annotate text/structure.txt @ 19:93dadfa3c4b6

Initial commit of the new hg website.

Thanks to Jesper Noehr (bitbucket.org) for sponsoring the layout.

= Structure =

Discussion about a structure for the Mercurial Website. 


== First site ==

Theme: Just works. 


== First step: The needs of visitors ==

=== First time visitors ===

''Imagine I'm a first time visitor of the website. How did I hear of Mercurial?''

 * ''"I read an article or a blog post about it"'' 
 * ''"I read a 'which VCS' discussion"'' 
 * ''"I just read the word in a chat"'' 
 * ''"A friend told me about Mercurial"'' 

The last two users will want a basic overview 'what Mercurial is', before they 
download. All will want a basic description how to use Mercurial - maybe after they 
downloaded it. 

Windows and MacOSX Users will want a Download-Link, as well as GNU/Linux users whose 
distribution doesn't offer the most recent Mercurial version. 

Windows Users should directly see a link to TortoiseHG. 

<ArneBab> I just had a look on the git-scm.com site

<ArneBab> They seem to get that quite well, but they miss information for extending 
git (maybe they don't want it). 

Their idea of having a guide for designers and one for coders is great! (two target 
groups with entirely different needs). 

Also the question ''What can I gain by using Mercurial?'' needs to be answered 
somehwere. 


=== People who want to learn more about Mercurial ===

 1. Returning visitors. ''"What changed since my last visit?"'' 
 2. Developers who want to try out workflows. ''"What else can I do with it?"''
 3. People who want to understand Mercurial. ''"How does it work internally?"''
 4. People who want to adapt Mercurial to their workflow. ''"How can I make Mercurial 
work for me?"''
 5. People who want to contribute. ''"How can I help improve Mercurial with the 
skills I have?"'' or ''"How can I help Mercurial most efficiently - what should I go 
for?"''
 6. People who have a specific need. ''"How can I find exactly this?"''

Group 5 needs a quick link to the most relevant extensions. 

A specific need of group 6 could be ''"I heard about extension XY, where is it?"'' A 
FAQ should be a good starting point, as well as the search function and maybe a short 
list of very frequently asked questions. 


=== People who are currently coding on Mercurial ===

''They give additional momentum for the actual development''

 * ''"How to do X?"''
 * ''"Where and how can I tell others of my changes?"''
 * ''"How can I send patches - how should I do them and how are their chances for 
being accepted?"''



== Some more ideas ==

''You always need a section like this :) ''

 * dsop: It's probably out of scope for this discussion, but I keep thinking it'd be 
nice if there was some sort of "I'm using this" voting for extensions.

 * ArneBab: Another point for the Website: "Testimonials" (what people like about 
Mercurial). It would be great to find the reasons why the different projects chose 
Mercurial, and get them on the site. 

 * Which target group consists of multiplicators who will pass Mercurial along? - 
that's something Git got somehow right: Integrators switch, then they push their devs 
to switch and those push users to switch. Which chain can Mercurial use?