Nah, it really *is* "tl". So tl;dr:
Advertica Lite good for a news site, which might be different from the main landing site. Landing site should contain "call-to-action": a simplified way to download Kubuntu; feature tour should either be a cta or be the main page. Not included in original message: people scroll more, click less than before [citation needed, although I've seen some research on this]. Good examples of distro sites: http://www.ubuntu.com/ ; http://elementary.io/ ; good for its purposes: https://getfedora.org/ ; good usability, not quite good design: http://www.linuxmint.com/ (not incl. in orig.) ; BAD EXAMPLES: https://www.archlinux.org/ ; https://www.debian.org/ . Make it more vivid ( ;) ) by showing a photo with a Kubuntu-running Linux in a good-looking environment. And yeah, I forgot to mention mobiles: instead of call to download - "let us send you an e-mail with a download link". Everything for now, I think. 2015-02-26 21:48 GMT+01:00 Paweł Abramowicz <[email protected]>: > Hey, > > This is Paweł 'Avras' Abramowicz here, the Quintasan's flatmate from > earlier discussion; together with a bunch of my friends we're designing > websites for some time now. > > To add my two pennies worth; I see Advertica Lite as a very refreshing > proposal, but as it is a multi-purpose theme, it would need some serious > tweaking to fit Kubuntu perfectly. Its text pages are really good, and it > would be a neat theme for Kubuntu News, obviously, but rearranging the tour > and main page using Wordpress and Wordpress only (even with theme options, > but without struggling with editing the theme's CSS and PHP) might prove > difficult. I have minor concerns about the parallax, too; it must be done > right to achieve any effect, and not just be a pure decoration – and when > it is, it must be a bit more subtle. > > Browsing through other distros' sites I've observed a few features worth > discussing. I'll drop the links on the end of my e-mail. > > To start with, the first page a potential user sees of Ubuntu [1], > Elementary OS [2] or even Fedora [3] to some extent, are optimised for > newcomers; they have either a feature tour right on the first page, or > there is a big button (or, as marketers say, a Call-To-Action) to download > or see for yourself if you are not yet convinced. Debian [4] tried, but the > only thing they did is a white button, not big enough for a 1366x768 > screen, not to mention Full HD ones. > > There is a trend to delegate the news section to a dedicated blog [2n], > [3n]. It might be a fad, but I think it's a good idea, and you can use a > distinct, but similar theme for the blog. I think that's where Advertica > Lite should go, as its typography is perfect, but the landing page is not > convincing enough. A different look for a news site allows for a few > modifications, too; you can expose RSS feed and category listings, and hide > irrelevant options from the menu. The main page and the rest of the site is > mostly about visuals; the news site is all about text. > > The question if Advertica Lite won't just be maintaining a status quo in > people's reaction (except from the change from "oh, it's old" to "oh, it's > new") is not about what it does right, but about what it doesn't, and > what's wrong that it doesn't avoid. It's basically another do-all news site > without a strong feeling of what you should do next. I know Kubuntu is not > a commercial project, and we don't need to bait people into buying > anything, but it would be beneficial even for a veteran user to have a > visual cue to locate the download button; the download process itself > should be straight-forward and amount of clicks needed should be minimised. > A new release, or just a current number of a version the download button > points to, should be easy to spot. The intent of the page – here, we have > the best Linux for both casual and experienced users, that is good for > every environment – should be clear. > > The bad practices are now easy to point in ArchLinux' site[5] - a KISS > distro that has a reddit-type, complex website, where there is only one > download button, hidden from plain sight. Debian[4] is not good either - > it's engineer's interpretation of good practices in design, that turned out > badly. The 16-colour-palette blue is not a pleasant hue, the download > call-to-action is tiny on Full HD screens, and while the site is > responsive, it is certainly not mobile-friendly (links are densely packed, > the colors are too contrasting and hurt eyes in the long run). > > To end on a positive note, there are a few features worth using :) The > double menu (static big one in header and fixed top when scrolled down) is > a good idea, but its execution could be a bit better [6]. The header image > is OK, but it can contain a call-to-action within it, and be more > attractive. To look modern, we could use a photorealistic presentation of > the system's desktop, using a ready-made mockup [7][8] or take a photo > ourselves; Quintasan and I could try doing that on our balcony with my HP > or his Thinkpad, but I'm not sure about possible results. > > That's all for now; sorry for "tl", and I hope you don't resort to "dr". > > [1] Ubuntu - http://www.ubuntu.com > [1d] Ubuntu Desktop Download Page - http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop > [2] ElementaryOS - http://elementary.io/ > [2n] ElementaryOS' blog - http://blog.elementary.io/ > [3] Fedora - https://getfedora.org/ > [3n] Fedora Magazine - http://fedoramagazine.org/ > [4] Debian - https://www.debian.org/ > [5] ArchLinux - https://www.archlinux.org/ > > [6] one of my coding jobs – the design is not mine, and I don't really > take pride in it - http://oderpaare.de/ > [7] a free mockup; we could use this one on CC-BY, or shoot our own - > http://www.blog.domdesignonline.de/kostenlos-laptop-mock-up/ > [8] two collections of mockups, unfortunately, free versions are of no > value to this project: https://placeit.net/ , http://place.to/ >
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