Drupal.org re-design prototype iteration 8

Good job with the improvements! I really can't think of much to say; the design is fantastic. The only little things that come to mind are:
1. Homepage, left column: "If you already like what you see then why not start creating your site now: Get Started!" I think there should be an option for those who aren't ready: "More About Drupal" and/or "Try the Demo."
2. "Get Started" link at the top doesn't make sense since it just takes you to a place with links to Download/Extend, Docs, and Support (all of which are accessible through that same top menu already).
3. My guess is that Forums will be the most visited section in Community & Support... So at least the latest posts from the forums should appear on the Community & Support page. Maybe some key links too (write new post, forum categories, etc).

I'm really excited about the new design. Mark, Leisa, Carolyn, Rob and everyone else on that team deserve a big hug from us... :)

Ildar

--
Web Design in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

A little pedestrian thing- in the prototype listing page, adding property for a:visited {color:purple;} or something would help the visitor, because they can see what they have missed or not missed. I used a tool to edit the CSS of the page to make it easier for myself).

I feel like I may have seen a mention of this before, and I don't know if it is something you officially decided, or if it's just filler text: but the extraneous "THE" in "the Drupal Core" is throwing me off, making me twitch. As far as I know, it's Drupal Core, as in "Download Drupal Core", and "That's in Drupal Core", etc.

I love the Dashboard, I get it now, it makes sense! I love it.
I really like the Get started page, the arrows > the links under them.
Great improvements in all sections, if I listed them all - this post would be too long.

In the Choosing Drupal page, there are 3 sub-headings. Features, Benefits, What do I need. I'm not convinced by Benefits. The current links/text in Benefits is tended to in the next section: community. How about "Advantages" of Drupal instead? Then you can mention the strong, broad, diverse community; the security, transparency of open-source. Benefits makes me think "what am I getting out of this?" (the resulting profit) Whereas advantages might denote the attributes or quality of Drupal itself? (the conditions or circumstance for profit)

I wonder- and maybe people think breadcrumbs are for fairytales- but I'm looking for some "you are here" navigation to indicate where one is in a given region, for example, the news section... where is it residing?
http://drupal.markboultondesign.com/iteration8/news.html

I'm really interested in how documentation is dispersed, and placed in appropriate places, making it easier to find. Interesting to note things that were 'in handbook' have been moved to logical at-hand places.
e.g., http://drupal.markboultondesign.com/iteration8/community_irc.html - within the community area
and module-specific documentation moved to the sidebar links of a module page:
http://drupal.markboultondesign.com/iteration8/modules_detail.html
I assume we'll see little "+ Add documentation to this module" links on a module page- and somewhere in there the documentation fairies will be able to see an overview of all documentation amended, updated and added to the site?

Interesting as it also changes the way the documentation is managed. I assume you're working closely with Add1sun on this.

Especially those important 'locked' pages, like the 'getting involved' page which is currently part of a Handbook, but in the new site is:
http://drupal.markboultondesign.com/iteration8/getinvolved.html

Sorry I've been so busy and unable to view the other iterations, looks like such great work has gone into this. Thanks for posting! It looks very close to done :)

So again, still vast improvement, so i hate to criticize, but I know you're looking for feedback, so here are some thoughts:

Dislikes:

• Think the homepage is still to much, and feels unorganized.

  "Change the web, why Drupal, Things we've made, and the 310721 people..." are all about what Drupal is and who's using it, and are most appropriate for outsiders.

  In contrast, "develop" and "search" are for insiders. IMHO, this page should be more for outsiders, because insiders will have the ability to create their own dashboard.

  Search is so big that it's taking control over critical thinks like what drupal is and why choose it. Perhaps try combining these two to add emphasis, and maybe rolling up the refine/popular into an advanced category.

The Choosing Drupal page feels like a better approach.

• "things we made with Drupal" links to "choose Drupal." Feels wrong.
• The get involved page feels to much like brochure-ware. I'd like to see solid actionable steps to get involved. Almost like the getting started page.

Likes:

• I like the classifications on the modules page.
• I like the getting started page. On extend, I might like to see more about contributing. (learn how to extend it yourself or offer suggestions for improvements).
• Love the video help section, tried finding it without deep-linking from your prototype trigger page and couldn't find it. Video help should be front-and-center
• Love the link to Acquia for support, but it feels more like an ad than a support choice.

- Like the module example, but think a screencast should be mandatory for each module.

The new design looks great.

I am curious, who will be theming the site once the design is done?

I really like what your doing with the site so I'm sorry to be negative but there's a few changes that came to mind. I'm not sure if the design is finished or if this is something I should be commenting on because you may already have plans for this.

I feel the links in the header with the dark blue background should have rounded corners on the bottom.

The links in the header that already have rounded corners on the top aren't anti-aliased so they look a little jagged

Maybe even rounded corners on the search input box would look nice.

The rest of the page on the home page (below header) feels a little cluttered. A little more padding between "Why Choose Drupal?", "Things we made with Drupal" and "Develop with Drupal" would help. And maybe a background to distinguish between them.

I'd like to see the footer looking similar to the header with a blue gradient so it distinguishes it apart from the page.

looking good, but the logo looks a little woosy if you ask me.

--
theamoeba
http://www.amoebasys.com
http://www.itsolv.net
http://www.espresso-online.info (blog)

Some remarks:

1) the first thing in the site should be "Getting Started", not "Search"

The search is still not in the right place. As Noyz said, "search" is for insiders. For people who already know something of Drupal.

Think of someone that arrives in drupal.org for the first time? What's the first thing they'll do? Perhaps use the search, since that's the most proeminent thing. But... should they know what to search? Search for "Drupal" in Drupal.org? Use one of those popular searches that will lead to intermediate users' stuff? Not very helpful.

I think the most important thing for first-timers is "getting started" page. They want to know two things: "what the heck is that?" and "how do I use it?". We must provide this info.

2) primary links as primary links

The primary links "Get Started"... "About" up there are too hidden. On the other hand, stuff like "Home page", "Dashboard" and "Login/register" are too visible. "Login" and "Dashboard" are stuff for insiders and moreover are normally placed in the top of the page.

Can't they switch places - primary links goes to the primary links position (i.e., below header) and users' information goes to the top of the page (i.e., the dark blue box up there)?

3) module categories

Can we break down the module categories a little bit more? Is not helpful look for modules in a list of 200 modules in a generic category.

4) sub-domains

What has been decided about sub-domains? I mean, "docs.drupal.org", "community.drupal.org", "project.drupal.org", etc...
Or there's no decision yet?

5) big footer is great!

love that. Very easy to navigate.

5) i18n

And, by the way, any hope to get the website internationalizated?

I don't mind the logo, I'm not to keen on the "r" in the logo though. And I don't really like the light blue *

I do however like the search and think it's rather functional but it's taking up to much space, I don't see a need to know "Popular searches" and feel it's only there to fill in space.

I also think we need to use "text-align: justify" and add an extra bit of padding on the text of the page.

Here's a bit of a mock up, not sure the "r" looks to much better but I think you get the idea I think it should be rounded.

Thamas points out on Drupal.hu (http://drupal.hu/forum/drupalorg-redesign#comment-21277) that the splash looks exactly like the Mambo splash: http://mambo-foundation.org/ Erm, not good to use the same visuals as a competitor!

Thamas also says on http://drupal.hu/forum/drupalorg-redesign#comment-21277 that the wordmark is considerably similar to duplo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Duplo_logo.svg

I go a little against the grain with the top section. I kind of like it. It looks good for new/potentially new drupalers and seems to direct my eye. As a long time drupal user I don't find it helpful. Then again, I rarely visit the drupal homepage anyway. Should that change after the redesign?

Matt Farina
www.innovatingtomorrow.net
www.geeksandgod.com
www.superaveragepodcast.com
www.mattfarina.com

Hi,

Could there be a featured plugin block on the drupal front page?

This could rotate based on community votes or download stats daily or weekly etc.

For example here is a new one:
http://drupal.org/project/plugin_manager

Lets give such initiatives a promoting hand, will we? :P

Is there a plan to improve the search backend?

All of the discussion about the search box is pointless if the search backend isn't improved.

For example, if you search for "cck" with either the d.o site search or the "Search Downloads," the CCK module page is not in the first several pages of results. If you search google for "cck", the first result is the CCK module page.

• I agree with the search thing - more often its easier to 'google' but I wish it was easier to "drupal"
• a format of the forum closer to yahoo answers or something better than it, often I will be clicking threads which I know I can answer but that already has been answered satisfactorily
• easier way to flag/bookmark/label posts I need ( I beleive this is already implemented?), current tracker does not show my threads separately, nor does it allow to remove those I need not track
• seeing posts or post's first n words on hover, for example, in my tracker many times I find an issue updated but on clicking I find it is actually closed automatically; added advantage will be reply on hover.

IMHO, the current drupal design is hard to beat both in appearance and function - are we really doing something even better ? for example, the bottom nav while handy, at least in looks, is in overall so mundane as it is aped in almost all web2ish sites; the overall design also, incl. logo is not as unique as current drupal site. ( logo is mambo-ish, if the droplet can't be used create at least something as unique)

last thing, do not decrease default font size - we have been accustomed to large nice font, its difficult to downgrade.