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Re: new web site



OM>> Excuse me for saying this - but this site has the same problem as the
OM>> previous one. It is not grahpical enough. And yes - I KNOW we like

Just let me to be straight. We are building information site or we are
building Disneyland? Look at freshmeat - one of the most informative sites
I know - it has almost no graphics. Look at RPM repository at rufus.w3.org
- it has no graphics at all. Look at w3.org pages. Look at yahoo. Look at
slashdot. Look at lwn.net. Look at lituxtoday.com. Look at linuxhq.com.
All the sites have bare minimum of graphics (except banners). All has tons
of users.

OM>> simplicity. And yes - I know we love command line too. And yes, I use vi
OM>> myself to add users and change their information.

What vi has to do with web design concepts? Can you think w6without these
yellow-computer-press stamps?

OM>> BUT - This is just making people who come to the site confirm what they
OM>> think of linux - that's it a gray, text-based operating system, for weird
OM>> people with no lives.

No. They'd think that linux.org.il designer has a taste. We don't need to
demonstrate how good we can use gimp/photoshop, that's what gimp.org and
themes.org are for. We need to provide information, bare information, in
the most convenient way. 

OM>> If we want to attract the masses (and we WANT to attract the masses - isn't
OM>> that what all the "war" with microsoft is about?!) we need to make it

No. There's no war with microsoft. We don't need site to battle microsoft.
I don't care if microsoft lives or dies if it doesn't prevent us from
conveniently using our computers. To hell with Microsoft, why should I
think about it?
We need site to provide users with information in the most convenient way. 

OM>> graphically appealing. Look at linuxberg - see how beautifull the graphics
OM>> is. YES - I know - we don't have the same graphics people -but I am sure we

Very good example. Graphics at Linuxberg serves no particular purpose,
since it's software repository, not corporate homepage. You don't put
Picasso reproductions on the walls of your warehose, do you? You put them
in the salon. I'd be happy if Linuxberg people got rid of that pictures
and would put nice texts - faster load, less trouble. I do not care how
good they know to paint, I care how good they know to collect software.

OM>> can make something much more reasonable, much more colorfull, in a short
OM>> time. put some graphisc, put some penguins...

God forbid. Do we need to look like bunch of kindergarten kiddies?

OM>> 
OM>> Our site - 2-3 years ago, was much more live than this one... We are going

Ohh... How much time I've heard this... "Our design should be more live -
let's put some tens of animated gifs and jumping colors!!" Please, not
again.
More colours DOES NOT mean better design. More animations DOES NOT mean
better design. It adds NOTHING to the user of site, only gives the
designer that warm feeling "how cool I am in using those funky tools, how
cool my homepage is". Our homepage is FOR USERS, not for the designer.
Anything that doesn't add value to user, should be thrown out immediately.

OM>> down, instead of up, hiding under that phony cloack of "simplicity".

Keep It Simple, Stupid (NOM).

OM>> Computers develop and become more complex - so should we.

Owmygawd... So get writing assmebler code for a while, if you want to be
"more complex". I do not want our site to be "more complex" for user - and
I bet no user wants it. No user does care how cool do you feel when you
look on your "complex" design. He does care on usefulness and
informativity, and for such a site as Linux-IL - we need no more than
usefulness and informativity. 

Sorry for a long letter - you touched my sore point. :)
-- 
frodo@sharat.co.il	\/  There shall be counsels taken
Stanislav Malyshev	/\  Stronger than Morgul-spells
phone +972-2-6245112	/\  		JRRT LotR.
http://sharat.co.il/frodo/	whois:!SM8333