hey guys

here is our initial home page layout proposal.

http://i.imgur.com/Qe2M16a.png

cheers

Thanks a lot farid for all your very good work, very appreciated.

Few remarks to make it even better?

On the mailing list, I liked the suggestion to have a slogan as the 1st message.
One that came to my mind (and perhaps should be refined) could be:
"edit your videos
the simple way
the professional way
the free way"
(raising our important characteristics: free, +following KDE motto: simple by default, powerful when needed)

That said, I think the 1st screenshot shouldn't try to show off all the features like in your example:
I find it just frightening for the newcomer, and not so appealing for the experimented editor...

Then regarding content on home page, I wouldn't necessarily display much more than core features and links to different sections
(install instructions, documentation, news, contribute)
The blog posts could have just the titles like for the forum posts, and have a "blog" button on top (see owncloud.org as Jos suggested)

I think it's a good start.

Farid, Vincent, have you all spoken with JB about the website stuff? Do you all have a consensus vision on what you want to achieve with the Kdenlive website?

vpinon wrote:Thanks a lot farid for all your very good work, very appreciated.

Few remarks to make it even better?

On the mailing list, I liked the suggestion to have a slogan as the 1st message.
One that came to my mind (and perhaps should be refined) could be:
"edit your videos
the simple way
the professional way
the free way"
(raising our important characteristics: free, +following KDE motto: simple by default, powerful when needed)

That said, I think the 1st screenshot shouldn't try to show off all the features like in your example:
I find it just frightening for the newcomer, and not so appealing for the experimented editor...

Then regarding content on home page, I wouldn't necessarily display much more than core features and links to different sections
(install instructions, documentation, news, contribute)
The blog posts could have just the titles like for the forum posts, and have a "blog" button on top (see owncloud.org as Jos suggested)

i thank you fot the hard work as well.

i will take your suggestions into consideration as we go along.... as for the screenshot that is supposed to be a rotating banner with links to some content, the idea is to show the versatility of kdenlive in these screenshots.

i have a doubt though, where can i do the development? should i do it on my server or would you guys mount a test.kdenlive.org what do you think?

cheers

Some thoughts:

"On the mailing list, I liked the suggestion to have a slogan as the 1st message.
One that came to my mind (and perhaps should be refined) could be:
"edit your videos
the simple way
the professional way
the free way
(raising our important characteristics: free, +following KDE motto: simple by default, powerful when needed)"

(1) Agree, a motto is critical: one sentence or blurb that lets users/viewers know the vision and purpose of the program. Might I suggest some small refinements? Something like: "A Powerful Video Editor. Simple. Professional. Free." or "Powerful Video Editing, The Simple, Professional, and Free Way.", or "Powerful, Simple, and Free Professional Video Editing Software." Just a few brainstorming ideas for consideration.

"That said, I think the 1st screenshot shouldn't try to show off all the features like in your example:
I find it just frightening for the newcomer, and not so appealing for the experimented editor..."

(2) Agreed. Like Vincent said, one of the things in his motto is "professional". Less intimidating. I'd really encourage showing a high-res picture of Kdenlive used on a post-production workstation. You could even impose it on a royalty-free image purchased from the Internet. I'd be willing to make the initial header image for the home page. Persionally, I don't like the gray background with the bars across. Looks a little cluttered.

"Then regarding content on home page, I wouldn't necessarily display much more than core features and links to different sections
(install instructions, documentation, news, contribute)
The blog posts could have just the titles like for the forum posts, and have a "blog" button on top (see owncloud.org as Jos suggested)"

(3) I could not, NOT encourage more to take all of the bug stuff off the home page. When I see the word "Bug" anywhere on the home page, it makes me think the product is unstable, glitchy, unusable. Kdenlive - in the past - has had a rather rough history of its usability (looking at the reviews in the Ubuntu Software Center will show that well enough). Kdenlive is now solid -- let's show it as such on the website, yeah?

(4) Wiki Forums, Mailing -- these things mean very little to editors. I'd encourage putting them in the header menu at the top of the page (which I assume will be created?) or at the footer of the site. Like Vincent said, the application of the program and its strengths should be made known to the user quickly and effectively.

(5) Dig seeing your logo on there, Farid. And I like the download button right front and center. I'd also be happy to contribute to the Download page to keep it easy for users who are editors (not techies) to acquire and use the program. Ease of installation is incredibly important, also.

Since I was asked to repeat my observations in the thread here:

How about making the layout PC-friendly? Kdenlive is a chiefly PC product, so having a website that's geared towards mobile gives a wrong impression (as well as makes it very difficult to use the site). All, or at least most, of the content you have in the screenshot should fit into one 1920x1080 screen in my opinion. As it is, all you see is a single screenshot and a few links, plus a whole lot of wasted space, and that is not useful.

So my suggestion would be to make all font smaller (the download link, menu items and the forums/bugs boxes have humongous font sizes!), and remove all unnecessary whitespace with regards to margins, especially around the menu bar. Make the menu icons smaller, perhaps put them beside the labels and not on top. Download should be a regular menu entry too.

As for the screenshot, either put it into a dedicated about/media page, or put it into an "about" box somewhere at the bottom of the main page, scaled down a whole lot.

That will allow the main page to show all news without scrolling every time, which is the point of a website to begin with.