Round two of the front page structure changes...

[Tom Rhodes]

On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 00:21:41 +0100
Christian Brueffer <chris at unixpages.org> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 02, 2003 at 04:06:40PM -0500, Tom Rhodes wrote:
> > Greetings yet again,
> > 
> > Last night my brain just went in several different directions on
> > how well this could turn out.  And yet, there is always that lingering
> > thought of how bad this could end up if I'm not careful.  Taking a
> > few comments on the list and off, as well as a few of my own ideas,
> > i've crafted another patch.
> > 
> > This patch is rough around the edges and not commit-ready, even
> > though it does build.  My goal with this one was to throw out some
> > ideas, sort of get the ball rolling.  So, honest opinions are very
> > welcome here...  This patch will:
> > 
> > o Break up the support area into two different types.  Multi-language
> >   and English (since the site is in English anyway).  This will add
> >   a link to the translated documents on the front page.  With this
> >   I tried to be fair and place all the multi-language and english-only
> >   options in two categories.  This may need another look-over.
> > 
> > o Takes a stab at the Vendors area, without any modification.  The
> >   vendors link(s) should probably go under our Software or 'Getting
> >   FreeBSD' areas.  But this can be argued.
> > 
> > o Adds the upcoming events link under a Community section.  It could
> >   be argued that local user groups should go here in place of under
> >   Support.  But a broader opinion on that would be nice...
> > 
> > Comments please...  :)
> > 
> 
> I like it, but I think there are still way too many links in the
> sidebar.

Yes, too many can be overwhelming.  I'm thinking of ways to get
around this.  If we do site cleanup, then perhaps we can break
things up a bit.  Like this:

Front page
Support ---- America -- links, documentation, ...
             Other -- links to <language> sites, translated docs, ...

> 
> As you already notes, the 'Vendors' section actually belongs to the
> 'Software' section.  'Documentation' and 'Support' could be consolidated
> into a 'Resources' section.

That was kind of what I thought too, and I think Mark noted that
in either private/public mail to me.  Like on the IBM/Microsoft/Intel
site, you visit the support section (usually support.domain.xxx) and
they have downloads, documentation, software/hardware errata,
bug/knowledge base...  There may be something to that idea...

> 
> The 'Multi-language support' section is not needed, IMHO.  I think
> people would expect documentation in a given language on the web
> pages of that specific language, http://www.freebsd.org/de, for example.

That is an opinion I wanted to hear, thanks!  See my half-assed
suggestion above.

> 
> Maybe we should put the links to language specific web pages in a more
> prominent position (and list all available languages on the front page).
> 
> In general, we should unclutter the side bar.  IMHO, NetBSD and OpenBSD
> have done a good job in this regard.  4 or 5 big subsections which
> roughly categorize the links to subsection pages, which can contain all
> the other stuff.

My goal explained!  A good one or two 'key words' which link to a
large area containing everything they would want.  Easy to navigate,
tons of useful information, no hunting around an endless wave of
links to find one simple answer...  Not that our site is that bad,
yet...

> 
> BTW, thanks for taking on this task, Tom :-)

Not a problem at all, thanks for the support my friend!

-- 
Tom Rhodes