Closed Bug 654616 Opened 13 years ago Closed 13 years ago

Sort out copy for MDN home page refresh

Categories

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Wiki pages, defect)

Product:
developer.mozilla.org Graveyard
Component:
Wiki pages
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: jay, Assigned: craigcook)

References

Details

I have started a thread at https://mozilla.basecamphq.com/projects/6113659/posts, but also wanted to file a bug to track progess on this for MDN 0.9.5.

Based on the direction we're heading in, here are the major pieces of copy we will need:

*    Main tagline (something that makes strong statement about what MDN is all about, essentially the core message we want to give to developers that visit)
*    About Mozilla and MDN messaging (short paragraph or two that summarizes our mission-driven, community-contributed nature and describes what MDN is and what we're doing to provide an awesome resource for Web developer)
*    CTA for docs contributors (make it clear that our docs efforts happen on a wiki that anyone can help contribute to)  OR CTA for MDN Learning (encourage more people to try out the new pages)
*    CTA for demo authors (encourage more participation at Demo Studio and promote the developer challenges)
*    CTA for developer tools (we need to figure out the best way to tell people about the great tools we have available now (web console in Fx4, firebug, add-ons builder) and educate them about our latest efforts to build an even better tools platform (whatever the dev tools team is working on)
*    Firefox 4 for Developers (right now we just have a graphic that links to the wiki page, but it might be worth highlighting a few specific features and improvements in this block)
Blocks: 653827
Janet:  I started a etherpad with a list of copy needs and potential ideas for each.  Please update that document and we can collaborate there to get some good copy together.  http://etherpad.mozilla.com:9000/mdn095homepagecopy
Target Milestone: 0.9.5 → 0.9.6
Matej: I haven't seen any progress on the etherpad we started during the work week: http://etherpad.mozilla.com:9000/mdnhomerefresh  Can you help us get closer to a final tagline and site description?   I think Janet and I can take care of the other CTAs on the page, but it will be great to get some copywriter input for the big stuff.   Please add in any more ideas and notes there.  It'll be great to get some recommendations by the end of the week.  Thanks!
Hi Jay,

The day after we talked I went in and wrote a draft description:

Description
The Mozilla Developer Network is your trusted resource for driving innovation on the Web. It's an open community that anyone can contribute to, regardless of brand, browser or platform, and each person that does makes it stronger. The future of the Web starts here. Where it goes is up to you.
ALT END LINES: 
Take it out for a spin.
And you're in control.

Sorry, I should've pointed that out after I did. I was waiting to get some feedback on that before I took another pass at it.

As for the tagline, I must've misunderstood. I thought we were good with "It's the Web. You drive." But I can try to come up with some more options this week if you'd like.
I like the message, but IMO the tone is too much 'marketing' for web dev's.

"The Mozilla Developer Network is your trusted resource ..." is self-marketing. We shouldn't *say* we're your trusted resource, we should *be* a trusted resource and it should go without saying it that bluntly.

here's my stab at something after reading https://www.mozilla.org/about/ and https://www.mozilla.org/about/mission.html

"We are Mozilla Developer Network - an open community of developers making resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser, or platform. Together we can continue to innovate the web to serve the greater good. It starts here - with you." ?
(In reply to comment #4)
> I like the message, but IMO the tone is too much 'marketing' for web dev's.

Yes, agreed. I like your rehash better.
(In reply to comment #4)

> "We are Mozilla Developer Network - an open community of developers making
> resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser, or platform.
> Together we can continue to innovate the web to serve the greater good. It
> starts here - with you." ?

I like it. Just a few thoughts from me. Do we want to start with "we," or should it be more user focused? Also, the phrase "innovate the web" sounds a bit awkward to me. Here's how I would revise:

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.
(In reply to comment #6)
> Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers
> building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or
> platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve
> the greater good. It starts here, with you.

I like this. But I don't want to lose the message that "anyone can contribute to [it], ... and each person that who does make it stronger".
(In reply to comment #7)
> I like this. But I don't want to lose the message that "anyone can
> contribute to [it], ... and each person that who does make it stronger".

That's easy to work back in:

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Anyone can contribute and each person who does only makes it stronger. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.
I think the latest description hints at the participation, but I agree with Janet that we could emphasize the "anyone can contribute" part.

I like the description as is, so I am going to say we keep it that way.   We already have the main tagline:  "It's the Web.  You drive"... so can we find a short and sweet phrase that will pair well with the tag line?

We can then do something like:

It's the Web.  You drive.
<participation/contribution line here>

And then the description will be displayed to the right of that:

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.

----------

Any ideas for that second part to add to the tagline?  If that doesn't feel right, I think we'll be ok without it there.  We can always add/emphasize the contribution message in the CTAs for the other blocks on the page (Docs, Demos, etc).  I don't think we need to over do it with the tagline or description.

IF we decide to try, here are a couple of ideas:

- Join the community and find your way to contribute.
- Anyone can participate in writing docs, developing demos and discussing Web standard and open technologies.

---- 

Had a mid-air collision with Matej... but we can also add a sentence to the description.  Though subtext to the tag line might be more impactful.  Thoughts?
to help visualize what i suggested in my last comment, see chowse's mockup here:
http://www.cl.ly/3n0Z0v3B2f1v2F2m3B0w

We would replace the "Mozilla Developer Network" with "It's the Web.  You drive." and put the contribution CTA in place of "Learn. Build. Contribute.".   The description would then be on the right side in paragraph form.
I kinda thought the "anyone can contribute to [it], ... and each person that who does make it stronger" message is made with "Together we can continue to innovate the web ... It starts here, with you." a bit more personally and directly. 

That's also why I started "We are MDN ..." (like the trailing line for the mozilla mission video, "We are Mozilla Firefox.") Because that's what makes us better - we're more than a collection of docs & demos - we're a community of individuals.

I agree "innovate the web" is akward, I like Jay's re-write but I might restore the original "We are MDN" ...

We are Mozilla Developer Network - an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.
(In reply to comment #11)
> I kinda thought the "anyone can contribute to [it], ... and each person that
> who does make it stronger" message is made with "Together we can continue to
> innovate the web ... It starts here, with you." a bit more personally and
> directly. 

Yeah, that's why I felt it might be better to emphasize it separate from the description, since it already touches on it.

> 
> That's also why I started "We are MDN ..." (like the trailing line for the
> mozilla mission video, "We are Mozilla Firefox.") Because that's what makes
> us better - we're more than a collection of docs & demos - we're a community
> of individuals.

"We" is up for interpretation, so while "we" understand that it represents community... others might see it as "Mozilla" vs them.  So I still vote to leave that out and stick to "Welcome to...".

> 
> I agree "innovate the web" is akward, I like Jay's re-write but I might
> restore the original "We are MDN" ...
> 
> We are Mozilla Developer Network - an open community of developers building
> resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform.
> Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater
> good. It starts here, with you.

So... if we leave the "We" out, we're back to Matej's final revision:

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.

Let's just go with that for the description.  

We can use his additional sentence re-writen for the subtext to the tagline:

Anyone can contribute and it's people like you that make it stronger.

(not sure about my edits... but i would like to convey the you in that message)
(In reply to comment #12)
> (In reply to comment #11)
> > I kinda thought the "anyone can contribute to [it], ... and each person that
> > who does make it stronger" message is made with "Together we can continue to
> > innovate the web ... It starts here, with you." a bit more personally and
> > directly. 
> 
> Yeah, that's why I felt it might be better to emphasize it separate from the
> description, since it already touches on it.

The reason I want (something like) "anyone can contribute" is that we hear repeatedly that people don't realize that MDN is a wiki. I want to go beyond just sounding inclusive and make it clear that by participating, you can make the web better, and *you can make this site better*.
Here are some options for the subhead, placed in context (I don't know if it has to say "you" explicitly since it already says that in the tagline):


It's the Web. You drive.

Anyone can contribute and make it stronger.
You can contribute and make it stronger.
We need people like you to contribute and make it stronger.
Build. Contribute. Make it better.
Anyone can contribute. Help us make it better.
Anyone can contribute. You can make it better.
Made stronger by contributors like you.

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.


But then I realized that the page doesn't say "Mozilla Developer Network" very prominently (and it's starting to feel like we have two taglines) so I thought of a different option. This puts the "anyone can contribute" line back into the copy, makes "Mozilla Developer Network" the subhead and restores "we" to the beginning of the description:


It's the Web. You drive.

Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network.

We are an open community of developers building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or platform. Anyone can contribute and each person who does only makes it stronger. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.
(In reply to comment #14)
> Here are some options for the subhead, placed in context (I don't know if it
> has to say "you" explicitly since it already says that in the tagline):
> 
> 
> It's the Web. You drive.
> 
> Anyone can contribute and make it stronger.
> You can contribute and make it stronger.
> We need people like you to contribute and make it stronger.
> Build. Contribute. Make it better.
> Anyone can contribute. Help us make it better.
> Anyone can contribute. You can make it better.
> Made stronger by contributors like you.
> 
> Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network, an open community of developers
> building resources for a better web, regardless of brand, browser or
> platform. Together we can continue to drive innovation on the Web to serve
> the greater good. It starts here, with you.
> 
> 
> But then I realized that the page doesn't say "Mozilla Developer Network"
> very prominently (and it's starting to feel like we have two taglines) so I
> thought of a different option. This puts the "anyone can contribute" line
> back into the copy, makes "Mozilla Developer Network" the subhead and
> restores "we" to the beginning of the description:
> 
> 
> It's the Web. You drive.
> 
> Welcome to the Mozilla Developer Network.
> 
> We are an open community of developers building resources for a better web,
> regardless of brand, browser or platform. Anyone can contribute and each
> person who does only makes it stronger. Together we can continue to drive
> innovation on the Web to serve the greater good. It starts here, with you.

That's why we pay Matej the big bugs to come up with good words! ;-)

I think his new final set of tagline, subhead and description covers all the bases.   I am going to call this done!

Thanks Matej for jumping in and helping us get this together.  Thanks to everyone else for their input and ideas.  I think we have some awesome copy to showcase on the MDN home page.
Adding chowse to the bug... didn't realize he wasn't cc'd until now.

Chowse:  See that last comment for the copy we want to put up at the top of the page.  Looking forward to seeing what it looks like in the next set of mockups.

I'll try to get you the remaining copy for the Docs, Demos, Learning, etc. CTA blocks by early next week.  Keeping this bug open until we get that all done too.
Assignee: jswisher → jay
Minor change:
:%s/it/us/g
:&s/only//g

Anyone can contribute and each person who does makes us stronger.
Assigning to Craig since he'll be implementing the templates as soon as Chowse has the hi-fi designs ready for him.

Here is the remaining copy we need for the home page promos (the rest should be in Chowse's mockups):

Learn:
Our collection of resources show you how to use the technologies that power the Web.

Demos:
Check out what developers are doing with the latest Web standards and open technologies.

Firefox for Devs:
See what's new for Web developers in the latest version of Firefox.

Aurora:
Experience the very latest features before they go to beta by trying out the new Aurora builds.
Assignee: jay → craigcook.bugz
(In reply to comment #18)
> Assigning to Craig since he'll be implementing the templates as soon as
> Chowse has the hi-fi designs ready for him.
> 
> Here is the remaining copy we need for the home page promos (the rest should
> be in Chowse's mockups):
> 
> Learn:
> Our collection of resources show you how to use the technologies that power
> the Web.

One little thing here. The line should read "Our collection of resources shows you how..."

The rest looks great!
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Version: MDN → unspecified
Component: Website → Landing pages
Product: developer.mozilla.org → developer.mozilla.org Graveyard
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