Fair Source Definition should be easier to find

[ezekg]

Also, I think "About" should be changed to "Definition", or another page/link to the definition should be added. In my discussions, it's been a common thing for people to entirely miss the definition, causing confusion or misunderstandings.

Originally posted by @ezekg in #35 (comment)

Right now it's tucked under "About", which is non-obvious, imo.

[ezekg]

Maybe the About page can cover the mission of Fair Source (which may help tackle #35 too), and a new Definition page can be created that covers the FSD akin to https://opensource.org/about and https://opensource.org/osd.

[chadwhitacre]

I waffled between /about and /fsd during site development. I'm torn. I don't really want to add more pages to the site, because I like having the illustrations in the header and that doesn't scale to infinite pages so if we want to plan for infinite pages then we should keep an alternate non-illustrated header like we have today for About and Companies but I was about to ask for two more illustrations for those pages to standardize across the six pages we have today which I think really should be enough for the foreseeable future if we don't add a separate definition page.

Did you have trouble finding the definition yourself, or did you see someone else out in the wild having trouble finding it, or ... ?

[ezekg]

I can't find links to them all, but I've experienced/seen multiple situations (on Lobsters, HN, and X) where people totally missed the definition, or don't understand the mission of Fair Source likely because it's a little bit hidden away. I feel like those 2 things are table-stakes, and separate pages that communicate each clearly and separately is worth not having a unique header illustration (at least right away), imo. I feel like an about page isn't what I'd look for if I was looking for a definition. But I'm honestly not even sure I'd even be looking for a definition of Fair Source without a direct link to "definition."

Quick alternative would be to add a FAQ "What is the Fair Source Definition?" so that it's clearly linked.

[mitsuhiko]

Small data point: I started linking people straight to /about because I think it tells the story better.

[chadwhitacre]

But I'm honestly not even sure I'd even be looking for a definition of Fair Source without a direct link to "definition."

This was part of my thinking for switching to About, which is one of the very most common web pages on any website. "Definition" is only a thing we are talking about because of OSI, and how many people in our audience are coming in with that strong of an understanding to know to look for a Definition page? IMO we should focus on making the site flow better with the pages we already have, I don't think we need a separate Definition page right now.

[chadwhitacre]

people totally missed the definition, or don't understand the mission of Fair Source likely because it's a little bit hidden away

Do you think #45 would help with this at all?

[ezekg]

people totally missed the definition, or don't understand the mission of Fair Source likely because it's a little bit hidden away

Do you think #45 would help with this at all?

I still don't think it solves the issue for people coming from an Open Source/OSI context. I agree with what you guys are saying, but can we compromise and add an FAQ like I mentioned instead? I mentioned it as an alternative:

Quick alternative would be to add a FAQ "What is the Fair Source Definition?" so that it's clearly linked.

I feel like there needs to be direct resources for the OSI-aware so that misunderstandings can be avoided and we can start to have more positive conversations about FSS.

[chadwhitacre]

Circling back to this ... FAQ sounds great to me. 👍