Re: Infrastructure "Doing" (was: Re: [libreoffice-website] Website Projectplan)

Hello Christoph,


Le Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:58:57 +0100,
Christoph Noack <christoph@dogmatux.com> a écrit :

> Hi Charles, Michael, David, and especially Mike! "All", not to
> forget ;-)
>
> Am Montag, den 31.01.2011, 11:02 +0100 schrieb Charles-H. Schulz:
> > Le Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:02:34 +0930,
> > Michael Wheatland <michael@wheatland.com.au> a écrit :
> > > On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 11:23 PM, Charles-H. Schulz
> > > <charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org> wrote:
> > > > Unless I'm misstaken we have no actual plans to redesign the
> > > > website in any substantial way for at least 6 months...
> > >
> > > There is always room for improvement, and as we seem to have the
> > > vibrancy and resources I would love to see the website team step
> > > up and do what they do best. [...]
> >
> > While there is always room for improvement -I understand you talk
> > about incremental progress (fixing bugs on the website, etc.)- I do
> > not believe that continuously remaking the website is what
> > desirable.
>
> There has been something I really liked concerning Mike's proposal -
> he added some initial planning (focus, keeping it simple, goals). And
> this is something which helps a lot, even if pages are "just"
> incrementally improved.
>
> But, and this is more important to me, it would also be valid for
> other website activities.
>
> > Also, it's a matter of priority. I understand there are many
> > volunteers for the website
> [...]
> > there are many ideas out there, on the wiki, from easy stuff to more
> > complex efforts that are only waiting to be implemented...
> [...]
>
> > > As far as I know, the plan was to wait until David presented the
> > > work he had compiled, then the whole website team would get
> > > involved in the improving phase. Don't get me wrong, the work
> > > David produced is fantastic, but I know that as a team we can
> > > create something that really represents the quality standard of
> > > the LibreOffice software product.
> >
> > You are absolutely welcome to work with the website team! But I
> > don't have the feeling they want to restart the website over and
> > over again.
>
> > From the UX point-of-view, I welcome any effort to make the website
> > more
> usable and helpful for users. At the moment, I welcome the ideas
> concerning improved Information Architecture, making the pages a bit
> easier to understand, making them visually enjoyable. 
>
> On the other hand, I perceive some mis-balance with regard to some of
> the topics discussed here. Sometimes we are not that bad (e.g.
> website), or there are established alternatives that work well at the
> moment (e.g. forums). But product development and marketing needs a
> bit more.
>
> When reading the other mailing lists, I perceive that people do have
> interest and special needs concerning website infrastructure. It would
> help to test new tools, check whether they improve the workflows,
> having better usability. I fear that these demands are missed at the
> moment ... although they would raise the "quality standard of the
> LibreOffice software product" - to refer to this nice sentence by
> Michael.
>
> And now it becomes a bit difficult for me - since I know that I'd like
> to focus on the Design Team, and since I'm lacking some technical
> skills concerning the infrastructure administration.
>
> But a proposal nevertheless: why not picking one or two of those
> requests ... this would be extremely helpful within the community, and
> increase the trust what the website team can deliver. And a little
> planning like Mike did and also discussed in public, would be helpful
> as well.


I am sorry Christoph but as much as I was in agreement with you for
most most of the thread, I understand your proposal as going back to a
situation where we have to organize and answer to ideas always leading
to a constant redesign of the website (did I understand that
correctly?), and here I would have to strongly disagree. I don't think
that "launching" people on specific projects that have one chance over
10 or over 50 to be even considered is the right thing to do after the
difficulties we had had these past months, and it would be wiser to
have people participate in UX/Design, QA, etc. or clarify that they're
welcome to contribute to the website, but keeping in mind we don't
currectly consider make-overs of the website.

Best,
Charles. 

> > > I am not sure who you are referring to by 'we', but these plans
> > > were discussed at length on the recent conference call, and the
> > > team has people who are willing to get on board and help out
> > > 'now'.
>
> If this is also true for other topics, there is plenty of stuff that
> can bring much value to the community!
>
> Cheers,
> Christoph


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