MediaGoblin.org v2

This page tracks the MediaGoblin.org website redesign and is maintained by schendje.

Reasons for the redesign

I was also the one who created the current MediaGoblin.org design. However, it could use some serious updating. I had several things I wish to see improve :

• Immediately and clearly explain what MediaGoblin is and what it does. I do not think this is clear at all on our current homepage. It begins with "The perfect tool to show and share your media !" which sounds positive, but doesn't really explain anything. It goes on with four more bullet points, about the community and the GNU project among other things, but none of these provide any information about MediaGoblin's functionality.

• Provide an easier way to get started with MediaGoblin. The current design has a big line of text in the middle saying "Get started with the latest MediaGoblin release", which seems pretty straightforward. But then it provides you with three choices, or maybe three steps, and it is unclear which one you should pick or start with.

• Remove the need for a separate tour page. Currently, we point visitors to our Tour page to learn more. This page contains plenty of information and screenshots, which is good. However, I think it would me more effective if MediaGoblin was introduced like this right on the homepage. Therefore, I wanted to combine the homepage and the tour page into a single page.

The homepage should also contain other information, such as links to the repository and bug tracker, but in my opinion its primary function should be to explain what MediaGoblin is and to get people started with it quickly.

Request for feedback

One of the reasons I created this page was to gather feedback. If you are interested, please keep checking this page for any updates and let me (schendje) know what you think. The best place to reach me would be the MediaGoblin IRC channel, which is also where I'll announce any updates.

Quick note #1: these mockups are free for you to adapt. A picture is worth a thousand words so if you'd like to change something, download and edit the SVG source file and show it around!

Quick note #2: virtually all of the copy in the current mockups is placeholder text. Therefore, comments on the content of the page will not yet be of much use. I will be working on replacing it with proper copy as soon as possible, so we can also gather feedback on that part of the design.

Mockups (most recent one at the top)

Third iteration

http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/goblin/homepage/wireframe3.png

• Almost the same as previous, but added screenshots.
• A short explanation for this layout: http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/goblin/homepage/layout_explained.png

Questions:

• Is it obvious that the images are screenshots ? They can of course be clicked to show a bigger version.
• What is a good position for the "quick links" ? They will be in the top corner on any other page on the website, but I think they may demand too much attention if we put them at the top of the homepage as well.

Second iteration

• Slightly higher fidelity.
• Includes several changes to the layout.

http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/goblin/homepage/wireframe2.png

First iteration

A first low-fidelity wireframe: http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/goblin/homepage/wireframe.png

Old design

A mockup of the current MediaGoblin.org design: http://schendje.fedorapeople.org/goblin/homepage/final.png