RFC: Home page design

[Eric Siegerman]

On Tue, 2009-09-15 at 10:22 -0400, Emma Jane Hogbin wrote:
> It's much greener and darker on the monitor I'm using now. I will be
adjusting 
> the colour.

Right.  I forgot web-design rule #1: "your monitor looks different
from everyone else's".  Sorry.

> >   - The type is too small
> 
> The type is the size provided by the 960.gs CSS framework that I'm
using. I 
> will be adjusting it to use relative font sizes.

I meant specifically, too small relative to design 2's type, which I
found pleasing.

> Not sure what you're referring to by "yellow type"? Do you mean in the
utility 
> navigation?

Yes.

> > Darn, I *like* the road-sign buttons ...
> 
> I liked them too. mpt, one of the Canonical designers, asked me not to
riff on 
> the logo. :( He prepared a longer response to the list, but I don't
see it. 

*grumble*  If Google/Gogle/Googe can do it...

> Please read: http://bazaar-vcs.org/BazaarPersonas
> The screen shots must be big enough to be "readable" by our target
market. 

All of that granted, on my 1440x900 screen, the page's "top
matter" takes up well over half the available real estate.  With
my browser window maximized (as it usually is), the content area,
excluding Gnome's and Firefox's decorations, is 1425x626 px.  The
top matter takes 60% of that -- the yello main body area only
starts at pixel 376 of the content area.

Screen shot here, of r31 in context on my laptop's display:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86666232@N00/3925489675/

It looks weird IMO.  (Not as bad in the screen shot,
surprisingly; it looks worse on my screen itself.  Try blowing it
up it as close as practical to full-screen on your display, to
get the full impact.)

At least equally important, such a huge banner screams "excessive
ego" -- to me, it's the web-design equivalent of driving a
Hummer.  Not the message I'd have thought a professional product
would want to send.  That's really the bee in my bonnet about
this, even more than the visual appearance per se.

I can't recall: what's the minimum screen resolution the
redesigned site is intended to support?

> ha! Nice! [...] I think it's a fun idea though. :)

Thanks!

I was going to suggest a standard European Autobahn/Autoroute/Motorway
sign for "Get Going" -- no reason, after all, to stick only to
yellow-diamond road signs -- but I guess the point's moot :-(

> It's a bit hard for me to see the plug itself on my high-res 
> monitor.

Yah, i'd seen that too.  Fixing it is one of the things that fell
victim to the call of sunlight :-)

Seriously, everything I do graphically should be treated as a
sketch of an idea, or proof of concept as the case may be; but in
any case *not* as final work, unless I label it as intended for
merging.  I'm not a designer, I just hang out with some at the
pub (or used to, several jobs ago) :-)

> I've updated the branch to include your utility navigation changes.

Given my previous paragraph ... Cool! *grin*

Thanks,
  - Eric