[Typo3-marketing] New Typo3.com Site Design

[Michelle Heizer]

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