kde.org re-design usability issues

[marko faas]

Hi Eric,

On Sun, 2002-10-20 at 19:46, Eric Ellsworth wrote:
> Hi all,
<snip>
> Here's some suggestions for changes:
> Layout:
>   The /KDE Home is a good element, as a you-are-here type of thing
>   It and the date are taking up a whole line for no particular reason.  I'd  
>  put them into the horizontal menu.  Using slash to imply the root and hence 
>   location is both geek-centric and Unix-centric.  I'd favor "You are here:"
>   or "Viewing:" or something similar.  I'd integrate this into the horizontal 
>   menu.

True. Changed that in my proposal (http://huizen.dds.nl/~argus/)

>   The search box is fine positionwise (its location is common - see below 
>   sites), though the size of the gray area makes it very noticeable, and also 
>   makes it look somewhat like a title for the content.  I'd integrate it into 
>   the horizontal menu. It might be nice to see what it looks like integrated 
>   into either the right or left menu.

That touches the graphical design and I don't want to do that because I
am no graphical designer.

>   I see three menus, with three themes:
> 	Left menu: commonly desired actions
> 	Right menu: projects and goings on in KDE
> 	Horiz menu: Navigation among KDE sites (unclear)
> 
>   The existence horizontal menu is good, but it's presently a little confusing 
>   and repeats items.  I'd take download out of there, as its in the left menu.  
>   The KDE.org (mirror, i18n) item is very confusing, especially since there's 
>   this combo box about international stuff right above it.

See my proposal.

>   The combo box to the right of the logo need a label. How about "Worldwide 
>   sites:", or "KDE in your country:".  It could also be integrated into the 
>   horizontal menu.

"KDE in your language". Done.

> Menus
<snip>
>   What do y'all think?

I think you should take a look at my proposal.
	
> Content
>   The content lacks clear titles and separation.  I like the idea from MSN.com 
>   of using different colors for different sections of content.  How about the 
>   following titles "Mission", "Software releases", and "News", with different 
>   light colors for each.

True, but it's graphical design...

About your site reviews: they all have the menu on the left (except for
Yahoo, but that's a completely different site). And therefore I put the
mainmenu on the left too...

-- 
Regards,
Marko