[Typo3-marketing] New Typo3.com Site Design

[Reuven Cohen]

> Message: 5
> Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 14:15:14 -0600
> From: Michelle Heizer <michelle at tekdevelopment.com>
> Subject: Re: [Typo3-marketing] New Typo3.com Site Design
> To: "typo3-marketing at lists.netfielders.de"
> <typo3-marketing at lists.netfielders.de>
> Message-ID:
> <mailman.2291.1099253721.4938.typo3-marketing at lists.netfielders.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Hello all,
>
> After looking over the current design, the .gov design and the new 
> designs,
> I have to say that I would stay with the current typo3.com design. I think
> it fits Daniel's requirement of it being a "timeless layout" which is very
> important. It's clean and seamlessly integrates TYPO3's colors into the
> design. The color and fonts in the prototype designs do not seem to "hold"
> TYPO3's identity as well. I also like the lack of clutter in the current
> design. The TYPO3 sites are informational sites, so they need to be easy 
> to
> read. Also, by the keeping the design simple, we can have an appealing 
> site
> for any culture or country. Since this is the main T3 site, that is a very
> important consideration.
>
> With that said, I understand the need to keep the site "fresh". I think we
> should stay with the current design and move it to XHTML (we seem to have 
> a
> great start with the .gov design already) and add some extras instead. 
> Most
> companies keep their design for many years, which makes it easier for
> visitors to find what they need. Since the site went live, we haven't even
> had a chance to refine the design yet.
>
> So I guess my suggestion is not to worry about changing the design, but to
> focus on the real need -- content. We have let the content become stale on
> the homepage. We need news, events, conference dates, TYPO3 User Group
> updates, new case studies, project status, current release notes (in
> "marketing language"), etc. We need testimonials and profiles scattered in 
> a
> right column throughout the site. Part of the problem is that it's 
> difficult
> to coordinate what everyone is doing and to get updates from everyone. 
> Lack
> of time is a major problem, but maybe if we made things easier to update
> rather than just wrapping the old content with a new design. Thoughts?
>
> Michelle
>

If by timeless you mean stuck in 1999, then I'm all for staying with the 
current design. If you mean timeless something that endures and sets a 
professional look and feel for years to come and  manages to effectivily 
market our CMS. Then I'd recommend some kind of update, again not redesign, 
but modernization. . I'm not saying my proposed designs are the final word. 
But I think the current site is very bland and doesn't properly portray an 
enterprise level CMS system as well as some of our compitition.

Some site I feel do this much better include;

http://mamboserver.com/

http://www.mysql.com/

http://www.zope.com/

http://www.jboss.org/index.html

http://www.interwoven.com/

http://www.vignette.com/

http://www.salesforce.com/

There are key similarities between these sites, that I think we could 
include in our revisions.

Just my two cents.

ruv.