What I would like to find out here with you is what the website should focus on and also what it should not do. What are the 3 most important goals it should serve?
Please note: This is about the website as such, not: The jobs page/service, discourse, general community goals or our social media.
After this we can go into more focused tasks of writing down more detailed requirements for design and content.
For me the most important usage scenario would probably being a venue for people being interested in design in/on open source projects and thus helping to connect to other designers in FOSS
The website thus should serve as a gateway to our forum, other initiatives, and ideally to our social media (which is somewhat neglected, but thats not website and should be talked about in another thread).
(this is just one priority, feel free to add a 2nd and 3rd in your reply!)
Two things I feel unsure about: Jobs and Resources
Jobs. I know it is frequented, but I am unsure how much it builds community. Not against it, just dunno how to think about it.
Resources. I would love having our own resources as usability how-tos, help for dealing with conflicts etc. However, such materials take a lot of effort to create. The alternative is linking to existing resources; however, a website is not a very dynamic medium for collaborating on a shared resources (sure, you can, via github but e.g. a discourse community wiki post is far easier to edit)
This is similar to the first bullet mentioned by jdittrich. First, a little background to set the stage:
I remember when I first discovered OSD, I was super excited!
I had been really struggling to understand how to get involved with open source as a designer but really wanted to improve so many things and apply my knowledge and skills. I went to the website and (despite the poor hierarchy, IA and content design) tried to figure out who I could connect with, what projects I could join or any resources to help me feel more grounded.
But even though I looked around at multiple pages and genuinely tried, I felt very empty and left with no greater sense of connection than before.
I fully agree with your ideas, also with those you feel unsure about. IMHO the main goal of our website should be a community hub where designers and developers of OSS meet and share knowledge and experience about how design can improve the quality of OSS and its related services.
I think this question is related to the strategy topic I brought up: if we have a clear vision of OSD, we can derive from this what means we use, e.g. what we offer on our website.
For me, the website primarily served as a resource to learn more about and educate myself on design topics. Especially, the Reads section that is kinda buried on Resources - Open Source Design proved very useful.
For the future, I would imagine that the website should make it easier to get started. It’s a little overwhelming to read about all the things that are happening, e.g. other projects, without a low-effort way to get involved.
From todays call, a summary of the website-focused topics:
A lot of what is now at the website (events, jobs, calendar…) could be better done via social media. We should rather be there and maybe pull the feeds back to the website.
Not having lists of resources and projects would be helpful: It both ages and can generate controversity.
Educational materials would be great, but they should be e.g. links to talks from FOSSDEM, maybe community driven calls-for-comments, links to blogposts etc.
Still somewhat open how to do it, but “connecting designers in open source” was important to the call’s participants. If you go to the website, you should know how you can engage, both to learn more and to take part.
Touching on the getting started topic, I’d like to share the Join page of the Bitcoin Design Community, which provides a list of milestones with very practical tips on how to get involved, based on how familiar you are with the community and open-source.
And the Open Design Guide, which tries to address this for design and open-source in general.
Getting newcomers started on a good path is super important for a community.