Forum OpenACS Q&A: Re: What is a Community in 5.0?

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24: Re: What is a Community in 5.0? (response to 1)
Posted by Torben Brosten on 11/19/03 05:48 AM

Since this is now to be a topic at an OCT meeting[1], here's a summary of Jakob Nielsen's definition:

"subsite" ..a collection of Web pages within a larger site that have been given a common style and a shared navigation mechanism. ..can be a flat space or ..have some internal structure, but in any case ..should probably have a single page that can be designated the home page of the subsite. Each of the pages within the subsite should have a link pointing back to the subsite home page as well as a link to the home page for the entire site. Also, the subsite should have global navigation options in addition to its local navigation.
..subsite ..emphasizes the proper relation between the full site and the specialized content..
Subsites.. [handle] complexity of large websites with thousands or even hundred of thousands of pages: By giving a more local structure to a corner of the information space, a subsite can help users feel welcome in the part of a site that is of most importance to them. Also, a large site will often contain heterogeneous information that cannot all be squeezed into a single standard structure, so the ability to have subsites with somewhat different look-and-feel can provide an improved user experience..
A subsite is a home environment for a specific class of users or a specific type of usage within a larger and more general site.

1. https://openacs.org/forums/message-view?message_id=145279

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25: Re: What is a Community in 5.0? (response to 24)
Posted by bill kellerman on 11/19/03 04:39 PM
small detail, but...  nielsen's definition is pretty much how i see it.

even though openacs is "community software", oacs subsites may contain content that is not community-related.

to a developer, subsite is easy to visualize.  users would expect only areas with that level of interaction and functionality to be labelled a community.