Rockbox General > Announcements

Redesign of the www.rockbox.org front page

<< < (61/69) > >>

psycho_maniac:
problem solved

GodEater:

--- Quote from: saratoga on April 30, 2009, 01:02:50 PM ---Is that really a problem?  Do we care if we scare away a few non-technical users?  Is there any possible consequence to intimidating whatever small percentage of people are uncomfortable around SVN web interfaces?  I am willing to argue that there is not.  I am willing to argue that such people are irrelevant.

--- End quote ---

Why have we bothered developing Rockbox Utility? Clearly you don't care about non-technical users, so why not just ship a perl script per DAP that does what RBUtil does?

I thought this project was starting to mature to the point where we DID care about such users.

Llorean:
I think his question is more "do we care about them to the point where we avoid doing things that are more friendly to prospective developers in favour of prospective users."

And I don't think we've even established that this isn't favourable to both groups.

pixelma:
Sorry, I didn't have much online time the last days so want to say a bit more and want to add some things even about "old" posts.

The white band:
Yes, it's a nice idea to structure the page this way but for me it's too strong. The white part takes all focus and I tend to skip the rest. Suggestion: I'd try reducing the contrast-y things that mark the border (maybe no shadow, get rid or at least tone down the blue gradient), should be tried out.

The smaller font below could also be a reason why I tend to skip this part. I don't understand the argument "it's smaller because it will be more text" - surely you would want the visitor read it the same as the rest if you have more to say and not make it harder? But I didn't hear an answer of macku...

It's possible that my impression of both of the above changes with other content, as Llorean said.

I did provide a suggestion for a tad bit more flexibility which was making the 3 column part a 2 column one, not at such a fixed width. Macku's start shows that it's possible (thank you for that :) ) still it only works at 980+ pixels wide windows. Two columns could also give more room, as I said that part looks a bit too full for me (and someone else agreed). In a previous post I also stated that I would like to try that out myself, problem is that I had a look at the .css file and quickly got lost a bit in absolute position definitions and specific font height settings etc. It will take some time (I didn't have last week).

That brings me to the next thing: why does it need so many font height definitions in absolute pixels? I'm not sure how that works out for visually impaired people or so which would need bigger fonts etc. And I noticed an in my eyes big problem (probably easily fixed to "some" extent) - the dropdown menu is not tabbable (or only the "headlines") unless I turn of CSS and then it's just a list - didn't look closer but I guess some more anchors will do? Oh - and I would also find it nice if the tab-frame wouldn't be suppressed as it looks like.

I also don't think that having the subversion table (maybe below an "development" headline) would hurt, but maybe we can have both with the hidden part, maybe even make the state persistent?

GodEater: I thought that specific suggestions and arguments about that one design show that I'm willing to accept the change to the current one and willing to spend time on improving certain aspects of the new layout, which I really find imortant. Also, does having an own "dev" page (which I'm not sure is necessary) forbid that I have some wishes how the frontpage looks like, or what it does or not? I'd probably like to have a look there from time to time, show friends etc...

GodEater:

--- Quote from: Llorean on May 01, 2009, 02:56:16 AM ---I think his question is more "do we care about them to the point where we avoid doing things that are more friendly to prospective developers in favour of prospective users."

And I don't think we've even established that this isn't favourable to both groups.

--- End quote ---

I don't see how we're going to "establish" that unless we conduct some sort of unbiased survey.

I can only relay my personal findings on the subject. My girlfriend who is not a tech savvy person, but who is a tech user has always found the current Rockbox front page diabolical. It's put her off doing any of her own investigation into Rockbox as a product because there's too much technical information on there that has no value to her at all. I showed her the new design and she instantly warmed to it. "Oh good, all the technical junk has been hidden away now, I could probably find my own way around the site now".

Now granted this is a straw poll of one person - but I don't believe she's in a minority. I could name a large number of my friends who are in a similar mind set to my girlfriend who I would never have bothered showing the old site to since I predict they'd be put off by it. I want those people to like it. I want those people to look at it and be made to want to try Rockbox out on their own. I don't want to acheive this by having to be some sort of annoying evangelist who has to sing Rockbox's praises verbally because they dislike the look of the information we're presenting to them.

Again - all my own opinion - you're all free to disagree ;)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page