Debian web pages - stylistic considerations
Not many people who do work on the web pages have worked on a site
this large or complicated. There are two groups that the web pages
must cater too: the newbie and the experienced user. These are the
groups that make noise when they can't find what they want.
Newbies need to be oriented. This is the goal of the About section.
I'm not completely happy with the current version (too long and tries
to do too much). But, since it was written the number of complaints
about 'what is it' have gone almost to zero. Additionally, they need
to be able to figure out how to get installation information easily.
Since the links to the installation instructions were put on the main
page the complaints in this regard would be zero except that ftp.debian.org
is overloaded. Allowing selection of the download site should fix that.
Experienced users simply need to be able to move around fast. People
have been very happy with the menubar on the left side of the page.
These were brought up simply to give you an idea of what the needs of the
'customers' of the Debian pages are. Any changes or additions must keep
the needs of these groups in mind. Instead of listing all the problem
that have come up in the past, I'll simply list some things you should
keep in mind when making modifying the pages.
- Is this really pertinent to Debian? There are an amazing number of things
happening in the world of Linux. Is what you want to add really a Debian
item or does it belong on a more general Linux site?
Example: The Atlanta Linux Showcase is coming up. If we included every
comparable Linux event, it would overwhelm the News section and people
would complain since they already get such notices from other Linux
sources. This year, though, Debian is being represented. Now that should
be put on the pages.
- Where does it belong? Literally 2/3 of all suggestions want the item
linked from the main page. This is clearly not possible. The web site tries
(sure it can be improved) to partition everything into useful groups of
items and put them on sub-pages. Odds are 10-1 that the new item should
go on one of those pages. If none of the pages are appropriate, bring it
up on debian-www so it can be discussed.
- Try to avoid creating pages that become dated or using links that will
expire. When it is unavoidable, include the current date. For example
'as of Aug 5, 1998, the current version of apache was ...' instead of
'the current version of apaches is ...'.
You can often avoid links that will expire by going up a level. For example
if a group is sponsoring a Linux convention at http://amazing.group.net/con98/
it is likely the link will not be valid 6 months after the event. So link
to http://amazing.group.net/ instead. Sometime this is not possible. That's
one reason a URL checker should be run once a week.
- Taking 10 extra minutes to design things right the first time will save you
hours of work later on.
I'm sure others will add more. These are the ones I run into most frequently though.
Jay Treacy
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