thelinuxlink.net

I know the guys have mentioned a couple of times that they'd like some site re-design ideas. I haven't seen any discussions flow by in the forums (unless I missed them), so I thought I'd do a quick mockup idea just to generate some discussion.

Keep in mind that the mockup is only for layout discussion and the colours, graphics, etc. were just placeholders to define the layout. You'd apply whatever graphics, styles, colours and fonts etc. that you'd like to it after of course.

I'm no web designer (like it's hard to tell), but the three thoughts I had in mind while creating this were: simplify, simplify and simplify. Mostly it's the same stuff that's on the home page now, but it would link off to separate pages for some of the stuff (like a separate page for the actual streaming info, a separate page for the downloadable media a separate page for the podcast feeds etc.). I felt it would just clean up and simplify the page. I don't mind the one-stop-shop style but the page now just seems dated and so busy with stuff all over the place that I thought simplifying it would be a good idea.

Of course I could be an idiot and completely wrong about that!

I also thought putting the planet TLLTS posts and/or a shortlist of hot forum topics might be a worthwhile if they were front and center too.

Like I said, I just thought I'd post it to get some discussion going. Let's hear the opinions!

I created the mockup with Inkscape. If anyone wants the svg file to play around with, let me know.

Here's the thumbnail:

I like your ideas. Linc has voiced his desire to redesign the website and I think we're all in agreement. Its time for a refresh. One of the things that really sticks in my mind is that people constantly ask us what show a particular guest or topic was discussed. We have a search engine that scans the show time indexes I maintain and it works very well. Maybe it's not obvious enough for people to use? Anybody have thoughts on this?

The search works pretty well for what it does, but it is very basic. For instance, type in Volkerding and you get a number of episodes returned with 143 showing up multiple times. There is no way to reliably determine which episode is the interview with Pat unless you open up each link until you strike gold.

We should have it open to a new page or replace the information in the body listing the episode and the relevant match in the notes showing the word searched in highlight, a few lines before and a few lines after. Then have the option to open up the rest of the notes.

Pat you have done a fantastic job cataloging these shows. We may want to have a summary at the start or a listing of who the guest was for that show to make it easier for the search.

Additionally, there should be a way to clear the search and start over without having to reload the page. Finally, the home link in the menu should be a the top. I realize the order is alphabetical, but the link to return to the home page is always at the start of the menu of links. That is where people expect it.

While the search is somewhat useful, I find the 'past guests' page on the wiki to be indispensable. A direct link to that or a searchable version of that data might satisfy a lot of those needs.

This is a great discussion.

Personally, I like a menu bar at the very top to click to the major pages like on:

http://www.lugradio.org
http://www.foresightlinux.org

This bar could have links to "Other Shows", "Planet", and "Calendar" ...

Also it would be nice if the planet page, other shows page all had the same CSS theme as its base. Right now it feels like you are going to completely different sights. It would be cool to have the same theme in the forum too. Ubuntu does a nice job with this. You feel like you are at the Ubuntu sight whether your on the front page, in the forum, or in the wiki. Besides, I absolutely hate that default "gray" theme that comes up when I go to the forum until I have to log in every time.

Speaking of the forum is there a reason why when I check to log me in automatically it never does on the same computer and in same browser. Every day, and usually every time I open Firefox again I have to log in, especially when following an RSS feed link. This has happened ever since you put the extra security on the forum.

Finally, we really need a boy band picture on the front page like on lugradio. Seriously, it is nice to have faces to put with the voices when you are listening to the show. It would be nice for new listeners to feel as if they know the hosts a little better.

I would also like to see on the front page the upcoming show's special guests and planned topics that will be talked about. Even if it is only put up 4-7 days before the show. It would give us a reason to just click on the front page every week.

mowestusa wrote:I would also like to see on the front page the upcoming show's special guests and planned topics that will be talked about. Even if it is only put up 4-7 days before the show. It would give us a reason to just click on the front page every week.

more like 4 to 7 minutes before the show!

mowestusa wrote:Also it would be nice if the planet page, other shows page all had the same CSS theme as its base. Right now it feels like you are going to completely different sights.

That is because you are going to different sites in some cases (calendar, other shows) or different engines (wiki, planet). We're lazy so styling everything similar may be asking a bit much!

dann wrote: That is because you are going to different sites in some cases (calendar, other shows) or different engines (wiki, planet). We're lazy so styling everything similar may be asking a bit much!

Hehe. I don't blame you. I think putting a pretty face on the main site and linking off to separate pages or sites for the nitty-gritty stuff is the quickest way. You can always then revamp other parts after without screwing around with the main page.

@Dann, you guys looking for a clean very light site (lots of whitespace, black or dark grey text on white background) or something darker and richer? I happen to like both.

I'm assuming you don't want to go down the blogging engine route. It's really pretty much a static page with perhaps one window or area that contains updated information like Planet posts, forum topics etc.. You don't necessarily have to go with a narrow two column layout that looks simply like a blog.

Here's a partial screenshot of some fiddling I've been doing. Again, just for discussion and to generate some ideas. Pretty much the first mockup but with some nicer graphics and a kind of pseudo-blingy darkish theme.

The top banner is really pretty much a big mixup of colours and fonts. I had no real ideas about it, but wanted to stick something up there.

dann wrote:

mowestusa wrote:Also it would be nice if the planet page, other shows page all had the same CSS theme as its base. Right now it feels like you are going to completely different sights.

That is because you are going to different sites in some cases (calendar, other shows) or different engines (wiki, planet). We're lazy so styling everything similar may be asking a bit much!

Yes, I can understand this, but isn't this a reason to be looking at Joomla or Drupal?

Those tools use a united theme engine don't they?