Redesign of djangoproject.com? - Django developers

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Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:33:26 -0700
From: Dana Woodman <d...@danawoodman.com>
To: django-developers@googlegroups.com
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Subject: Re: Redesign of djangoproject.com?
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Great info Russ, thanks!

My thoughts at this point would be to focus on the main content sections, including the home page and documentation overview pages. 

For the home page I'd see something like this working well:

-Logo and brief project description (fork on Github as well?) - Answers the "What is Django?" and "Why should I care?" questions. (for example, Twitter Bootstraps's home page: http://cl.ly/3R0d1X300S0S0f0A0j0S)
Link to download and docs - Answers the "How can I start?" question
"Who uses Django?" section - Answers, well... the "Who uses Django?" question. BTW, is there a reason that there isn't more of the larger users of Django on here?  Eg Disqus, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, Mahalo, addons.mozilla.org (http://addons.mozilla.org), etc... This alone would get people excited to use Django and would convince a lot of the business types that Django can scale and is worth the investment.
A graphical site navigation area, eg: http://cl.ly/3B1N2h3E2x3x0f3V091K - Give people a an easy way to get around to the core content on the site.



Thinking a layout along the lines of Node.js (http://nodejs.org/) homepage would be effective. Node does a good job of keeping things minimal and easy to navigate.

Some sort of "blogroll" type feature would satisfy the need to update the community of interesting or useful links. This could work in concert with the documentation as well. Not sure what the exact needs for this are, what would be an ideal process for this?

How would the style guide be presented? Would it be a page on djangoproject.org, Github Wiki, a PDF, or...?

I assume it would be fairly straightforward to give Spinx a new skin?

Do you feel an incremental approach would be best or should it be a complete overhaul in one go? 

--
Dana Woodman
d...@danawoodman.com (mailto:d...@danawoodman.com)
http://www.danawoodman.com


On Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Russell Keith-Magee wrote:

> Hi Dana
> 
> 
> On Sunday, 29 April 2012 at 1:45 AM, Dana Woodman wrote:
> 
> > Very true Chris. I'd love to see the documents that were put together when this was discussed last time, if they're still around.
> I've included the design brief in my response to Ned. If you're looking for something else in particular, let me know and I'll see if I can find (or produce) something that is suitable.
> > 
> > In regards to what needs improvement, there are some core issues as I see it. 
> > 
> > 1) the home page does a poor job of conveying what someone should do if they want to try out Django. It also could do a much better job of making Django a bit more "sexy". 
> > 2) the documentation itself, while thorough, is a bit difficult to navigate, especially for new users. I think this could be partially remedied by some modifications to headers and color choices. 
> > 3) the project could do a better job of selling itself, especially in regards to showcasing why it is so great: automatic admin, large active community and plugins, large sites and organizations using it, active development, lots of built in security, etc...
> > 4) it just looks old and outdated, which is a problem in its own right. 
> > 
> > Should I just fork the project on Github and hack away or do I need to work on subversion?
> As of yesterday, we are a SVN-free organisation -- everything is on GitHub. However, djangoproject.com (http://djangoproject.com) has been on GitHub for a while:
> 
> https://github.com/django/djangoproject.com
> 
> If you want to work on code directly, that's the place to start.
> > 
> > In regards to organization of the documentation, I assume that is generated via the docs within Django, correct? Would I have freedom to do content organization/copy changes or would it just be a design change? I don't mean changing the documentation, but more how other pages and sections are laid out.
> 
> Correct - the documentation is the contents of the /docs directory, as rendered by Sphinx. This means that the style of any individual page (e.g., fonts for headings, etc) is part of the Sphinx stylesheet, but the gross structure is determined by the file layout in the /docs directory (i.e., one page per file).
> 
> There's really two tasks contained in what you have described here:
> 
> 1) Restyling the docs to make them easier to read
> 
> 2) Reorganizing the docs to make information easier to find.
> 
> 1) is definitely the remit of this design project. (2) is a much bigger project. Unless you're going to keep it simple - e.g., a proposing better home page layout for the docs - it may be better to leave the structure of the docs as a separate issue.
> > I assume I'd also need to work on the code.djangoproject.org (http://code.djangoproject.org) (http://code.djangoproject.org) site as well? Are there other things that would need to change? I'd really need the scope down so I know how and where to start.
> 
> 
> There's also pages for the foundation; these aren't currently linked to from the homepage, so they're really well hidden. Right now, they're currently implemented as flat pages. 
> 
> However, as the brief indicates, we'd like to have a bunch of broader design guidelines so if we want to improve any existing section of the site, or if any other project comes along and we want to integrate them into djangoproject.com (http://djangoproject.com) (e.g., Django People or Django Packages), we can give that project a style guide to work with.
> 
> More importantly, one of my goals with this project is to broaden the base of "active design experts" that we have as a project. The core coding team has a relatively low bus factor -- if one of us stops committing, there are plenty of others who know the code and can maintain the project in our absence. However, our design bus factor is somewhere between 1 and 0 -- we've got Idan as our Benevolent Designer for Life, but he's a busy man; we really need to surround him with a bunch of talented designers, in the same way that we've got Jacob and Adrian, plus a bunch of talented developers. 
> 
> Yours,
> Russ Magee %-)
> > 
> > This is no simple task so any direction or help would be greatly appreciated!
> > 
> > Cheers
> > 
> > On Apr 28, 2012, at 5:11 AM, Chris Pickett <chris.pick...@gmail.com (mailto:chris.pick...@gmail.com) (mailto:chris.pick...@gmail.com)> wrote:
> > 
> > > It seems to me that this might be one of those opportunities to just jump right in and get your hands dirty. I many ways I don't know if a redesign is going to happen without someone taking the initiative and getting it done, so it might as well be you! :)
> > > 
> > > On Saturday, April 28, 2012 2:22:59 AM UTC-5, Dana Woodman wrote:
> > > > So now that Django is being moved to Git/Github (which is awesome!), maybe it would be a good time to think about a revamped home page for the project ala djangoproject.com (http://djangoproject.com) (http://djangoproject.com)?
> > > > 
> > > > Obviously this is no small undertaking and would be potentially contentions as to what would be the proper path, but I feel (and I don't think I'm alone) that djangoproject.com (http://djangoproject.com) (http://djangoproject.com) could use a bit of a facelift. 
> > > > 
> > > > I have some idea of my own as to how this could be accomplished and I'm sure there are a ton of others out there with great ideas as well. Maybe we could open up some discussion on this idea? 
> > > > 
> > > > Forgive me if this has been proposed before as I'm new to the group!
> > > > 
> > > > Cheers,
> > > > Dana
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers" group.
> > > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/django-developers/-/sWZOWG-NqmgJ.
> > > To post to this group, send email to django-developers@googlegroups.com (mailto:django-developers@googlegroups.com) (mailto:django-developers@googlegroups.com).
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to django-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (mailto:django-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com) (mailto:django-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com).
> > > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers?hl=en.
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers" group.
> > To post to this group, send email to django-developers@googlegroups.com (mailto:django-developers@googlegroups.com) (mailto:django-developers@googlegroups.com).
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> > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers?hl=en.
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers" group.
> To post to this group, send email to django-developers@googlegroups.com (mailto:django-developers@googlegroups.com).
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to django-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com (mailto:django-developers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com).
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> 
> 
> 



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                <div style=3D=22font-family: Helvetica; =22>Great info Ru=
ss, thanks=21<div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><br></div><div style=3D=
=22font-size: 13px; =22>My thoughts at this point would be to focus on th=
e main content sections, including the home page and documentation overvi=
ew pages.&nbsp;</div><div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><br></div><div =
style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22>=46or the home page I'd see something lik=
e this working well:</div><div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><br></div>=
<div><ul><li style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22>-<b>Logo and brief project d=
escription</b> (fork on Github as well=3F) - Answers the =22What is Djang=
o=3F=22 and =22Why should I care=3F=22 questions. (for example, Twitter B=
ootstraps's home page:&nbsp;<span style=3D=22font-size: 12px; =22><a href=
=3D=22http://cl.ly/3R0d1X300S0S0f0A0j0S=22>http://cl.ly/3R0d1X300S0S0f0A0=
j0S</a>)</span></li><li style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><b>Link to downlo=
ad and docs</b> - Answers the =22How can I start=3F=22 question</li><li s=
tyle=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><b>=22Who uses Django=3F=22 section</b> - =
Answers, well... the =22Who uses Django=3F=22 question. BTW, is there a r=
eason that there isn't more of the larger users of Django on here=3F &nbs=
p;Eg Disqus, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, Mahalo, <a href=3D=22http://ad=
dons.mozilla.org=22>addons.mozilla.org</a>, etc... This alone would get p=
eople excited to use Django and would convince a lot of the business type=
s that Django can scale and is worth the investment.</li><li style=3D=22f=
ont-size: 13px; =22><b>A graphical site navigation area</b>, eg:&nbsp;<sp=
an style=3D=22font-size: 12px; =22><a href=3D=22http://cl.ly/3B1N2h3E2x3x=
0f3V091K=22>http://cl.ly/3B1N2h3E2x3x0f3V091K</a> - Give people a an easy=
 way to get around to the core content on the site.</span></li></ul></div=
><div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px; =22=
><br></span></div><div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><span style=3D=22f=
ont-size: 12px; =22>Thinking a layout along the lines of&nbsp;</span>Node=
.js (<a href=3D=22http://nodejs.org/=22 style=3D=22color: rgb(0, 106, 227=
); =22>http://nodejs.org/</a>)&nbsp;homepage would be effective. Node doe=
s a good job of keeping things minimal and easy to navigate.</div><div st=
yle=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px; =22><br><=
/span></div><div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><span style=3D=22font-si=
ze: 12px; =22>Some sort of =22blogroll=22 type feature would satisfy the =
need to update the community of interesting or useful links. This could w=
ork in concert with the documentation as well. Not sure what the exact ne=
eds for this are, what would be an ideal process for this=3F</span></div>=
<div style=3D=22font-size: 13px; =22><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px; =22=
><br></span></div><div><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px;=22>How would the=
 style guide be presented=3F Would it be a page on djangoproject.org, Git=
hub Wiki, a PD=46, or...=3F</span></div><div><span style=3D=22font-size: =
12px;=22><br></span></div><div style=3D=22text-align: left;=22><span styl=
e=3D=22font-size: 12px;=22>I assume it would be fairly straightforward to=
 give Spinx a new skin=3F</span></div><div style=3D=22text-align: left;=22=
><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px;=22><br></span></div><div style=3D=22te=
xt-align: left;=22><span style=3D=22font-size: 12px;=22>Do you feel an in=
cremental approach would be best or should it be a complete overhaul in o=
ne go=3F</span></div></div>
                <div><div><br></div>--<div>Dana Woodman</div><div><a href=
=3D=22mailto:dana=40danawoodman.com=22>dana=40danawoodman.com</a></div><d=
iv><a href=3D=22http://www.danawoodman.com=22>http://www.danawoodman.com<=
/a></div><div><br></div></div>
                 =20
                <p style=3D=22color: =23A0A0A8;=22>On Saturday, April 28,=
 2012 at 4:49 PM, Russell Keith-Magee wrote:</p><blockquote type=3D=22cit=
e=22><div>
                    <span><div><div><div>Hi Dana</div><div><br></div><div=
><br></div><div>On Sunday, 29 April 2012 at 1:45 AM, Dana Woodman wrote:<=
/div><div><br></div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div>Very true Chris. I=
'd love to see the documents that were put together when this was discuss=
ed last time, if they're still around.</div></blockquote><div>I've includ=
ed the design brief in my response to Ned. If you're looking for somethin=
g else in particular, let me know and I'll see if I can find (or produce)=
 something that is suitable.</div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div><div=
><br></div><div>In regards to what needs improvement, there are some core=
 issues as I see it. </div><div><br></div><div>1) the home page does a po=
or job of conveying what someone should do if they want to try out Django=
. It also could do a much better job of making Django a bit more =22sexy=22=
. </div><div>2) the documentation itself, while thorough, is a bit diffic=
ult to navigate, especially for new users. I think this could be partiall=
y remedied by some modifications to headers and color choices. </div><div=
>3) the project could do a better job of selling itself, especially in re=
gards to showcasing why it is so great: automatic admin, large active com=
munity and plugins, large sites and organizations using it, active develo=
pment, lots of built in security, etc...</div><div>4) it just looks old a=
nd outdated, which is a problem in its own right. </div><div><br></div><d=
iv>Should I just fork the project on Github and hack away or do I need to=
 work on subversion=3F</div></div></blockquote><div>As of yesterday, we a=
re a SVN-free organisation -- everything is on GitHub. However, <a href=3D=
=22http://djangoproject.com=22>djangoproject.com</a> has been on GitHub f=
or a while:</div><div><br></div><div><a href=3D=22https://github.com/djan=
go/djangoproject.com=22>https://github.com/django/djangoproject.com</a></=
div><div> </div><div>If you want to work on code directly, that's the pla=
ce to start.</div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div><div><br></div><div>=
In regards to organization of the documentation, I assume that is generat=
ed via the docs within Django, correct=3F Would I have freedom to do cont=
ent organization/copy changes or would it just be a design change=3F I do=
n't mean changing the documentation, but more how other pages and section=
s are laid out.</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Correct - the=
 documentation is the contents of the /docs directory, as rendered by Sph=
inx. This means that the style of any individual page (e.g., fonts for he=
adings, etc) is part of the Sphinx stylesheet, but the gross structure is=
 determined by the file layout in the /docs directory (i.e., one page per=
 file).</div><div><br></div><div>There's really two tasks contained in wh=
at you have described here:</div><div><br></div><div> 1) Restyling the do=
cs to make them easier to read</div><div><br></div><div> 2) Reorganizing =
the docs to make information easier to find.</div><div><br></div><div>1) =
is definitely the remit of this design project. (2) is a much bigger proj=
ect. Unless you're going to keep it simple - e.g., a proposing better hom=
e page layout for the docs - it may be better to leave the structure of t=
he docs as a separate issue.</div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div>I as=
sume I'd also need to work on the <a href=3D=22http://code.djangoproject.=
org=22>code.djangoproject.org</a> (<a href=3D=22http://code.djangoproject=
.org=22>http://code.djangoproject.org</a>) site as well=3F Are there othe=
r things that would need to change=3F I'd really need the scope down so I=
 know how and where to start.</div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>There=
's also pages for the foundation; these aren't currently linked to from t=
he homepage, so they're really well hidden. Right now, they're currently =
implemented as flat pages. </div><div><br></div><div>However, as the brie=
f indicates, we'd like to have a bunch of broader design guidelines so if=
 we want to improve any existing section of the site, or if any other pro=
ject comes along and we want to integrate them into <a href=3D=22http://d=
jangoproject.com=22>djangoproject.com</a> (e.g., Django People or Django =
Packages), we can give that project a style guide to work with.</div><div=
><br></div><div>More importantly, one of my goals with this project is to=
 broaden the base of =22active design experts=22 that we have as a projec=
t. The core coding team has a relatively low bus factor -- if one of us s=
tops committing, there are plenty of others who know the code and can mai=
ntain the project in our absence. However, our design bus factor is somew=
here between 1 and 0 -- we've got Idan as our Benevolent Designer for Lif=
e, but he's a busy man; we really need to surround him with a bunch of ta=
lented designers, in the same way that we've got Jacob and Adrian, plus a=
 bunch of talented developers. </div><div><br></div><div>Yours,</div><div=
>Russ Magee %-)</div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div><div><br></div><d=
iv>This is no simple task so any direction or help would be greatly appre=
ciated=21</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers</div><div><br></div><div>On Apr=
 28, 2012, at 5:11 AM, Chris Pickett &lt;<a href=3D=22mailto:chris.picket=
t=40gmail.com=22>chris.pickett=40gmail.com</a> (<a href=3D=22mailto:chris=
.pickett=40gmail.com=22>mailto:chris.pickett=40gmail.com</a>)&gt; wrote:<=
/div><div><br></div><blockquote type=3D=22cite=22><div><div>It seems to m=
e that this might be one of those opportunities to just jump right in and=
 get your hands dirty. I many ways I don't know if a redesign is going to=
 happen without someone taking the initiative and getting it done, so it =
might as well be you=21 :)</div><div><br></div><div>On Saturday, April 28=
, 2012 2:22:59 AM UTC-5, Dana Woodman wrote:</div><blockquote type=3D=22c=
ite=22><div><div>So now that Django is being moved to Git/Github (which i=
s awesome=21), maybe it would be a good time to think about a revamped ho=
me page for the project ala <a href=3D=22http://djangoproject.com=22>djan=
goproject.com</a> (<a href=3D=22http://djangoproject.com=22>http://django=
project.com</a>)=3F</div><div><br></div><div>Obviously this is no small u=
ndertaking and would be potentially contentions as to what would be the p=
roper path, but I feel (and I don't think I'm alone) that <a href=3D=22ht=
tp://djangoproject.com=22>djangoproject.com</a> (<a href=3D=22http://djan=
goproject.com=22>http://djangoproject.com</a>) could use a bit of a facel=
ift. </div><div><br></div><div>I have some idea of my own as to how this =
could be accomplished and I'm sure there are a ton of others out there wi=
th great ideas as well. Maybe we could open up some discussion on this id=
ea=3F </div><div><br></div><div>=46orgive me if this has been proposed be=
fore as I'm new to the group=21</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><di=
v>Dana</div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></d=
iv><div>-- </div><div>You received this message because you are subscribe=
d to the Google Groups =22Django developers=22 group.</div><div>To view t=
his discussion on the web visit <a href=3D=22https://groups.google.com/d/=
msg/django-developers/-/sWZOWG-NqmgJ=22>https://groups.google.com/d/msg/d=
jango-developers/-/sWZOWG-NqmgJ</a>.</div><div>To post to this group, sen=
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                 =20
                 =20
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                 =20
                </div></blockquote><div>
                    <br>
                </div>
            
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