TxP.com home page

zero · 2008-09-16 18:23:09

Sounds good to me, Stef. Also rotating lists that just show 2, 3, 4 or 5 items could be used for Reasons to try, reasons not to try and whatever other content goes on the front page. (Perhaps the elevator pitch is overdoing it, but perhaps not?) I think there should be a push button rather than depending on page refresh for those who want to see more. It can have the advantage of all items showing in source but not overloading the visitor.

Now I rearranged Reasons to Try into audiences, I see some changes will need making to the items but I think it helps with the focus and comes across stronger. Personally, I’d miss out the mini-elevator pitch for each audience, Julián, but that’s me and might depend on exact wording of items listed. Oh, in case you’re wondering, I’m thinking Reasons should be on front page, not inside.

maniqui · 2008-09-16 18:53:21

My only argument against the “Reasons to try” is precisely that heading, I mean, the wording.
The “try” sounds like “try the demo, then buy”. But I may be totally wrong, because I don’t speak english natively.

I will insist on (re)moving the “Features”, “Showcase” and “Support” box from homepage, as they are taking too much space from things (basic features, example of original websites done properly, and a support ecosystem) that should be “granted” for any open source CMS project in year 2008.

I know, I’m repeating myself: I would prefer that space taken by original content directed to each particular audience. Then, below, the real quotes of TxP users. Then, below, yes, the other three boxes which everyone expects.

zero · 2008-09-16 19:07:55

I think Reasons to Try is fine so long as people know they are not going to have to buy anything, so ‘free and open source’ should be prominent if using that heading. I agree about removing Features, Showcase and Support. Targeting those audiences using rotation (preferably jQuery?) also allows us an alternative way to write all those features. So we can say similar things but in different ways on the home page and on the Features page, thus doubling findability.

BTW, I hope you’re subscribed to the namespace but in case you’re not, I’ve made some comments on the SEO page about differentiating TXP by using keywords of ‘Content Publishing’ and ‘Web Publishing’. I thought it might make Textpattern stand out more if we pushed it. What do you think?

Bloke · 2008-09-16 19:13:45

maniqui wrote:

The “try” sounds like “try the demo, then buy”.

Good point. Is “Reasons to use” / “Reasons to use it” any better?

“Features”, “Showcase” and “Support”… should be “granted” for any open source CMS project in year 2008.

True to an extent. It’s probably like saying software is ‘user friendly’ or that a graphics package allows you to resize an image and save it. If there’s space to put these sort of things lower down or ‘below the fold’, maybe that’s where they should be.

But by the same token, new users who don’t know what a CMS is (are there any?) and are just fed up with writing sites by hand (like how I stumbled upon TXP) might desire to know the basics like it’s an open source project, has a friendly community, allows you to manage your site structure and content with ease, blah blah.

That’s my whole ethos behind having a randomly selected list of 4 or 5 ‘things’ in boxes on a page at each refresh (I also like the ‘button’ idea to get at more, zero, even if it takes you to a page where there’s the full list with each explained / backed up with a single sentence). There’s a good chance that at least one of them in a varying-difficulty-level list will ‘click’ with either a new user or someone who wishes to switch from WP, for example. We can leave it to chance / chaos theory to decide which ones get shown, e.g:

* Defaults to the tab where you Just Write
* Organise and style your site content in sections
* Tag-based syntax: no programming necessary
* Comment preview eliminates almost all spam

                                   Find out more...

If that randomly-chosen list was presented, it might appeal to content authors, developers, and designers enough that each will pick up on at least one item and be intrigued enough to find out more. Hopefully.

EDIT: zero beat me to it… and more concisely, dang :-)

EDIT2: ‘Content publishing’ and ‘web publishing’: I like ‘em!

Last edited by Bloke (2008-09-16 19:21:21)

zero · 2008-09-16 19:37:55

I think listing things under different audiences is better than completely random because, for example, Defaults to the tab where you Just Write might put a developer off but is just right for a publisher. So this is why I’m liking Julián’s suggestion – the audiences can be better targetted with 3 sections. There can still be randomness but within that section.

I was also thinking the rotation or hide/show or drop-down should be kept on front page. Something cool for Publishers like the TXP Network Links on the forum, and other cool ways for devs/designers, demonstrates jQuery nicely and saves the visitor moving away before s/he is ready.

And I think new users will always be appearing so it won’t do any harm using a tool tip for CMS or using ‘content management system’ and ‘content publishing software’ etc all on the same page.

Bloke · 2008-09-16 19:42:36

Gotcha. All good.

Bloke · 2008-09-16 20:23:11

Another good home page with the right mix of flow, noob info and a snippet of advanced stuff for people who know what one of these things does and just wants to try it already.

What it is: one sentence
Why it stands out: two paragraphs + ‘find out more’, ‘screenshots’, & ‘download’ buttons
Two supporting reasons why it’s good, plus some dev info

So it seems we’re on the right track with the elevator pitch, reasons to give it a go, download button and testimonials/showcase/screenshots. Just gotta fit the pieces with Matthew’s design!

zero · 2008-09-16 21:47:36

Nice find, Stef. It keeps it simple and very easy to follow. We wouldn’t go far wrong following that example.

wrt targeting audiences, I’ve copied the existing Features page and rearranged it to make a temporary Features by Audience page to work on for use on home page. I haven’t changed any features or added any Reasons to Try and it’s interesting to see how little developers have been targeted so far. Some in the designers bit could also be used in the dev bit if worded differently. The features pages are basically the features listed on the txp.com home page plus a few I’ve added. I found some that seem to refer to all audiences rather than any one in particular. If a dev-type person (Stef?) will change some existing features into dev-targeted ones and add some more for devs, plus we rewrite for other audiences too, then we might be able to zoom in on the best all-round txp features as well as produce a pretty convincing set of Reasons to love Textpattern.

Last edited by zero (2008-09-16 21:48:30)

Bloke · 2008-09-16 22:10:13

zero wrote:

If a dev-type person (Stef?) will change some existing features into dev-targeted ones and add some more for devs

Done ; first draft at least. Any more, anyone?

aarplane · 2008-09-17 00:37:48

Bloke wrote:

Done ; first draft at least. Any more, anyone?

Is this going to be implemented with some sort of javascript thing (aka. tabs)? It seems like an awful lot of things to list continuously on a page.

Last edited by aarplane (2008-09-17 00:38:22)

maniqui · 2008-09-17 00:57:09

For the homepage, probably the best option would be to pick a few of them (3 < x < 8) and then put the full list on an inner page.
In this case, I would avoid using some UI like tabs.

Bloke wrote:

Good to see that our very own net-carver is the top hit for txp plugins

Yeah, it seems that the “txp-plugins” subdomain gives netcarver some extra points on SEO for that search.
But then, if you search for “textpattern plugins”, the first result is TxP Resources, and Steve’s txp-plugin site doesn’t even come up on the first page. Crazy Google.

Destry · 2008-09-17 07:30:49

Bloke wrote:

Another good home page with the right mix of flow, noob info and a snippet of advanced stuff for people who know what one of these things does and just wants to try it already.

Not bad. You guys are working out the content fine so I won’t comment there. Other feelings on that site in respect to content layout and Matthieu’s ears:

I like the fact content is in two rows and not more. I think a third row would cross the line into too much, unless it was just a row for things like designer quotes or whatever (just like the initial wireframe evolved too). If this means deciding what content gets moved to inner pages, so be it. Maybe better use of the footer would solve the problem if more content space is justified.
I don’t like all the buttons. Tired.
The useless images of a computer are, well, useless. I think we are doing the right thing having a demos block upper-right that is interactive. Again, please make images “Sin City”-ish (or “hued monochrome”?) wherever used.
I don’t like the use of their logo (or any other image) sitting next to headers in this case. Weblog, fine. Here, overkill.
There site is a tad too 2.0-ish overall, so we just want to avoid that appeal even if the content is laid-out similarly.

Other:

“Reasons to Use” is fine (better, in fact). Likewise is “Reasons Not to Use.” However, if your going to use the latter, it should be on the inner Reasons to Use page as a subsection in context (for fun). If it’s not on the same page, there’s no point in using it at all. That may be the intention, but just want to make sure.

Ed. Oh, and you should definitely use Neko’s quote somewhere (In the rotating quotes?). It’s frank and honest (two qualities I like), and as Bloke said, true for a lot of people.

Last edited by Destry (2008-09-17 07:34:31)

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#217 2008-09-16 18:23:09

Re: TxP.com home page

#218 2008-09-16 18:53:21

Re: TxP.com home page

#219 2008-09-16 19:07:55

Re: TxP.com home page

#220 2008-09-16 19:13:45

Re: TxP.com home page

#221 2008-09-16 19:37:55

Re: TxP.com home page

#222 2008-09-16 19:42:36

Re: TxP.com home page

#223 2008-09-16 20:23:11

Re: TxP.com home page

#224 2008-09-16 21:47:36

Re: TxP.com home page

#225 2008-09-16 22:10:13

Re: TxP.com home page

#226 2008-09-17 00:37:48

Re: TxP.com home page

#227 2008-09-17 00:57:09

Re: TxP.com home page

#228 2008-09-17 07:30:49

Re: TxP.com home page

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