How about this?

[Neil Stevens]

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On Sunday October 20, 2002 10:27, marko faas wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been thinking about all the usability issues here and the menu
> structure. I have posted an alternative to get everything in one menu,
> instead of the three that are in www.kde.org/testing, which is, imho,
> not helping in usability.
>
> I just put it in the design listed on www.kde.org/testing. My version
> can be found on:
> http://huizen.dds.nl/~argus/

Oh, goodie, another proposal!  Third or fourth options will be nice to 
have.

> As you will see, I haven't altered anything about the graphic design
> (which is great, I think), but I have done some things on the position
> and menu structures. I have also added a couple of new features to make
> up for some stuff I have removed.


Well, your version has some bugs inherited from Sebastian's:

- - International combobox has no functional label, and is positioned 
randomly over the logo instead of being in the top row.
- - There is no room for content text at small screen sizes, because of the 
multiple huge sidebars and the several inches tall search.
- - Your links disregard the user's link underline and highlight settings.  
It is illogical for KDE sites to override Konqueror settings, in 
particular.
- - Low-contrast colors
- - Adherence to to a deprecated html standard (this is a new site, from 
scratch, so it should adhere to the current standards instead of legacy 
ones)
- - Font size overrides user's settings, making it inaccessable to people 
with vision problems.
- - No print stylesheet

but I think you made some nice improvements:

- - You made a real distinction between the left and the right bars.  (Note, 
I'm still not endorsing two bars here :-)  The left bar has KDE sites, the 
right bar has non-KDE sites.  
- - You replaced a functional menu up top with random text.  This is good 
because it reduces the places the user has to look.

So overall this is an upgrade.  Thank you for stepping in to begin to give 
an alternative improved design to the abandoned, unchanging 
kde.org/testing proposal.

>
> 1. I have giving this double (or actually triple) menu structure a lot
> of thought and I recognise that there are differences between everything
> on www.kde.org and the family sites. But in my opinion, many of those
> sites could be (visually and navigational wise) included in the
> www-site. So I hope we can pursuade many of the owners of the other
> sites to use our templates and menu structure. Imho is it just so much
> clearer to navigate and find stuff about KDE. As most people (except for
> Japanese, Chinese and Arabic languaged people) look from top left to
> down right, I put the menu on the left. That, and because that's a
> custom. I like experimental navigation systems, but we must not forget
> that our purpose is to promote, inform and give help about KDE...
>
> 2. The menu's currently presented in kde.org/testing have lots of
> doublures. To give some examples:
>
> L E F T           |R I G H T
> Screenshots       |KDE Look
> Applications      |Applications
> Events            |Events
> Develop (section) |Development (section with similar entries)
>
> Even if we are sticking with a left and a right menu, we MUST elimenate
> those doubles. Either by renaming them or removing them.
>
> 3. In my opinion, if we are slashing the doubles and re-invent the menu
> structure, we can save lots of space. I agree that my prototype still
> has a lot of entries, but maybe we can trim it down even more. For
> example by moving some links to a third level.
>
> 4. And that third level exists already. We just don't see it on the
> homepage. Click on 'KDE People' for example and you will find a new
> menu, aka the third level. In my opinion, the best place for this third
> level is on the right. So we can have the first (the headers) and seod
> level menu on the left, and the third level (or local) menu on the
> right.
>
> 5. But as we do not have the third level on the homepage, we have some
> space to fill. And we also have a question from Navrinda, namely "Where
> are the new apps?". Well Navrinda, I have put them back on the homepage.
> I guess the design of this feature can be better, thought, so any ideas?
>
> 6. The kde.org/testing design also lacks the (rather ugly) button of
> Lisa02. In fact, there is no space for those kinds of events/buttons.
> Maybe that's a good thing, but for now, I put the button back on the
> homepage.
>
> 7. In the design altered by me, you will find that the top menu is
> missing and replaced by a quote, today one of David. I removed the
> topmenu because it is a double entry. The links to screenshots and the
> faq are in the menu. Why waste space on the same menu entries?
> Should we stick with the quotes, I don't know. I just put it there to
> avoid breaking the graphical design. It seems a nice feature to me but
> somebody must put the quotes up there... Maybe a tagline is a better
> idea. Or a konqui running from left to right and back :-)
>
> 8. I have introduced titles in the links to make clear what the
> referrals are and what's on www.kde.org. Again: maybe the graphics can
> be improved.
>
> 9. Everything is linked and clickable to the family sites or to
> www.kde.org, so you can see for yourself where your are heading and if
> you like the name of the menu entry.
>
>
> Ok, before you shoot some disclaimers:
> - off course there are spelling errors (English isn't my mother tongue,
> so please bear with me)
> - off course there are typos (I went to a cocktail party last night :-)
> - off course some links are not working (happens all the time to me)
> - Off course I missed some sites in the menu (although some of the links
> actually should be gone and put in the third level menu of another
> entry)
> - off course suggestions are welcome.
> - Here's the url again: http://huizen.dds.nl/~argus/
>
> Ok, now shoot :-)

- -- 
Neil Stevens - neil at qualityassistant.com
"The nearest I can make it out, 'Love your Enemies' means, 'Hate your
Friends'." - Benjamin Franklin
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