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Hi, Rene.
I put together a mock-up image of my suggestions for tweaks to the new LUGNET
front page. I am using index-test-2 as
a basis since I prefer the overall look of that draft to any of the ones since
then. (Not that the latest
draft is not good, but I prefer the colors and look of the columns in
index-test-2.) Here’s what I came up with:
Click image for the full-size
view.
Starting in the upper left corner, I kept the LUGNET logo as large as it was in
index-test-2, but centered it over the left column and avoided using the box
around it at all.
I tried moving the Welcome message to the very top of the middle of the page. I
am not so sure we’ve come up with the best actual Welcome message yet (I am not
even sure what “services” refers to here; and we’ll need to settle on whether
we’re calling them discussion groups or forums--I prefer discussion groups, but
maybe I’m old school). But I think what would be best is something succinct,
giving people a quick and friendly description of what LUGNET is all about.
I also tried putting the large icon links directly below that, in effect
swapping positions with the Welcome message. I also tried adding a “Join/Login”
icon link centered above the right column of the page. This was inspired by the
same yellow key / gray key icon that displays on most LUGNET pages depending on
whether or not you are currently logged in. The change here would be to have
this link to a single page where you could login if you are already a LUGNET
member or find out how to become a member (or just get posting privileges) if
you are not.
In the top right corner, I’ve managed to squeeze in a search field with the
icon. I could see perhaps sacrificing the icon for space reasons. And I wasn’t
able to fit in an “Advance search” link (though I suppose the icon could
function as that very link with a tooltip explaining it).
On the left column, I’ve put the Top Stories as it is in the latest draft
(index-test-5). Personally, I’m not so concerned with what goes beneath that on
the left column. As I mentioned before, I always did like the links to popular
newsgroups, but I don’t have a strong feeling about this.
At the top of the right column, again I’m following the latest draft, just
trying to keep the look and feel of index-test-2.
In the middle column I’ve tried adding a small headline letting the visitor know
what sort of content follows by putting “We bring to your attention...” That
sounds a little corny, so I would certainly like to hear other people’s
suggestions. As I mentioned before, I really liked the look of the dark blue
text over the very, very light blue background of the middle column in
index-test-2, so I’ve kept that. But I did move the posting date in parentheses
to the very end of each blurb, just after the standardized “Read more...” link.
By the way, please ignore the actual text in these middle column blurbs. I just
did a bunch of copy-and-pastes to fill in the space to make it look appropriate,
so the text itself is mix-and-match gibberish. :)
I think that covers all the changes I made. I’d be interested in people’s
comments on those changes, or to hear what people like better about
index-test-5 (or one of its
color variants) than this mock-up.
-Brendan
P.S. Is there a way for the parent post for each new draft Rene creates to be
automatically given enough highlight/spotlights to ensure it stays on the front
page’s Top Stories for a few days? I think this overhaul of the LUGNET front
page is pretty monumental news, and yet I get the sense that a lot of people who
might feel very strongly about it aren’t even aware of it because they don’t
make a habit of reading lugnet.admin. I know I don’t, so I feel fortunate to
have stumbled across it when I did!
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: New homepage for LUGNET part 3
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| (...) Looks great without the box! BTW, the "shadows" in the logo should be darker versions of the brick colors (e.g., dark blue, dark red, dark yellow) instead of black. But in terms of a mock-up, that's just a minor point. (...) Another minor (...) (17 years ago, 17-Dec-06, to lugnet.admin.suggestions, FTX)
| | | Re: New homepage for LUGNET part 3
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| Hi Brendan, thank you very much for taking the time to make this image. It's really a lot of fun creating the new frontpage with all the help from various people. (...) The borders are made out of 4 different pictures, each is a background picture (...) (17 years ago, 21-Dec-06, to lugnet.admin.suggestions, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: New homepage for LUGNET part 3
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| Hi all, thanks again for the feedback, I guess we come closer to a final design. Here are three more sketches, the difference between them is only the colors. I moved the Search up to the right corner and tried to thin out the middle section a (...) (17 years ago, 15-Dec-06, to lugnet.admin.suggestions, FTX) !
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