As we went through the process of making a start on the global website overhaul, it became apparent that some of the issues are with the global site, and some are with the way we set up local instance sites.
Currently, it seems as though many instances are redoing/wanting to redo their local instance to make it more user-friendly. This points to a problem! There’s not much point in us having a rollout wordpress site that each instance implements and then has to redo, when instead we could redesign our local instance template to reduce this burden on each new instance! (is my opinion )
What do others think? To me, it seems as though we need to redesign our local rollout template to meet these goals:
clearer landing page for useability - would this be more like an about page rather than a glossy front cover page as we currently have? (e.g. more similar to https://about.openfoodnetwork.org.uk/ ) - this also seems like something where if we get the global site right as the ‘glossy front cover intro’ site then we don’t necessarily have to do that for each local instance where people are just arriving to use the site in their country
better layout and menu design to encapsulate the design most instances are gravitating towards of having extra sections to the site, such as a blog or resources library
some easy-to-implement templates for pages such as a blog or resources library
integrates well between the platform and the wordpress site - cohesive branding, fonts, navigation, etc
clearer containment of the local site as just local site navigation (currently people can click a link and find themselves lost out on the global site)
And then, in my ideal world, we would have some discussion about what types of content each instance is creating and based on that have a couple of recommendations of content buckets (e.g. endorsements, resources for running a food enterprise) that local instances might create so that we can reuse content across instances to reduce the amount of content each instance needs to create. Obviously, always, the highest priority is for a local instance to successfully connect with their local audience. But I really believe there are still ways that we can use content in a more modular way to boost the presence of instances with a skeleton staff and work together to create a large, international shared library of things like case studies and resources.
Do others think this is worth attempting?
What else would you say are priorities for a local instance template redesign?
What concerns would you have about this?
@AmandaW fyi - I like where you are heading with this @Jen. Amanda has been pulling together some ideas and examples to help us figure out the Canadian site here and will share these shortly. I definately like the idea of one glossy global - with attitude. (The attitude - ie: food unincorporated - is exactly what I like about the global now - and the ‘ethic’ I want to permeate to the local), and then if we have this - we don’t need to replicate it again at each instance. But this will take a clearer integration of local and global - so we need to agree to some basics for our local instance sites (so the look is consistent). I also think there is a way that local instance created content can be globally relevant. But we will need to do this deliberately - I think, for example, we will have 2 ‘kinds’ of social media posts here - ones that are local only (ie: ‘a reminder that the OFN Bailey’s shopping is open until Thursday…) and ones that are agri-food tech related/sovereignty related and globally relevant (ie; - Monsanto investing heaviliy into new platforms - farmers lose sovereignty’). So maybe this means a global twitter account we all use, for ex - with that feed on the global site; plus instance specific accounts with that feed on local sites ???
Thank you @Jen we are definitely in that reflexion in France with @Rachel@nicolas and Caroline.
We definitely need to review the landing page and allow for local flexibility and I also think we need to think all that in the vision or heading toward a single global instance.
Ideally we wouldn’t want to have two seperate website but just one, so stop separating info website from the OFN application platform. That’s what UK tried to do, and what we want as well in France.
I’m wondering whe we would have only one instance how this can be managed: can there be some flexibility in landing pages so that a local instance facing some specific issue (not enough shops, or not enough customers etc.) an want to reorient the speach and design to achieve some specific local goals? What I would see is maybe a wordpress website totally integrate with the OFN app, and in this wordpress website some pages that display depending on localisation of user (like if I reach the ofn website from France I would see the French landing page). And on this website having some more general context pages reflecting the international dimension. The top menu would be on all pages even if content of the pages and menu headers can be changed through the wordpress entry.
I would definitely favor getting rid of separating the app / the global website / the local website and just think one big website.
I let Rachel, Nicolas and Caroline share thoughts on that.
@MyriamBoure what do you mean with a “totally integrated wordpress” ?
Also I agree that having only one website would be clearer for everyone, I don’t see the need of using wordpress to reach that goal.
Indeed, we just need to be able to add local pages to the main menu, and have “local content” on the landing page.
A small first step would be to just allow instances to add pages to the main menu. Pages which could have their own wysiwyg or redirect to another website, in this case the local wordpress.
It’s probably long gone, but we did used to have a cms in the site - it was called comfortable mexican sofa (cms - har har). Was so long ago, very likely the code has been removed. But shouldn’t be a huge deal to put that, or a better cms in so people can just add and edit pages from super-admin. Seems like would be a lot easier than needing to set up standard integration for wordpress? although of course WP would give people a lot more flexibility about doing other things with their own sites
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