[fpc-devel] PR advancement

[Johann Glaser]

Hi!

> > This selection is done already. See news on main fpc page.
> 
> Hm, after giving it some thought, and after seeing 
> [http://www.freepascal.org/gallery.html] link, I have to agree: such 
> selection looks nice.

Indeed, nice page and truly impressive for people searching for a proof
that FPC is ready for real-world applications. I didn't even know of
this Gallery page and I couldn't find any link to it from the
www.freepascal.org page. Probably looking around very carefully and
reading lots of pages would unveil a link, but this is not what PR
means.

So I fully agree to Ales that the FPC homepage needs a "wow" style.
Despite I do like clear, simple homepages I don't think that this gives
us good PR. Without offending Michael and others for their effort
creating and maintaining the website, I think these pages induce the
impression that FPC is a tiny project, has unreliable release cycles and
progress, it is "just" from hobbyists for their own pleasure and FPC is
only used by some frugal enthusiasts.

Propagating this impression is _not_ what good PR is about. :-)

On the other hand, Lazarus' home page looks loaded and complex.

In the ongoing discussion I read some funny statements (ranting about
managers, ...) and some kind of ignorant statements (this and that is
already ..., just look there and there, just read the mailing list, just
type "..." into Google, ...). I'm sure most of the necessary information
is already available, probably some more "easy to read" things (like
Ales' FAQ proposal) should be added. But: This information is hidden
like in a maze! FPC should _not_ require potential interrests to invest
lots of energy and time to get valuable information. FPC should provide
this easily and directly accessable. It is not the interrested's job to
search for information but it is our's to present it!

The main disadvantage of the current website are the bad navigation
scheme and the simplistic layout. I'd therefore propose to take the
following steps:
     1. Collect what information should be on the main page: focus on
        managers and busy visitors, but do not forget on technicians,
        enthusiasts, purists. Do not classify this list, don't
        concentrate on structure, hierarchy, ..., just collect.
     2. sort this list, give it a structure
     3. work out a navigation scheme of the new website (from the
        structured list)
     4. work out a design and look-and-feel for the new website which is
        clear, stylish, "wow", but not loaded.
     5. bring structure, content and design togehter
     6. enjoy and watch interrests

Ok, this is a very simple path, I'm not sure it if works and if enough
man power can be raised. OTOH I'm sure most ideas for the hard part (1)
have already been said and/or can be found on the current web site.

Any suggestions, comments, ideas?

Bye
  Hansi