[Theforum] Inviting other people

Marlene Bruce marlene at members.evolt.org
Mon Nov 19 13:07:30 CST 2001


Madhu,

>-----------
>
>Become a part of the evolt.org community by joining 'thelist', 
>evolt.org's primary discussion list for designers, developers, and 
>web managers working to make the web a better place for all! Ask 
>questions, get answers. Give answers, gain respect. Become part of 
>the community!
>
>-----------
>
>...simpl[if]y (and drastically cut down) the language, and then find 
>a prominent place for it on the home page. That sidebar is so 
>clogged it's not funny.

I think this is a good idea. Regardless of fact that we've already 
got 2500 subscribers, we're supposed to be providing a community 
service, and adding a teaser somewhere prominent helps inform our 
community of their options. It doesn't have to be *hugely* prominent, 
but more than it currently is.

How about "Ask questions, get answers: Join thelist." It's simple, 
direct, and won't take up much space.

I know there's the argument (Amanda just happened to make it) that 
the list will get icky with lots of newbies or too many subscribers, 
but we have set the tone on thelist and it is enforced by not only 
admins, but current subscribers too. That method of 'tone management' 
has been very successful for us, and I see no reason that it won't 
continue to work.

I've been thinking about our current interface. It's become somewhat 
junky looking (I mean no offense to Isaac, et. al., this has happened 
as we've added stuff after the original design). I believe we should 
take a fresh look at how the information is organized within the 
interface, and how to improve the experience for our users. I'm not 
at all suggesting we completely redesign things again, but rather 
look at the elements and see if there isn't a better way to organize 
all that data. Having so many options in the side-bar and below the 
fold isn't the best solution at this point.

Marlene




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