Hi,
I can't see the neccessity for moving things. I haven't yet tried convincing other sites to add the button, but I don't think that people really care whether there is one paragraph or three, when deciding to add a button to their site.
On the other hand it will IMHO drastically reduce the number of people that actually read about Free Software. It will also increase the amount of companies that want their proprietary viewer added, because they didnt get that *this is a campaign*. Also I think that we definitely need to include the arguments about open standards, because in contrast to Software Freedom, Open Standards and vendor neutrality are already perceived as issues by many organisations and will make it *more* likely for the buttons to be included.
We could maybe still shorten the text if you believe thats important.
My Proposal (I included a note on inter-operability, since thats a famous buzz-word and changed the wording where it made more sense in short form): ---------------- The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a popular format to publish formatted text and documents. There are several different versions of it, some qualifying as an Open Standard, some certified by ISO, some encumbered by software patents. You might want to promote the versions that are Open Standards, because Open Standards guarentee inter-operability, competition and choice. Read more...
There are many programs to read and write PDF documents. The following list of PDF readers is vendor neutral. All of them are Free Software, i.e. software that respects your basic four freedoms, which give you control over your computer and help protect your privacy. Read more... --------------
The first "Read more" would lead to more facts about PDF and also maybe about standards, patents and document freedom.
The second "Read more" would elaborate on Software Freedom. We could also omit the second "read more" and just hyperlink "four freedoms" and "Free Software" but that might reduce the clicks on it...
These texts would have to written by someone before the site gets updated.
In Solidarity Hannes
Am Mittwoch, 14. Januar 2009 14:07:51 schrieb Stian Rødven Eide:
On Wed, 2009-01-14 at 13:42 +0100, Matthias Kirschner wrote:
And move the rest to About/Background. This way Free Software is also very prominent on the first page, but the background stuff about PDF and further info is moved.
Pro:
- it looks less like an advertising campaign (which it actually is ;) )
- the first page is cleaner
- more people might therefor link to it
Neg:
- Not so many people will probably read the background about PDF
I would think that if the number of links increase sufficiently, then eventually more people will read the about page than would visit the site at all with the current layout.
- If "Open Standard" is not written on the front page, perhaps some governments don't want to link to us because it is good to link to "Open Standard" pages :)
I wouldn't mind including a line or two about open standards on the front page. The current first paragraph can be a bit too confusing though, since it refers to the several versions of PDF and doesn't explain:
- which ones are open and not
- how one tells a version from another
- how one is able to choose the version
- which software makes open standards pdf's
etc..
A compromise solution of sorts (with regards to my initial suggestion) would be to leave also the first paragraph on the front page, but end it with "learn more" or something similar - linking to a section on open PDF standards at the about page (which also could provide a list over free software that makes open standard PDF's). The front page would then look like this:
The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a popular format to publish formatted text and documents. Initially developed by Adobe, PDF was published, standardised, and further developed in multiple steps. As a result there are several different versions of it, some qualifying as an Open Standard, some certified by ISO, some encumbered by software patents. Learn more... There are many programs to read and write PDF documents. The following list of PDF readers is vendor neutral. All of them are Free Software: [Download table] Other proprietary alternatives to Adobe’s PDF reader also exist, but like it, their internal working is a a trade secret and these programs do not respect your right to control your own privacy and data. Learn more...
all the best, /Stian
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