Todd,
Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the comments about the original
thinking of EPIC and I think it is still valid. Finding quality, relevant
plug-ins needs to continue to be a focus of EPIC and the rankings help
accomplish this, so I don’t see this as a change in focus
However, we have also been trying to give
exposure to more member plugins; the goal being to drive up the number of click
thru’s for all member plugins. The last time I did an analysis, a disproportional
amount of activity is directed toward about 20 plugins. I think it would be
beneficial to the entire community to see this number increase. We are hoping
to accomplish this by given more prominence to the new and update and the
featured plugin category. However, I think we can look at creating more of a
balance.
For your other questions.
>>>> "What were the requirements for
this redesign?" and
From Nathan’s original e-mail, here were the
design goals:
-
Better Navigation of Categories
-
Less Focus on News, More on Updates
/ New Plugins.
-
More Focus on Featured Plugins
-
More prominent google ad.
>>>> "What problem was this redesign
trying to solve?"
I think we are trying to modernize the look, make it
easier to find plugins, give more exposure to member plugins.
>>>> "Were you trying to refocus the
site away from rankings and usage?"
No this was not implicit. I think it is
a valid point that we need to address to make sure we don’t focus away
from the rankings and usage.
From: Todd Williams
[mailto:todd@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 1:13
PM
To: ian.skerrett@xxxxxxxxxxx; The
EPIC component of Phoenix
Subject: RE: [phoenix-epic-dev]
EPIC Homepage Prototype
I had a look at the mockup and am a bit conflicted
about my opinion of it. Overall, I like the "look" of it and
think it integrates better with the other Eclipse sites.
However, I think with this particular design the heart
of the functionality of EPIC is lost. EPIC originally became successful
because it was very easy to take advantage of the "wisdom of crowds"
to see what plugins were the most used and highest quality. In fact, this
was EPIC's principle differentiator over other plugin sites that existed at the
time. So, the user is supposed to easily be able to see "what's
good" when they visit EPIC. With this new design I think they simply
see "what's new" since the announcements take center stage and the
usage / rankings are relegated to the browser's "low rent district"
on the right margin.
So, given the change in focus I have to ask:
"What were the requirements for this
redesign?" and
"What problem was this redesign trying to
solve?"
"Were you trying to refocus the site away from
rankings and usage?"
Personally, I feel that if we could again focus
principally on answering "what's good", but with the new graphic
design (which is a vast improvement) I think we'll end up with the best of
both.
As for the call time, I'll be in SF as well, but
7:30am PST will be fine with me.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, May 03,
2007 10:29 AM
Subject: [work] RE:
[phoenix-epic-dev] EPIC Homepage Prototype
So far, with the exception of Mike Taylor
and Mark Johnson, I have been a bit disappointed with the feedback on the EPIC
home page prototype? Does the absence of feedback mean you 1)
love it, 2) don’t have time to look at it or 3) still formulating a response?
I am also hoping people are not waiting to
provide feedback during our conference call next week. IMHO, we
need to be better at using public mailing list or bugzilla entries to document
feedback, so we are viewed as being more transparent. Also, if we wait
until next week for feedback we have essentially slowed the project down until
the meeting. Therefore, if you do have feedback, please provide it
as soon as possible.
If we don’t get feedback we will
proceed with making the current prototype the home page. To make it
easier and more transparent, I have also opened a bug to collect
feedback. Please respond to the bug or on this e-mail list.
Thanks
Ian
.
From: phoenix-epic-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:phoenix-epic-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Ian Skerrett
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 3:20
PM
To: 'The EPIC component of Phoenix'
Subject: RE: [phoenix-epic-dev]
EPIC Homepage Prototype
I was speaking with Maher and I think
there might be some confusion about the prototype for the EPIC home
page.
The prototype for a new EPIC home page can
be found at http://sandbox.eclipseplugincentral.net/proto/proto.php.
We are interested in getting your feedback on the
content and layout. The ‘look, ie the colour, fonts, graphics
still need to be updated. We hope to use a similar
‘look’ to the new Eclipse Live site that we just launched. http://live.eclipse.org
However, this will be done by a graphics company,
so I wanted to get a general consensus on the content before engaging with them
on the graphics.
It would be appreciate if people could
send their feedback on the prototype to the mailing list, so everyone can see
it.
I also think it is appropriate to have a
conference call for the EPIC Council. Can I suggest we schedule at
call for Tuesday May 8 at 7:30amPT/10:30ET? I will be in California for JavaOne,
so I’d like to try to do it before the conference starts. Let
me know if this is okay with people.
Thanks
Ian
From:
phoenix-epic-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:phoenix-epic-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Nathan Gervais
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007
1:54 PM
To: 'The EPIC component of Phoenix'
Subject: [phoenix-epic-dev] EPIC
Homepage Prototype
Afternoon all,
I’ve been working for the past few weeks on a new prototype of the EPIC
homepage that I’d like to gather some feedback on. Keep in mind that this
is a prototype. Nothing is set in stone and a lot of the data is made up.
It is NOT a working page.
We’ve received some great feedback on the look and feel that were using
on http://live.eclipse.org
and our plan at the foundation is to bring all of our web properties in line
with a common look and feel. This new prototype for EPIC is a step in that
direction.
Here is a list of the things that we tried to focus on with this new design.
- Better
Navigation of Categories
- Less Focus
on News, More on Updates / New Plugins.
- More Focus
on Featured Plugins
- More
prominent google ad.
Please visit the prototype here http://sandbox.eclipseplugincentral.net/proto/proto.php
to see it in action.
Any and All feedback is welcome.
This is just the first step in the process.
Nathan Gervais
Web Developer
Eclipse Foundation
[http://www.eclipse.org]
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