[Zope] Re: [ZWeb] FYI: A little bit of progress

[Lennart Regebro]

From: "Paul Everitt" <paul@zope.com>
> I fully expect us do go through a brutal refactoring stage, removing as
> much as possible.

That's good, because then we can claim we are agile. :-)

> You're obviously not that keen on the sponsorship thingy. :^)

Nah, It just ended up far down on my wishlist. :-)

> I think you've found a good description of the right column: things that
> are time-specific.

Nope. *You* found the description. I just realized that announcements and
news are almost the same thing. :-)

> Correspondingly, things that should change
> frequently.  The corollary, of course, is that material in the middle
> content area should change rarely.
>
> Agreed?

Sounds like a good idea.

> Looks good to me.  We might be stuck with an imbalance, though.  The
> right column might go down much further if we add in, for instance, the
> five most recent products.

OK, so it needs to be wider, and the summary part maybe a bit shorter. The
examples are pretty long. Two rows of text for each entry should be enough.

> How's this for a suggestion: change it from Products to simply
> Resources.  Thus, new documentation, articles, case studies, whatever
> can flow through.

Yeah, good idea!

> Another suggestion: if we actually *do* produce a ratings system, move
> it from a "latest resources" focus to "top resources".
>
> I have a dual goal here:
>
> a. Bring important information to the attention of the regular visitor.
>
> b. Give a little net.fame to contributors (whether software, docs,
> marketing, whatever).
>
> The idea of "Top Whatever" could then extend into each section page,
> giving net.fame at each stage.  For instance, much later on (when we
> have the time to do so), I'd love to highlight the top CVS contributors
> each week.

I'm totally into this type of communities, with ratings on, well,
everything, and net.fame + priviligies to go with it. It's a lot of work to
do, though, but it's a good goal to strive for long term.

> BTW, you gotta bail on the Newbies term.  It's a bit condescending.

OK. Dummies? :-)

> I think I'd like an alternative presentation:
>
> Info For
> ---------
> o _New Users_   New to Zope, but familiar with website development.
>    _Intro_, _About Python_, _Web Programming_
>
> o _Developers_  Experienced in Python, Zope, or other programming.
>    _ Products_, _Using CVS_, _Bug Days_
>
> etc.

Looks good. We need to agree on which target audience splits to do, and what
to call them. But thats a whole different thread.

> Third, the dotted vertical line in the left margin of the content area
> was introduced by Andrew Sawyers on Friday.  It isn't in the mockups
> Olivier and Nicolas produced.  We should get some agreement before
> keeping them.

I'd like one dotted line between each column. The alternative is to have
larger spaces inbetween, and that takes up valuable space. But then, I'm not
any good at design.

> We could make it easier to comment on things by embedding a little form
> in the mockups at the bottom:

Thats a very neat idea!