THIS IS A TEST INSTANCE. ALL YOUR CHANGES WILL BE LOST!!!!
These are a list of some initial requirements for the updating of the existing website at http://ofbiz.apache.org
Initial Requirements
- OFBiz Logo - needs to be better quality and resolution to be improved. (NOTE: OFBiz registration in progress so need to be aware that TM may change to Registered Trademark at some point in the future / May need to prepare graphics for both)
- Menu navigation to be moved to the top of the screen as there is space
- Keep menu options visible (i.e no drop down menus)
- Restructure / re-write webpage text (Is there too much? Would it be easier to link to a features page?)
- Have a separate section for potential service providers / developers (e.g if you are a developer .....)
- Have a separate section for end users (e.g if you are an end user ......)
- Remove News section and replace it with OFBiz blog
- Keep Twitter feed
- Make website responsive and available on different media types (e.g monitor, tablets, smart phones?)
OFBiz Demo - Do we reduce it to link to only 1 demo (e.g the current stable release) or do we have one demo for developers and another demo tailored for end users? (Could be handled by the 'if you are a developer.....' and 'if you are an end user .....' logic)
Jacques Le Roux: We could also reduce to last stable and instead of "old" show the current consolidating branch. But initially the idea was to show only released branches (though the trunk is accessible but not from the site).
One demo for developers and another tailored for end users could be a nice idea but would need some work I'm not sure the community is ready to give...One page design that could highlight different aspects of OFBiz
- OFBIz framework
- OFBiz ERP
- OFBiz eCommerce
- Must conform to ASF Guidelines as follows:
Jacques Le Roux: We have that already but:
the security page is linked from a vulnerabilities anchor in our download page. Jacopo did that, I like it.
IIRW, we had a link to the main ASF homepage in the footer but it's no longer there. We would put it back (not hard to maintain once done on every page).
Whatever main navigation system your project website uses, it must feature certain links back to key pages on the main www.apache.org website. These links should appear in whatever main navigation system your site uses on all top level pages for the project or subproject.
"License" should link to:
http://www.apache.org/licenses/"Sponsorship" or "Donate" should link to:
http://www.apache.org/foundation/sponsorship.html"Thanks" should link to:
http://www.apache.org/foundation/thanks.html"Security" should link to either to a project-specific page detailing how users may securely report potential vulnerabilities, or to the main http://www.apache.org/security/ page
All projects must feature some prominent link back to the main ASF homepage at
http://www.apache.org/De
Who will visit the Site?
Try to identify the types of users that will come to the site and try to log the type of information they will want
| Who Could Visit the Website | Background | What are they looking for? | |
|---|---|---|---|
Chief Exec Officer (CEO) Chief Finance Officer (CFO) | They are looking for a new platform and want to see if OFBiz could meet their requirements They need information to be able to make a business level decision They want to understand the risks / challenges / benefits | What marketing / business documentation is available? What features does OFBiz have? What are the licencing requirements? Who else is using OFBiz? (More specifically what businesses like them) What Service Providers are available? (Do they speak their language?, Are they close by? etc) What are the benefits? What are the risks? What are the challenges? | |
Chief Information Officer (CIO) Chief Technology Officer (CTO) | They want to evaluate any potential new platform Want to find out if it could fit in with their existing company landscape Is it a good match to his staff capabilities to support et |
Same as CEO / CFO requirements What is the technology and architecture? What frameworks are used? What documentation is available? What are the integration capabilities? Can we implement it ourselves or do we need a Service Provider? | |
| Adhoc User / Potential New User | They have heard about OFBiz and want to find out what OFBIz is They dont know what OFBiz and have been referred via a search They are researching OFBiz as a possible solution They are looking for a Service Provider (Might split these up into different stories / flows through the site...) | What is OFBiz? Why should they be interested in it as a user? How can it help them What are the benefits (user perspective)? What are the main features What does it look like How do they use it Who is using it (References) How can they download it How can they install it What user documentation exists? What support exists if they are having problems or don't understand something? Does the application have there online help? | |
| Adhoc Developer / Potential New Developer | They have heard about OFBiz and want to know what it is and what it can do They want to know how to use it
| What is OFBiz? What is technology and architecture? Why should they be interested in it as a developer? How can it help them? What are the benefits (technical / developer perspective)? What does it look like? How do they use it? How can they download it? How can they install it? What technical documentation is available? What are the best practises for development? What is the data model? What APIs exist? What support is available if they have any issues? | |
| Existing User | |||
| Existing Developer |
Potential Ideas for Site and Layout
Option A (From Nick Rosser) Take a look at netsuite.com. Notice how they organize their main navbar:
Products (for us, could be features / solutions or similar)
Customers
Solutions (note the "By Role", exactly to Adrian's point there is CEO / CFO / CIO)
Platform
Services (for OFBiz, this could be "Resources")
Partners (SI's?)
Company (History, Intro Committers and other key contributors?)
Option B (From Taher Alkateeb)
Okay so based on your feedback and everyone's input, I have the following ideas in mind:
main features
=============
- - First, we introduce bootstrap to make it a responsive website and re-align everything with the grid system
- - We introduce a modern design, this includes at a minimum a unified header, footer and main menu (and possibly a secondary menu) unified across the entire site
- - A more powerful and flashy slider on the main page to showcase the framework. I prefer the mega sliders that fill up almost the entire page
- - Big buttons and icons
- - Much less text, much more pictures and animation
- - We need artwork, some of which can be purchased for marginal costs (photos, graphics, etc ...)
Now to give a lot of space for your "marketing" pitch in the main page, a lot of things need to either be deleted or moved to other locations, so the website structure is of crucial importance. For example, we can redesign the main menu to look something like this:
main menu structure
===================
- Main
- Getting Started
- Download (which version to download and dependencies)
- Install (how to step by step for installation)
- My First Component (A hello world component with a single screen)
- Documentation
- User Documentation
- Technical Documentation
- Wiki
- API Reference
- Community
- Getting Involved
- Meetups and Events
- Mailing Lists
- Source Repository
- Issue Tracker
- About
- Features (put screenshots here)
- FAQ
- Members
- License
- Who uses OFBiz
Footer Features
===============
- social media links
- secondary links less often used
- possible replication of the main menu
That's what I have for now, I hope it's useful
11 Comments
Ron Wheeler
Not sure that there is a good mapping between the table "Who will look at the site?" and the menu structure.
Very few of the questions identified under "What are they looking for?" are addressed in the top 2 levels of the menu structure.
I don't think that "My first component" is a main menu top level topic. It does not correspond to any need identified even for developers. It gives the impression that you need to want to develop components to be interested in OFBiz.
The closest we come to addressing key questions is under "About" which is usually a place where people look for contact info, project history, licensing.
Features should be a top level menu item.
Product Architecture seems to be a big part of "What are they looking for?" and is key to understanding how OFBiz can be integrated into an existing environment and used as a basis for a custom or industry-focused implementation. This should be easily accessible from a top-level menu item.
Pierre Smits
I don't see anything regarding the requirement relating to the kind of media it should be best seen on (extra large screens, large screens, laptop, tablet and phone sizes). This is nowadays more important than it ever was.
Sharan Foga
Hi Pierre - please feel free to add anything you think is missing.
BTW I'm currently working on some draft layouts and my understanding is that the the template we are using has bootstrap and resizes automatically for various screens sizes include mobile and tablet. This is something we will need to test so feel free to raise any other points on the mailing list, once we continue with the website discussions.
Jacques Le Roux
Hi Pierre, from what I see the new site is responsive. Did you check?
Jacques Le Roux
Should we not push this page to Attic now that the site has been updated? W/o answers I'll do in a week...
Swapnil Mane
Sure, I guess we can.
Michael Brohl
You should address this question to Sharan who might have the best overview if there are requirements on this page which are not implemented and if it's worth to keep it.
Jacques Le Roux
As she created this page I suppose she monitor it, anyway it does not cost to ask Sharan Foga
Jacques Le Roux
That's also something I see a lot in Jira where people are using the @nameWatcher way when it's actually not necessary, because as soon as you interact on a Jira you are automatically a watcher except if you don't watch at all which is obvisouly a bad idea. It's more a cargo cult thing coming from chatting tools...
Jacques Le Roux
I'll review the page before pushing it in Attic, there are maybe some elements that could be extracted, like the table about "Who will visit the Site?"
Jacques Le Roux
Oh, I'm not allowed to move this page. I guess Sharan put something on it. I could as a wiki admin but better then to let Sharan Foga do it when she will decide.
BWT, I have thought about ""Who will visit the Site?" and " try to log the type of information they will want". We have not a such thing, and I don't think it's wanted, do we?
It reminds me on an advice to not use Medium for blogging because Medium is harrassing people about subscribing when people are just coming to read. I think it's a good advice because it comes from an official "Chief Burnout Officer".