website cleanup at fold.it

Started by LociOiling

LociOiling Lv 1

Several people have noted the lack of new users recently.

One factor could be the website, which is showing its age in spots.

Some suggestions:

  1. In the download area, the Windows versions are still "Vista/7/8". It's time to remove Vista and add a mention of Windows 10. (And make a similar update for Mac?)

  2. The "Are you new to Foldit?" links go to pages which are a little dated. The "new to Foldit" page still mentions Windows XP, for example. There's a newer version of this page, https://fold.it/portal/node/2003714, but there are still links to the old version in multiple spots.

2a. Saying "Are you new to Foldit? Click here." is poor style. I'd suggest dropping "click here", and make the link "Get Started Playing Foldit" instead. Similarly, the other two links would be "Foldit for Students" and "Foldit for Educators" (or, better yet, "Teachers").

2b. The links for the beginner puzzles still go the old version of "Get Started Playing Foldit". These links appear on the puzzle pages each time a puzzle is posted.

  1. The beginner puzzle pages still mention the "rebuild" intro puzzle, which has been retired in favor of "remix". They also use the term "tutorial" instead of "intro".

  2. It looks like we could retire the instructions for claiming Citizen Science Day badges. The link doesn't seem to be operational.

  3. The protein image on the front page is looking a little dated to me. It would probably be good to change it once in a while just to give the page a fresh look. Maybe a slowly changing gallery of protein images, or a "protein of the month"?

5a. On the image, the message "Click to learn how you contribute to science by playing Foldit." could be phrased as "See how playing Foldit helps science.".

5b. The image links to https://fold.it/portal/info/about, which doesn't directly deliver on the "contribute to science" promise. The relevant sections are down in the middle of the long page. A more focused page or better yet a video would be good. The current about page should be broken up into several smaller pages.

These changes seem to be mainly content-related, so they should be relatively easy.

There are also some functional problems with fold.it, such as the inability to add an attachment to a new feedback. (Seeing that one right now, you can add an image, but you can't attach log.txt, for example.) Fixing those issues probably involves messing with configuration files or other internal changes.

DoctorSockrates Lv 1

I think these small fixes would do wonders to polish the impression of the game to people checking it out for the first time.

On a much more larger overhaul note I also think that the lack of a mobile friendly website layout can hamper a lot of folks trying to learn about the game in their off-time. With smartphones being ubiquitous these days, hearing Foldit via word of mouth would probably lead to more mobile first-time pageviews rather than people looking at the website from their computer.

jflat06 Staff Lv 1

I've fixed a few of the low-hanging fruit here. The others are a bit more involved and may happen in the future.

LociOiling Lv 1

Thanks…a little score-keeping:

  1. DONE In the download area, the Windows versions are still "Vista/7/8".

  2. DONE The "Are you new to Foldit?" links go to pages which are a little dated.

2a. TODO Saying "Are you new to Foldit? Click here." is poor style. I'd suggest dropping "click here", and make the link "Get Started Playing Foldit" instead. Similarly, the other two links would be "Foldit for Students" and "Foldit for Educators" (or, better yet, "Teachers").

2b. TODO The links for the beginner puzzles still go the old version of "Get Started Playing Foldit". These links appear on the puzzle pages each time a puzzle is posted.

  1. TODO he beginner puzzle pages still mention the "rebuild" intro puzzle, which has been retired in favor of "remix". They also use the term "tutorial" instead of "intro".

  2. DONE It looks like we could retire the instructions for claiming Citizen Science Day badges.

  3. TODO The protein image on the front page is looking a little dated to me. It would probably be good to change it once in a while just to give the page a fresh look. Maybe a slowly changing gallery of protein images, or a "protein of the month"?

5a. TODO On the image, the message "Click to learn how you contribute to science by playing Foldit." could be phrased as "See how playing Foldit helps science.".

5b. TODO The image links to https://fold.it/portal/info/about, which doesn't directly deliver on the "contribute to science" promise. The relevant sections are down in the middle of the long page. A more focused page or better yet a video would be good. The current about page should be broken up into several smaller pages.