If you're reading this, then you're probably aware that Maneno looks a good deal different than it did a few days ago. The reason for this is that along with the BarCamp Africa hosting we launched, we also wanted to deploy a rework of the site with a proper logo that we had been working on for some time. By the way, if you wanted to grab a copy of this logo to show support for Maneno on your site, go here.

Otherwise, the reasons for the redesign were twofold. First, the design we had been using was nothing more than a placeholder so that the site would function while we developed all the smaller, programmatic parts to it. Secondly, we had issues with language displays. Partly there was the fact that different phrases and words didn't fit well in the same spaces as one another, but more importantly was the fact that languages such as Fula characters read a great deal differently than English or French and so the graphical elements had to be reworked to make all the languages appear better on the page.

In reworking these graphical elements, we also took the time to slim up a great number of the pages, shedding as much as 75% of the previous page file size in the process. Fewer, cleaner elements mean less files to download, less latency created, and ultimately faster pages for the user to have access to. This is quite crucial, especially on the pages that users first touch such as the home, join, and profile pages which are now all less than 20kb when first viewed and less than 10kb if users opt to use the connection speed selector. We hope that in making these changes, it will make Maneno even better for low bandwidth usage.

We at Maneno are very excited to announce that BarcampAfrica.com has now been moved over to the Maneno platform. With this partnership, Barcamp Africa takes on a new form where the website becomes a hub for all Africa-related BarCamps on the continent as well as globally.

The barcamp is a fantastic, personal, impromptu meeting format that has lent itself well to fostering communication, especially in the African tech & blogging scene. These "unconferences" are able to work outside the bounds of the typical, structured conference format to allow discussions, initiatives and ideas that might not have come to light before.

Using Maneno as an information hub and a meeting point for barcamps in Africa is a natural fit for a great many reasons. Maneno is a blogging platform built specifically for the African blogger. It is a lightweight website to download, even in low bandwidth areas. Maneno is available in local African languages that have traditionally had little web presence. Articles can be easily translated between multiple languages and sit atop one another to overcome the linguistic divide facilitating open communication between the different communities. In addition to this, we have integrated a calendar on the site to keep track of all the upcoming African barcamp events.

The primary objective of the new BarCamp Africa hub is to encourage a continuous stream of participant driven content from African barcamps before, during, as well as after the events take place. Barcamp Africa allows each barcamp to have a simple, hosted, lightweight site specific to their event with a custom url. As an example, check out the recent http://barcampafrica.com/swaziland, http://barcampafrica.com/madagascar, or the upcoming http://barcampafrica.com/abidjan Stories published on this site as well as others on the platform aggregate to the main BarcampAfrica.com page (as well as the maneno.org home page) and are exposed to the larger audience of barcampers all over Africa.

BarCamp Africa is open for anyone to contribute (they just need to sign up here), and we're hoping it will become a true meeting point for organizers and participants for all African barcamps where continued conversations will develop. We look forward to seeing this community grow and prosper as more barcamps take place in and around Africa, and the voices of bloggers and technologists from the continent become stronger.

If you would like to receive additional details or have any questions, please contact us.

-The Barcamp Africa & Maneno Team