Web site design

This wiki is the place where the Marketing Comittee of OSGeo is planning the redesigning of the OSGeo Web site following a user-centered design process (UCD). The main goals of the redesign are to provide:

* increased usability of the OSGeo Web site, and * increased use of the resources on the OSGeo Web site due to better usability. * aligning site branding with an official print design =Members=
 * Tyler
 * Daniele
 * Jeroen

=Tasks=

1) Analysis of the Current website



 * Content Design
 * Layout Design
 * Navigation Design
 * Visual Design

2) Define areas that need improvement

 * Content Design:
 * Some of the written content could be summarized
 * The site is very static and rigid. The community lives somewhere else. Do we want a more active site?
 * Alter and restructure the "About the Foundation" and "FAQ" materials (w)
 * Layout Design:
 * Navigation Design:
 * The Login section is not easy to find on the homepage
 * We have a very long menu. It should be shortened.
 * Visual Design:
 * More images may make the website a bit more friendly
 * The site could use more color.

=Projects=

=Ideas=


 * User centered Design
 * User testing
 * Usability
 * Tied to branding of print material
 * We should implement a search. Probably google site search.
 * Language selection could be made better
 * The navigation menu is not the correct place to put language selection in.
 * A alternative way could be to have a "change language" link in the top banner somewhere, which would take the user to a page like this.

=Links=


 * 10 tips for a usable website
 * Book: Web Design for Return on Investment
 * Flag as a symbol of language - stupidity or insult?

Previous discussion

 * Several emails following from this marketing thread and this board thread
 * Target audiences and messaging are discussed in the Marketing Communication Strategy 2008 (section 6 in particular)
 * WebCom OSGeo Site Focus presents various target audiences as well under Marketing Targets