[Webcom] Link OSGeo projects to OSGeoLive Project Overviews - please vote

[Cameron Shorter]

Jeff,
I agree that the website is a primary marketing tool for OSGeo, and as a 
separate discussion we could talk about whether we could like to change 
the structure of the website.
(There was some good analysis and suggestions a while back which never 
was followed through into implementation).

However, what I'm proposing is a very simple fix. Replace 10 or so links 
to outdated pages to equivalent up to date OSGeo-Live pages. Your 
suggestion of pointing directly to project pages is also an option, but 
I agree with Ian in that our OSGeo-Live pages value add value by 
consistently addressing key issues that we want to promote for all OSGeo 
projects. It also cross promotes OSGeo-Live, which I think is a good thing.

To move forward, I'll propose a 3 option vote:

1. Do Nothing: Most links from http://osgeo.org point to outdated pages 
like:
http://www.osgeo.org/openlayers

2. Point to OSGeo-Live pages, such as: 
http://live.osgeo.org/en/overview/openlayers_overview.html

3. Point to project home pages, such as: http://openlayers.org/


On 27/06/13 00:38, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hi Ian,
>
> To follow along your thinking, we might even consider funding a person
> to maintain our osgeo.org systems; clearly it is one of the most
> important parts of the Foundation, but mostly remains unmaintained and
> stagnant.  If the WebComm agrees on this I could approach the Board
> about this as a champion.  I feel we need this (in my mind).
>
> As it stands now we have a need for a Drupal developer (to understand
> our old system).
>
> Anyway, I'll drop my activity in this thread, I've said my opinions, but
> I am not on the WebComm so I will step back and let the committee make
> the changes.
>
> Thanks for listening all.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
> On 2013-06-26 11:29 AM, Ian Edwards wrote:
>> Hi Jeff,
>>
>> I think maintaining up-to-date summary pages for OSGeo projects is a key
>> part of OSGeo's role.  It we just redirect users directly from our homepage
>> to the individual project homepages then why not just expect them to
>> research and find suitable software using a search engine and bypass
>> osgeo.org completely?
>>
>> The OSGeo Live summaries are always up-to-date, consistent, suitably brief
>> and well targeted.  They allow users to quickly understand the projects,
>> including answering key questions about licence and platform etc.  Without
>> these pages, I sometimes find myself checking licence information on
>> Wikipedia as it can be hard to find on some open source project web sites.
>>
>> Ian
>> OSGeo:UK
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 3:11 PM, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
>>> wrote:
>>> Hi Cameron,
>>>
>>> I am not sure why we are using summary pages for projects (as you
>>> mentioned, they will just become out-of-date); easy answer is to point
>>> directly to the project pages. (this is what users/readers on osgeo.org
>>> want anyway)
>>>
>>> -jeff
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2013-06-26 10:15 AM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>> Jeff,
>>>> Have a look at the links to the OSGeo web page.
>>>> You will see that most links point to http://osgeo.org/<project> which
>>>> is an out of date page.
>>>> (At some point, I understand the web committee decided it best to point
>>>> to consistent pages.)
>>>>
>>>> What I'm proposing is if we do point to an OSGeo page, we should at
>>>> least point to an up to date one, hence the OSGeo-Live page.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 26/06/2013 10:00 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>>>>> Hi Cameron,
>>>>>
>>>>> As much as I think the OSGeo-Live project is wonderful, let's make sure
>>>>> that we send osgeo.org readers directly to where they want to go when
>>>>> they click on a project link: to the project's homepage.
>>>>>
>>>>> -jeff
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2013-06-25 5:54 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:
>>>>>> All,
>>>>>> I recommend that the list of OSGeo Projects listed at http://osgeo.org
>>>>>> should link to OSGeo-Live Project Overviews.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Currently they link to either outdated OSGeo pages for the project, or
>>>>>> the projects' home page.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The OSGeo-Live Project Overviews provide a consistent description of
>>> all
>>>>>> projects, are updated every 6 months, and also provides links to a
>>>>>> Quickstart for each project as well.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm happy to do the updating, if someone can provide me with suitable
>>>>>> permissions, and point me in the right direction.
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Webcom mailing list
>>>>> Webcom at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/webcom
>>>>
> _______________________________________________
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> Webcom at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/webcom


-- 
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254

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