Mozilla.org Website Beta Final Call

Harrison · Post by **Harrison** » August 30th, 2004, 8:33 pm

Looks really nice.

I like the screenshot of the onion

DO they know about it? Maybe they could advertise for us or something....

vertigo451 · Post by **vertigo451** » August 30th, 2004, 9:00 pm

Looks great. Just a couple of suggestions:

1. Doesn't the download page deserve a tab on the the front page? Many users will look at the front page and want to just download the product... not go to the products page first (Firefox is the exception). This could also help international customers find downloads.

2. Mozilla Suite does not have a text link to its product page like Thunderbird or Firefox. For some it may be confusing how to get to the mozilla suite product page or download link.

3. On the Products Page, the Mozilla Suite does not have a snappy slogan like Thunderbird or Firefox. For consistancy, the suite deserves a slogan.

Awesome job guys. Great improvement over the previous site. :monkey:

Edit: Sigh, my spelling is awful.

Jesse · Post by **Jesse** » August 30th, 2004, 9:20 pm

The Firefox screenshot was rotated in a non-smooth way, so it looks jaggy.

There's no Firefox logo on the front page.

The dates from the RSS feeds look like buttons.

You can only see the three newest items from each RSS feed. Can you increase it to five?

The "free download" box doesn't scale down with text zoom. Maybe
it's specified in px while everything else is specified in em.

On the front page, the logo that normally links to the front page should not be a link.

skarkkai · Post by **skarkkai** » August 30th, 2004, 9:59 pm

1) The first thing any site should tell is what the site is all about. There's not a word about what Mozilla or mozilla.org is about. The About link is not hard to find and does tell this, but I feel there should be at least a sentence on the main page too.

2) Aside from the link bar (Products, Support, Store, ...) the page structure is not entirely clear. Are all 7 elements (Firefox 0.9.3, Get Thunderbird, Mozilla Suite, ...) quicklinks to important areas of the site? Ads of some type? Is "Firefox 0.9.3" a subtitle of the page?

3) Titles of other sections are inconsistent. "Get Thunderbird" but "Mozilla Suite". Apparently those sections are meant more as frequently changing ads than pointers to most important parts of the site. I so, fine, but there would then be quite a few ad type elements on the page. If not, I think the naming of the sections should be more consistent to give the user sense of consistency. All in all, I think the main page should have tighter focus. What does it want to tell? Having the firefox part and then 6 other major elements is stretching it. What kind of a user does having all that on the main page serve? If a user has a goal, he's not likely to scan through all those elements to see if just maybe what he's looking for is among them. I suggest maybe placing to the main page for example:

- a blurb about what Mozilla or mozilla.org is all about
- two more or less frequency changing ads
- a number of links to most important parts of the site, perhaps clearly grouped into categories

4) Still curious about the purpose of the area occupied by "Firefox 0.9.3" text, I go to "Get Thunderbird" and "Mozilla Suite" pages. On chose pages that area seems to contain a subtitle and a blurb about the subject of the page. That seems inconsistent: in a layout, each area (defined by location or appearance) should have unchanging purpose. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

5) Products page doesn't tell if "Firefox", "Thunderbird" and "Mozilla Suite" are the products. Is a product different from a project? Adding a subtitle "Mozilla products" would help.

6) At least on my browser Firefox 0.8 the page doesn't indicate which tab I'm on. The selected tab should have a different appearance.

All this said, I like the look of the site and finding my way around isn't that hard. The sitemap is good. Chiefly I find the main page needs better clarity of structure.

fishbert · Post by **fishbert** » August 30th, 2004, 10:10 pm

Why did Sunbird get nixed on the Products page in favor of "Calendar Project"?
One would think that, at the very least, a new website design would be the perfect opportunity to show off a new application logo (nevermind that Sunbird is just a damn fine program in its own right).

Moparx · Post by **Moparx** » August 30th, 2004, 10:17 pm

great work guys... i like the new layout alot

ratman · Post by **ratman** » August 30th, 2004, 10:33 pm

definitely an improvement - much more simple and straightforward.

my one complaint is that you actually have to reload the page to see the different versions of the firefox screenshot (with the different web sites pictured), which i wouldn't have noticed if i hadn't read the comments here. i suppose a auto-refreshing page would be highly annoying and an animated image somewhat cumbersome, but having a screenshot of the onion's site be the first and only one seen by a potential site visitor might bring up an issue of credibility (that perhaps this amazing free browser is as real as the onion's news articles). or at least that was my first impression.

slxception · Post by **slxception** » August 30th, 2004, 10:40 pm

It looks like someone did an oops and forgot stylesheets for the Camino page. Otherwise, it looks good.

shlomif · Post by **shlomif** » August 30th, 2004, 11:09 pm

It's a very nice site and all. However, in Konqueror 3.2.x, when the cursor moves over the upper tabs (Products, Support, Store), I get an inconsistent behaviour in the highlighting of the right rounded parts of each tab. Otherwise everything looks fine.

stmoebius · Post by **stmoebius** » August 30th, 2004, 11:26 pm

1) The homepage talks about FF0.9.3, yet all download links point to 0.9.2.
2) Firefox tag line is now 'rediscover the web' (which is cool) but the title of the product page still says 'The Browser, Reloaded' (as does the release notes headline).
3) The 'Downloading Firefox' section can be reached via 'Other Systems and Languages'. There should at least be some hint there where those other languages may be found (or when).

stmoebius · Post by **stmoebius** » August 30th, 2004, 11:31 pm

http://website-beta.mozilla.org/download.html points to lots of outdated builds.

CritterNYC · Post by **CritterNYC** » August 30th, 2004, 11:35 pm

If I were a first-time visitor and unfamiliar with Mozilla, some of the headings may not be as descriptive as they should. We may not need to use just the official names as the headers (ie... Mozilla Suite). For a new user... a suite of what? Sure, the description says it, but lots of people skim by headings. Why not have the header be Mozilla Browser Suite? Netscape refers to their product as such. And why not "Firefox 0.9.3 Web Browser" as the main headline? Or just "Firefox 0.9.3 Browser"? Rather than having to read into the intro, they'd know what it was right there. And the same for Thunderbird. Why not "Get Thunderbird Email" or "Get Thunderbird Mail"? That way, someone may be more likely to stumble onto it when checking out the site for another reason (say, a friend recommended Firefox).

I also agree with others mentioning a download link. I don't know how it would fit into the interface... its own tab perhaps? But a download page would be handy for those folks that just want to get in and download it.

Additionally, perhaps moving the "Other systems and languages" link to directly below the "Download Now!" link on the Firefox page (and similarly for elsewhere on the site, including the homepage) would make it easier for non-English and non-Windows downloads. A page with individual choices linking to system-specific download pages (with instructions) would be preferable to the current, monolithic, other systems and languages download page.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,
John

Mat · Post by **Mat** » August 31st, 2004, 12:15 am

there should be a link to international/Mac/Linux FireFox Versions somewhere

jensb · Post by **jensb** » August 31st, 2004, 12:20 am

In IE5, the blue firefox box at the top of the start page overlaps with the "Get Thunderbird", "Mozilla Suite" and "In the Store" headings...

Additionally, the navigation bar has some sort of extra border on the right and bottom.

big_surfer · Post by **big_surfer** » August 31st, 2004, 12:44 am

First of all, I like the new design. Crisp and clear, not too much information. But when I go to "Other Systems and Languages" I find 2 issues:

1) Why does a new menue appear at the left side of the side. This is a inconsistancy to the prior sites. Also the content of the submenue does not apply to the page´s content! If you want to use a submenue: Fill it with menue items that are related to this (big) page´s content: - Release Notes - what is new - system Requirements - windows - linux - other platforms - FAQ ...

2) Where are the "other languages"? Presuming, i´m a new (former IE) user from Europe, where do I find my (nationalized) version at first glance, at second glance .... ? I can´t find it! You should add a link to foreign language versions at a prominent place!

There is also a lot of information on the page "Other Systems and Languages". The information needs to be more structured. The difference between headers and subheaders is nearly unnoticable and doesn´t support the page´s structure.

Is all of the information on this page really necessary for the "normal" users? Think about reducing the amount of information (moving it to other places of this website) and the page becomes more readable.

Mozilla.org Website Beta Final Call

A small problem with Konqueror 3.2.x

How About More-Descriptive Headings?