LXer appearance
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| grouch Jul 26, 2006 8:18 PM EDT |
What do you like and dislike about the home page? |
| jimf Jul 26, 2006 8:40 PM EDT |
The 'Latest Discussions' section is to far down on the page. I constantly have to scroll down to see it :( Otherwise, I'm good with it. |
| grouch Jul 26, 2006 9:02 PM EDT |
jimf: That's the kind of detailed feedback needed! Will you go with me to storm Dave's citadel (or at least his coding closet)? I have some rockets and a couple of smoke bombs left over from the 4th. |
| jimf Jul 26, 2006 9:07 PM EDT |
That's too much like the Government's typical over response... We prob only need a sit in :D seriously though, I can live with the site colors, and the news layout is fine, but, the right hand column is laid out logically from the aspect of of the site designer/webmaster, but, not the best for the user. |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 26, 2006 11:42 PM EDT |
On a user's home page, why not oput a list of links to all topics he has posted in (with new? yes/no)? I miss this a lot. On other forums I frequently use it to see if anyone has posted after me. Also, the "Story HOWTO" link in the Site Menu doesn't work from the forum. It goes to http://lxer.com/module/forums/story_howto.php instead of http://lxer.com/story_howto.php Oh wait - this is about the homepage, not the rest :-) It bugs me that when I go to the bottom of the homepage and I click "next 20 stories" that it doesn't show me the next 20. It show me the bottom 10 of the homepage plus the 10 posts after that. On the whole I'm happy with the homepage. Nice, clean and fast. |
| cheshire137 Jul 27, 2006 3:59 AM EDT |
I've been working on a redesign of the home page with grouch and Dave's help, but talking with the other users is just what I need. You can see what I've got so far at http://www.3till7.net/lxer/. Some things I've changed include: - More lightweight, table-free layout using CSS. Will focus on 508 compliance before turning it over to Dave for implementation. - Moving the user menu/login box to the top of the sidebar. - Moving the search form to the top of the page. - Moving the 'filter by' links to the top of the main column. I'm going to put these in a drop-down menu to conserve space for Javascript-enabled browsers, and for browsers without Javascript, I'm going to return them to the bottom of the page in the list format you see now. - The site menu is now horizontally across the top of the page for easier access, and I've added links to 'Latest Discussions' and 'Latest Newswire'. Things Dave and grouch have already given feedback on that I plan to change: - The ads in the sidebar have scrollbars at smaller browser sizes, so I'm going to increase the width of the sidebar. - The stories kind of run together so I'm going to add a line between them as a separator. - I need to add the header 'LXer Linux News' for searching purposes. - The Other News Sites box in the sidebar does not need the bullets and left margin that it has--will remove to conserve space. I have yet to work up the full story and comment thread pages--just the index page, logged in and not logged in, are available right now. I've tested it in Firefox 1.5, FF 2, and Safari (some issues with the red header there). IE 6 was looking teh suck initially and probably still is--I'll fix that before I hand it over. I also have to check Opera and links. I'm working on the redesign in my spare time from taking two summer classes and working two jobs, so you'll have to bear with me on the speed of its progression. However, it'd be awesome if you guys could give more feedback on what you'd like to see. |
| cheshire137 Jul 27, 2006 5:12 AM EDT |
Updates: - I increased the width of the sidebar. - I changed the 'filter by' at the top to be a Javascript-powered drop-down menu. There's a non-JS version at the bottom like the current LXer setup. I'll make it to where the top drop-down doesn't show up unless JS is enabled. - Removed bullets and left margin in sidebar lists. - jimf: I raised Latest Discussions higher up in the sidebar. - There's a line between the stories now. - 'LXer Linux News' was added to the top. |
| hkwint Jul 27, 2006 5:31 AM EDT |
Sure looks great to me! Less 'primitive', though it still respect LXers goals (simple interface). Seems like what we needed, really nice work. Maybe the items on the red top bar (Home, forums etc) could be spread over the whole bar a bit more. I'd also say the 'migrations' and 'features' in the same bar should be exchanged (marketing reasons). As I screwed up my Linux box and I am on a Windows box now, also tested with IE 6 (somebody's got to do the dirty work?), and there are only a few 'little' screwups: -The red lines between the stories are gone -The red top bar is twice times 'broader' and not well aligned anymore -The text in the box with 'about you' and LXer (under the user's menu box) is too far upward, and interferes with the box. |
| SFN Jul 27, 2006 6:01 AM EDT |
How about moving the ad(s) between site menu and search to the top. It seems more obtrusive that way but actually it allows the users to navigate through the right-side stuff more easily while giving the advertsisers better exposure. Also, all pages should carry the notice "No animals were harmed in the making of this site", which is true. |
| jimf Jul 27, 2006 6:11 AM EDT |
> - I increased the width of the sidebar. Why??? Looking at both pages, this is not an inprovement, although the order is better. It partially has to do with that width change, but the legibility/font weight is 'much' less readable than the old page. Given a choice, I'll take the old one hands down. |
| SFN Jul 27, 2006 6:26 AM EDT |
Actually, I like the new look but I agree that the sidebar shouldn't be wider. |
| dcparris Jul 27, 2006 6:28 AM EDT |
Sander:
> On a user's home page, why not oput a list of links to all topics he has posted in (with new? yes/no)? I miss this a lot. On other forums I frequently use it to see if anyone has posted after me. You can click the "Watch this thread" link that shows up after clicking the submit button to follow threads you're interested in. Everytime you hit the newswire, you'll see at the top a list of all the threads with new comments. |
| jimf Jul 27, 2006 6:33 AM EDT |
I'm only pointing out that a 'fresh look' that doesn't maintain the positive aspects of the old is highly questionable. Change shouldn't just be for the sake of change. |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 27, 2006 6:53 AM EDT |
I love the new design. Great work :-) Some comments: - The text on the search button is too fat for my taste - The grey menu bar doesn't feel like a menu. Perhaps some extra padding around it makes it stand out more. Especially below it. Niw it runs into the first article. - There's no red line between the first and second article (FF 1.5.0.4) - The latest neswire box is a bit messy. Perhaps you can do away with the date and post info in there and just show the list (possibly make room to list more articles). - I think the (new) on the latest discussion list can use a touch of red as well |
| Scott_Ruecker Jul 27, 2006 7:34 AM EDT |
Will I still be able to change the color of the layout? I have changed the color scheme and I really like it. It has made the site much easier on the eyes. Too much white just makes my eyes get tired real fast. I like the way it looks for me. I have it looking just the way I like it. |
| dcparris Jul 27, 2006 8:25 AM EDT |
> Will I still be able to change the color of the layout? I was going to suggest at least offering a choice of color schemes (just different style sheets). We could even offer a way for users to contribute their own style sheets. Either make the sylesheet avalaible, or offer a form that allows the user to modify the color scheme, and save that as an alternative style sheet. Firefox users can use the style sheet changer extension to see the different stylesheets. |
| grouch Jul 27, 2006 8:58 AM EDT |
cheshire137: Having the LXer logo and "LXer Linux News" is wrong. It should be either the logo or the text "LXer", but not both side by side. The subheading should be on a separate line from the heading. The drop-down 'filter by' box is in the way. The right column was widened too much. The Omnis ad no longer has dual scrollbars, but almost everything else does, at certain font sizes. Providing the site menu at the top, with a link to "Latest Discussions", removes the need to move the list of latest discussions higher up on the page. "Message Board"? It's a forum. Your previous version looked better. Too many changes between revisions. Basic look and function is good. |
| dinotrac Jul 27, 2006 9:14 AM EDT |
With regard to colors.... I think you may wish to pay a little more attention to the text over the greay backgrounds. It seems like it could give color-blind folks fits. I'm not color blind, just old, and it's harder to read than I would like. |
| cheshire137 Jul 27, 2006 9:23 AM EDT |
More updates. jimf and grouch > Decreased the width of the sidebar. sander > The text on the search button is now normal weight as opposed to bold. grouch > I removed the filter box for now though I want it back in some implementation in the future. Re: ""Message Board"? It's a forum." 'Message Board' is what it's called on LXer right now, and I did not change that. dinotrac > I'll work on those colors. Thanks for the feedback, everyone! |
| grouch Jul 27, 2006 9:40 AM EDT |
dcparris: >"I was going to suggest at least offering a choice of color schemes (just different style sheets). We could even offer a way for users to contribute their own style sheets. Either make the sylesheet avalaible, or offer a form that allows the user to modify the color scheme, and save that as an alternative style sheet. Firefox users can use the style sheet changer extension to see the different stylesheets." A form sounds good. It would allow people to change the style who don't want to take time to read up on CSS. |
| Scott_Ruecker Jul 27, 2006 10:25 AM EDT |
If you can, check out what I have my settings at on the page that shows you what users have done to customize their views. Its not too shabby. |
| jimf Jul 27, 2006 10:41 AM EDT |
> I'm not color blind, just old, and it's harder to read than I would like. Unfortunately I have to second that. |
| Teron Sep 23, 2006 4:29 AM EDT |
I'd like to see the old-style box-thingy around the articles. Makes reading easier. |
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