CommunitySiteDesign
Redesigning the Community Section of netbeans.org
This page is the brainstorming home for the redesign of http://www.netbeans.org/community/.
Who is the "Target Group"?
We came up with a super-group: Users, and a subgroup: Developers.
- Users: New or returning user of NetBeans
- committed to open-source in general and to NetBeans in particular.
- Often students and younger developers.
- Often is active on mailing lists and forums.
- Often has own blog.
- Developers: People who want to build on the NetBeans platform or contribute code to NetBeans. We broke these down as follows:
- Businesses/individuals who want to build an RCP app on the NB Platform.
- Business/Individuals who want to provide a plug-in for their proprietary/open-source technology into NetBeans IDE.
- Individual who wants to contribute to NetBeans, either by building a small module that contains one or two helpful features or by committing directly to the NetBeans trunk.
Suggested Page Layout
Goal: The community page should be a landing page that provides current information and then directs visitors based on their interests. There are too many links/pages (see the brainstorming list) to fit onto one index page, so an alternate approach would be to have the main page contain general content that applies to all visitors and then splinters into two sections for the specific groups--users and developers. See the diagram below.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |Home| |Features| ... |Community| ... |Foo| |Bar| |
|-----------------------+ +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| [LoginBox,SeePluginPortal] |
|
Contribute to the NetBeans Codebase Featured Content
(banner)
Enhance the NetBeans IDE Report a Bug
Send patches, develop features File defects and request enhancements News (all...)
and modules - headline 1
- headline 2
Develop NetBeans RCP Applications Test Upcoming Releases
Develop modular desktop applications Download the latest nightly builds Calendar (all...)
- event 1
- event 2
Contribute to the NetBeans Community
Join NetBeans Mailing Lists Blog about the NetBeans IDE Connect with NetBeans Users
Get support from the NetBeans Community Share your experience - NetBeans Dream Team
and participate in discussions - My.NetBeans.org
- Developer Collaboration Chat
Write Tutorials Submit Video
Submit tutorials and tips & tricks Upload demos, podcasts, and Quick Links
screencasts to NetBeans.tv - Releases & Roadmap
- NetBeans Wiki
Teach with the NetBeans IDE Translate the NetBeans IDE - NetBeans Platform APIs
Introduce Java programming to students Localize the NetBeans IDE and - Wallpapers,Logos&Banners
web content into your language
Grouping from 2/20 meeting
General Content (Central Theme: What's New at NetBeans?)
- Join Netbeans.org ----> Should be small, e.g. same login(join) line as on plugin portal!
- Release roadmap
- Calendar
- Read News, Interviews & Articles ----> Needs better archive page, that's an extra job
- NetBeans Magazine
- Weekly Newsletters
- Submit News? ---- TBD, next to news items probably
User Tab
- Contribute to NB (See "Non-code contributions" below)
- Join My.NetBeans.org
- Watch NetBeans.TV
- Communicate with us and each other (See "Communicate" below)
- NB.edu
Developer Tab
- Contribute to NB (see "Contribute Code" below)
- Download and use marketing presentations
- Start projects & publish modules
- Read about development and releases (See "dev and releases" below)
- Learn Platform development from Platform.NB.org tutorials
- Consult Platform APIs
- Evangelism presos and demos (?)
Tasks - what do users and developers do on nb.org? (BRAINSTORMING from 01/31 meeting)
So, along with our arbitrary user profiles we have a long list of arbitrary tasks:
Be Part of the Community (USERS & GENERAL)
- learn what the nb community is ===> this is "About NetBeans"
- join the community
- read news, browse newsletter archive
- submit news
- read calendar and attend events/conferences
- read community interviews, whitepapers ===> this is part of articles
- read nb magazine ===> TBD ?
- use collateral material (icons, banners)
- download marketing presentations ("NB day in a box") ===> maybe in developers section?
- join my.netbeans.org
- watch netbeans.tv
- teach with netbeans edu
- win competitions ===> this can go on feature space
Start Projects and Create Modules (DEVELOPERS)
- start my own project
- publish modules
- promote my modules
- consult platform api docs
Make Code Contributions (DEVELOPERS)
- guidelines
- check-out
- check-in
- browse repository
- IDE localization?
Make non-code contributions (all USERS)
- write and read blogs, join planetnetbeans
- write community docs
- test and QA - netCAT
- file bugs and feature requests
- evangelize (join Dream Team)
- WWW and IDE localization
Get Info on Development and Releases
- consult release info (USERS)
- consult install info (USERS)
- Read roadmap (USERS)
- Read development plans (DEVELOPERS)
- download development builds (DEVELOPERS)
- Read ui specs (DEVELOPERS)
- learn about features ---> features page in main tabs
Communicate (USERS)
- get in touch with development folks ---> TBD
- send feedback and answer to polls ---> TDB
- ask questions on mailing lists
- ask questions on forums
- read the wiki and write your own stuff
- chat on developer collaboration or IRC
- books ---> is in the kb section, can it be linked from there?
Open Questions (Ruth)
We presently also have a section "Teams". What will happen to it after the redesign?
- Do we want to introduce teams and their work to the community to make nb.org more personal? (e.g. "Who is the nb community?")
- Or should teams be connected to a task (e.g. "get in touch with engineers", "join QA/netCAT")? <--- yes
This concerns:
- localization team a.k.a. translatedfiles (cf "contribute localized www pages" above)
- docs team, incl community docs (send feedback re tutorials? cf "contribute docs" above)
- web team (send feedback re tutorials? 'Web reports' are only relevant if you submit tutorials directly to nb.org - which nobody does.)
- development team (cf "get in touch with a developer" above)
- user interface Team (cf "learn about ui specs" above)
- Quality Assurance Team (cf "join NetCAT" above)
- Evangelism Team (cf "download presos, nb day in a box", get in touch with 'markting')
