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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 4:17 pm
by NitroPye
I really like it.
As far as rendering glitches, it hates Safari or KHTML. I;m sure you can work out those layout issues no problem
The bright green isn't as clean or professional looking as the rest of the site IMHO. Ditch the bright green for something less contrasting and more smooth.
Also might I suggest adding some drop shadow to the far right icon-box dealy, and possibly the konqueror orld icon for "Are you ready for gentoo" and "Whats gentoo all about". Might I suggest Apples HUIG for icons. They have actual numbers for the angle of lighting the drop shadow should be generated from on their icons and I think its the best looking shadow.
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 4:26 pm
by NitroPye
Nice! It is very playful, a lot more playful then a corporate site, which is good in some regards. It is the kind of site I would enjoy going to more frequently. For instance, most blogs are playful looking and you visit them frequently, but a corporate site is more clean and crisp but you visit it probably less frequently. I have no idea what this has to do with anything but I think people would be more apt to visit the gentoo site if it was playful like this, and because the news is displayed on the homepage you get more information then some corporate designs can be with their vaguarys.
Good design.
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 5:00 pm
by zubauza
here's a (JPEG) screenshot of my first try:
[link]
About ads
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:40 pm
by calande
I think we really have to re-think these side ads. I think they should be more visible and take less room at the same time. I suggest:
- change the ads from images to text, and don't put them aside
- or at least make them all the same size, rectangular, so that we can put them more in the center of the page for more visibility
If we want the Gentoo web site professional, we can't keep these ads the way it is. What about a wide text box right underneath the top navigation bar with rotating text ads of the Gentoo partners. Display of ads in this case could also be in PHP, at random, each time a visitor requests a page, a partner's ad is displayed.
What do you think?
Charles.
Re: About ads
Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:01 pm
by reisio
calande wrote:change the ads from images to text
I actually prefer the images (though animated [or flash] would definitely be annoying)
They're easier to distinguish from content you actually might want to read if they're just images.
calande wrote:and don't put them aside
the side is basically the only place you can put them aside from the top (which would be lame because of how prominent they'd become)
calande wrote:or at least make them all the same size
I agree with this, but purely because I'm crazy about conformity and rules. Having some 125x125 and some 125x144 just doesn't make sense to me.
calande wrote:we can put them more in the center of the page for more visibility
not for the world
calande wrote:If we want the Gentoo web site professional, we can't keep these ads the way it is. What about a wide text box right underneath the top navigation bar with rotating text ads of the Gentoo partners. Display of ads in this case could also be in PHP, at random, each time a visitor requests a page, a partner's ad is displayed.
What do you think?
basically I think it's fine as it is, but...
If you want the ads somewhere, make it so in your submission screenshots. As they've said, this is just to find someone with necessary graphic skills - I'm sure the ads can be reworked later if it's decided they should be.
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 2:38 pm
by meetra
how about using a big gentoo logo pic like in
http://web.archive.org/web/200106041023 ... elcome.gif?
i love dg's work... keep it up

Almost Perfect
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:58 am
by mythz
andyjeffries wrote:
First of all well done on a great design. I love it clean, professional accessible.
Although I dont think your menus are on par with the rest of the design. Maybe you could come up with some new concepts for the menus.
Also I wouldnt bother with a border around the adds - it doesnt render well with my firefox on 1024x768. Maybe putting them in an offwhite (#f1f1f1) right column might work.
Just my 2 cents
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 7:33 am
by gigel
hmm,i like dg's work,though it seems to close to redhat's design...
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 10:49 pm
by aLEczapKA
Shadows wrote:
Well, that's right. But, like I mentioned before, they'll have to maintain the menu structure twice. The drawback for the maintainer of the site is, that he has to enter information twice, meaning two times a chance to make a mistake or forget something when he updates the site / menu.(...)
Greetz
Shad
You don't really think they are doing menu updates manually, do you?
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2004 11:29 pm
by pcrissman
Well, just to add my $0.02, I guess....
I made a couple of .pngs as a concept; they can be found from here:
http://www.revividus.net/~pac/ultramega ... enting.php
Edit: Direct links:
http://revividus.net/~pac/pics/mainPage.png
http://revividus.net/~pac/pics/gentooHandbook1.png
I made them small b/c I wanted to design something that would look good even at a ridiculously low resolution, or small browser window; the presumption is that the design would expand with the browser window if it were bigger. Maybe I should have made them larger, oh well.
Personally, I really like some of the designs I've seen linked from this page; dg's especially. They're all pretty cool!
Have fun.
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:05 am
by shift
Hi guys,
Here's a draft of my entry. It's somewhat finalized, but I'd like to get some feedback before I submit it to Gentoo.
http://aaronshi.com/gentoo/gentoo-front.png
The mockup is based on 800px window width (780px + 20px allowance for scrollbars/borders).
My vision is that it will be able to adjust with the client's resolution. A fixed-width design for a content-rich site like Gentoo's isn't really the best way to go.
The graphic with the woman's face should also be on a rotation of some sort, I've got some more goodies here. The reason why I choose that image is to give the site a more "human" feeling.
Purple isn't an easy color to work with, nor is it the most consistent color across different monitors. I haven't checked it on another monitor yet, so be warned!
Let me know what you think.
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 3:20 am
by pcrissman
shift: That is cool. I like it.
EDIT: You're from Vancouver! I was born there, lived there till I was 24. Vancouver rocks!
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:12 am
by tomek32
Shift's look awesome IMHO.
Re: dg: update
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:52 am
by homeobocks
Very nice. Looks a bit like Apple's site.

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:13 am
by ian!
shift wrote:Hi guys,
Here's a draft of my entry. It's somewhat finalized, but I'd like to get some feedback before I submit it to Gentoo.
http://aaronshi.com/gentoo/gentoo-front.png
[...]
Let me know what you think.
This one is just: WOW!

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 6:23 am
by andyjeffries
Ladies and gentlemen, the contest is closed, we have a winner right here....
TOP work shift!!!!
Andy
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 7:51 am
by federico
Shift, your work is really cool.
I like it a LOT !
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 8:37 am
by jonemi
Shift's design is awesome!
I have just one critique: how about making the "Get Gentoo" stand out a little more somehow, like separating it from the rest of the menu or something.
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:52 am
by neenee
i like shifts' design as well

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 12:59 pm
by blaksaga
Shifts is very nice, yes! All the ones I have clicked I have liked, but, I really like the simplicity of dg's and how clean it looks.
Re: dg: update
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 1:23 pm
by aLEczapKA
dg wrote:Thanks for the comments and suggestions!
I made some
minor revisions to my initial design, as seen here:
http://home.myuw.net/dgerstma/designs/g ... -rev2.html
Ads are now placed on the far right, the
PURCHASE caption got changed to
SHOP, and the contrast was increased on hover font color to make it stand out against the white background.
This design allows the ads to be visible immediately, however, it breaks down when the browser width drops below 800px whereupon the ads disappear behind the banner, before dominating the row.
I don't say you made it by purpose but it just look very similar to
www.apple.com site to me.
First impression when I saw it was.."hmm.. where did I see it?. ah yes..
www.apple.com" the menu position.. 4 rounded boxes with text... the main image with gentoo logo...
The colors are different, etc. but if you would cut these 2 sites into boxes you'd find they have exacly the same structure. And this is not good, cause Gentoo website should be uniq in look & feel.
My $0.2 cents.
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 1:56 pm
by aLEczapKA
I don't want to sound like a biatch but lets cool down guys and look with a cool eye from a top.. to picture bigger view...
Your design looks great, no doubt about it - if gentoo website was about to sell insurances or something...
What does this chick have to do with gentoo? Asiade that she looks nice nothing...
Sorry I don't wanna rain on your parade shift, its a great design but for different website, not for gentoo, cause
people
do trust simple sites.
Gentoo website should be simple, functional yet beautiful. I admit its hard to achive.
My 0.02 cents...
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 2:20 pm
by calande
Hi shift, good job; do you plan to keep the main photo on general pages, ie the handbook?
How about sub-categories? Where will they appear?
I think overall font size should be a lot bigger. I always have to set a 150% zoom

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:14 pm
by blaksaga
aLEczapKA wrote:I don't want to sound like a biatch but lets cool down guys and look with a cool eye from a top.. to picture bigger view...
Your design looks great, no doubt about it - if gentoo website was about to sell insurances or something...
What does this chick have to do with gentoo? Asiade that she looks nice nothing...
Sorry I don't wanna rain on your parade shift, its a great design but for different website, not for gentoo, cause
people
do trust simple sites.
Gentoo website should be simple, functional yet beautiful. I admit its hard to achive.
My 0.02 cents...
Replace the girl with larry the cow!

Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:21 pm
by calande
blaksaga wrote:aLEczapKA wrote:I don't want to sound like a biatch but lets cool down guys and look with a cool eye from a top.. to picture bigger view...
Your design looks great, no doubt about it - if gentoo website was about to sell insurances or something...
What does this chick have to do with gentoo? Asiade that she looks nice nothing...
Sorry I don't wanna rain on your parade shift, its a great design but for different website, not for gentoo, cause
people
do trust simple sites.
Gentoo website should be simple, functional yet beautiful. I admit its hard to achive.
My 0.02 cents...
Replace the girl with larry the cow!

Linux, and computing in general is too much for men. Linux needs girls. Yeah! Whoo! Where are the girls on this forum, c'mon!