Gentoo Foundation Web Site Redesign Contest

neiras · n00b Joined: 25 May 2002 Posts: 18 Location: Vancouver, BC

Charlieg,

Nothing I've suggested would rule out "talented artists who want to get their name out there". Nothing I've said would rule out anyone.

The point is, allow people to send in portfolios of past work if they have them, without doing anything gentoo-esque, since the designs submitted to the contest will probably never be used as-submitted anyway. This would increase submissions and we'd get some serious designer people submitting along with the starving artist types.

This shouldn't be a contest - it's a call for a designer to join a Gentoo project.

By the way, the lucidity and usefulness of the first half of your post is overshadowed by the petty rudeness and bluster of the second.

As to me being pompous? Pot. Kettle. Black.

nitroburn · n00b Joined: 26 Jan 2004 Posts: 32

neiras,

photoshop? errm try the gimp

also, I do lamp projects for a living and website design. It is very important to know the general layout BEFORE you start coding away to make a site. The reason to submit images of a mock-up is mostly for layout, and look and feel. I love gentoo and would love to see a new layout, I always feel trapped at certain points on the site. For instance try to go to gentoo's home page from these forums? Still here huh? back to address bar.

I am sure these guys thought out this contest, although some people don't understand some of the details. Don't question their reasoning for the method that this is undergoing. There is no "competition", gentoo is a community not a big company that doesn't care about its users. It's like the church building is not the church, it is the people.

My friend does client relations, and basicly gives me photoshop/dreamweaver mock-ups. I add/edit(with the gimp) his images and apply the general layout that he created to my database apps. He knows almost nothing about coding, but he can deal with humans("users" bah). We work well because of this.

As long as the layout is improved and the site look and feel rejuvenated, I will be happy.

oh yeah, please don't ensenuate country expressions. If you are going to use them at least say it right and apply it when applicable

neofeed · n00b Joined: 06 Dec 2002 Posts: 13

Interesting, we have `look` wise not got anywhere since the start of this thread.
Maybe you guys stop complaing so much and start taking out Gimp,InkScape, what every you like best and start doing some design ideas?! instead of complaining about the base?.

if we had a `yea this is what we want` style thing we could see what to do next. instead of pushing hot air.

kindest regards,
Moritz "neofeed" Angermann

dgt84 · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:07 pm Post subject:

klieber · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:26 pm Post subject: Re: Ill-conceived guidelines

klieber · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:27 pm Post subject:

calande · n00b Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 54 Location: Old Europe

I see much counter arguments in this thread. Let's take it easy guys, as Gentoo doesn't try to canibalize other distros, why should we criticize each other's opinions, and our own distro's volunteers who have been doing a great job so far...

I think Gentoo had a great idea once again. As we're a community, this is a great way to contribute. One important thing is that IMO, every submition is a contribution, even if only one will be chosen. We shouldn't take this contest as an exam for a job position, on the contrary, each of us willing to take part should try his best, thinking about contributing, and without thinking about winning or not. After all, possibilities to be #1 are pretty small, so let's take it easy, try our best, and enjoy our form of contribution

To sum up, we have an opportinuty to take part with an interesting contest, Gentoo will have a very nice web site, and everybody will be happy

Other than that, I think later this year we could also organize a contest for the nicest Gentoo Desktop (organization of items, background, fonts, colors, theme...), and maybe set this desktop configuration as default (Gnome and KDE) for a further release.

nadamsieee · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 6:59 pm Post subject:

I would like to humbly suggest that dev team (klieber, etc.) take these 'constructive critisisms' to heart and update the website contest page accordingly.

Also klieber, you said that you like the Apple, SUSE, and Red Hat sites over the rest (I happen to agree for the most part). What did you not like about the other sites?

I like the layout of the Microsoft site, but its too busy (like the current Gentoo site) and too hard to navigate.

The Apple site is nicely done, but the goal is obviously advertisement and not the distribution of software and related documentation.

I think the Xandros site is well done but lacks the "coolness factor".

Just my $0.02.

_________________
nadams (at) ieee (dot) org

calande · n00b Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 54 Location: Old Europe

I read in the guidelines:

klieber · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 10:38 pm Post subject: Re: Inquiry

andyjeffries · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 2:09 pm Post subject:

calande · n00b Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 54 Location: Old Europe

Ref: Fedora web site

I think it looks professional, and it's functionnal, however I don't like this blue, and this grey, it's a little dull IMO.

Gentoo will have the most tasty web site pretty soon

klieber · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:26 pm Post subject:

zeroK · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:31 pm Post subject:

calande · n00b Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 54 Location: Old Europe

What do you think?
Shouldn't ads be right before the news, as text instead of graphics, pretty much the way of AdSense. It would look nicer, and load faster, without loosing in visibility for partners'ads.
Charles.

nadamsieee · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 9:17 pm Post subject:

calande · n00b Joined: 08 Dec 2003 Posts: 54 Location: Old Europe

idl · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 10:37 pm Post subject:

mjg · n00b Joined: 06 Jul 2004 Posts: 15 Location: rochester, ny

I want to start a thread that we can take off with inside of here.

The goal: to dig deep into everyone's mind, and see if we can come up with a decent summary about what we all think would be good and what would be bad.

So far, I've read a thread about tearing apart the old site and picking apart singular concepts of certain designs. Granted, the feedback is excellent, but if someone was to read this forum to look for advice or a starting point they are totally out of luck. I came to the forum looking for things that people were trying to do so I could possibly push the envelope, add ideas together, collaborate with some serious people so we can make a seriously sick design.

I'd like to see a bunch of people who are serious about this post information about what they think would be good things to keep, add, incorporate, things that are bad, should be taken out or left out, and concepts that are good about the current site, bad about the current site, and concepts people have come up with to include in the new designs we are all coming up with.

Obviously, this takes some of the creativity out of the crop of submissions, but it does, however, make the submissions that much better because people can base their ideas and push their imagination in a direction we all agree it should be going.

I'll start off with a few things to see if this will go anywhere...

The current site has a vast amount of absolutely amazing content. I don't think there is an area of the site that isn't important in some way. Due to this, the navigation system needs to be changed. That information needs to accessed MUCH easier, whether it be through the menu system, a search, or what-have-you.

The layout is simplistic yet effective. There's no BS thrown in the site to make it eye-candy. Thus, it loads fast, it's easy to manage, and cross-browser support is cake. I think this concept needs to stay without a doubt.

The links on the left are too cluttered, too small, and could be broken down better. I think that all of that stuff can be fused in with the menu system to make it easier to work with.

It is good to have old news on the site for reference material, but again, it's off to the side and way too small and cluttered. There's a lot of easier, more pleasing ways to go about that (Previous/Next links, a different way of grouping them, etc).

The site doesn't have a very flowing nature. One point that was already brought up is trying to get back to gentoo.org from the forums. Any page on the site (or subset of pages) should be accessable from the current page you are visiting.

There is way too much unused space at the top of the page. Not that it is a horrible thing or a show-stopper, but there's no need for it. A page is only as useful as the content included in the space it takes up. If you're taking up a large amount of space with nothing, it seems like a waste to me. People have brought up Microsoft being too cluttered, apple being too advertisement-driven, flash being too flashy, and things of that nature. I think the site could use some space management, but at the same time keep things spaced enough where the site is a pleasure to look at.

On that note...I'm going to stop typing. This is getting extremely long, and I'm sure I've said some things to strike a few nerves in some fellow web designers.

--Mike

mjg · n00b Joined: 06 Jul 2004 Posts: 15 Location: rochester, ny

nadamsieee · Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2004 2:02 am Post subject:

mjg · n00b Joined: 06 Jul 2004 Posts: 15 Location: rochester, ny

Shadows · Apprentice Joined: 30 Apr 2004 Posts: 178