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Stephan Reber wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hallo,
I took a closer look at the website. There are a few things I have
noticed. It seems to me the website is for developers and experienced
users. But if you want to get new users interested, they should read
something about QGIS. </pre>
</blockquote>
There are such items, such as Features, but they do not jump out at the
new user. I agree that a major reorganization is due.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">The latest news are not very interessting for
those people. The next thing is that scrolling in the site isn't very
comfortable (on my pc and notebook). Or isn't it a common problem?
</pre>
</blockquote>
I don't have this problem myself but with smaller screens and lower
resolutions it is a problem.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
Here are more points, I noticed.
1. Menus:
Do we need two of them and which is the main menu? I think the menu
guides you through the content. With the two menus you got to jump from
one to the other. I found it a little bit confusing. I would prefer a
structure for the main menu like this:
a) Home (with the general information about QGIS, features, current
release, screenshots,...)
b) Project (information, contribute)
b) News
c) Download
d) Documentation (documentation, FAQ, flash demos, tutorials,...)
e) Community (mailinglists, wiki, forum...)
f) Developer ( (mailinglists, wiki, forum...)
g) Commercial support
For better use some sublevel menus (right expression?) should be added.
The top menu can provide fast access to
a) Wiki
b) Forum
c) Blogs
d) Contribute
</pre>
</blockquote>
I like to use two menus, one for one-click items such as <br>
Home<br>
Contact Us<br>
Search<br>
Calendar<br>
FAQ<br>
Site Map<br>
Using a menu provides a compact way of having these capabilities on
every page.<br>
<br>
<br>
I like to use a second menu for topics with sublevels. The joomla "Top
Menu" does not work well for hierarchical menus because you cannot
expand the menus (at least as far as I have been able to figure it out-
I haven't tried Joomla 1.5 yet), so the "Main Menu" would be a better
choice. This tends to force a 3-column layout, with the expandable menu
on the left, main panel in the center and modules on the right.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
2. Modules:
Which Modules are really necessary? I think there are too much. The
modules distract the user from the content. Do we need all modules on
the frontpage? Some could be displayed not on the frontpage, but on
sites that fit to the issue.
</pre>
</blockquote>
Agreed. If the target audience for the frontpage is the prospective
user, then Developer Blogs, Syndicate and Blog News are probably not of
immediate interest. but the others could be of interest?<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
3. News:
How long should the news be shown on the website? Over 80 sites for the
news are too many. Maybe we enter a date for "finish publishing".
</pre>
</blockquote>
There are a lot of items in the News Category that would be worth
keeping on the site for longer periods, such as the interviews.<br>
When you reorganize, you could have separate categories for these items.<br>
Then the number of news items might seem more reasonable. If the
usefulness of an item is clearly going to expire after a certain time,
it should have a finish publishing date. If the Author doesn't enter
it, then the website adminstrator could take that responsibility, IMO.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
4. Backend:
After a first look at the backend I was surprised that the content is
organised mainly in the section/category "News/Latest News". I think,
there should be more categories to get a better overview of the items.
</pre>
</blockquote>
+1<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">
And now some remarks to the user feedback.
Otto Dassau schrieb:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi Tara and Stephan,
Tara, I found your mail with the feedback you got from visitors to the website.
Otto
##########
From: Tara Athan <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:tara_athan@alt2is.com"><tara_athan@alt2is.com></a>
To: Otto Dassau <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:otto.dassau@gmx.de"><otto.dassau@gmx.de></a>
Subject: Re: [work] QGIS website
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:34:58 -0700
1. turn-around time for approval of registrations of the forum was a consistent
issue
2. viewers with smaller screens thought the 3-column layout of the website was
too crowded. I agree, I find 3-columns websites confusing, especially on the
first visit, when I am trying to answer the question- is there anything on this
site worth the investment of time in finding it. I suggest going to a 2-column
layout, and modifying the style so there are more visual cues to separate the
center panel from the periphery, such as a different color background for the
center panel and modules, or some changes in the style of the center panel
headings to draw more attention to the center. (requires modifying html and/or
css of the template)
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->If many modules are used I would prefer the 3-column layout - left =
main menu, middle = center panel, right = modules. This delivers a clear
seperation of navigation, content and other information. Some modules on
the top of the site could displayed in the bottom of the page. The width
of three columns can be changed for better view on small displays. If
there is no need for so many modules a 2-column layout should also work .
I agree that some changes in the style are good to bring out the center
panel. I will take a look at the css/html and see what I can do. Or is
there anyone who is willing to design a own QGIS-Template?
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">3. one viewer suggested we have more visual content on the website, such as
screenshots of maps produced by QGIS. I considered running a request for users
to send in their favorite map and then having a block on the front page to
display the "map of the month"
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->A few more screenshots to give a more visual content to the general
information would be good. And some place for maps/screenshots by users
would be great. There are some components for photogalleries. Perhaps we
can integrate such a component.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">4. Backups are a concern. I stopped working on the website because the Joomla
backup tool was not working and *I was concerned about making unrecoverable
changes. *
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->So am I.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">As I understand it, there is no built in backup capability in the
default Joomla. I suggest we uninstall the Site Backup component, which is not
working, and install another one that does.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->I have worked with a backup to migrate a real small site to joomla1.5
and it did well. I will look after this backup component.
</pre>
</blockquote>
Gary Sherman was reluctant to have third-party components installed. I
understand the site was cracked at one point due to a vulnerability in
such a component. However, not having a backup capability is a major
vulnerability as well. Perhaps Gary will agree to the use of a
component for this purpose. It should be mature and well-maintained,
and kept up-to-date by the website administrator.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">5. The syndication is not synchronized with the front page, because the Home
item in the Main menu is not using the Front Page Component. I would suggest
either going back to using the Front Page Component or dropping the
syndication.
6. To maintain security if the website, the Joomla security checklist should be
checked and any deficiencies resolved.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,81058.0.html">http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,81058.0.html</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->I took a short look at the link. To maintain security to the website
means to keep joomla up to date and make the right settings or is there
more to do (Webserver, MySQL,..)?
</pre>
</blockquote>
For one thing, there is still a Super Administrator account with a
non-secure name.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:482F3CCD.3060407@sr-gis.de" type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Wed, 14 May 2008 14:15:12 -0700
Tara Athan <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:tara_athan@alt2is.com"><tara_athan@alt2is.com></a> wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I cannot find copies of the website feedback I got via e-mail. There
was not a lot and most of it was pointing out broken links or wondering
why they could not get their registration approved, and we took care of
these things.
The one unresolved comment I remember is a suggestion that we put more
graphics (like maps) on the front page. This was not addressed because
it would have required a significant overhaul of the website. But
perhaps this is the time to reconsider.
Tara
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->It seems there is a lot to do for the website. And I wonder if it is the
right time to migrate to joomla1.5. Then we could work in a sandbox to
update/rearrange the website and put it online when it works fine.
regards,
Stephan
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<pre wrap="">
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
My e-mail delivery has been unreliable lately, so I am asking for
return receipts from all my email messages.
OK'ing the return receipt lets me know that my message was delivered.
Thank you.
Tara Athan
Principal, Alternatives to Invasive Species
tara_athan [AT] alt2is.com
707-485-1198
PO Box 415
Redwood Valley, CA 95470</pre>
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