Re: Proposal: Redesign Debian.org
I would like to see more demonstrations of what Debian can do for the user. Right now a user who comes to the site really has no idea what Debian might look like if they installed it on their computer. I also think it makes sense to communicate about our community structure and the fact that we don't ever need to derive a profit from our users. Turning over the control of your computer to a group of people is a very big and we need to help users understand who we are and what we are offering. I'd love to see lots more screenshots and maybe even see a moderated slice of Debian Planet making it to the front page (just an idea).
I really do feel like red, white and blue are all part of the Debian brand just as much as the swirl. I don't think we should let go of any of those things unless a really compelling vision is put forward. Mostly, I think its about taking what we currently do and just adding some polish and dimension, as well as projecting some compelling messages about the usability of the software and the maturity of the community. Of course, anyone who has been around Debian for a while knows that the "community" can be both a bug and a feature. However, I think that is true of any community that forms around software. The same problems will surface every time and we have tremendous experience with the process of working through them and still getting a useful, stable and interesting collection of software out the door (every once in a while :-)).
Hopefully this wasn't overly critical. I like what you are working on with your designs but I would really hesitate to toss out the colors. One site we built was opensourceforamerica.org, which also uses red, white and blue but is about as different as it can be from the Debian site. I think there is plenty of room to play around with the look without dropping the things people recognize. More importantly, I think we need to meditate on the message we communicate as well as the wrapper it comes in.
----- "Juti Noppornpitak" wrote:
> Is there anyone thinking of redesigning Debian.org? Although the OS becomes better and better, Debian.org still looks the same.
> I have a few ideas on how to improve Debian.org, especially without messing with WML codes. Please go to http://vimeo.com/12189576 to see the demo and give me feedback on what you think about it. Please note that the video just shows the idea (mockup), not what it eventually looks like.
> I'm looking forward to the feedback from you all.
--
Ean Schuessler, CTO
ean@brainfood.com
214-720-0700 x 315
Brainfood, Inc.
http://www.brainfood.com
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