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Feedback and Suggestions / main page renovation
« on: December 29, 2014, 10:08:20 AM »
Since I can't post in the Announcements page where Biff started this topic, I'll start this thread to respond to Biff's invitation.
There are some other distro spins of Debian, and some other illustrative websites, which show my preferences.
(note : comments refer to the websites, not the distros themselves)
Point Linux : carefully crafted to make 3 points, no excessive claims, absolute new-to-Linux users should be wary
SolydXK : uncomplicated, text sells benefits gently - stakes its claim to meeting some key user needs
Tanglu : newer, but also clear about where it fits compared to Debian
EvolveOS : still in alpha and presented accordingly; very clean landing page, recent developer blogposts are featured
Each of these makes a confident, simple statement about where they fit in - not the gushy overclaiming seen elsewhere.
The statements are different, despite similar heritage.
Each has one single bar menu, at the top, for links
Each has a limited menu structure which makes it easy to get to where you want to go (in Tanglu's case, some consolidation is due)
It looks to me as if each is a low-maintenance page ... not such a bad characteristic :-)
So, in summary :
- Biff's suggested "simplify" and "information page" are approaches I'd support
- Go for a "best wattOS" page rather than some "absolute best" page
- Yes to having a link in the current forums to accumulated knowledge
Some other thoughts.
Established users rarely read much from the landing page, except perhaps in cases like EvolveOS.
Potential new users are much more likely to read it all.
There's space on an About page - or a Versions Information page, if you prefer - for outlining the various mainstream flavours of wattOS, and the potential for x.5 releases to try new ideas. So, just the summary on the main page, plus a link if appropriate.
There's a big difference, IMO, between "made for old hardware" and "made with resource minimisation in mind and will run on many older computers". As Debian raises the minimum-cpu bar, the former philosophy will be sorely tested.
There are some other distro spins of Debian, and some other illustrative websites, which show my preferences.
(note : comments refer to the websites, not the distros themselves)
Point Linux : carefully crafted to make 3 points, no excessive claims, absolute new-to-Linux users should be wary
SolydXK : uncomplicated, text sells benefits gently - stakes its claim to meeting some key user needs
Tanglu : newer, but also clear about where it fits compared to Debian
EvolveOS : still in alpha and presented accordingly; very clean landing page, recent developer blogposts are featured
Each of these makes a confident, simple statement about where they fit in - not the gushy overclaiming seen elsewhere.
The statements are different, despite similar heritage.
Each has one single bar menu, at the top, for links
Each has a limited menu structure which makes it easy to get to where you want to go (in Tanglu's case, some consolidation is due)
It looks to me as if each is a low-maintenance page ... not such a bad characteristic :-)
So, in summary :
- Biff's suggested "simplify" and "information page" are approaches I'd support
- Go for a "best wattOS" page rather than some "absolute best" page
- Yes to having a link in the current forums to accumulated knowledge
Some other thoughts.
Established users rarely read much from the landing page, except perhaps in cases like EvolveOS.
Potential new users are much more likely to read it all.
There's space on an About page - or a Versions Information page, if you prefer - for outlining the various mainstream flavours of wattOS, and the potential for x.5 releases to try new ideas. So, just the summary on the main page, plus a link if appropriate.
There's a big difference, IMO, between "made for old hardware" and "made with resource minimisation in mind and will run on many older computers". As Debian raises the minimum-cpu bar, the former philosophy will be sorely tested.