As you know, we are working on a redesign of the NetSquared platform. First, we aggregated feedback from the Community, and even from ourselves.   Then, we shared our ideas and some mockups with you on the blog this summer to get more feedback, share our thinking, and keep the process open. Now, we're ready for action!   We have a small team in place and we're diving in to make as much of the elements you've all asked for into reality on this site.   And again, we're going to keep the process open...

Find out what's in store for the homepage!

What's happening to the home page?

To check out the post from July that descirbes our thoughts, some data, and shares mocked up screen shots about the NetSquared homepage, click here.

The NetSquared homepage is a crucial landing pad for all the various actors working at the intersection of technology and social impact: whether you're a funder or a governement agency, a nonprofit organization or a local community, a developer or designer or general techie, or the world's next big changemaker.   The redesigned home page will become content and opportunity-rich regardless of who you are and how often you visit the site.

Community-Specific Content

We're focusing in on three areas to more effecitvely and efficiently push valuable content and opportunities from deep in the website to the homepage:

1. Innovate: provides relevant, recent news about Challenges or Projects and includes links to subit a Project or share ideas with others
2. Collaborate: provides relevant, recent blog posts from Project teams or organizations with opportunities to get involved and includes links to navigate through the Project Gallery to Projects close to your work
3. Support: provides relevant, recent news about funding opportunities or new Challenges and includes links to navigate the Project Gallery in cause areas you would like to fund, mentor or support

Visible Opportunities

We're also removing and rearranging sidebar items and banners to most appropriately highlight opportunities to engage as a Community:

• Offline: Net Tuesday groups (NetSquared's offline monthly events) will be much more prominent with the redesigned homepage with a side bar updating visitors to upcoming events from around the world
• Online: the Community Blog will be showcased on the homepage, too, so everyone's voice has just as much visibility

News You Want

We'll also be cleaning up some of the design and messaging bits of the site to ensure that what you see is the most important and relevant it can be.   This means we'll be getting rid of the HotSpot and the global banner as news outlets.   Instead, we'll have a Net2 Updates box that's just for our news, Challenge announcements, and other global messages.   You will be able to subscribe to that feed separately to be sure you can get the news you want, separately from the Community Blog.

When's it happening?

Right now!   Well, on a development server first...

We are currently diving into this work (just started this week) and are doing a sprint to the finish.   We plan to have the redesigned website live very soon (like, about 6 weeks from now!). Stay tuned for more updates on the redesign by following this tag: Net2Redesign.   We'll be sure to let you know when it's all live and ready for you!