Tag Archives: wptv v3

Hugo Baeta 7:32 am on November 5, 2015
Tags: , Information Architecture, vizrec, wptv v3   

WordPress.tv – Information Architecture

Following last week’s #wptv chat on slack, I took on the task of mapping the current Information Architecture of the WordPress.tv wesbite for it’s upcoming redesign. I’ll start by showing what is currently there (including screenshots for visual records), leave some personal notes as I go through each screenshot, and at the end I’ll leave some actionable items for whomever wants to get involved with this.

Overview

wptv-ia-overview

I tried to keep my notes high-level, focusing on repeating patterns on the site, instead of literal structures. This tree represents what are basically three levels of content: main navigation items (some are categories, some pages), archives, and singles (video pages, posts on the blog, or pages under the top level).

“WordCamps”, “Related Events”, and “How To”, are basically the main categories of content on the site. These three hold all the videos on the site. The videos have a series of taxonomies that can be viewed through their archives: “Event”, “Speaker”, “Language”, “TagTag Tag is one of the pre-defined taxonomies in WordPress. Users can add tags to their WordPress posts along with categories. However, while a category may cover a broad range of topics, tags are smaller in scope and focused to specific topics. Think of them as keywords used for topics discussed in a particular post.”, and “Date”.

The “Get Involved” page is a simple page with a series of links for submission guidelines and instructions on how to add captions or subtitles.

The Blog section is a separate site made to look the same. It’s a simple WordPress blog, with standard taxonomies. From the Blog main navigation there’s a “Contact” item (not present in the main site navigation, only in its footer).

I think overall this structure is pretty good for the site. I’d probably remove the “Contacts” from the top navigation entirely (currently only shows when you are in the blog), and maybe reconsider having “Blog” up there, mostly because its posts are referenced in many places (tho that could change), and it isn’t updated often (last post is over a year old).

EDIT: There’s at least a couple of hidden main categories of content: “Announcements” and “Interviews”. Maybe there’s more, but these are the two I stumbled upon while writing this post. Not sure what to make of these, I only found them out on the sidebarSidebar A sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme. of an Event Archive page… Any thoughts? I don’t see a need for “Announcements” to be a top-level item, but maybe “Interviews” should.

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#design, #information-architecture, #vizrec, #wptv-v3

jerrysarcastic 4:44 pm on October 29, 2015
Tags: , wptv v3   

Designing WordPress.tv – Functional requirements recap

A few weeks ago we posted an open call for functional requirements for a new WordPress.tv design. Out of that post came several good ideas for us to explore; however, some of the great suggestions we got don’t need to rely on (and should not be tied to) a site redesign. To help sort things out and get a better sense of what would go into a redesign, I’ve broken things up a bit:

Site Design Considerations

Generally speaking, YouTube appears to be a popular model for us to follow, and we will also be publishing videos to YouTube soon, which was another popular request. The following items also are worth our consideration as we work on a new design for WordPress.tv

  • Responsive design
  • list all event videos without pagination
  • design better archive page with filters and not just a chronological timeline.
  • Link to the related Slides to be more evident and discoverable.
  • Improve layout for single video pages
  • Add more content to WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. page. More info the Camp, link to dedicated camp website, Twitter, etc… ideally we should “talk” to the WordCamp site to pull in some info here
  • Design new Speaker’s template page with more information about, bio, contacts etc.
  • Make subtitling/captioning prominent and add a link to Amara for subtitling – maybe near the social links.
  • Improve uploader form
  • City timeline – i think it would be neat to have a time line for each location so you could go into any particular city and see the time line of just that city.

We also got a few nice looking design comps worth checking out here and here.

Other Site Improvements

These were also suggested as design considerations, but they are more tied to the site functionality of WordPress.tv than the design, and most of these can be opened as MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. TracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. tickets or independent projects that mods can work on. I expect there is some overlap here, but these seem like they can be worked on/committed independent of the design of the site.

  • Improved get involved page to onboard more mods
  • Improve uploader performance
  • Improve search – see related comment here.
  • watch later button – Add “watch list” to dotorg user profile? Perhaps instead a “Favorites” list similar to pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party favorites?
  • Video grouped by WordCamp date, not upload date
  • TaxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies. for the “track” the camp uses – We go to WordCamps and stay in tracks, beginner, intermediate, developer, blogger, you don’t have that notion when they posted after the fact.
  • Embed slides directly in video page (slideshare oembed, others…)
  • Copyright info with link to license – to encourage use of the videos
  • A nav link in the WordCamp themes to link to WPTV would be nice – speaker profiles

VideoPress enhancements

We got a few suggestions for how we can improve video performance as well, and while these are mostly related to VideoPress (not something mods can work on directly) I’ve noted them here so that they can be brought to the attention of the VP devs.

  • Improve the preview image quality set “Featured ImageFeatured image A featured image is the main image used on your blog archive page and is pulled when the post or page is shared on social media. The image can be used to display in widget areas on your site or in a summary list of posts.” for the videos like on YouTube?
  • Improve related videos
  • ability to play 1080
  • ability (as a viewer) to select a preferred video resolution (SD or HD)
  • audio only link

Naturally while we’re a small team, this is a big list! If you have any interest in helping with the site redesign and build out, or any of the other site improvement projects mentioned, please say something in the comments section. 🙂

#design, #wptv-v3

jerrysarcastic 6:28 pm on October 8, 2015
Tags: wptv v3   

Building a better WordPress.tv – functional requirements

We’ve been talking as mods lately about our site, and how it feels a little out of date: http://wordpress.tv/

It’s an older theme now, built upon a site that is even older, and it’s in need of a refresh redesign. For 2016 one of our goal is to work on updating the site to be a better home for the great content we get every day from WordCamps and other WordPress events around the world. With that in mind we’re starting a series of posts here to set a plan in motion.

We’ll be talking design and implementation in upcoming posts, but for now I’d like your thoughts on WPTV as it is now, and how it could be better functionally as a site.

What would WordPress.tv function like in a perfect world? What is not so great about the site now that could work better? What cool thing should we be considering that no one has though of before?

Please, say it here in the comments so we can get the conversation started, and build a better WordPress.tv!

#wptv-v3