Suggestions for Joomla.org improvements - Part 2 - Developer Perspective

Written by Jeremy Wilken 12 Apr2010

I'm providing an unsolicited usability review for Joomla.org, and if you haven't read Part 1 - General Thoughts, then do so first.

Since I posted Part 1, I have come across more information. It appears there is an initiative to rework the website, and some discussion and action taking place towards that goal. While I did not know about this when the idea for this series came to me, it does show how pertinent the information is. I do hope that this can be practical and useful information for the team who is assembled to accomplish this task.

A visual description of Part 1 changes

I spent a little time putting together a visual representation of the changes I mentioned before, excluding the main content area. That part is the same in this mockup, however it is the focus of the next few posts. The icons are from =kyo-tux: under CC License. I would obviously recommend using different ones. Click for very big version.

Part 2 - Developer Perspective

The first perspective is the one that I find myself viewing from, so it the easiest to start with. What should the Joomla.org homepage offer someone like me (and likely you)?

I shall be talking only about the main content area from now on. Part 1 covers the general changes I would suggest for the rest of the page.

The basic things it should offer are as follows:

• Quick information on the current download
• Project updates and information
• Links to deeper developer information (Docs, API, etc)
• Easy access to getting involved with the project

There may be other things, but I think that most developers would find this to be a good foundation. Parts 3 & 4 will build from this post as well.

Content as it is now - Left side

Probably the single most important section, Joomla! Announcements, lists 2 of the most recent posts. At the time of writing, it has been almost 5 months since anything was posted. Previously, things were posted regularly, it seemed at least every two weeks. I do not know what has happened, but the drop in content may be giving a negative impression to visitors and developers alike. (However, the community blogs have been more active since the drop in announcements, but are far less prominent on the page.) I would want more announcements, and a way to categorize them.

Below the Announcements are a few tidbits. You see a link to Joomla 1.6 Updates, the status of 1.6, a link to more news, and a link to JoomlaConnect. There is no information about 1.5, the stable release, which I think is an issue. I disagree with JoomlaConnect being associated with Joomla project announcements, as its intended to bring in feeds from across the net related to Joomla.

The Leadership Team Blog is below that with a backpack from the Joomla Shop to the right. As a developer, I find it important to follow the news from the leadership team. The heading for the leadership blog breaks convention, and seems to demote the value of that section. They have the 3 most recent posts (more than announcements), but no link to further posts. I would like to see more posts here, rather than trying to keep up with the mailing list. As a developer, I may be expected to be the target audience for the Joomla Shop, but I don't believe that is the case. Expected income from the Shop is around $1,500 a month (or 5% of the overall budget), and I would at least remove it from this location. It adds a new column (causing the visual grid to break), the product has a small logo making it hard to notice the purpose of the image, and the text below it is so small its hard to read. It should be removed, or reworked elsewhere.

Lastly, we have this What are you looking for? section at the bottom of the left column. It has a list of sentences that describe the links at the end of the sentence. The biggest problem is, I can't scan this list. I have to actually read the sentences to get the links, and so I'm more likely to give up. Its also redundant with the links at the bottom below the main content area to have this section. I realize originally the footer links were not there, and its purpose is no longer being fulfilled.

Content as it is now - Right side

The right side really has two columns, but the very top where it says Community News, the underline extends over both columns giving the impression that the whole section is community news. However, there is no news available for me to read until half way down. So the regularly updated content is buried lower on the page, and is given a much lesser prominence. I want it to be the other way around: promote the content not the static text. For the developer, I'm going to say that the general community information is secondary, and for the time being I will leave it off of the page.

The left column here has a lot of text and links mixed in in the Get Involved area. It suffers from the same problem as the What are you looking for? section, I can't skim it. It is trying to get me involved, but in doing so I have to read a lot. It needs to be shortened to just a list of ways to get involved, and cut out the extra text. The titles should be self-explanatory, so rather than "Translation Teams need volunteers and new language contributions are always welcome", I much prefer "Help Translate Joomla". It says it all, much cleaner. Below Get Involved is Get in Touch, which I think should be removed from the main content area. The links are all to different sites, and are inconsistent. This kind of information would do better in the footer or on a dedicated page.

On the right column here we have the download button. Its the most prominent visually because of the stark color choice. However its position gives it direct association with the community news and ultimately seems out of context. I propose a new section above Community News that will be a small table of the downloads available, rather than a large button linking to the download page. At the bottom I would like to see a few links to replace the Joomla! in Your Language portion such as "Download Joomla! in your language" and "Joomla! Forum in your language".

I'm interested in community news, but its not the primary details most developers need (not always the case I know, I'm just trying to focus the post). Right now, there is little community about the news. For a developer view, I'd remove it from the homepage. That information is not as important as the Developer News which is currently tucked in the bottom right corner of the page. It currently has two pieces, development posts (last one out of date), and the Security Center, both of which display only one item. I think they should be a combined feed. This should be much more used, as it really has not been practical or useful. This is really what I want to have access to, because it should provide me with updates and information related to my line of work. I would want this to be much higher, to display more information, and have it regularly updated.

Content shuffle: Developer style

In a massive change of the whole right column, I would arrange it as such for a Developer. I think the image will speak for itself better than long winded descriptions already provided above. Its by no means a finalized concept of what I'd want, but it gives a lot more direction to the content as I have discussed. The focus for this revision is to provide a developer with quick information to whats most important to them.

Click for a much bigger version.

Any suggestions or things you'd like to see as a developer on the homepage?