[boost] Re: Front page redesign...

From: David B. Held (dheld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-11-29 16:38:58

Rob Stewart wrote:

> From: Rene Rivera <grafik.list_at_[hidden]>
> [...]
> -- As viewed with my browsers, which work quite nicely at other
>    web sites, there is way too much white, and not enough
>    black/blue from the text.  IOW, the contrast is really low
>    because the lines of the letters are so thin.  This is more
>    pronounced with the blue of the links than with the black, but
>    both are a problem.

I think dense text is much harder to read.  When space is at a
premium, then I think dense text is acceptable.  But given the choice
between a crowded page and a more open one, I prefer the latter.
Dense text tends to make it more difficult to find things, I think.

> [...]
> -- The "Participation" section should be a subsection of the
>    "Welcome to Boost.org!" section.  It should be a main section,
>    despite how much participation is valued.

Did you mean to say "It should [not] be a main section..."?  If so,
I think I agree.  It's such a small paragraph that it seems a little
odd by itself.

> [...]
> -- The drop down list for searching obscures the other choices.
>    I think the right behavior is to search everything, or just
>    the site from the home page, with an "Advanced Search" link
>    that offers more search options.  This helps to keep the home
>    page simpler and is more in keeping with other web sites.

I guess that would be appropriate if the site were very large and
had many possible places to search.  But on a site as small as Boost,
with fairly disjoint sets of data that people generally want to look
at, I think having partitioned searches is just fine.

> -- The section labeled, "About," has always mislead me.  I guess
>    I've been trained by Microsoft to expect application or
>    organization information under that heading, so the links that
>    appear in that section seem out of place.  In this case,
>    changing "About" to, say, "Reviews and Submissions" might be
>    just the thing.

I agree that "About" is used a little unconventionally.  I think
other possibilities for the section title would be "Policies",
"Protocol", "Details", "Contributing" or something along those lines.

Dave