[OSM-talk] [Design] Banners on the Front Page

[Rob Nickerson]

Hi All,

I saw the request for a banner [1] and replied via email as I am not
on the design mailing list. For transparency here is my reply:

=== start ===
There is a wider issue (and  don't mean to be a spoil sport) that
local events using the SotM "brand" could lead to a weakening of the
main SotM. I cannot think of any big conferences that allow their
brand to be used almost identically for local events. The exception
that comes to my mind is TEDx events [2] but they have a clear
communication that they are independent.

Now for OSM (given the crowd-source structure) you could say that the
main SotM is independent too, with other people suggesting main SotM
is becoming less relevant. Either way, I think some clearer
communication would be useful.

Returning to the issue of the banner - we could have an all year
banner that simply read "attend an event" (or similar) and linked to
an upcoming conferences page (similar to TEDx's example).

Lots to consider...
=== end  ==

Now before this turns into an argument about my use of the word
"brand", I would like to add that I am all for local OSM groups. Also
I think Richard's idea is a great one. Particularly the idea to "use
GeoIP etc. to find what country the user is from. Serve the message
for that country." Adding to that, can I suggest that if no local
banner is found then my suggestion of a generic "attend an event"
banner be explored.

[1] https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/217#issuecomment-15287928
[2] https://www.ted.com/tedx