Hello,
I don't know if this is the proper list for this, I found there is a pdweb mailing list but it looks to be quite inactive so I figure I start the discussion here...
I finally got an account on the puredata.info page so I took the liberty of cleaning up/clarifying some of the writing on the front page if nobody minds... I didn't want to do anything drastic, just try to make things less wordy and clear up some things (like move the description of deken to the Pd vanilla bullet, clear up the description of objects and canvases, bold things like operating systems).
I don't want to attempt to do anything drastic without consulting the list, but I feel that the front page could use some changing up. When you load up puredata.info, you're immediately hit with this wall of text, which can be quite overwhelming (especially for newbies). Pd-vanilla and Pd-l2ork are featured downloads to the right of the page, but you have to wade through the wall of text to actually figure out what they are. Taking a page (haha, pun) from the processing.org website, it's clearly marked where to download Processing right near the top (in a larger font even, along with a link to tutorials and an object reference guide) with a video above it explaining exactly what Processing is and what it does (and what's new with Processing 3). Granted, historically we've had two main distributions of Pd with vanilla and extended so perhaps there needs to be a little more words explaining which is what (adding on to that, since extended is defunct and l2ork isn't ready for multi-platform yet, would it be helpful just to point everybody to Pd as the main distribution?). Describing Pd and what it does might be shortened up (and perhaps if you want the longer description, make an About link on the sidebar) and perhaps throwing a few pictures and/or visual eye candy while remaining relatively lightweight/datafriendly could help Also, posting the current versions next to the download links (can this be automated?) would be helpful.
Summing up, I just think the front page of puredata.info isn't as clear/user-friendly as it could be and it's not particularly helpful in welcoming new users. Thoughts?
(Also, how do things get added to the News list? The last entry is from 2015 and things such as Pd updates and the NYC conference on there would be nice.)
===================== Derek Kwan www.derekxkwan.com
That all sounds great!
1 minor edit - in the front page description of pd-extended, OSC is mentioned as one of the differentiating features from Vanilla - but it's been a feature built into Vanilla for awhile now.
Also, I think the processing page is a great ui model.
-Jesse
On Aug 1, 2016, at 5:03 PM, Derek Kwan derek.x.kwan@gmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I don't know if this is the proper list for this, I found there is a pdweb mailing list but it looks to be quite inactive so I figure I start the discussion here...
I finally got an account on the puredata.info page so I took the liberty of cleaning up/clarifying some of the writing on the front page if nobody minds... I didn't want to do anything drastic, just try to make things less wordy and clear up some things (like move the description of deken to the Pd vanilla bullet, clear up the description of objects and canvases, bold things like operating systems).
I don't want to attempt to do anything drastic without consulting the list, but I feel that the front page could use some changing up. When you load up puredata.info, you're immediately hit with this wall of text, which can be quite overwhelming (especially for newbies). Pd-vanilla and Pd-l2ork are featured downloads to the right of the page, but you have to wade through the wall of text to actually figure out what they are. Taking a page (haha, pun) from the processing.org website, it's clearly marked where to download Processing right near the top (in a larger font even, along with a link to tutorials and an object reference guide) with a video above it explaining exactly what Processing is and what it does (and what's new with Processing 3). Granted, historically we've had two main distributions of Pd with vanilla and extended so perhaps there needs to be a little more words explaining which is what (adding on to that, since extended is defunct and l2ork isn't ready for multi-platform yet, would it be helpful just to point everybody to Pd as the main distribution?). Describing Pd and what it does might be shortened up (and perhaps if you want the longer description, make an About link on the sidebar) and perhaps throwing a few pictures and/or visual eye candy while remaining relatively lightweight/datafriendly could help Also, posting the current versions next to the download links (can this be automated?) would be helpful.
Summing up, I just think the front page of puredata.info isn't as clear/user-friendly as it could be and it's not particularly helpful in welcoming new users. Thoughts?
(Also, how do things get added to the News list? The last entry is from 2015 and things such as Pd updates and the NYC conference on there would be nice.)
===================== Derek Kwan www.derekxkwan.com
Pd-list@lists.iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
That all sounds great!
1 minor edit - in the front page description of pd-extended, OSC is mentioned as one of the differentiating features from Vanilla - but it's been a feature built into Vanilla for awhile now.
Also, I think the processing page is a great ui model.
-Jesse
Noted. Well, I took a bit more drastic changes this time to http://puredata.info/ . Apologies for changing the text format from reStructured text to HTML. reStructured text seemed kinda like markdown but except the # sign for headers wasn't working and I'm familiar with HTML so I just went with it (I also couldn't find any formatting guide for reStructured text).
It's still pretty ugly but I think it's a bit more clear (I think it'd be less ugly without text decorations for everything, I don't have access to the CSS wherever that'd be and I didn't want to put "text-decoration:none" for every hyperlink and it looks like I can't do internal style sheets. There's also little icons next to every link that IMHO is kinda distracting. I also might have went a little bold happy). I tried to keep most of the blurbs from the old page and did a little more cleaning up. I've also added links to pd-tutorial and pdpatchrepo as well as the Facebook group and Pd subreddit. I was thinking of putting a video (would that even work on a wiki page?) but I couldn't decide on one. It seems that since it's a wiki page, what you can do with it seems kinda limited but I can experiment more.
I've also archived the old reStructured text version on my computer. I suppose I could attach it somewhere if somebody wants it. Basically, the only links I didn't bring over from the old page are the downloads page (well, you can access it pretty easily anyways), the Wikipedia links for visual programming language and data flow programming (I think there's enough links on that page but if people want I can put them back in), and the links to distributions (also easily accessible anyways) and Pd-extended (it's pretty much dead and buried anyways).
I've also noticed that the very top of the Downloads page mentions to download Pd-extended for a quick start. I don't have write privileges on that page so I can't change it but I definitely think it should be gone... esp since there aren't any easily-accessible links to download Pd-extended anymore.
Suggestions/feedback welcome!
Derek
===================== Derek Kwan www.derekxkwan.com
It's look much more better for me...
Thanks. :)
Em sáb, 6 de ago de 2016 06:21, Derek Kwan derek.x.kwan@gmail.com escreveu:
That all sounds great!
1 minor edit - in the front page description of pd-extended, OSC is
mentioned as one of the differentiating features from Vanilla - but it's been a feature built into Vanilla for awhile now.
Also, I think the processing page is a great ui model.
-Jesse
Noted. Well, I took a bit more drastic changes this time to http://puredata.info/ . Apologies for changing the text format from reStructured text to HTML. reStructured text seemed kinda like markdown but except the # sign for headers wasn't working and I'm familiar with HTML so I just went with it (I also couldn't find any formatting guide for reStructured text).
It's still pretty ugly but I think it's a bit more clear (I think it'd be less ugly without text decorations for everything, I don't have access to the CSS wherever that'd be and I didn't want to put "text-decoration:none" for every hyperlink and it looks like I can't do internal style sheets. There's also little icons next to every link that IMHO is kinda distracting. I also might have went a little bold happy). I tried to keep most of the blurbs from the old page and did a little more cleaning up. I've also added links to pd-tutorial and pdpatchrepo as well as the Facebook group and Pd subreddit. I was thinking of putting a video (would that even work on a wiki page?) but I couldn't decide on one. It seems that since it's a wiki page, what you can do with it seems kinda limited but I can experiment more.
I've also archived the old reStructured text version on my computer. I suppose I could attach it somewhere if somebody wants it. Basically, the only links I didn't bring over from the old page are the downloads page (well, you can access it pretty easily anyways), the Wikipedia links for visual programming language and data flow programming (I think there's enough links on that page but if people want I can put them back in), and the links to distributions (also easily accessible anyways) and Pd-extended (it's pretty much dead and buried anyways).
I've also noticed that the very top of the Downloads page mentions to download Pd-extended for a quick start. I don't have write privileges on that page so I can't change it but I definitely think it should be gone... esp since there aren't any easily-accessible links to download Pd-extended anymore.
Suggestions/feedback welcome!
Derek
===================== Derek Kwan www.derekxkwan.com
Pd-list@lists.iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
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Derek Kwan -
Esteban Viveros -
Jesse Mejia