Redesign of downloads

[Toshio Kuratomi]

On 07/31/2009 11:53 AM, Paul W. Frields wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 10:17:03AM -0700, Toshio Kuratomi wrote:

>> Right now it's static in that it aims to give new users the bits and
>> that's it.  One complaint I've heard ("How can we get more people to
>> contribute to the KDE/LXDE spins if they think Fedora treats them as a
>> second class citizen to the Desktop spin?") has a legitimate basis in
>> this concept.
>>
>> We need to strive to make people who come to get-fedora to download a
>> release feel that they are becoming part of the Fedora Community.  And
>> by doing so they have the option to participate in the development of
>> the next Fedora -- through code, packaging, art, documentation,
>> marketing, teaching, or any of the other areas that we can receive help.
> 
> The simple download page is not the place to accomplish this.  Once
> people download and run, they're in the distribution and are no longer
> looking at that page.  The right place to get users contributing is to
> lead them once they're running the distro.  That might be as simple as
> a better start.fedoraproject.org, but that's probably a separate
> discussion from this one, which is about providing a clear download
> path.
> 
> The way to achieve more depth of participation from people picking up
> various spins is to do a great job of explaining to them why that spin
> matters.  That's why part of our overall goal is to have truly
> meaningful spins pages where the spin communities can provide content
> they want users to see, such as more details on why their spin is
> awesome, and how to get involved.
> 
I disagree that the simple download page is not the place to start
accomplishing a sense of community.  I'm not saying that we need to try
to push people to be contributors here but we need to push people to
feel like they belong within the Fedora Community.  I think that the
idea of community has to permeate everything that we do.  The reason is
that I see the idea of community is the core value that can set us apart
from other Linux distributions.

The simple download page needs to show people that there's a place for
everyone in general and them in particular here.



>> Using this as the foundation of what we're trying to achieve, the idea
>> of a default spin makes a different kind of sense.  It isn't the spin
>> for newbies.  It's the spin that we think we can entice the most people
>> to contribute to one of the aspects of Fedora where we need help.  It
>> needs to solve the needs of contributors to documentation, art,
>> websites, etc as well as solving the needs of the person themselves.
> 
> I'm not sure I understand this.  A spin concentrating on Design tools
> isn't going to look the same as something that effectively introduces
> people to Fedora and free software.
> 
I'm saying that no one installs a Linux operating system because they've
never used a computer before and want to try installing an OS.  The
choice to install Fedora is made because they think Fedora will help
them achieve something specific.  Perhaps they want to see what's coming
in a newer RHEL.  Perhaps they want a personal desktop that doesn't get
infected with viruses.  Perhaps they want a platform to do design or
programming or documentation.

Deciding a target audience shouldn't primarily be about deciding what
level of experience they have with Linux but about what the user wants
to do with the system.

One spin can work for multiple tasks.  But when we have people devoting
time to making new spins it's because they have experienced a deficiency
in the currently available spins that's severe enough for them to not
only scratch their itch (by installing the lacking software) but to feel
that the severity is a reflection on Fedora itself.  People make new
spins so that *other people* don't see the problems that they
encountered when trying to optimize Fedora for their task.

>> Similarly, the other spins aren't for the advanced users, they're the
>> spins optimized to bring people into different parts of our community.
>> Something like http://fedoraproject.org/en/join-fedora but with the
>> focus of getting media first, and contributing to Fedora second.
> 
> Yes, I agree that spins aren't just for advanced users.  A Design spin
> -- I'm just taking this as an example -- could easily appeal to the
> "Just give me something that works out of the box so I can help with
> Design tasks" user.
> 
Yep.  So I think this part of the equation we agree on :-)

-Toshio

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