http://ubuntu-women.org/index.html
>  * http://ubuntu-women.org/faq.html
>  * http://ubuntu-women.org/getinv.html
>  * http://ubuntu-women.org/mentoring.html

My very first thought is that the background reminds me of skin.

It all seems a bit text heavy and technical.

First sentence on index page contains "Ubuntu" 3 times. Instead of:

"Ubuntu-Women is a team functioning under Ubuntu to provide a platform
and encouragement for women to contribute to Ubuntu-Linux, a Debian
based free and open-source GNU/Linux software."

How about:

"Ubuntu-Women provides a platform and encouragement for women to
contribute to Ubuntu-Linux."
Where "Ubuntu-Linux" links to an explanation. I would guess that most
visitors and especially potential members will already know what it is.




The navigation links are sorted alphabetically. That's good if you know
the label you are looking for. But maybe it would be better to sort them
by priority for a new visitor?

You might want to split them in 2 groups for internal and external
links.

"Links" could be dropped, it doesn't set much of an expectation and
there's already "Wiki". "Mailing List" and "Mentoring" could perhaps be
content for "Get Involved"?

I wonder if icons should be introduced for either the most important or
all points, to bring some life to the site, graphically.


BTW, the banner image on http://planet.ubuntu-women.org/ appears to be
squashed.


> > 1) Who is the audience?  I'm assuming this one is quite easy -- women
> > who use Ubuntu.  I am also assuming that the default audience is one of
> > a more mature demographic -- perhaps in the later twenties to thirties
> > range?
> 
> Audience really is anyone who can read.

The exact style, tone and content should be dictated by your _primary_
audience. You don't communicate with a 12 year old girl like you do with
a 61 year old man. In less extreme examples it's not easy to define the
differences, admittedly.


> > 2) What would the team like communicated?  It appears right now judging
> > strictly from the language that we are suit-and-tie formal.
> 
> We'd like to communicate friendliness and openness (not necessarily
> formal!). As discussed in the meeting, making the project seem
> approachable, while remaining a project that can be taken seriously,
> is vital to us.

I think the language needs a work-over, then.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/