[OSM-talk] Main page (www.openstreetmap.org)

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

> There was actually quite a lot of opposition to the idea of  
> redirecting to the wiki.  The redirect was setup after an offlist  
> group email was sent to the sysadmins - the 'pro redirect' lobby  
> were better organised and more forceful than the 'keep it how it  
> is' lobby.

That shouldn't happen. The main page is important to all of us. It  
must not be changed just like that, after "offlist group emails".  
(What if the mailing that 80n spoke of contained something like "just  
click on so-and-so on the main page to ..."?).

It was a mistake to change it without discussion then, and it was a  
mistake to change it without discussion (or even announcement!) now.  
Who did it, and why did he/she not care enough for the community to  
at least state his/her intent on the list beforehand? Surely  
something could have be learned from the previous changeover when the  
redirect was installed?

I didn't like the wiki start page all that much, but I dislike the  
new page even more, it is just ugly and not well designed. And I,  
too, think that the three-panel sketches we have seen did represent  
the core of the project much much better than what is now on the  
start page. (For example, who uses the Users' diaries - do they  
really reflect what is going on more than e.g. the talk list, and if  
not, then why is there a big fat link to Users' diaries while the  
talk list is buried somewhere? The blog behind "News blog" has much  
less to do with OSM than one might expect. And I don't even start to  
discuss the "Shop" link.)

Another minus is that the map shown initially is empty. EMPTY. It  
doesn't contain the smallest bit of data created by OSM. Zoom in one  
level and you have some roads at least, a "proof of life" if you will.

Finally, nothing tops a static page in availability. The wiki wasn't  
available enough, and I am pretty sure the map won't be either.

But of all points mentioned, the fact that the change has been made  
without any discussion or AT LEAST announcement bothers me most. (Or  
did I miss something?) I really thought it was an accident.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00.09' E008°23.33'