[RFC] Home page refresh

[Ben Finney]

Martin Pool <mbp at canonical.com> writes:

> On 18 February 2010 12:53, Wichmann, Mats D <mats.d.wichmann at intel.com> wrote:
> > In common to both designs is something I'm sure the design phase
> > must have kicked around, but I find irritating, where you have three
> > live elements for each of the three main actions, and that seems an
> > awfully inelegant design to my silly brain.
[…]

> Yes, I think we should just drop the icons and buttons and have the
> heading.

I disagree again :-)

The existing design, with words *and* icons, works at multiple levels to
convey the meaning. The front page of the project, in particular, needs
to communicate its ideas effectively to a brain likely much more
distracted than we can expect from, say, a brain looking at the
documentation index. That rules out communicating important ideas solely
through text, for example.

I recommend asking the designer of the existing site for an explanation;
she will give better reasoning than I can give. Suffice it to say that I
know from experience that one should *not* use the intellectual
assessment of experienced users to adjust the communicative effects of
the front page, and I expect the web designer knew that when designing
it.

-- 
 \        “Intellectual property is to the 21st century what the slave |
  `\                              trade was to the 16th.” —David Mertz |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney