New Mozilla.org Website Beta

[Greg K Nicholson]

I'd like omstedall to write the website's content

I'm somewhat confused by the claims that the site is a fixed-width layout - it resizes to fit my browser window, at least between 720 and 1000 pixels in width.

[aldo]

I agree - omsetdall, that is amazing! I think that is a huge improvement over the current one.

Are you a native English speaker?

[Foxtrot]

I'd like omstedall to write the website's content

I agree - omsetdall, that is amazing! I think that is a huge improvement over the current one.

How very true. This would be a huge step forwards from the current "why" page.

Back to the design, though; I don't know how many times I've said this, but I'd like donation ads in their own section. They are taking the emphasis off the product, and are working against the intent the website has of persuading new users to give the product a try. No first-timer to the site in his/her right mind will donate to the site without knowing to what product the money goes.

The ads are scaring off new users, and are drawing attention away from the content.
"Products" should lead to a page with describing the products, not to a page telling you to help the organisation, or telling you to give them your money. That's also the reason why a link bearing the name "donate" or "help" or something should lead to a page offering you the means in which you can donate or help.

Meanwhile, those ads can be removed with a simple display:none; and you wouldn't technically be changing the content, only the style.

[andkon]

Great recommendations

Have you had time to read my essay on this subject: http://andkon.com/stuf/mozillanewstrategy/

If so, what do you think of mine?

[semoser]

@andkon
please wait for the new home page to come, we've heard enough of you recommendations! i agree with parts of it, but now stop bugging us with it...

[webmonkey]

I like it. I think it looks very good. as always I have a touph time with the news and donation stuff being in a left hand column(as on the front page). To me it should be somewhere else. ... but thats just me... I really do like the design.

One sugestion is to add a skip to content and a skip to navigation link. You can put these in for visually impared folks.

Commonly people put them in as display: hidden, however Jaws will only read that on IE, so here I would put the links for the disabled into divs with a set class and do the following:

Code: Select all

.skipnav {
   font-size: 1px;
   left: -1000px;
   line-height: 1px;
   position: absolute;
   width: 990px;
} 

With this I can use jaws and firefox just fine.

[Stefan]

Here are a few websites witch take advantage of the full screen and looks good in all resolutions:

It's not about "if it looks good" it's about if a reader will actually be able to read and UNDERSTAND what (s)he reads. Much reasearch has been done on this area and shows that long lines of text makes readability drop like a stone once you get above 10-15 words per line.

Here is a link that explains some of this.
http://www.webstyleguide.com/type/lines.html

That guide btw is a really good resource for people that want to learn how to design a good webpage.

@andkon
please wait for the new home page to come, we've heard enough of you recommendations! i agree with parts of it, but now stop bugging us with it...

Why? I think discussing suggestions & opinions in a constructive way could only help improve the new design even more. Please leave personal animosity out of the thread

[andkon]

@andkon
please wait for the new home page to come, we've heard enough of you recommendations! i agree with parts of it, but now stop bugging us with it...

I asked omstedall btw since he seems to know what he's talking about.

There's not much point to just wait for it, since Firefox is scheduled to now come out as a 1.0 in October (unless they changed it again). If corrections have to be made AFTER the 1.0, then that's a 1.0 that's wasted, as far publicity goes.

And why on earth would somebody come up with a design BEFORE coming up with content??

[webmonkey]

Here are a few websites witch take advantage of the full screen and looks good in all resolutions:

It's not about "if it looks good" it's about if a reader will actually be able to read and UNDERSTAND what (s)he reads. Much reasearch has been done on this area and shows that long lines of text makes readability drop like a stone once you get above 10-15 words per line.

Here is a link that explains some of this.
http://www.webstyleguide.com/type/lines.html

That guide btw is a really good resource for people that want to learn how to design a good webpage.

YUP YUP...

Tesla if you want to be really crafty... then make a nice dynamic theme but make it such that any large content areas are fixed in width. I have done that on a number of sites. but there are definately some strange design considerations to deal with if you do that.. like the creation of anouther vertical line. and the posibility of large white spaces...

Anouther concept is to make a theme dyanmic width up to a point. So dynamic width up to say 740px, from there it would not get bigger. This usually requires a CSS hack for IE if I recall correctly.... EDIT: I just looked again and it looks like the new site here is dynamic widthed up to a point using max-width and min-width... in IE its completely dynamic.

Eitherway I think this new design looks quite good. If you want some real feedback it should be usability tested. Having a bunch of web designers and wannabe web designers comment on their design preferences and religions is not always effective. Let the user be King! Do some interview tests. If everyday people are getting balled up... then you will see the changes that need to be made.

[JohannesP]

Actually, I think the new design is to dark and lacks a clear visual identity. I do not feel inspired when I look at it. The tabs are really good though and the menus etc also work very well.

With a better color scheme and a little bit clearer icons it will be great.

[omstedall]

Are you a native English speaker?

Yeah. I'm a Brit currently living and working in Beijing.

Have you had time to read my essay on this subject: http://andkon.com/stuf/mozillanewstrategy/
If so, what do you think of mine?

Yeah, I read your article the other week. Good stuff.

I'd like omstedall to write the website's content

I agree - omstedall, that is amazing! I think that is a huge improvement over the current one.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but none of you have specified which sections you'd like me to have a go at? I can't work on them all....!

I am going to have a go at tweaking the 'Why Firefox?' bullets today and will also start writing the content for a 'Firefox Features' page based in part on Ben Goodger's "Why Switch to Firefox" article [ http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/why/ ] and Features page at Texturizer [ http://texturizer.net/firefox/features.html ]. I will post it here when I am done.

In the mean time I have a question, being new to the Mozilla forums. If everyone likes my blurb, how can I incorporate it into the site? Is that a job for Silver-Orange or someone else (or can I do it?).

If any of you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know.

Oliver

[prawnFresh]

It's looking good alright!

Not sure if this has been brought up, but from a usability perspective shouldn’t a tab labelled ‘home’ be included? I know the main logo link back to the home, but I’m so used to seeing home tabs now, that I expect one. It almost feels like I have to go to extra effort to think about moving my mouse over the logo and clicking instead of hitting a home tab.

Also with the main page, the size of some of the headings plus the underlining is a bit funky from my point of view. It makes it busy and somewhat confusing.

You read the heading ‘The latest from Mozilla’, you get a nice bottom border and the next line is the Firefox logo, under that is an underlines link to the Firefox site.

Now onto the next entry ‘Mozilla 1.7’. Larger text? An underline and a bottom border? And the logo below it?

Is this a different section? Or is this still part of the ‘Latest from’ section?

The latest news should have precedence on the left hand menu as well. It should be the first thing above the others, without question.

Also the blue box at the bottom left, kinda looks tacked on.

I apologise if these have been brought up previously, but I haven’t got the time to read through all the pages as much as I’d like to. So I thought I’d drop my two-cents and let you guys dismiss it if irrelevant.

Congrats though, it’s looking good.

Chris

[Greg K Nicholson]

Also with the main page,

NOTE: This home page on the website beta has not been updated for the new design yet. It will be upated soon. More info about the beta is available in this weblog post, and feedback/bugs/issues can be posted on this MozillaZine thread.

[quixos]

non technical aside...

the beta color scheme is dark and claustrophobic and it tastes like bluecurve.

the current color scheme is open and inviting. it doesn't look "owned" by a particular operating system.

i can only speak for myself, but the beta reminds me of one of those kit sites you might run across on the internet while searching for a real estate agent. it no longer looks special.

once again, just a break from the technical.

[loopnine]

This new design is in my opinion far better than the current one, good work!

there is howerer one thing that looks rather ugly in my eyes, and that is the clicked links they are now becoming purple, and that feels like pre 1995 style, that should be changed!!
I think that they should become either a little darker blue, a little brighter blue, or not change at all. not change at all would be the best

but other than that I just see a professional looking site, much cleener than before. It would make me want to try Firefox if I didnt already use it.