[Lazarus] Reconstructing Lazarus Website 2: the content

[Bee Jay]

> I took minimalist approach because most new visitors will be
> overwhelmed by things they have to read just to download the damned
> thing. There are many reason why open source projects nowadays put a
> big button on their front page just so anyone who visit the page for
> the first time (either by word of mouth, googling, etc) can get
> straight to it and try it the `product` right away.

Agree. I like your minimalist approach. I even tried to achieve it by  
the design I proposed. But, the "minimalist" term is very much  
relative. In my thought, minimalist in the context of FPC/Lazarus  
website means less words, but not less informations. Yes, in the  
design I'd proposed there are too many texts, it's not very good. But,  
actually I didn't mean to be like that exactly. I want the content to  
be less words and more icons (as long as they're not annoying). Also  
take a look at the buttons on the header banner, the Download button  
is there so visitors could get it and try it right away. Please be  
patient until I finish visualizing my ideas. Off course, you or every  
one may agree and disagree, it's just a proposal. The people,  
especially the core developers, should decide which proposal will be  
approved.

> What I meant wasn't being verbose or not, what I mean is to straight
> to the point, sure Wordpress is popular but so does Google. Since its
> early days Google took the minimalist approach to display just what it
> the visitor would expect from a search engine, that is a place where
> they can query the damned thing to get results, not some place where
> the can read the latest gossip about Jennifer Anniston or fun facts
> about gardening.

We can't compare FPC/Lazarus with Google.com. We have a totally  
different product. What can we expect from a search engine UI, but  
simply an input box and a search button? If you really want to compare  
it with Google's product, then compare it with Google Code, instead of  
Google search. Take a look at Google Code website, you should know  
that it's not as minimalist as Google search.

> The download link, the three boxes ('What is it', 'Downloads',
> 'Developers'), and search form are within the "focus rectangle" of the
> screen, a term in GUI study about user focus and flow. I put it there
> in a concise manner but followed by a link so anyone, presumably the
> ones who comfortable with Lazarus, or people who want to know more,
> can follow it and get more information.

We have the same goal but with different approach. The focus rectangle  
in my proposal is the header banner. My idea is to put sell points of  
FPC/Lazarus in one easy to spot place. That's why I will make it as  
animated header so I could place more things in one place.

> The thing is, dumping
> everything on the front page is not, IMHO, a good thing as it, as I
> said earlier, overwhelmed the visitor both regular or first timer. I
> think this kind of approach is refreshing and actually works because I
> cant remember when the last time I have to read so many thing just to
> get what I want.

The "everything on the front page" in my design is the footer bar. And  
the footer bar position, as the name imply, is on the bottom side of  
the page, using small fonts. So, it doesn't show right up front the  
nose of the visitors. You need to scroll down to see it. I don't think  
such approach would overwhelm visitors. CMIIW.

> As for 'Forum Postings' I took it from Lazarus front page. Maybe it
> should be renamed to 'Recent Threads' or something similar, but I
> think it is a positive approach as I didn't put the entire thread but
> just the original poster and the title so it wont tax much space but
> at the same time encourage experienced Lazarus developers to help
> and/or take a look at the forum to answer any questions they found
> interesting.

I also elaborate this need on my proposal. It's the dynamic content on  
the right pane of the subpages which could display many valuable  
information snapshots (recent forum post, recent svn commit, recent  
submitted code, screenshot, etc) randomly.

-- 

-Bee-

...making buzzes at http://twitter.com/beezing
...writing stories at http://beeography.wordpress.com