Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 19:08:56 -0500 From: "W. D." <WD@US-Webmasters.com> To: freebsd-www@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD design proposal Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20050722180855.085fd9f0@209.152.117.178> In-Reply-To: <20050722173321.GJ594@gothic.blackend.org> References: <20050722153420.GI21388@freebsdmall.com> <42E10467.3050109@freebsd.org> <20050722152333.GG594@gothic.blackend.org> <20050722152830.GH594@gothic.blackend.org> <20050722153420.GI21388@freebsdmall.com>
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At 09:36 7/22/2005, Emily Boyd, wrote: >...I'd like to propose the >following design as the basis for a redesigned website: > >http://www.emilyboyd.com/design/freebsd/homepage_proposal.png >http://www.emilyboyd.com/design/freebsd/secondpage_proposal.png > ... >If my design proposal is accepted, I would be able to code up the design >as SGML/XSLT templates so that the existing website can be rapidly >converted to the new style and launched in time for 6.0-RELEASE. Are these templates going to be user friendly? That is, since different individuals are responsible for updating different sections, can they do so easily, unencumbered by the formatting method? >Various members of core@ and marketing@ have reviewed my design, and >have offered a lot of encouragement. I would love to hear additional >feedback from those on this list. At 12:33 7/22/2005, Marc Fonvieille wrote: >On Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 08:34:20AM -0700, Murray Stokely wrote: >> On Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 05:28:30PM +0200, Marc Fonvieille wrote: >> > Oops I forgot an important question: >> > All titles are text or gfx? This is an important point for the >> > translated versions of the site; we need to be able to get (quite) the >> > same rendering in any language. >>=20 >> Right now her design is in a graphics application. She will start >> coding it in HTML once there is agreement on the design. You could >> take a look at the postgresql.org site and see if you are happy with >> her coding for multiple resolutions and text mode, as she designed >> that site as well. >> > >Current www.FreeBSD.org gives great results under w3m or links, it would >be great to keep a such "compatibility." That's not the case of >postgresql.org, but maybe postgresql people do not care about that. > >> It's a good point though that all of these sorts of things will need >> to be extensible to new translations and new sections added to the >> site. We listed this as a requirement on the wiki, and we'll make >> sure to hold Emily to it when she starts the HTML coding stage. Some other comments and considerations: I did a quick scan of the HTML on PostgreSQL.org. There were a=20 number of errors that hopefully would not be duplicated on FreeBSD.org: http://tinyurl.com/bmgrg or: <http://www.US-Webmasters.com/FreeBSD/Temp/PostgreSQL.org-HTML-Validation-Re= sults.htm> During a link check of PostgreSQL.org I found a number of=20 improperly terminated URLs. The web server software is=20 smart enough to redirect, but this does take a little extra time and CPU cycles: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D http://www.postgresql.org/about redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/about/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/download redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/download/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/docs redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/community redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/community/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/developer redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/developer/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/support redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/support/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/about/casestudies redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/about/casestudies/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v8.0.3 redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v8.0.3/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v7.4.8 redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v7.4.8/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v7.3.10 redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/source/v7.3.10/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ http://www.postgresql.org/community/lists redirected to: http://www.postgresql.org/community/lists/ linked from page(s): http://www.postgresql.org/ =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D The mockups have a good overall color scheme--good work! As=20 mentioned previously, if FreeBSD decides to implement a logo in addition to the mascot, will there need to be a drastic change in the format? If FreeBSD.org will be essentialy the same as PostgreSQL.org, then I have a number of concerns: PostgreSQL.org is 'graphics heavy'. By this I mean that there are a number of places where HTML text could be used in place of graphics. There are a number of reasons for this, such as: automatic sizing in various sized browser windows, and better search engine placement. More discussion here: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-advocacy/2005-March/thread.html#= 2079> Also, by reducing the graphics content pages will load quicker. =20 Many potential users of FreeBSD live in countries where access is metered and relatively costly. It would be nice to have a link to a 'site map' on each page. That way, one doesn't have shuffle through page after page looking for something. The CSS appears to be valid. However, I question why it is split between so many files. It might be easier to maintain in a single file. There are a number of infractions of good Web design at the PostgreSQL.org site. Here are some principles that I have collected over the years: http://www.US-Webmasters.com/web-design-principles/ Start Here to Find It Fast!=99 ->= http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/ $8.77 Domain Names -> http://domains.us-webmasters.com/
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