Re: [archhurd-devel] Re: Website change ideas

[Matthias Lanzinger <mlaenz@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Michael Walker <mike@barrucadu.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi guys, (sorry about not being on IRC recently)
>
> Since the Archlinux website changed I've been thinking about how to
> improve the Arch Hurd website, and not just by changing the design to
> match the new one, rather, using the change of archlinux.org to
> inspire a change in archhurd.org and produce a nicer-looking and more
> functional website. Here are a few ideas:
>
>  * Design change (not sure what just yet, give me time to think about
> it and try a few things)
>      - Should include possible ad-space, maybe a square advert in the header.
>      - Current design doesn't have any indication on *getting* Arch
> Hurd, users have to turn to the wiki. This must be remedied.
>  * Replace news with a blog:
>      - Pros:
>          * Allows comments - community involvement ftw
>          * Allows categories - could have a non-news category, such as
> mini tutorials, for example. Not sure whether this is a good idea
>          * Allows pages - thus, the main website could be entirely
> under the control of a CMS, making adding and changing content
> trivial.
>      - Cons:
>          * Would introduce another control panel (ie: the blog one)
> and so remove power from dev.archhurd.org
>  * Slim down forum until it grows to a point where we need more boards
> - this would make the forum look busier and so perhaps invite more
> activity:
>      - Could merge "Hurd Discussion" and "Off Topic" into one "General
> Discussion" board
>      - Could merge "Community Contributions" and "Artwork and
> Screenshots" into "Community Showcase"

I like all these ideas very much. Especially the comments for news/blog
entries. Regarding the design changes, I don't think it's necessary to
change much of the design but if you come up with soemthing cool I
certainly won't have an issue with it. A "Getting Arch" option would
definatly be a good thing.

>  * Make a matching layout for lists.archhurd.org and projects.archhurd.org

I don't really understand that one.

>  * Move from using gitweb to cgit for projects.archhurd.org, perhaps?

cgit is pretty cool. I don't have any problem with keeping gitweb though.

>  * Financing:
>      - Perhaps add a donators list - the existence of such a list on
> archlinux.org played a role (albeit small) in my decision to donate.
>      - Add Flattr to try and get smaller donations which will,
> hopefully, add up to big (or even reasonable) donations.
>      - Advertising on archhurd.org (unless anyone is greatly opposed)

Yes to all again. Even if it doesn't play a role in the decision to
donate, I think that everybody who donates deserves to be thanked
directly.
Flattr can't hurt and advertising is fine with me.

>  * Community:
>      - Facebook page (I've started on this, will finish it later)
>      - identi.ca group (do we have one? I can't remember)
>      - Push news updates to identi.ca and the facebook group, perhaps
> also to the IRC channel

What exactly do you mean by a "Facebook page"? If it's just a group
where our news is posted I agree that it's a good thing. I'm not sure
how I feel about any further facebook integration like Jordan mentioned.

> Does anyone have any more ideas, or objections or suggestions for my
> ideas? I think the website is one of the things holding Arch Hurd back
> a bit (in addition to the slow and sparse updates in the past few
> months), so I want to make it much nicer and, above all, make people
> want to investigate further.

I think the slow progress in the past few months is the main reason for
holding us back and I'm sorry that many of it is my responsibility.
However, improvements and good ideas can never hurt so making the
site even better is a plan that I very much like.

Matthias