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 WordCamp category 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 Meta Trac 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 plugin favorites?
- Video grouped by WordCamp date, not upload date
- Taxonomy 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 Image” 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. 🙂