[kictanet] KICTANet's new website: Call for comments

Tue Oct 17 09:07:31 EAT 2017

True Ali. The comments have been great. Thanks to all who have taken the time to do so.

Listers, please keep them coming!

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Grace Githaiga

Twitter: @ggithaiga

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga

...the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack Obama.

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From: kictanet <kictanet-bounces+ggithaiga=hotmail.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke> on behalf of Admin CampusCiti via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 2:45 AM
To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com
Cc: Admin CampusCiti
Subject: Re: [kictanet] KICTANet's new website: Call for comments

Wambui

Not too late at all. Good catch. This can and should be resolved.

Great contributions all. Please don’t feel shy to make comments as there are no negative comments. Just constructive ones. And the fact that we take time to point them out is great!

Ali Hussein
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113 / 0770906375

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim>

Blog: www.alyhussein.com<http://www.alyhussein.com/>

"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi

Sent from my iPad

On 16 Oct 2017, at 10:53 PM, Wambui Wambui via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

Hi all,
This may be a little late, but the site looks pretty good. Though when you click on each of the four pillars, it jumps to the top of the page. I have no immediate suggestion for how to handle this, but wondered if there are different ways to link to the variety of content onsite related to policy advocacy, capacity development, research and stakeholder engagement?
Thanks,
Wambui

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 3:31 PM, Joan Njogu via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Hi listers,

Great job on the website. I loved the mobile experience and the links were working well.

Just a suggestion - I agree with Ahmed people will read the first line when they get the website. Should be something simple and draws people to read the rest of the page (engaging in conversations shaping the ICT industry) or what the mission of Kicktanet is.

The other is what is the aim - is it to get more people or get them to check out publications. Random visitors probably don't  know what the platform  is for. The to action should reflect that maybe (join conversations/group or check our latest report)

Great job developers!

Thanks

On Oct 16, 2017 9:36 AM, "Barrack Otieno via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Hi Ahmed,

Many thanks , no need to be apologetic since you raised very valid points which have been noted as per Liz's email above. We are grateful that you have taken time to review the website extensively and continue to provide valuable feedback to the development team.

Best Regards

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 9:18 AM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Thank you Barrack,

Thats a valid point. As you mentioned people may need to dig deeper to find out more on that. Most bounce rates originate from the impression on the landing page. I agree its a useful resource for those in the know. But maybe what can we improve from the landing page that grabs someones attention as to the agenda of the initiative?

Il give an example. The info about kictanet involves you scrolling down and is somewhat overshadowed by the top sliding banner. Which is OK. It only means that the messaging on the banner then needs to push info out that gives a good impression what Kictanet is. If we can compell people to understand the key mandate from the landing page we can get following from anonymous new users.

Anyway. Just some suggestions as to why I raised my comments :)

On Oct 16, 2017 9:09 AM, "Liz Orembo via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Dear listers,

Thank you for your feedback.They are very useful and will inform changes as the site evolves.

It's not late for those who are still interested to give suggestions/comments. Please send them by end of today.

Asanteni.

On Oct 16, 2017 1:00 AM, "george sidney ralak via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Thank you all. I rest my case.

Goodnight.

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 12:12 AM, Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack at gmail.com<mailto:otieno.barrack at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear colleagues,

Thank you for the positive feedback your concerns and feedback have been noted and will be taken into consideration as indicated by Liz. George , to add to what Washington and other colleagues have said, a lot was taken into consideration when choosing the content management system that is currently in use. The development team is also aware of the pros and cons of the system as you are raising but settled on the current Content Management System. We invite you to provide specific input on areas that can be improved just as Kelvin Kariuki has done be it from a security perspective, user interface or user experience. @ Ahmed, if you go through the website you will notice that significant effort is being made on the branding front. I invite you and other listers to peruse the policy briefs and submissions on the website to confirm this. That said we appreciate your perspective and will make every effort to implement what we have not been able to do at this stage.

Best Regards

On Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 11:29 PM, george sidney ralak via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
I like some of the responses to my questions. Still, I have to wonder, was security even considered before going for WP, which is one of the most targeted by hackers.

When considering time and cost, I might consider WP, but then, do you consider extra plugins that you might have to purchase, how about updating issues.

Also, I believe the client has the right to be specific with what they want. I just found it ironic that KICTANet, the platform with people and institutions in Technology in the country uses wordPress.

As to the websites that use Wordpress, not one of these sites uses WP out of the box – there is considerable custom development to make these sites work the way they do, development costing a lot of money. Those sites are not ‘wordpressbeginner’ grade.

On Sun, Oct 15, 2017 at 9:19 PM, Odhiambo Washington via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
+1

The choice of a CMS or an OS, is purely personal to a developer or a SysAdmin. From where I sit, it's not questionable unless STRICTLY specified by a client.

On 15 October 2017 at 09:05, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
George

On the question of why Wordpress?

First it’s an open source Content Management System (CMS), its free to install, deploy, and upgrade. Then it has thousands of plugins and templates that power a flexible and simple interface, which reduces development costs and deployment time. The dev team was also informed by the fact that millions of websites use Wordpress. Some of he most notable brands that use Wordpress include Microsoft and Bloomberg. See link below:-

http://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/40-most-notable-big-name-brands-that-are-using-wordpress/

Hope this answers your question or concerns?

Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113<tel:0713%20601113>

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle

Sent from my iPad

On 14 Oct 2017, at 1:23 PM, george sidney ralak via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

Looks great.

A few issues though. Quick links on the footer are not really leading someone anywhere.

And a question: Why Wordpress?

On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 6:11 PM, Francis Monyango via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
I love it. Looks really good.

On 13 October 2017 at 16:55, Keith Andere via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Liz,

Mobile optimization is fantastic. Looks fresh and easy to navigate.

Barrack and team, cheers!

Regards,

Keith

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

On 13 Oct 2017 01:03, "anyega jefferson via kictanet" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Great job, looks good,

On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 11:55 PM, Liz Orembo via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:

Dear listers,

Greetings,

KICTANet has just finished working on the first phase of the new website  and would now like to invite you to give comments/suggestions. Especially on how it can serve as an ICT policy engagement platform and as an Information resource for stakeholders.

Here's the link: https://www.kictanet.or.ke/.<https://www.kictanet.or.ke/> You can send your comments either on/offlist, or on the website itself.

KICTANet owes a lot to the brilliant team that worked on this website (Amos Ochieng from pixels Kenya, Barrack Otieno, Mike Musya and Washington Odhiambo) Special thanks to Washington who developed and maintained the old website from the early days of the network.

As always, we thank you for your continued feedback and we hope you will enjoy the new look and feel.
--

Best regards.
Liz.

PGP ID: 0x1F3488BF

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