Re: [boost] Re: Front page redesign...

From: Rene Rivera (grafik.list_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-12-01 02:28:33

Rob Stewart wrote:
> -- The chevron icons do nothing for me.  They aren't indicative
>    of the section they call out and there are only three on the
>    page.  If they differed for each section, they might provide
>    value, or if they were more visually useful, they might be
>    better.  As suggestions for the latter, you could use drop
>    caps in the headings instead of icons, per se, or you could
>    use a partial box:
> 
>    | Welcome to Boost.org!
>    +-----------
> 
>    The partial box would be sized to be just a portion of the
>    width of the headings (and the same width for all of them).

They are indicative of a section, nothing else. They call attention to a 
section without overloading the text itself, as the text is already 
bolder. It's good that there are only three, or two, as otherwise they 
would loose their indication power, they stand out more the fewer there 
are. As pointed out in the early designs making such indicators more 
visually meaningful was described as distractions from the text. Doing 
the design you suggests would clash with the rest of the design. The one 
alternative would be to use the same design element as that of the menu 
box and the search box on the header like:

   Welcome to Boost.org!
  ----------------------
   |
   |   The Boost web site...
       emphasis is on libraries...

But that would dilute the meaning of those box lines away from the 
navigation boxes they currently delineate.

> -- I liked Jeff's suggestion of a "toolbar" of most frequent
>    links across the top.  I'm sure there can be some argument as
>    to what the most frequently used links are, but if the list is
>    kept short, it shouldn't be too hard.

Must have missed that suggestion :-\

I don't think there's any argument as to what the most frequently used 
links are. They are all the links that are currently on the left 
navigation menu and in the search box. If something is not popular 
enough it will never get a place on the navigation menu. So duplicating 
some of those someplace else in the page would only help to clutter the 
page and confuse visitors.

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