Gluster users - Apr 2015 - Gluster project site revamp update

Hi all,

I've put together some more stuff on the site.
Staging URL: http://code.debs.io/glusterweb/

Bring on the suggestion on copy edits, colors & branding(-guides)!
P.S: may break on Safari. Right now all standards, no browser hacks.

Also, we probably can go on without the event-map - not much to show.

----- Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay <sankarshan.mukhopadhyay at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 5:28 PM, Soumya Deb <deb at redhat.com>
wrote:
> > Here's the staging page: http://code.debs.io/glusterweb/
> 
> This looks nice and is a good change from the current look-n-feel.
Thanks, glad that you liked the change.
> I wonder if you would consider figuring out how to include the
"Try"
> (ie. download and experience the functionality for yourself) link in a
> manner that is immediately obvious. In other words, the landing page
> would thus end up providing the following detail for various persona
> of visitors - (a) how to download; install and set-up; (b) what is the
> latest release and where is the project release timeline; (c) any
> specific social media links relevant to the project; (d) how to get
> involved; (e) where does the community get together.
a. how to download; install and set-up
Was thinking about something like TryStack, or an interactive sandboxed
temporary environment to showcase the features of Gluster FS to the user
could be a way to go. Spinning up couple of small VMs with Gluster FS
preinstalled (or better lxc/docker/rocket/container images) with preset
scripts/demos shouldn't be too expensive. But it does need a lot of work.
We can start with video tutorial serie, may be & go up from there. But
this is where we need to listen to more ideas from the rest of us.


b. what is the latest release and where is the project release timeline
Great that you asked; working on a timeline on the landing page itself.
Should be on the next update that I'll send.

c. any specific social media links relevant to the project
Please check out the brand new footer. It should serve for now.

d. how to get involved
For the time being, I was thinking of showing masthead from the landing
page & linking them to docs.gluster.org/contribute/<functionalArea>.
On the page, that section is after the event map, as "Be part of..."

Reading docs may not be 'cool' for newcomers now a days &
interactive
get-involved section featuring functional areas may work in future.

> > Here's the source code: https://github.com/debloper/glusterweb
> >
> > Here's some key-factors for the motivation to start anew:
> [snipped]
> 
> I was wondering if you have a set of baseline requirements that you
> are designing against. And whether those can also be referenced in
> order to provide the commentary/narrative structure to the designs you
> are putting up for feedback.
I've had written about the need of the change, but yes - I've missed out
mentioning the key requirements. // http://blog.debs.io/3

So the idea behind this gluster.org revamp project was to ensure:
1. It to have lower entry barrier for development contributions
2. It to have near zero technical debts or technolgy-lock-ins
3. It should be easy to fix, demonstrate/stage & reiterate
4. It should play well across platform and formfactors
5. It should not provide redundant/broken contents
6. It should help gain project participation
7. It should not look/feel 'off' in 2016

The very reason for choosing static HTML/CSS/JS, not abstracting the
codes with coffee script, less/sass etc, having compile/build/deploy
cycles, not loading it up with bootstrap, angular and all cool sounding
bower components, choosing GitHub to put the repo & using gh-pages to
publish the site as staging etc are to meet these goals.

I'd very much like to hear from y'all about this.
> > The setup is such that it plays well with the new URLs to the
documentation, blog, code repos etc. makes contribution really easy for everyone
and doesn't require much overhead on the devop side as well - it's as
WYSIWYG as it gets.

On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 9:42 PM, Soumya Deb <deb at redhat.com> wrote:
> I've put together some more stuff on the site.
> Staging URL: http://code.debs.io/glusterweb/
The addition of new aspects/content to the staging site is not
immediately obvious. If you are publishing/deploying the content from
a repo, can you add the link to a Changelog of sorts?
> Also, we probably can go on without the event-map - not much to show.
The present count of events may be less -> nil. This is expected to
change substantially with the upcoming release. It would be helpful
for a new visitor to be able to use the event-map feature aligned with
events for the new release (release parties; get-together; meetups
etc)
> ----- Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay <sankarshan.mukhopadhyay at gmail.com>
wrote:
>> On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 5:28 PM, Soumya Deb <deb at redhat.com>
wrote:
>> > Here's the staging page: http://code.debs.io/glusterweb/
>>
>> This looks nice and is a good change from the current look-n-feel.
>
> Thanks, glad that you liked the change.
>
>> I wonder if you would consider figuring out how to include the
"Try"
>> (ie. download and experience the functionality for yourself) link in a
>> manner that is immediately obvious. In other words, the landing page
>> would thus end up providing the following detail for various persona
>> of visitors - (a) how to download; install and set-up; (b) what is the
>> latest release and where is the project release timeline; (c) any
>> specific social media links relevant to the project; (d) how to get
>> involved; (e) where does the community get together.
I wanted to draw out a conversation around the personas. The new
aspects to the web-asset are intended to address specific
requirements. It would be good to have those requirements enumerated.
This helps (i) in explaining the design thinking you are exercising;
(ii) allow new contributors with various paths to get on-board and
send patches.
> a. how to download; install and set-up
> Was thinking about something like TryStack, or an interactive sandboxed
> temporary environment to showcase the features of Gluster FS to the user
> could be a way to go. Spinning up couple of small VMs with Gluster FS
> preinstalled (or better lxc/docker/rocket/container images) with preset
> scripts/demos shouldn't be too expensive. But it does need a lot of
work.
> We can start with video tutorial serie, may be & go up from there. But
> this is where we need to listen to more ideas from the rest of us.
It would be good to list down the options which can be imagined and
thereafter short-listed for the presence in the page.
> b. what is the latest release and where is the project release timeline
> Great that you asked; working on a timeline on the landing page itself.
> Should be on the next update that I'll send.
+1
> c. any specific social media links relevant to the project
> Please check out the brand new footer. It should serve for now.
+1
> d. how to get involved
> For the time being, I was thinking of showing masthead from the landing
> page & linking them to
docs.gluster.org/contribute/<functionalArea>.
> On the page, that section is after the event map, as "Be part
of..."
I think it is time to think about ways to replace filler text on the
page(s) with actual desired content.

I do realize that a part of my feedback overlaps with design/layout
decisions and actual view/presentation layers of the design itself.
> Reading docs may not be 'cool' for newcomers now a days &
interactive
> get-involved section featuring functional areas may work in future.
For example, a simpler design that drives a message similar to
<https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Join> may be good.
> I've had written about the need of the change, but yes - I've
missed out
> mentioning the key requirements. // http://blog.debs.io/3
It would probably be worthwhile to turn that post into a part of the
code repository as well.
> So the idea behind this gluster.org revamp project was to ensure:
> 1. It to have lower entry barrier for development contributions
> 2. It to have near zero technical debts or technolgy-lock-ins
> 3. It should be easy to fix, demonstrate/stage & reiterate
> 4. It should play well across platform and formfactors
> 5. It should not provide redundant/broken contents
> 6. It should help gain project participation
> 7. It should not look/feel 'off' in 2016
To ease the flow of administration of the site and updates to the
content (or, parts thereof) should also be a goal.

Once the remaining filler text is replaced with actual content, how do
you think you are doing against your criteria?
> The very reason for choosing static HTML/CSS/JS, not abstracting the
> codes with coffee script, less/sass etc, having compile/build/deploy
> cycles, not loading it up with bootstrap, angular and all cool sounding
> bower components, choosing GitHub to put the repo & using gh-pages to
> publish the site as staging etc are to meet these goals.
>
> I'd very much like to hear from y'all about this.
>
>> > The setup is such that it plays well with the new URLs to the
documentation, blog, code repos etc. makes contribution really easy for everyone
and doesn't require much overhead on the devop side as well - it's as
WYSIWYG as it gets.
That's the choice - whether to have a lightweight shim aggregating
across existing assets or, create a deploy-ready content container
which wires up with existing assets.

Either way, what is your understanding of a minimally functional and
ready site which can be useful for the upcoming release?


-- 
sankarshan mukhopadhyay
<https://about.me/sankarshan.mukhopadhyay>