FOSS4G 2009 Website Feedback

Feedback to Tourhost

This page is meant to brainstorm ideas and provide feedback on the current version of the FOSS4G Sydney website

Current Version

http://www.tourhosts.com.au/testdev/foss4g/

Feedback

Site Layout & Design

• Generally +ve response on the layout of the site
• OSGeo logo should be there (DONE)
• Tour host logo is unnecessary and detracts from OSGeo
• Tourhosts contact info OK, but no graphic identity.
• I wonder if it's a bit too tall (taking more vertical space than really needed)
• If it couldn't convey more information(e.g. the 2007 page banner, in addition to 'some images' and the logo includes a 'message', the full name of the conference, and the conference dates: http://www.foss4g2007.org/)
• Any "items" in the banner, such as images or text, should be links back to the Home page

Side Bar (Left)

• Generally OK, however, how will it look when categories need 'subcategories'? For example, what if "Program" needs "Workshops", "Labs", "Presentations", etc? Should the order of the existing menu items be changed? (e.g. Committee doesn't need to be 'at the top')
• Contact Us Block on Left Side: I don't think this belongs here at all. There should be a separate "Contact Us" page(but maybe "Contacts" is better? That's what 2007 used), with a corresponding link in the Menu.

Main Content (Center)

• No general comments.

Side Bar (Right)

• Will all pages have a 'right column', or perhaps only some pages? For example, for 2007, most pages did not have a right column, but the Home and Sponsorship pages did, where it was used to display the sponsor logos. As for the current "Expression of Interest" right column, get rid of it - it doesn't belong there, even at this stage (more about this below).

Footer

• This div is too tall for the information it contains. Get rid of the copyright notice. Use the footer for some 'contact info', like what was done for 2007. Use a personal email address, not "Webmaster". Get rid of the "Website validate XHTML and CSS" text (not because the pages don't validate, but because it is unnecessary to advertise this).

Page Titles

• The page's Title element should change from page to page (not always be the same as the Home page) in order to aid visitors who may bookmark specific pages

404 Error

• The default "404 Not Found" behavior for typical 'root page names' such as "index.htm" and "index.html" should be a redirect to "default.asp", if that is the name of the website's home page.

Standard Validations

• All pages should validate to the required standards. The current Home page has 27 errors for the XHTML, and the CSS has 1 error and 23 warnings. I didn't do any accessibility checks, or check other pages.

• If this website content is "incomplete", which we know it will be for the next while, do not include 'essentially empty' placeholder pages (e.g. Program, Social, Sponsorship, Accommodation, Registration). Only add such pages when there is 'real content'. The Home page can convey the "watch this space" message to site visitors (but don't use vague terms like 'coming soon').

Committee page

• Remove the word "Local".
• How about a map showing where the committee members are located?
• It's a webpage, so include links where possible (e.g. see the 2007 About page: http://www.foss4g2007.org/about_foss4g/).
• I think it would look better if each person had:

- name
- job title (i.e. not 'committee title')
- company name
- city/region/country
- possibly committee title 
(Chair is fine, but do we also want to add things like Workshop Coordinator, etc?)

• I tidied up the OSGeo section of the governance wiki page, and updated my info as an example:

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_2009_Governance

Contacts page

• Add a 'Contacts' (or 'Contact Us') page, including a form that people can fill out. Mandatory parts of the form would be email address, subject, and 'comments', but other fields, if they exist, such as Title, Organization, etc. would be optional. Don't default "Title" to "Mr".

Add a "Stay Informed" page

• There may be a better name than 'Stay Informed', and it's likely that this page should be mentioned/linked from some text on the Home page (and maybe the "Contacts" page?). This page would cover any means that people can use to stay informed about FOSS4G2009. For now, the minimum would be to have a paragraph about this mailing list (and perhaps also the Wiki?). As they are developed, other things can be added. Some possibilities are:

- mention of any other mailing lists, such as a FOSS4G2009 Announcements mailing list
- info about a 'FOSS4G2009 blog'
- an RSS feed of 'website updates' (i.e. when new pages/content are added to existing pages)
- an RSS feed similar to 2007 for Presentations, if there is to be a community review

Also see Social Networking Elements

Expression of Interest

• Do away with this functionality. The "Stay Informed" page will direct people to 'pull' methods of receiving information about FOSS4G2009, and the "Contacts" page provides better functionality, as it's form would allow people to ask questions.

Sponsorship page

• Do not include a checkbox for "Potential Sponsor" on the "Contacts" page, but on that page (and perhaps other pages) direct potential sponsors to the Sponsorship page. On this page provide some relevant information now, so that this page exists right from the start of the website. Provide both an email address to contact as well as a form to use for making contact. (do not use "click here" for email addresses)

Site URL & Domain Name

• Standardize on http://foss4g.org/2009
• Issue of using .asp

Social Networking Elements

For a general understanding of the importance of social networking element of the site please see the stay connected sidebar @Web2.0 Expo

• Crowdvine page for the code sprint e.g. wherecamp
• Twitter (sab setup a conf account at http://twitter.com/foss4g2009) other e.g. Web 2.0 Expo, reasoning about using twitter
• ICal feed for the conference schedule: Web 2.0 Expo

Standard Procedures for Website Additions/Updates

What process and policies will guide FOSS4G2009 website updates/additions?

Process:

Regardless of who is working on the update/addition, what "process" will be used? Some thoughts:

• while there may be an upside in terms of exposure, one downside of having 'the first cut' announced on this public list is that the list is archived and publicly available, therefore search engines may 'grab content' that we decide shouldn't be made public

• if the Organizing Committee doesn't review the content first, before it is available publicly, there may be the risk of wrong or mixed messages

• is a 'two step review' (Organizing Committee, then this public list) too much 'management'
• is the process any different for an update to the content of an existing page vs a new page

Policies:

What policies/guidelines will apply to updates/addition to the FOSS4G2009 website? Some thoughts:

• all pages must be valid (but what standard do we use to validate against? XHTML 1.0 Transitional?)
• the CSS used must be valid (but what standard do we use to validate against? CSS level 2?)
• what if any other standards must be met? (e.g. accessibility guidelines)
• which versions of which web browsers on which platforms must be used for testing, and are there specific types of tests that must be done?
• do 'interactive pages', such as pages with forms, need additional testing(i.e. to ensure that the form submission has been fully tested by multiple people, including 'the public', and that the submitted data is what is expected)
• is there a standard 'layout' that will be applied to all pages (e.g. top banner with 3-column layout below, + footer?)