Site for 0.9 release

[addyosmani]

If anyone is interested in taking this on, we need to design/create a new site for Aura's 1.0 release. Feel free to let us know if you'd be up for helping with this :)

[saniko]

HI, What exactly need to be done? Is there any website mockups? initial design (i saw the loge), any special requirements ?

[addyosmani]

@saniko I love the GruntJS and EmberJS sites. We don't have any mockups or initial design just yet so its really flexible in terms of what we do. If someone could come up with a design that fits in well with the logo that would be great, otherwise we could strip the background from it and just go for something using the typography alone.

[sindresorhus]

Some questions that needs answering

• What would the site contain?
• What is the most important stuff? I guess Download, Docs and Demo.
• When and why would you need Aura?

What I think it needs

• A fully featured demo showing off the lib.
• I also think the site itself should be an front-end app using Aura. Dogfooding ftw!
• Docs with TOC and search
• Some examples of real-world usage. Are there any?
• Site should be responsive. Bootstrap grids (or any other) makes this simple
• Semantic HTML
• Hosted on GitHub Pages

[Francisc]

The home page should have a layman's description of just what Aura is. Why it exists, what problems it solves etc.

[sindresorhus]

Link of sites Addy likes: http://gruntjs.com/ http://emberjs.com/

I also like these: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/ (except the navbar) http://foundation.zurb.com/

[saniko]

OK, I will talk to our designer and see what he can come up with. I will email you in couple of days.

Thanks   Dani Koren

---

From: Addy Osmani notifications@github.com To: addyosmani/aura aura@noreply.github.com Cc: saniko dani_koren@yahoo.com Sent: Sunday, October 7, 2012 1:42 PM Subject: Re: [aura] Site for 1.0 release (#132)

@saniko I love the GruntJS and EmberJS sites. We don't have any mockups or initial design just yet so its really flexible in terms of what we do. If someone could come up with a design that fits in well with the logo that would be great, otherwise we could strip the background from it and just go for something using the typography alone. — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[addyosmani]

I think @sindresorhus pretty much captured what the content should be (nice work!). In terms of us dogfooding with the site using it, that would be interesting to explore. I'll say lets try to get something basic done first and if we have time try refactoring to break it into widgets. I'd love to give someone that isnt as familiar with Aura the chance to help with the design etc :)

Would it make sense to start off with a bootstrap base so we get the grids etc. for free? Sindre's done some quite nice search/TOC sites for projects over the past few months so we might be able to use something existing, although, I imagine this behaviour could be in without too much effort.

++ on semantic HTML and hosted on gh-pages. I'm going to chase up a more featured demo. We need a killer app showing what you can do with Aura!

[tony]

Concurrences:

• +1 emberjs look.
• +1 GitHub Pages.
• +1 Real world usage, when we start getting sites up let's link to real sites + blog posts referencing aura

From me:

• Annotated Source - if we're in shape to do that, maybe
• Snippet / pattern community. An aura/backbone widget that feeds the latest backbone gists? Issues? Let's check github's api.
• Of course, we can link out to Nick and Addy's pattern tutorials/slides.
• HTML5 slide / pitch / tutorial on aura?
• Page overviewing our patterns / abstraction concepts. Perhaps call the page "Philosophy", "Architecture" or something :) Maybe split it into 2 pages, one for our patterns, the other for abstraction.
• "Getting Started" page, some snippets one what it takes to build a barebones app (what files to create as a boilerplate to begin)

[addyosmani]

I think that on the HTML5 deck + concepts side of things I have enough material that we can formalize into something useful. On annotated source, were you thinking something like docco?

[Francisc]

Does Aura have a "logo"? I think it would help.

[addyosmani]

yep. https://github.com/addyosmani/aura/raw/master/media/logo.jpg

[sindresorhus]

@addyosmani We need a vector version and a png without background

[tony]

docco.

do we want to op for the purple or something else. color scheme hexes/rgb for logo / site.

[tony]

aura irc channel. or a niche channel pivoted toward frontend JS devs that can cover aura, yeoman, patterns, anything dom and ecma? #yeoaura, #yeoaurabone, #backaurayeo

it'd be nice 1.0 to have at least one real app using it.

do we have a ballpark time we want 1.0 out the door? it may be a good idea to set up an issue / doc with a final checklist of todos. that can be done on here or wherever else is convenient.

[Francisc]

What's with the bear claws in the logo? Haha.

[addyosmani]

I think marionette have a dedicated channel for theirs so perhaps we could have one for aura. We have a dedicated one for yeoman already and patterns would be an interesting idea to explore later :)

I would like to get Aura out the door before the end of October if we think it's realistic. What do you guys think?

In terms of a real app, I've been thinking about that this afternoon. I would ideally like to refactor an existing 'real' app to use our widgets so we can show developers a before and after - I was thinking a Twitter API or GitHub API client could provide a nice multi-view demo that covers enough of the areas people want.

@tony a final checklist sounds like a good idea. How about we create an issue that ties together many of the items we want to complete in time?

[addyosmani]

@sindresorhus if we're dropping the background do you think we should try to put together an illustration/icon kind of deal or do you feel just the claws (i.e our 'aura' lines) are sufficient?

[Francisc]

A Twitter API client would be nice and always useful. It's important to document progress so that it's like a step-by-step tutorial rather than just the final code with a general explanation.

[addyosmani]

Another option is refactoring http://bbclonemail.herokuapp.com/. We could potentially also include some of the widgets we've already written.

[sindresorhus]

@addyosmani I think it's fine. We could always try to get a designer to toy with some ideas, but there aren't a lot of those in Open Source.

[addyosmani]

I won't be pushing anything for another few days, but I decided to experiment with creating a Facebook client we could use. It has a number of advantages like demonstrating authentication, being multi-view, handling pagination and so on. Right now its primarily read-only but could be useful if I can add in the ability to create new posts etc. too. I'll be creating first as a Backbone.js only app then widgetizing.

[sindresorhus]

^ Sounds like a plan, just keep in mind that the Facebook API is one of the worst APIs to work with. Poor docs, often breaks and slow.

[tony]

I also have a pet project being worked on that may definitely be pertinent to an excellent production app using aura. I will get back within 2 weeks whether or not this bears fruit.

[tony]

@addyosmani @sindresorhus #134 for release checklist.

[addyosmani]

Thanks tony!

[addyosmani]

I just wanted to check in case someone was able to take this on. If not, I suggest we just go with having a really kick-ass readme and use one of the GitHub Jekyll themes for rendering. We can probably come up with a transparent version of the logo to get us by branding wise for now.

Side: Would be great to have a read through of the existing readme to establish what if any areas require more work there.

[tony]

@addyosmani Regarding readme. Agreed.

[sindresorhus]

Where is the Open Source designers when u need them??

[unity]

We might be able to help :) We did @mperham's Sidekiq website and Admin UI already...

We are using Aura as the foundation for our widget system, seems only fair we give back ;)

[addyosmani]

@unity That would be amazing :) We weren't going to aim for anything too high due to limited resources but if you guys would be able to help us get something out decent out the door for 1.0 that would be much appreciated :)

[unity]

We'd be glad.

A few questions :

• When's the 1.0 due ? (Since your prev. comments mention end of october and we're past it… It will give us an insight on what needs to be done first...)
• Could you send me the logo sources ?

Bonus questions :

• I see many good ideas in the comments, but if time not permitting, would you settle with a splash page with buttons & links ? (Of course we'd work on a fully featured site after that.)
• We saw http://addyosmani.github.com/aura/. Did you write any shorter copy, that would be a bit more concise and akin to GruntJS & EmberJS's page format, like a tagline & proposition value ?
• Do you like the current logo+identity or not (honest question, not meaning to make it change)

[addyosmani]

• Site is probably due around the 20th, but could be a little later. We're aiming to wrap up a pre-release on the 15th and will be giving people some time to try it out before we finalize 1.0
• Of course! Here are the PS sources https://www.dropbox.com/s/h9coi7g6hinz4g2/aura_redux_logo_s.psd
• A splash page with buttons and links would be totally fine. We could still point people to the repo/readme for more information
• I think shorter copy would be great. Something concise. With the first version we really just re-used the readme for content so its a bit on the verbose side :)
• I love how the EmberJS homepage format looks quite professional, even though its simple
• I think the current identity could be improved. I and Sindre knocked up the current logo in an evening so definitely open to improvements

Thank you once again!

// @sindresorhus

[unity]

Ok cool

• That's a bit short to build a complete website & identity, but we can manage a splash.
• Writing good copy takes time and is quite personal. We'll be thinking about it on our part, but the best summary will surely come from your thinking.
• We'll play around with the identity :)

[sindresorhus]

We did @mperham's Sidekiq website and Admin UI already...

That would be totally amazing! Really like the style of the Sidekiq site too :D

Site is probably due around the 20th, but could be a little later.

To be honest, I think that is a bit too optimistic timeframe for Aura and we don't really need the site in the pre-release phase anyway. I would go for some time before the 1.0 release, which will most likely happen at the end of the year, if I'm not wrong?

I think the current identity could be improved. I and Sindre knocked up the current logo in an evening so definitely open to improvements

Could definitely be improved. Preferably as something vector and simple.

Splash page is more than fine!

[addyosmani]

To be honest, I think that is a bit too optimistic timeframe for Aura and we don't really need the site in the pre-release phase anyway. I would go for some time before the 1.0 release, which will most likely happen at the end of the year, if I'm not wrong?

Agreed. Having something before the end of the year would be totally fine. Pre-release could mostly focus on garnering feedback on our latest changes.

[sindresorhus]

Writing good copy takes time and is quite personal. We'll be thinking about it on our part, but the best summary will surely come from your thinking.

I would say the copy is the most important part of site, and it should be designed by the developers, with insight into what it is and what it solves.

[addyosmani]

Writing good copy takes time and is quite personal. We'll be thinking about it on our part, but the best summary will surely come from your thinking.

Sure thing. We can turn around some shorter copy relatively quickly. We can get something over to you after the weekend if not sooner. @unity @sindresorhus if you have suggestions for ideal length of text for homepage that would be great. I assume for a splash page we wouldn't want it more than a few paragraphs.

[sindresorhus]

I was thinking a cool tagline, short intro succinctly explaining what problem it solves, code example, and a little bit more text, and the rest in the docs. I don't think in word count. The important thing is to make the user get why they should choose Aura.

[unity]

We found that the less copy the better, meaning you have to really work on the few things you're telling people.

@sindresorhus We will think about it as I said, but I know from experience that nobody can have a better vision for your product than yourselves.

Clarifying the proposition value is something that founders of startup work on for months before getting something clear.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it needs to be that long, but I think that wording is not so much a design thing than a product thing.

For reference, here is the tagline we're toying with these days (we're working on our own site too.)

build social apps with open, reusable components hullo, world. hull is a social infrastructure as a service, that lets developers build custom social applications with open, reusable components.

[Francisc]

If you need help coding the website, I'd love to.

[unity]

Hello there.

I created a gist with my first tries for aura's tagline. https://gist.github.com/4073076 Feedback appreciated, about wording, target audience, well everything… Don't hesitate, You definitely have more insight about your work than me.

We're working on the logo & general look & feel, we should be able to show you something on monday.

[addyosmani]

Thanks Romain. Nice work! I can't wait to see your take on the logo and overall look and feel. So glad to have your help on this side of the project. On 14 Nov 2012 16:39, "Romain Dardour" notifications@github.com wrote:

Hello there.

I created a gist with my first tries for aura's tagline. https://gist.github.com/4073076 Feedback appreciated, about wording, target audience, well everything… Don't hesitate, You definitely have more insight about your work than me.

We're working on the logo & general look & feel, we should be able to show you something on monday.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/addyosmani/aura/issues/132#issuecomment-10373079.

[unity]

We're glad too. We're also prepping a few pull requests related to widget loading. Aura really is a center piece of our platform, seems natural we'd contribute back :)

[unity]

Hello there. A small update about our status :

• We're finished coding a basic template & styles Here's a screenshot. We're still missing a hero visual and a few refinements.
• We're scratching our heads on a main schema to represent Aura's architecture. Maybe you can help us here. Here what's we have for now. Are we good or do we need to present it differently (don't look at the design of course ;))

What do you think ?

Our goal is to have something ready for the end of the week (Friday & DotJS would be cool)

[sindresorhus]

This looks so good! :yum:

[suciuvlad]

@unity The screenshots are broken for me. I get the amazon access denied error.

[unity]

Sorry, droplr seems to behave weirdly. Here are links.

1. http://d.pr/i/6ql8
2. http://d.pr/i/ZOGw

[addyosmani]

This is SO awesome. Fantastic work @unity :) We really appreciate this.

[addyosmani]

This is SO awesome. Fantastic work @unity :) We really appreciate this.

Change requests:

• Giving your application a structure -> It gives your application a structure

Everything else looks good to me. @tony do you think we should capture anything else the architecture does in the diagram?

[unity]

@addyosmani Cool, glad you like it.

Re: Change requests, I'm not sure the complete sentence makes sense like this ? :

It was :

Giving your application a structure that stays safe and scales
gracefully along your application requires expertise and foresight.

With your changes :

It gives your application a structure that stays safe and scales
gracefully along your application requires expertise and foresight.

If you want we can change this paragraph completely though :)