I second the call to see a mockup. I don't dislike the page as much as the OP but clearly it could be refreshed.
B. On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 12:24 PM, Paul Davis <[email protected]> wrote: > I always quite liked it. > > Anyway, this is open sauce as they say. The quickest way to changing > something like that is to check out the site sources and mock up > something you think is better. Then submit it to JIRA and we'll ask > the community for consensus. > > HTH, > Paul Davis > > On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 7:17 AM, Gregory Tappero <[email protected]> wrote: >> I dare to say that i agree, it is repelling at first sight. >> >> >> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 1:12 PM, James Fisher <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Hi all, >>> >>> >>> I've recently fallen head-over-heels in love with CouchDB. However, this >>> (my first) email will probably be at best, constructively critical, and at >>> worst, offensive, but: >>> >>> Does the CouchDB project have any agreed visual brand identity, or is it >>> being worked on? I speak mainly of the pages at >>> http://couchdb.apache.org/. I'm the kind of person that judges a book >>> by its cover, and it took >>> consIiderable effort for me to stop my eyes being repelled from that page. >>> Compare it, for example, with the simple design at http://www.mongodb.org/ , >>> where many newbies (like me) to document-oriented DBs will be making an >>> active comparison. >>> >>> CouchDB's slogan is "relax", but that web design gets me all agitated. >>> There's no room to breathe: logotype squished into a corner, small font, >>> subheadings imprisoned in dark green cells. No ample footer telling me I've >>> reached the end of the page and where I should go next; just a niggardly >>> copyright notice. Rather than relaxing, the guy on the sofa looks like he's >>> trying to squirm as far away from the page as possible. >>> >>> The sofa logo I'm not particularly opposed to, but: entirely saturated >>> primary red? That's the universal visual symbol for "PANIC!". I have this >>> passage from The Vagina Monologues indelibly imprinted on my memory: >>> >>> --- >>> Then he began to undress me. >>> >>> "What are you doing, Bob?" I said. >>> >>> "I need to see you," he replied. >>> >>> "No need," I said. "Just dive in." >>> >>> "I need to see what you look like," he said. >>> >>> "But you've seen a red leather couch before," I said. >>> --- >>> >>> ... blech. >>> >>> And: who could ever relax on such an angular sofa? >>> >>> The index page just doesn't sell it. A needless <h1> "The CouchDB Project" >>> tells me what I already know from looking at the logotype. The messy design >>> schema, which could be a quirky feature (though its appearance on the first >>> page is questionable), instead sits awkwardly on top of other headers and >>> squashing text out of the way, with an inappropriate yellow background that >>> together with the green suggests vomit (oh dear, on my nice new sofa). >>> There's no big bold text telling me that I should use CouchDB. >>> >>> The first paragraph: "Apache CouchDB is a document-oriented database that >>> can be queried and indexed in a MapReduce fashion using JavaScript. CouchDB >>> also offers incremental replication with bi-directional conflict detection >>> and resolution." This jumps into jargon way too soon -- as a prospective >>> user, the first thing I want to hear is something simple, comforting, and >>> whetting my appetite: "CouchDB is a new kind of database; it will change the >>> way you work; come with me, and I will take you on a tour of its secrets." >>> >>> Next, the colour scheme. Red and dark-half-saturated green (I'm not even >>> sure whether that colour has a name)? Under no system of colour theory is >>> that an appropriate combination. I suspect it hasn't consciously been >>> decided upon as a palette -- the red appears nowhere else. >>> >>> What's with the needless breadcrumb trail across my entire 2000px-wide >>> screen? It might be appropriate for a massive site where getting lost is >>> easier than finding anything, but not here where every page is easily listed >>> down the left. >>> >>> And the diagonal pinstripe background -- that's so 2003. Nothing else on >>> the site implies that 45 degree angle. Get rid of it. >>> >>> Futon displays a different scheme: red with shades of grey. The slogan, >>> "relax," sits in a different place to the same slogan in the logotype on the >>> website. The text sits under, rather than aside, the sofa logo. The >>> "contract the sidebar" arrow inexplicably points up rather than to the >>> right. >>> >>> I'm getting into nitty-gritty now, but I hope I've made a point: CouchDB is >>> surely losing users by pushing them away with bad design. The main slogan, >>> "relax," I really, really like, but it unfortunately doesn't come across >>> anywhere. It should. The whole visual design specification should use this >>> one word as its starting point. >>> >>> I don't just want to criticize. Perhaps I can help -- I have no experience >>> with Erlang, and I'd be much better suited to PR in this case. AFAICT the >>> site is hand-written static HTML/CSS, so a redesign is not a massive >>> undertaking. >>> >>> Opinions? >>> >>> >>> >>> James Fisher >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Greg Tappero >> CTO co founder Edoboard >> http://www.edoboard.com >> +33 0645764425 >> >
