[OSM-talk] Welcome box on the new map page

[Lester Caine]

Ed Loach wrote:
> Lester:
>
>> The about page is VERY short on help to get to other material (
> but I
>> do not
>> object to advertising sponsors on that page ), and I probably need
> to
>> try the
>> site as a cold user to se if registering a new account is any more
>> helpful, but
>> trying to establish what is needed to help WITHOUT registering is
> not
>> looking
>> good. It's not the interface itself that is the problem, but
> simply what
>> material is displayed in those first couple of clicks! Perhaps all
> I am
>> asking
>> for is a simple link to 'other services' in that welcome box which
> take
>> you to a
>> wiki for accessing routers and other useful tools?
>
> Perhaps click "Help" rather than "About" - that has the simple links
> to help and the wiki.

Click on 'Help' you THEN have to decide what will be more helpful. The 'help 
list' is not the best choise but it IS presented first. Metion was made of 
'Getting started', and to be honest THAT is something that is currently missing? 
After that, the wiki should be listed next. But finding the HELP button when the 
'Learn More' button is presented in the welcome box? I find nothing in the About 
box that helps me to 'Learn More' ... Naming the button 'About OSM' would at 
least hint that something else may be more appropriate if you ACTUALLY want to 
learn more about contributing or using OSM? Having selected 'Learn More' one is 
in something of a dead end? It's not clear then WHERE you go?

> I am in two minds about routing on the main OSM website. Yes, it can
> be done, and it can be useful for a mapper to check connectivity of
> what has been mapped, and whether turn restrictions work, etc, but
> then you need to consider supporting for every transport mode (or
> just pick "car" to start with and wait for all the complaints from
> cyclists, pedestrians and lorry drivers moaning that the new routing
> feature is useless for them...) But there are other sites already
> which use OSM for routing and it might be better to use whichever of
> those best suits your preferred use case.

This is perhaps another case where a separate site IS needed for those of us 
actually using OSM as a generic replacement for Google? On some of my newer 
'contact' pages I have added a 'Get Directions' button in addition to the 'View 
Larger Map' ... and that is where the previous style change still causes some 
confusion! The Embeded map still has the old navigation style on the left as 
does the router I'm going to, but the OSM map changed to the right. I would use 
the Router as the large map, but I actually want to PROMOTE OSM which all this 
is currently about. None of the current router options are as reliable as the 
other on-line options, (and that is a separate problem ...) also you need to 
select one more suited to your country, which comes back to my appeal for a more 
'locally focused' support path. Basically there is nothing I would recomend as a 
global routing option anyway? So no obvious candidate for a world wide link?

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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