Message-ID: <4EC7BD63.4080707@dalibo.info>
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:29:55 +0100
From: damien clochard <damien@dalibo.info>
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To: Thom Brown <thom@linux.com>
CC: w^3 <pgsql-www@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: PostgreSQL website redesign
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Le 17/11/2011 01:10, Thom Brown a =E9crit :
> Hi all,
>=20
> As you will no doubt be aware, the PostgreSQL website is overdue for a
> fresh lick of paint,=20

First of all, thanks to the people who handle this. This website needs
love that's for sure :)

Here's a few ideas :

 * I think target audience is new users. The website should focus on
providing simple answers to basic questions :

   - What is PostgreSQL ?
   - Where can I get help ?
   - Where's the download link ?
   - Who uses PostgreSQL ?
   - How can I contribute ?

 * Regular and advanced users don't need to go on the pg.org website
everyday. For them the website should only be a gateway to the various
community websites : the wiki, the planet, the pugs, pgxn, the mailing
lists, etc.

 * Be more international, connect with local communities. If the main
website is not translated, at least it should make it clear **on every
page** that there are local websites in other languages (pg.fr, pg.jp,
etc. ). New users that are not comfortable with English should have a
chance to read content in their own language (when possible of course).

 * If think the message should be that PostgreSQL is free, innovative
and used by very big companies. A slideshow on the front page could
illustrate these 3 points : talk about a new feature in 9.1 , display a
use case, advertize an event such as pgcon, etc.

 *  I don't think the website should be optimized for tablets and mobile
phones...

 * There's way too much information on the front page. People don't want
to spend 3 minutes reading everything. Instead the front should drive
users based on the 3 major needs : download / help / contribute
For instance the Google Think website has very effective design for that
 : http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/


That being said i have a few questions :

a/ In 2009, a web design contest was launched... what happened to this
initiative ?

b/ Who's in the design committee ? and who choosed them ?

c/ Sorry but I'm not a huge fan of the Postgres Open website :-/ It's
full of HTML and CSS errors everywhere. The meta tags are pretty poor.
Basic files like sitemap.xml or robots.txt are missing. There's no
favicon either....  On what basis is this an "excellent job" ?

d/ Seems you have already choosed the web designer, right ? Can somebody
else propose his services or is this too late ?

--=20
damien clochard
dalibo.com | dalibo.org