[RFC] LLVM.org Website Redesign (original) (raw)

Objective:

The objective of this RFC is to outline the initial plan for the redesign of the LLVM.org website. The primary goal is to enhance the website’s usability, modernize its design, and improve content organization to better serve the LLVM community.

Proposed Changes:

1. Design Refresh:

• Implement a modern and visually appealing design that reflects the LLVM project’s professionalism and innovation.
• Incorporate responsive design principles to ensure optimal viewing experiences across devices.
• Simplify navigation to improve user experience and make content more accessible.

2. Content Organization:

• Conduct a comprehensive content audit to identify outdated or redundant information.
• Reorganize content structure to improve findability and streamline navigation.
• Create clear and concise pathways for accessing essential resources, documentation, and community information.

3. Technical Implementation:

• Utilize Hugo, a static site generator, for the website’s backend to improve performance and ease of maintenance.
• Implement a modular architecture using reusable components to facilitate future updates and scalability.
• Integrate data-driven elements using YAML files to separate content from presentation, enabling easier content management.

4. Community Engagement:

• Solicit feedback from the LLVM community through surveys and discussions to gather input on design preferences and content priorities.
• Establish regular communication channels, such as mailing lists and forums, for ongoing community involvement in the redesign process.
• Provide opportunities for community members to contribute to feedback, suggestions, and content contributions throughout the redesign phase.

Community Feedback Process

To ensure the LLVM.org website redesign aligns with the community’s needs and preferences, we will be conducting structured surveys and providing design mockups for community review.

Survey and Mockup Review Process:

• Initial Survey: An initial survey will be conducted to gather broad feedback on the current website. This survey will include questions about user experience, content accessibility, and design preferences. The aim is to understand what users find valuable and identify areas needing improvement.
• Design Mockups: Based on the initial feedback, we will develop 2-3 design mockups of the new website. Each mockup will present a different design approach, incorporating modern design principles and reflecting the community’s input.
• Mockup Selection Survey: Community members will be invited to participate in a follow-up survey to review the design mockups. This survey will:
  • Present each design option with detailed descriptions and visual examples.
  • Allow participants to rank their preferred designs and provide specific feedback on each mockup.
  • Include questions about specific design elements, such as navigation structure, visual aesthetics, and accessibility features.

Benefits of Using Surveys and Mockups:

• Direct Comparisons: Facilitates direct comparisons between different design options, helping to identify the most favored elements.
• Quantifiable Data: Provides quantifiable data on community preferences, making it easier to make informed design decisions.
• Focused Feedback: Ensures feedback is specific and relevant to the proposed designs, aiding in the refinement and finalization of the website layout.

Involving Content Creators:

Collaborative Content Strategy: We are eager to work with content creators to ensure that the redesigned website supports their needs. If you are interested in contributing to content development or have ideas for new content sections, please let us know. Your input is crucial in creating a website that is not only visually appealing but also rich in valuable, well-organized content.

Timeline:

1. Week 1-2: Conduct initial content audit and research current design trends.
2. Week 3-4: Develop wireframes and design mockups for community review.
3. Week 5-6: Gather feedback from the community and refine design concepts.
4. Week 7-10: Begin technical implementation using Hugo and YAML data files.
5. Week 11-12: Finalize website design, content migration, and testing.
6. Week 13: Launch redesigned LLVM.org website and solicit post-launch feedback from the community.

Conclusion:

The LLVM.org website redesign aims to create a modern, user-friendly platform that effectively communicates the LLVM project’s mission, resources, and community engagement opportunities. By following this RFC and engaging with the community throughout the process, we aim to create a website that meets the evolving needs of the LLVM community and fosters greater collaboration and participation.

Relevant Links:

• Project description
• Discussion on Discourse
• Project Proposal

To gather more detailed input from the community, we’ve created a survey. This survey will help us understand your preferences, identify pain points, and gather suggestions for the redesign. Your participation is crucial to ensure the new website meets the needs and expectations of the entire LLVM community.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey here: LLVM.org Website Redesign Survey

Thank you for your support and feedback!

Congratulations on being selected to Google Summer of Code and thank you choosing this project, LLVM.org is long overdue for a redesign.

In your project, do you plan to include other types of content beyond GitHub - llvm/llvm-www? For example, a lot of the content is generated using Sphinx from the reStructuredText files in GitHub - llvm/llvm-project: The LLVM Project is a collection of modular and reusable compiler and toolchain technologies. Have you considered creating a custom Sphinx theme that would match the new LLVM.org design?

We also generate a lot of HTML from tools like Doxygen (which we hope to eventually replace with clang-doc as part of Improve Clang-Doc Usability), llvm-cov, scan-build, and even Clang. This content is also linked from LLVM.org but there’s currently no design consistency. It’d be great if all of the generated HTML could use the same design, although I understand that covering everything could significantly expand the scope of your project, but it’s still something that might be worth keeping in mind as a future extension.

@asb, could we include that post in the next llvm weekly? I hope to get more participation in the feedback and the survey.

Thank you! I am very exited to take this project to completion.

No, I haven’t considered it within the scope of the GSoC period. However, I’m open to exploring this in the future.

To address this, I’m planning to create a reusable HUGO theme for LLVM.org. Once we finalize the design, it can be adapted to other documentation tools like Sphinx with comparatively less effort. I’m eager to contribute to making the designs across the LLVM ecosystem consistent, and I’m open to continuing this work beyond GSoC.

Following up on my initial RFC for the LLVM website redesign, I have created a set of design mockups that I’d like to gather feedback on from the community. Your insights and suggestions will be invaluable in refining and improving the final design.

Please take a few minutes to review the mockups and provide your feedback through the following form: Feedback Form

You can find the designs here.

Your input will help ensure that the redesigned LLVM website meets the needs and expectations of our diverse community. Thank you in advance for your time and feedback!

Hi everyone,

Thank you to those who have already provided feedback on the design mockups for the LLVM website redesign. We are still gathering insights and will keep the feedback form open for another week. If you haven’t had a chance to review the mockups and share your thoughts, please do so soon. Your input is crucial in helping us refine and improve the final design.

You can access the mockups and provide your feedback through the following form: Feedback Form.

Thank you for your time!

tstellar August 8, 2024, 6:01pm 8

Hi,

This is not a hard requirement, but I was curious if you were following any kind of accessibility guidelines like WCAG20 when re-designing the site?

jrtc27

August 8, 2024, 6:16pm 9

My concern with this feedback form, and the reason I didn’t fill it out when it was first posted, is that most of the A/B questions have images that conflate a whole host of things. For example, looking at the first question:

I may or may not like the addition of the logo, but it also incorporates changing the menu bar colour, has odd wrapping for the title (wrapping between “The LLVM” and “Compiler Infrastructure” reads awfully, especially with the font size changing), loses a whole paragraph of text and adds extra buttons. So it’s not clear to me if we’re voting on the images as a whole or just the specific aspects mentioned in the questions.

I also find this Figma thing annoying to use; I don’t need some fancy interactive thing, all I want is an image I can load up and easily make the size that the website would be so I can look at it and pretend it’s a real site. Or even better real HTML, but that’s wasted work for the designs that don’t make it.

Having a lone “Any other suggestions?” box is also very unstructured and makes it feel like we have little choice in the process here, just picking between a couple of pre-made designs. What’s really needed is a way for people to offer detailed feedback, should they desire, on specific aspects of the design, which you technically can still do but the current form is not very inviting of it.

R-Goc August 30, 2024, 12:42pm 10

One inconsistency I see is that subprojects(currently called LLVM Projects on the website) are only a link on the main page, while in the current design they are always on the left. They should probably be added to the header or footer(footer might be better to reduce clutter). Also what is the point of an explore subprojects button if just two elements lower there is a Sub Projects(the naming is indeed inconsistent subprojects vs Sub Projects) section, which should also function as a link to subprojects. Also I’m not sure about changing Releases to Downloads, but that is my personal preference.

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to share that the development version of the new LLVM website is now live at www-new.llvm.org! Please feel free to explore it, and we welcome any feedback or suggestions as we continue refining the design.

You can also checkout www-new.llvm.org/sample-page to view how other pages will look.

The code for the template (theme) is in llvm/www-template repository.

Thank you for your input so far!

The new website looks good! Are you planning to add more subprojects later?

It’s a nice refresh to the LLVM website but the links don’t work

I believe it is meant as a mockup to showcase the design, not as a ready replacement that we can ship. Iff the design is appealing, then it can be used to build the complete replacement.

Thank you for checking out the new website! I’m currently working on fixing the links and adding documentation to make it easier for contributors to help with the content.

Yes, absolutely! Since the content will need updates, we want to enable contributors to easily contribute as well. For now, my focus is on providing examples for as many sections as possible to help guide contributions.

rengolin October 9, 2024, 2:45pm 17

Some comments:

• The first section has “explore subjects” but there’s a whole section for sub projects. A bit redundant?
• The sub-projects section has space for 4-5 boxes, but LLVM has more. Perhaps the “explore” button should be here. There should be a whole section for these projects that is not exclusive, allowing more flexibility in adding them in the future.
• Developer Resources is a mixed bag of many things. It would be nice to separate it into sections, like policy, community, code docs, process, bug tracking, developer tools, CI, tutorials, etc.
• “Upcoming events” is nice, but we also need space for the previous ones. I suggest renaming it to “Events” and have a top one “upcoming” like we currently have in the page today.

We’re now ready to move forward! The new LLVM website is live and can be accessed here: www-new.llvm.org.

Are there any objections to making this the default LLVM website?

Please feel free to share your feedback or concerns. Looking forward it.

The “Events” section only lists the last 3 while the old website would let me go back for years of past proceedings. They should remain available somewhere on the new page.

I’d like to add LLVM-libc as one of the subprojects.