[Mageia-webteam] website design update & a few comments/tracks

Wed Mar 30 12:10:36 CEST 2011

(note this is a cross-posted topic, on mageia-artwork first, on
+mageia-webteam second - btw, please remind today's meeting and note
+that times have changed, thanks to DST! webteam is at 13:00 UTC,
+artwork at 17:00 UTC, see http://mageia.org/en/calendar/ ).
+
+Hi there,
+
+I just pushed a few CSS updates on www.mageia.org, after a quick
+review yesterday morning with a designer good friend (thanks Hélène!).
+
+These changes are here to finally publish the logo and make the
+website more colorful for beta1 release, using what we have. Note that
+I too slightly updated the nav bar contents and that we should review
+this for beta1.
+
+Further than helping on theming the website, she suggested two slight
+changes too:
+ * having a consistent favicon with the logo as it is used; that would
+have meant to have:
+   - either the top banner with a logo on a blue background to match
+the current favicon,
+   - either the favicon changed to the logo colours (white background,
+dark blue cauldron cut and light blue bubbles);
+   - yes, that sounds obvious, and we discussed shortly about this
+already to decide on the blue background favicon; so up to discussion
+again?
+ * carefullly adjusting the kerning (letter-spacing) in the logo text,
+between m, a and g - she retouched the logo as it is currently on the
+website in this regard; it's rather subtile but the change is
+noticeable. I'll try to post a side-by-side demonstration of this
+shortly.
+
+I hope/expect this will lead to further discussions about the website
+directions (see first notes there:
+http://mageia.org/wiki/doku.php?id=web:website ).
+
+Not to lose everyone into discussions, I suggest we just start with
+one thing: the global nav and general direction for mageia.org layout.
+
+Forgetting the current nav bar, here are some aims that would be good
+to reach I believe:
+ * same, consistent navigation bar _everywhere_ on mageia.org
+(requires it to be light and easily embedded; requires too that all
+mageia.org apps/sites share a minimum set of layout/design rules)
+ * as little first entry points as necessary (see
+http://mageia.org/wiki/doku.php?id=web:website#hubs_spaces but I'm not
+quite satisfied with it)
+ * mageia.org identity is clear and obvious
+ * local site/app identity is clear and obvious
+ * sub nav scheme is left to local site/app (but could follow a common
+set of guidelines as well if possible)
+
+Think of the following apps to take into account: www (as the main
+entry point), forum, bugzilla, maintdb, identity, wiki, blog, planet,
+etc. That's not an obvious thing to do, but it's worth it (users know
+where there are) and we can find a design that makes it not too
+complex to integrate.
+
+Or maybe such a scheme should be avoided? (why? and how to maintain a
+simple common guide through the whole sites then?)
+
+I have two rough ideas in queue:
+
+ a) leftaligned design, 100% width, horizontal nav bar, with only
+simple titles/links to apps/locations (list is flexible) + a search
+and user session handle on the right hand; the logo & local app/site
+identity is right under this nav bar + its own actions/nav items; look
+at Google (Apps) nav for an idea - they don't use it through all of
+their websites/apps, but I think that's worth a try;
+
+ b) left-aligned or centered design, fixed width (about 960px),
+horizontal nav bar, with a fixed short set of items; global
+identity/logo is the left-most item; with or without session/search
+handles; look at Apple or Mozilla or Mandriva nav bars. Second-level
+nav can be layed-out as the local app prefers, or by a global design
+too, integrated into the nav bar.
+
+I'll post mockups (or please do) within next week about this.
+
+Thanks for your insights.
+
+Romain
+