FYI - tonight's chat.. supposed to be 15mins!!!

Another little piece of life on the project:

[5:14:38 PM] *** Jason added Dan Hakimzadeh to this chat ***
[5:15:49 PM] Jason says: Hi again Dan.
[5:16:00 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: hello
[5:16:58 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I have discussed some things with Ben today...
[5:18:04 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ...I have a list of things to do regarding the site. and I understand you need it done this weekend for the translators?
[5:18:50 PM] Pierre George says: well first we need to agree on what are the core texts to be translated ...
[5:19:10 PM] Pierre George says: we can manage survival translation in french and spanish
[5:19:33 PM] Pierre George says: but the necessary step is agreeing on the english version
[5:20:33 PM] Pierre George says: btw have you in hand the " about wsf2008" text which has circulated on the workteam list
[5:20:45 PM] Jason says: Dan, what is the situation with the home page and with the registration procedure. If we have those ready, translations can come right after.
[5:21:28 PM] Jason says: Pierre - we have a general ok on the txt you sent, just a few minor corrections.
[5:21:54 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I am redesigning a new homepage from the ground up... it will have three big buttons 1."Find and action in your area" 2. "create an action" 3. "sign up"
[5:22:01 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: and a map showing users and actions
[5:22:06 PM] Pierre George says: one point will be choosing the words of the operation performed in the site
[5:22:23 PM] Pierre George says: i would say "present an action " instead of "create"
[5:22:28 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: registration workflow is currently being streamlined...
[5:22:42 PM] Pierre George says: for regsitration i suggest to have two forms
[5:22:48 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sure, I meant to talk with you guys about the wording actually...
[5:22:56 PM] Jason says: Pierre - just a second, let Dan finish!
[5:23:09 PM] Pierre George says: of course ....:-)
[5:23:49 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ben is working on getting a few technical things working right, like the location listing
[5:24:34 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: and I also have to upload some more language packages to the server, otherwise I think we are on track
[5:25:59 PM] Jason says: ok, before we get into the "semantics" discussion, I have a few issues about the home page and design
[5:26:16 PM] Pierre George says: shall we have an agenda ?
[5:26:17 PM] Jason says: I'll just make a quick list
[5:26:18 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: btw, I'm not sure if I have the about text. if you wouldn't mind emailin it
[5:26:24 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sure
[5:26:48 PM] Jason says: I'll send it to you right after our chat.
[5:27:13 PM] Jason says: Agenda? ok, Pierre, propose - but lets make this short... ;)
[5:29:55 PM] Pierre George says: 1 -about text - how to polish it - directly on site ?
2- registration personal form - first creation form - and then profile edit form
"3- update about structure decision - (see a text i sent this afternoon guessing what might be the design
[5:30:06 PM] Pierre George says: 4-based on 3 how to finalize the" operation names" in the about text -which will be the operaiton names in the site
-
[5:30:39 PM] Pierre George says: 5- action presentation form - first from , then edit form
[5:31:03 PM] Pierre George says: 6- borders of stage 1 site - and next steps
[5:32:13 PM] Jason says: I'm not sure I understand everything... but ok. Before this, can we look at the home page?
[5:32:29 PM] Pierre George says: Yes :)
[5:32:29 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: well, once we get something up there for an about page, authorized users will be able to edit it
[5:32:55 PM] Pierre George says: ok so we might upload it right now and polish it afterwards...
[5:33:01 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: exactly
[5:33:22 PM] Pierre George says: jason do you have made changes in the text i sent
[5:33:33 PM] Pierre George says: or can i send it now to dan ?
[5:34:05 PM] Jason says: ok, send it
[5:34:06 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I would like to get both your thoughts on the homepage design and layout. I feel it is important to the site.
[5:34:33 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: my plan was to have the 3 buttons centered accross the top
[5:34:49 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: underneath, a large map
[5:35:19 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: but I am open to suggestions
[5:35:49 PM] Pierre George says: can we put button in the oceans?? :)
[5:36:09 PM] Pierre George says: just thinking outloud ...
[5:36:27 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: unfortunately for now, the objects need to be separate
[5:36:33 PM] Pierre George says: ok..
[5:36:56 PM] Jason says: the buttons are: 1."Find and action in your area" 2. "create an action" 3. "sign up"
[5:37:07 PM] Jason says: What is sign up?
[5:37:09 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: because the map is interactive, and browser consistency is a must
[5:37:31 PM] Jason says: (You were joking, Pierre, weren't you?!)
[5:37:56 PM] Pierre George says: not totally ...

i suppose sign up is" register and optionally sign the call"
[5:38:14 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes
[5:38:35 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: in my notes I refer to it as sign up :)
[5:39:19 PM] Jason says: ok, so that should be the second button. And I would call it "Join now!" or something like it
[5:39:42 PM] Pierre George says: (Jaosn hving the button in the map would make the map bigger and people would get used to have an interactive map for other things than aciton ... but that is not important)

" or participate!"
[5:39:54 PM] Pierre George says: participate is active
[5:41:26 PM] Jason says: Participate is fine - though it does not give the sense of signing up, but I have no problem with it.
I think these buttons should be on the right side, while below the map we should have the beginning of the three "about" texts: The call, the Why, the How.
[5:42:07 PM] Pierre George says: That will make a lot ot text i fear
[5:42:29 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: what about 'act now'?
[5:43:00 PM] Jason says: Act now is good.
[5:43:04 PM] Pierre George says: instead of "participate" ?
[5:43:09 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes
[5:43:37 PM] Pierre George says: participate is collective ....
[5:44:14 PM] Jason says: Wait - let's not get lost in semantics ... yet.
Pierre, I am thinking of just the beginning of the text, see: http://www.climatechallenge.org (my favorite, for now...)
[5:44:30 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: true... the button text itself will also not be difficult to change if we change our minds later...
[5:45:27 PM] Pierre George says: ok
[5:45:28 PM] Pierre George says: We are millions of women and men, organisations, networks, movements, trade unions from all parts of the world; we come from villages, regions, rural zones, urban centres; we are of all ages, peoples, cultures, beliefs, but we are united by the strong conviction that ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE ( more)
[5:46:36 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: climate challenge was what I was using as a guide
[5:46:45 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: as far as layout, I also like it
[5:47:56 PM] Pierre George says: i see the page .... its ok -may be the texts are a bit too big ..
[5:48:30 PM] Pierre George says: dan do you plan to have a swithing map zone ? as here
[5:48:49 PM] Pierre George says: switching to photo display as here i mean
[5:49:17 PM] Pierre George says: i the static photo video display at the bottom also possible ?
[5:49:35 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I was thinking of making that the map, and switching it with the three buttons, ie moving it down
[5:50:09 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I have a photo bar planned for the bottom, as in this site
[5:50:33 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: it should select photos randomly and change etc
[5:50:45 PM] Jason says: Good Pierre, Remeber Chico... BIG texts, BIG buttons. The small text can go in a second page...
There should be an explicit recall to the Global call for local action in the first text, before the "We are millions..." Something like: "Join civil society and social movements around the world for a global week of action culminating on January 26, 2008."Pe
[5:51:03 PM] Pierre George says: ok ...
[5:51:43 PM] Jason says: I think our priority is to have a very clean layount, with few, immediate functions and the centrality of the map.
[5:51:45 PM] Pierre George says: will the display be totally random or can user have a link to a more "commandable" borwsing
[5:52:25 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: the pics at the bottom will be links, to the nodes they are related to
[5:53:18 PM] Pierre George says: yes but is we have 2000 pics , how can the user be led to a place he can choose what he sees r will the "elaborate display " be available in another page ...?
[5:53:43 PM] Pierre George says: and this is just a teaser .. symbolic
[5:54:26 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes, there will be sorted galleries elsewhere. this photobar would be more of a style element
[5:54:27 PM] Jason says: It has to be random - we can only choose the tags to be displayed. And we should have a page describing how to tag multimedial content... But back to the homepage basics...
[5:54:58 PM] Pierre George says: ok .... (so the tags would be on the first page ?)
[5:56:15 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: thats a possibility too
[5:56:49 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: so the map on bottom with 3 large buttons over is ok?
[5:56:58 PM] Pierre George says: or the main tags only a subset of the tag cloud - as a style element ...
[5:57:08 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: do we want anything in the sidebars? like a recent news list or anything?
[5:57:19 PM] Jason says: Also here, just a teaser (the first 10 tags...). It is mainly the taged content (pictures, videos, maybe some soundbites... and social networking?) displayed.
[5:57:41 PM] Pierre George says: so text then map then images from top to bottom
[5:58:02 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: thats what I had in mind. yes
[5:58:27 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: text being the buttons and welcome text
[5:59:41 PM] Pierre George says: well the text could be a separator between the two graphic zones .... a kund of visual balance , but i have no firm opinion
[6:00:09 PM] Pierre George says: you know better in graphical design ,
[6:00:26 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sure.
[6:01:00 PM] Pierre George says: i am just trying to sketch this in a table in rtf....
[6:01:09 PM] Jason says: I need to see this, but imagining it I see the Map as first (though smaller than it is now. And we need to place the other texts (Call, Why, How) in a visible position.
[6:02:06 PM] Jason says: Languages: can we put them in a drop down menu under the header? Christophe suggested listing countries as well... I'm not sure of that, but what do you think?
[6:03:00 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I was planning to put the language in a dropdown. for language? I think just the language option will be enough
[6:03:22 PM] Pierre George says: are you talking countries or language ?
[6:04:28 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: the map will be clickable too, so having a countries list may be redundant
[6:05:02 PM] Pierre George says: not sure ...
[6:05:19 PM] Pierre George says: because the map is a kind of continuum you need to zoom etc ..
[6:05:41 PM] Pierre George says: while the drop down list takes you to a page where you access the country common space
[6:06:00 PM] Pierre George says: and a" list" sortable searchable of actions
[6:06:10 PM] Jason says: Is it technically possible to click on the map and enter a country page with the right language interface?
[6:06:40 PM] Pierre George says: may be if the front page map is a special map ...
[6:06:53 PM] Pierre George says: and not the global google map ...
[6:06:55 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I'd have to discuss that with Ben
[6:07:30 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: as far as software goes anything is possible. it's just a matter of time and money ;)
[6:07:46 PM] Pierre George says: but in case it is complicalted a "autocomplete" field on country would be good enough
[6:08:01 PM] Pierre George says: i type F i get france finland etc..
[6:08:17 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I'm pretty sure I can add a country list...
[6:08:47 PM] Pierre George says: and i am led to the common space page of the coutnry ( which we have to design....)
[6:10:15 PM] Jason says: Two last things about the home page:
1. Navigation (menu)
2. Bottom line: Credits, Privacy, Copyleft, Website TOR [all of which we need to write]
[6:11:19 PM] Jason says: Navigation: there is the top menu bar, which now has Home, Why, In your region, News, Invite, Login
[6:11:24 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: the current menu options do not link anywhere yet... are they going to be changed?
[6:11:52 PM] Pierre George says: just a remark the buttons do not match the texts "Find and action in your area" 2. "create an action" 3. "sign up" do not c
[6:12:36 PM] Jason says: In fact, Pierre, the buttons are not the texts! The texts are separate.
[6:13:21 PM] Pierre George says: but the layout may suggest they are connected...
[6:13:53 PM] Pierre George says: a table design easily sharable can help us understand where we are going
[6:14:05 PM] Jason says: That is why I like the climatechallenge layout (the buttons on the right side), but I first would like to see what Dan has in mind.
[6:15:00 PM] Pierre George a envoyé le fichier "sample layout.doc" aux membres de cette discussion
[6:15:28 PM] Pierre George says: i am sending this just as an idea of how we can sketch - ignore the content
[6:15:47 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: well. I should get back and try to get it working tonight
[6:15:59 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: then we can discuss changes
[6:16:00 PM] Pierre George says: because we wil have to sketc several such pages .... :)
[6:16:25 PM] Pierre George says: home page , - country portal home page - group home page ...
[6:16:38 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: i will try to create 'areas' where it will hopefully be easy to move around elements until we have a final layout
[6:17:08 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sounds good,
[6:17:29 PM] Pierre George says: shall we move to item 2?
[6:18:04 PM] Pierre George says: 2- registration personal form - first creation form - and then profile edit form
[6:18:13 PM] Jason says: Looks interesting, Pierre. I still like the Map above... Anyway...
For the top menu: I think the current menu should have
Home
About the WSF
Choose your language
Choose your Country
Media center
Contacts/Help Desk
[6:18:31 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I can do that
[6:19:00 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: what will the contacts be? is there an email I should have the site send inquiries to?
[6:19:03 PM] Pierre George says: i had spontaneously put the map above - i just changed according to our covnersaiotn
[6:19:17 PM] Pierre George says: the mail list of the working team
[6:19:21 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ok
[6:20:00 PM] Pierre George says: wsf2008net-workingteam@organisations.wsfprocess.net
[6:20:25 PM] Jason says: Dan, you see what looks better and propose it.
[6:20:55 PM] Pierre George says: btw : A link to wsfprocess.net would help too...somewhere ..
[6:20:58 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ok
[6:22:05 PM] Jason says: On the header - it should have the "countdown" on the right side, with a big "January 26, 2008" etc. as we've already discussed. If you're not ready with that, then just add "Global call for local action, January 26, 2008"
[6:22:34 PM] Pierre George says: so dan you can play with the table and send it on the list? as a sketch tool - ?
[6:23:09 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes, I will try and add the countdown tonight also
[6:23:14 PM] Jason says: No - he should work on the site, so we can see it directy!
[6:23:48 PM] Pierre George says: may be but for other pages that could be a quick and effective way of comunication
[6:23:56 PM] Jason says: Last thing on my part: do we have a search function - where should it be displayed?
[6:24:22 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes there is search.
[6:24:43 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I'll have to see where there is space for it
[6:24:49 PM] Pierre George says: that makes a lot of things on the first page .....finally :)
[6:24:56 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: always good to have on the frontpage somewhere
[6:25:19 PM] Jason says: if there is still space, you could put it on the top menu bar, as the last item
[6:25:55 PM] Pierre George says: anyway dan what do you think using table as sketch tool .... it is quicker to edit than laying a page out i suppose ...
[6:26:18 PM] Pierre George says: if not quicker i am all for the real thing of course ....
[6:26:23 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: i will try to put it in the header
[6:26:48 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes pierre, quicker but things always change in the browsers..
[6:27:16 PM] Pierre George says: you know better ... i am just making paper design ;)
[6:27:41 PM] Jason says: The real thing is better - if the objects/contents are "movable" as they should be on drupal, people can see it "Live" and we can discuss it better than a sketch. Also, it gives the impression that we are almost there... which we are, right... ;)
[6:28:17 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: exactly, making it live is moving towards the goal immediatley
[6:28:43 PM] Pierre George says: no problem
we need to lay out several pages very quick ,and if they are easy to modify ..we have no such stress
[6:29:00 PM] Pierre George says: we can live with a preliminary design for some time ...
[6:29:11 PM] Jason says: We have the call in at least 10 languages... should people still sign it as an option? And what do we do with the almost 2000 signature collected up to now? Do we keep that function?
[6:29:33 PM] Pierre George says: yes
[6:29:46 PM] Pierre George says: i suggest we browse the partiicpate form
[6:30:03 PM] Pierre George says: because this is where people sign as a last option
[6:30:59 PM] Pierre George says: registering and signing requires exactly the same data
[6:31:11 PM] Pierre George says: signing is just clicking a button at the end
[6:31:42 PM] Pierre George says: i am assuming that we stimulate people to mention affiliations .. so that helps building a global directory
[6:32:45 PM] Pierre George a envoyé le fichier "registration form.doc" aux membres de cette discussion
[6:34:19 PM] Pierre George says: dan you said you were streamlining this registyraiton form .... up to which stage ...
[6:34:48 PM] Pierre George says: we can have a simpler form at first and a complete form when reedting the profile ....
[6:35:57 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: well. my plan was to finish up the homepage, start streamlining the workflows...
[6:36:16 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ben and I have been discussing how it may be done
[6:36:45 PM] Pierre George says: excuse me ...what is streamlining exactly ...in your language ?
[6:37:34 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: making them less complex, easier to comlete
[6:37:37 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: complete
[6:38:16 PM] Pierre George says: ok .... so do you communicate them before implementing them
[6:38:40 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: we will. but have not gotten to that stage yet
[6:38:56 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: currently I want to start giving the site some structure
[6:39:09 PM] Pierre George says: i like that word ....
[6:39:10 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: and a homepage that is clear
[6:39:34 PM] Pierre George says: how will you communicate on the work flow ?
[6:39:46 PM] Jason says: I agree. (Pierre, you're an uncorrectable engineer!)
[6:40:14 PM] Pierre George says: a plain text page (as i have sent ) or another format ? ....
[6:41:11 PM] Pierre George says: a url we can visit ?
[6:41:25 PM] Jason says: I don't understand your question, Pierre
[6:41:46 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: we were planning on adjusting the forms on the site.
[6:42:15 PM] Pierre George says: i am asking Dan HOW he will communicate the streamlined forms -because he said
[00:38:11] Pierre George a dit : ok .... so do you communicate them before implementing them
[00:38:35] Dan Hakimzadeh a dit : we will. but have not gotten to that stage yet
[6:42:43 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I really should get going soon. I have to meet with someone at 7pm (20mins from now) and need some time to prepare...
[6:43:11 PM] Pierre George says: can we have 5 mns on structure then ?
[6:43:18 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: we were going to adjust the forms so they are easier and clearer to the user. at which point we will email with the changes
[6:43:21 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sure
[6:43:31 PM] Pierre George says: i am just sending a text i did today
[6:43:38 PM] Pierre George says: based on what jason told me
[6:45:12 PM] Pierre George a envoyé le fichier "About the structure - again.doc" aux membres de cette discussion
[6:45:53 PM] Pierre George says: jason you have it already ...
[6:46:20 PM] Pierre George says: there is a table which shows the steps
[6:46:28 PM] Jason says: I also cannot stay up tonight - we can update to tomorrow. I'd like to know about the logo and other design bits. And when is Ben coming back?
[6:46:51 PM] Pierre George says: i understand that people "present ' action inside a default group ... is that correct ?
[6:47:10 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ben will be back on monday night. he may be available by email until then
[6:47:41 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I have a logo in the works. that part has been difficult -- trying to encompass the idea of this in an image..
[6:49:19 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: yes, I beleive so, but Ben knows more about the technical side of things
[6:49:31 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: how the data flows, etc
[6:50:14 PM] Pierre George says: would be good if he could give answers to those questions...-
[6:50:27 PM] Pierre George says: we have been making rounds with them ...
[6:50:37 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I will compile the points of this discussion in an email to him tonight
[6:50:57 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: until then, I really have to be going now
[6:51:05 PM] Jason says: ok, thanks Dan!
[6:51:08 PM] Pierre George says: also i need to give you the text just a sec
[6:51:21 PM] Pierre George says: the about text i mean right ?
[6:51:33 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: The home page should be looking quite different soon
[6:51:51 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: sure, send the file
[6:51:56 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: or you can email it too
[6:52:25 PM] Pierre George says: yes will send you in the morning of tomorrow for you
[6:52:35 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: ok sounds good
[6:52:42 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: good night gentlemen
[6:52:47 PM] Dan Hakimzadeh says: I will be in touch
[6:53:30 PM] Pierre George says: thanks - you can mail me in the day i receive the mailing list at my work place pierre.george@snecma.fr

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