Synthesis: Redesign RubyForge?

Redesign RubyForge?

sbecker — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:39:00 -0700

With the whole RailsForge survey thing, it’s also come out that a lot of people hate the current incarnation of RubyForge.

Some are suggesting to redesign RubyForge, which is a good idea. Re-think RubyForge and give it some 37signals-style, UI-first design love. I haven’t talked with any RubyForge maintainers yet, but I’d be interested in helping out.

By the way, I totally appreciate RubyForge, and I’m so thankful to the people who run it and donate their time and money to keep it going.

RubyForge pet peeves

What is it about RubyForge that’s so annoying? For me, when I arrive at a project page on RubyForge, I’m greeted with a plethora of “stuff” cluttering the page, that’s either un-used or not really telling me anything. I often leave more confused, and I’m an experienced developer. Imagine how a beginner feels! I then look elsewhere hoping someone has written a helpful tutorial on their blog.

RubyForge-specific complaints from the RailsForge survey responses:

Most of the features go unused.
Biggest problem is the UI.
It’s very difficult to do the things the majority of people want – 1. learn about a project, 2. download and install it, 3. learn how to use it.
90% of the project page has nothing to do with any of this and it just adds clutter.

Suggestions:

Let project maintainers selectively turn on the features they want.
80% want to learn. 20% want to contribute. Refocus the UI to reflect this.

"Redesign RubyForge?" by http://www.autographink.co.uk/supercases

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:06:19 -0700

as a new blogger, it’s nice to read this and see how people network. I generally find new bloggers by going through comments as well. That and recipe searches. Good stuff!

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Theatons Toys

Wed, 28 May 2008 05:31:13 -0700

You’re never going to please everyone no matter what you do, and opinions on this vary wildly. To me it’s almost like arguing over your favorite color.

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Alfred

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:05:47 -0800

Your site is very convenient in navigation and has good design. Thanks!

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Mike

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:29:09 -0700

Man you don’t even know how long I’ve waited for this since disabling my own Movable Type widget (that doesn’t work since Haloscan bypasses that code).

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Lauren Riggleman

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:44:52 -0700

When does the new version of RubyForge come into the market?

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Surgery

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 03:11:04 -0700

Very old information. Add new one. Thanks

"Redesign RubyForge?" by AndreW

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:51:59 -0700

I have the same opinion. Many functions of the Ruby Forge are not used by me

"Redesign RubyForge?" by topfunky

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 17:47:28 -0700

At minimum, it needs to do the sysadmin tasks that the current system does (create unix users, setup svn repositories). It also needs to support the APIs used by the rubyforge gem and rubygems itself.

Backward-compatibility of existing URLs would also be nice. And, of course, maintaining the existing data.

Beyond that, it would be great to see a replacement that’s more relevant to how people are currently using RubyForge.

"Redesign RubyForge?" by Daniel Berger

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:29:59 -0700

“Let project maintainers selectively turn on the features they want.”

They can already do that. Maybe the problem is that they don’t know how.

As for UI issues, well, you’re never going to please everyone no matter what you do, and opinions on this vary wildly. To me it’s almost like arguing over your favorite color.

That being said, I’ve suggested the idea of replacing GForge with redMine and configuring it to suit the Ruby community. To me, it looks nice and its functional (and configurable).