Labs/Site 2.0/2009-01-29 Site requirements meeting notes

Rough notes from the Jan 29th, 2009 site requirements meeting in Mountain View, attended by: cbeard, aza, jono, myk, atul, suneel, sean, deb.

• New user must be able to very quickly find out what we're all about. Something that describes what we are, promotional stuff. Perhaps some sort of illustration.
  • Was suggested we contact a web comic author and try to do this in a fun, creative way.
  • This is what Labs *is* rather than what Labs' offerings are.
  • Doesn't have to be huge.

• No sign-on vs. single-sign on
  • Must be open to people who do not create an account and log in. Full access to view all content.
  • Must not require account creation to participate on initial levels. For example, rather than requiring account creation before submitting an idea, users should be able to submit ideas and then have the *option* of creating an account if they want to. Maximize contributions by eliminating obstacles and drop-off points.
  • Look into ID aggregation: Facebook connect, Google connect, Open ID, Mozilla account systems...

• Not a silo
  • Must be able to pull stuff in
  • Must be able to push stuff out

• Aggregation
  • Feeds as two-way communication
  • Look at whoisi as an example
  • Aggregate by project rather than by people (why not both? or more?)

• Must be easy to update
  • Web UI for changes and updates, wysiwyg as much as possible
  • Shouldn't require SVN for content updates
  • Possibilities: WordPress MU, Deki

• Polished user-facing parts as well
  • Product pages (downloads, etc)
  • Ties back into the developer/contributor side of the world, and vice versa
  • Customizable, but generally similar
  • Current product pages are too generic -- needs more flexibility, but not total flexibility
  • Three or four possible templates and teams can fill in the blanks with content and graphics?
  • See Sean's new Geode landing page mockup as an example
  • Key product info above the fold, updates and info below the fold, full links to everything related to the project in the footer

• Projects never completely graduate
  • When a project is uplifted, the project continues to live on in Labs so experimentation can continue.

• Add-ons are largely one-person projects
  • How can we connect these solo developers to each other?
  • Job board, forum, "Help wanted" ads/request system...
  • Users can specify skills and interests in their profiles
  • Groups: Designers, XUL developers, Web devs...
  • People can become fans of each other or projects/whatever

• Social and community-building aspects
  • User profiles
  • Groups
  • Skills and interests
  • "Barnstars"-like user-bestowed kudos
  • "Achievements"-like system for participation (yes, both barnstars + achievements)
  • @Nerdmeritbadges-like badges system?

• Funnel
  • Infographic - identify the possible pain points

• Stuff to look at
  • Whoisi-like aggregation
  • postrank.com feed filtering

• "Bubble Up" <-- suggested name for questions/problems/idea level of the project
  • Ranking on more than voting. Views, comments, # of times twittered, dugg, shared, bookmarked...formulate a larger "social value ranking" system...