Re: redesigning www.php.net

On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 23:09, Philip Olson <philip@roshambo.org> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > The site (www.php.net) needs redesigned, mainly from a usability point of > view. I propose we have Daniel Burka lead this charge because he has the > experience and desire to do so. Daniel will introduce himself later but for > now let's all think about the site and what we want it to do. This process > will introduce changes to how the site behaves, so let's keep open minds and > have everything on the table. I wonder if it might be better served to have this put up on a Wiki page, and maybe announce it on PHP General when the time is right, to get the input of the community as well. Speaking of Wiki's, Daniel applied for a Wiki account either early this week or late last week, but I didn't notice him follow up with Lukas to create the account. > For example, we'll be asking ourselves what's the main purpose of the site > and what do we love/hate currently... like is information overload within > the sidebars good? And while colors, rounded corners, <blink>, and awesome > favicons will be discussed this seems secondary but of course important too. A few simple things for usability and word-of-mouth promotion, though not exactly on the *creative* aspect of the design track, would be: * An OSD plugin for Firefox from php.net (just steal the code from http://isawit.com/php_search.php) * RSS icons in the appropriate feed blocks (news, releases, events, etc.) * The standard fare of content aggregation links for news: "Digg This," "del.icio.us," etc. * A box right on the homepage like: "Want to join the PHP Project? Click here for more." > About a year ago we did briefly go through this process but didn't really > focus on usability or desires and let others simply propose facelifts. So, > although I'm not suggesting we tear the site apart or that it sucks, the > times have changed and we can do better. It may not hurt to toss country flags for the docs translations we have right onto the top of the homepage as well. It would not only serve the purpose of helping non-English folks who weren't automatically directed to their native language, but it may also inspire new translators to say, "why isn't my language available?" -- </Daniel P. Brown> daniel.brown@parasane.net || danbrown@php.net http://www.parasane.net/ || http://www.pilotpig.net/ 50% Off All Shared Hosting Plans at PilotPig: Use Coupon DOW10000