Reduce the blog to just blog, expand and improve mm.cc homepage into one pager, and add 'offerings' and 'open value network' pages on mm.cc
Connor Turland
Public
Seen by 7
This may sound harsh, but if you look at the components of the homepage of the blog, it's basically a waste of space. It doesn't convey almost any of the important aspects that a homepage should, and the same seems to go for the rest of the blog pages. They aren't set up for a person reading a website in 2015.
I propose the blog goes more into the style of our old friends, the elepath blog http://elepath.tumblr.com/.
The 'offerings' page and 'open value network' page are outside of the scope of this proposal, other than the meaningfulness of their existence, details to be worked out as a separate proposal.
I propose the homepage includes the following components, in roughly the order listed.
-promo video in big format
- 'what is metamaps' section: 'make sense with metamaps', followed by a more in depth blurb
- a section explaining that metamaps.cc is a version of an open technology (this is a big thing missing from blog currently it feels like)
- built by an open and peer-to-peer network. don't use the term 'open value network' here, it requires too much explanation. use accessible language. follow with pictures of a bunch of our faces in bubbles. screw the fact that we don't have a name for the network, just leave it at that. rock the namelessness. we are a network. link to bigger, independent OVN page
- a small section dedicated to the fact that we have paid offerings, link to a dedicated page where they can explore this
- a few testimonials like this one from George Por "The work you guys are doing and the way you go about it makes my heart sing and makes me more optimisitic about the future of scalable collective intelligence and wisdom."
- Partners-ish section, like currently on mm.cc homepage
- Another Call-To-Action like, Request Invite, Sign In
- footer
As a scope for this decision, I suggest that myself, Devin, Ishan, Robert, Marija, Raymon, and Ben should at a minimum weigh in on this, and that it take 5 'yes' votes to a proposal to move ahead.
As a process, I propose that Ishan design a very simple layout for the blog. I would volunteer to implement it, which would mostly involving removal of styling and pages, not addition, so that's easy.
This could happen in parallel with a design for the homepage done by Ishan, which I would also volunteer to implement. Implementation would be extremely easy, with a design in hand.
If people are enthusiastic about this idea, I expect that the list of components for the homepage will evolve with the discussion, until we reach a resolution, at which point homepage design could start in full.
Connor Turland Tue 27 Jan 2015 4:31AM
Ben said: "am wondering how this deals with the issue of logged in vs. logged out status for visitors - is explore page now clicked thru to from home instead of being the landing page?"
I replied "I know that github is github, but they give you their marketing site when you're logged out on the homepage, and an activity stream when you're logged in, no more marketing site. I propose similarly. Keep the same logged in home."
Connor Turland Tue 27 Jan 2015 4:40AM
Ben said: "but what if I want to access that stuff, or know that someone will see it, without having to log out first?"
I replied "Looking with that in mind, I guess github gets around it by only putting stuff that would be relevant to a logged out user onto their homepage. It's all part of the invitation to sign up sign in use the platform. In our case, we're talking about content that goes beyond that scope. I'm not fully sure what the answer is to that yet. Will think about it."
Devin H Tue 27 Jan 2015 2:17PM
Before I vote: that new homepage seems super long. What's the user experience going to be like?
I think there is some value in a simple/powerful homepage and a blog where you can explore these resources further.
I'm not saying keep the status quo though. Can you describe in more detail how the scrolling works on the homepage, if the footer is fixed, stuff like that? I realize this is annoying haha.
I guess what I'm asking is what are the (new) goals of the homepage, and what are the complementary goals of the blog, and how are we accomplishing those goals?
Devin H Tue 27 Jan 2015 2:18PM
As for accessing front page content once you're logged in, I think the quick answer is putting all of that information on a page accessible from the main menu thing. That's where I would look for it (since we don't have a footer with tiny text on every page, which is where I'd look for it first)
Robert Best Fri 30 Jan 2015 10:46PM
I agree with this general proposal to change the homepage for people logged out.
Raymon Johnstone Wed 4 Feb 2015 1:52AM
I agree that simplifying and making it clearer
between people who are logged in / logged out is a good idea.
Connor Turland Fri 6 Feb 2015 11:26PM
Yes, Devin, that is what bitHound just did recently, as we flipped the switch into open beta. Once logged in, the 'logged out homepage' becomes accessible at '/home'. @benjaminbrownell see above
To your other point Devin, I think the homepage could be streamlined down to just the 4 top sections that I proposed, with 'testimonials, partners, offerings, etc.' just turning into links to other pages.
I categorize the top 4 as:
1. video
2. 'make sense with metamaps' + blurb
3. 'open technology'
4. built by an open and p2p network
As for scrolling, simple but engaging like this https://www.bithound.io/
Poll Created Fri 6 Feb 2015 11:36PM
Condense blog into streamlined place just for blog posts, design and implement 4 section scrolling homepage Closed Mon 9 Feb 2015 10:05PM
If we can agree on this high level strategy, then further proposals can be made with specific visual designs for both.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Agree | 71.4% | 5 |
|
| Abstain | 14.3% | 1 |
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| Disagree | 14.3% | 1 |
|
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| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 1 |
|
7 of 8 people have participated (87%)
Raymon Johnstone
Sat 7 Feb 2015 1:18AM
I think all of these steps allow us to operate more visibly and simply, also making us considerably more likely for more people to take interest.
Connor Turland · Tue 27 Jan 2015 4:02AM
As a side note, Ben has started working on this hackpad about 'products and services' which would / could potentially serve as the updated 'pricing / offerings' page, but I'd like to think that it could get a lot less word heavy, and thought about in the context of how it could stylistically appear, without being a plain text page, with an embedded map. In my mind, that's a hard sell. https://metamaps.hackpad.com/products-and-services-page-0Mp5aKsEC6H