You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to dev@couchdb.apache.org by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> on 2009/10/14 12:51:58 UTC

Re: Website redesign

Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)

*Ping*



Re: Website redesign

Posted by cinnebar <xc...@gmail.com>.
> Green on the couch?
> Apparently his vote is for the first one. He didn't elaborate.

I ment the the green on the CouchDB home page of the current website design
...a bit 7 hours ago maybe?...

Kind of expect redesigning the website is inevitable and appropriate and
that some kind of unified page style might be looked at to bridge the
different elements of CouchDB presence on the face of the web...
...tho I am beginning to understand that given the nature of CouchDB a
debate for a consistent style sheet would may be similar to the debate for a
json schema.  I mean I imagine that, given the appropriate model for the
CouchDB homepage, replication would allow a local dub version where a style
sheet would/could come down to usr discretion or taste...

Some people dont know anything about CouchDB, heh, and would be used to more
typical website model so I suspect they would be a primary target of the
website redesign?... so many moving parts in these here parts...

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 15 Oct 2009, at 20:21, Paul Davis wrote:

>> Shocking.
>>
>
> I would've described it as electrifying, but I think I watched too
> many cartoons as a child.

One of the worst bond lines was ever was in Goldfinger:

	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD1ybsvhtng

Sean Connery chucks a henchman into the bathtub, and then electrifies  
him.

As he walks away, he says "shocking. Positively shocking."


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Paul Davis <pa...@gmail.com>.
> Shocking.
>

I would've described it as electrifying, but I think I watched too
many cartoons as a child.

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 15 Oct 2009, at 20:16, Paul Davis wrote:

> Apparently his vote is for the first one. He didn't elaborate.

Shocking.

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Paul Davis <pa...@gmail.com>.
On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org> wrote:
>
>> Like that one I had in college?
>
>
> Maybe we should ask Douglas Crockford about it?
>

Apparently his vote is for the first one. He didn't elaborate.

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
> Like that one I had in college?


Maybe we should ask Douglas Crockford about it?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Paul Davis <pa...@gmail.com>.
On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 2:41 PM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org> wrote:
>> Actually having real issues with the green on the couch hmp ever since
>> Noah
>> mentioned it way back when... not a nudge,  just a +1 and concurr type
>> sound
>
> Green on the couch?
>

Like that one I had in college?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
> Actually having real issues with the green on the couch hmp ever  
> since Noah
> mentioned it way back when... not a nudge,  just a +1 and concurr  
> type sound

Green on the couch?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by cinnebar <xc...@gmail.com>.
On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 9:58 PM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org> wrote:

> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>
>
> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo list
> now. :)


Actually having real issues with the green on the couch hmp ever since Noah
mentioned it way back when... not a nudge,  just a +1 and concurr type sound

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
cinnebar wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 10:39 AM, maddiin wrote:
>
>   
>> Reading your comment makes me think of a theatre scenery with two old guys
>> sitting in a loge and being sarcastic about the show. ^q^
>>
>>     
>
> ...just in case and to avoid confuse I wasnt being sarcastic at all...

That was in reply to a previous mail by Noah and not serious at all. :)

Re: Website redesign

Posted by cinnebar <xc...@gmail.com>.
On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 10:39 AM, maddiin wrote:

> Reading your comment makes me think of a theatre scenery with two old guys
> sitting in a loge and being sarcastic about the show. ^q^
>

...just in case and to avoid confuse I wasnt being sarcastic at all...

Otherwise all good...I have dropped some option re “CouchDB in the wiki
graphic" : http://bit.ly/iItaQ



On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Chris Anderson wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 7:18 PM, maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> > cinnebar wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi agree that excess and overkill is undesirable.  The content of the
> >> graphics is still fluxy...still experimenting with ideas... and the set
> >> online is gradually being updated... http://bit.ly/iItaQ
> >> The oriental symbol is a Japanese symbol for couch and I have been using
> >> it
> >> because images cant be translated the way text can.  Do you think that
> the
> >> use of this symbol would alienate American or European users or
> >> compromises
> >> the 'identity' of CouchDB?
>
> Word! CouchDB's identity is pretty strong, and can be transmitted
> through many media. The key is the replication story.
>
> * I really like this thread because it reminds me of the early days of
> Rails.
>
> One of the first things that really catapulted Rails into the
> mainstream was DHH's screencast. With all our creative energy, if we
> could start pushing it out to the world in the form of tutorials and
> hello-world examples, Couch would be everywhere. The key is making it
> super easy to get started.
>
> I think a big part of Rails' early success was the website:
>
> http://rubyonrails.org/
>
> The design is less important than the content.
>
> Having all the blog posts, wikis, videos, case-studies, IRC logs,
> screen-casts, etc. available in a an easy-to-digest website, will make
> no-hassle for newcomers, which is the most important thing.
>
> I know a software package that makes making a website like that really
> fun: CouchDB.
>
> So go for it! Creating content is the most important thing. If we use
> CouchApps to aggregate content, then we can all share our views of the
> web via replication. Eventually as we overwhelm youtube, blogs, etc,
> with how-to-use-CouchDB content, people will see how simple it is.
>
> I think we can structure it all with hashtags and feeds, Jon Udell
> style, and use CouchDB to persist and serve it. But really it doesn't
> matter, as long as we make it easy for new arrivals to find just what
> they need to know about CouchDB, while at the same time giving them a
> taste of the "Relax" feeling.
>
> Chris
>
>
I agree a lot with these comments.

Still a ways off from smoothly operating replication hub here and tinkering
with graphics meantime...honestly any excuse to make graphics...and CouchDB
surely is a worthy cause...Anim vid or stickers definitely just steps
away...

...Things like the hand drawn diagram of CouchDB structure on the homepage
are an important part of the "relax" aesthetic.  I have impression of
Japanese culture from CouchDB being a serious piece of tech while aspiring
to easy and a relaxed state of mind at the same time.  CouchDB Zen.


Cheers

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Chris Anderson <jc...@apache.org>.
On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 7:18 PM, maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> cinnebar wrote:
>>
>> Hi agree that excess and overkill is undesirable.  The content of the
>> graphics is still fluxy...still experimenting with ideas... and the set
>> online is gradually being updated... http://bit.ly/iItaQ
>> The oriental symbol is a Japanese symbol for couch and I have been using
>> it
>> because images cant be translated the way text can.  Do you think that the
>> use of this symbol would alienate American or European users or
>> compromises
>> the 'identity' of CouchDB?

Word! CouchDB's identity is pretty strong, and can be transmitted
through many media. The key is the replication story.

* I really like this thread because it reminds me of the early days of Rails.

One of the first things that really catapulted Rails into the
mainstream was DHH's screencast. With all our creative energy, if we
could start pushing it out to the world in the form of tutorials and
hello-world examples, Couch would be everywhere. The key is making it
super easy to get started.

I think a big part of Rails' early success was the website:

http://rubyonrails.org/

The design is less important than the content.

Having all the blog posts, wikis, videos, case-studies, IRC logs,
screen-casts, etc. available in a an easy-to-digest website, will make
no-hassle for newcomers, which is the most important thing.

I know a software package that makes making a website like that really
fun: CouchDB.

So go for it! Creating content is the most important thing. If we use
CouchApps to aggregate content, then we can all share our views of the
web via replication. Eventually as we overwhelm youtube, blogs, etc,
with how-to-use-CouchDB content, people will see how simple it is.

I think we can structure it all with hashtags and feeds, Jon Udell
style, and use CouchDB to persist and serve it. But really it doesn't
matter, as long as we make it easy for new arrivals to find just what
they need to know about CouchDB, while at the same time giving them a
taste of the "Relax" feeling.

Chris


>
> http://twitpic.com/cne19
>



-- 
Chris Anderson
http://jchrisa.net
http://couch.io

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
Noah Slater wrote:
>
> On 29 Oct 2009, at 13:11, maddiin wrote:
>
>> As for the Relaxville logo, the name of the application makes me 
>> think of a downtown scenery full of relaxing people in relaxed 
>> positions, like hanging out in front of café's and working on their 
>> couches. This would only work in a big header and might be overkill, 
>> so a more simple version I could think of would be to expand the 
>> current CouchDB logo and add more seats and relaxed people sitting on 
>> it.
>
> This is bordering on the surreal. At least 1 cuil. Heh. ;)
>

Reading your comment makes me think of a theatre scenery with two old 
guys sitting in a loge and being sarcastic about the show. ^q^

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 29 Oct 2009, at 13:11, maddiin wrote:

> As for the Relaxville logo, the name of the application makes me  
> think of a downtown scenery full of relaxing people in relaxed  
> positions, like hanging out in front of café's and working on their  
> couches. This would only work in a big header and might be overkill,  
> so a more simple version I could think of would be to expand the  
> current CouchDB logo and add more seats and relaxed people sitting  
> on it.

This is bordering on the surreal. At least 1 cuil. Heh. ;)


Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
cinnebar wrote:
> Hi agree that excess and overkill is undesirable.  The content of the
> graphics is still fluxy...still experimenting with ideas... and the set
> online is gradually being updated... http://bit.ly/iItaQ
> The oriental symbol is a Japanese symbol for couch and I have been using it
> because images cant be translated the way text can.  Do you think that the
> use of this symbol would alienate American or European users or compromises
> the 'identity' of CouchDB?
>   
> I wasn't trying to improve the CouchDB logo at all!  I agree its pure
> awesome.  The headers I have been making concerned with bonding the logo to
> a page specific look and feel while referencing a lazily consistent
> structure across a group of pages.  I guess the idea is to condense a whole
> lot of information into a tiny and immediate amount of space, geared more
> for new or infrequent users.  The file sizes now average somewhere between
> 10 to 20Kb, which isnt big for graphics.
>
>   

Most of the time new users will already have a doubt what CouchDB is 
about and are well served with the documentation and help from IRC, so 
putting “a whole lot of information” into the logo doesn't win us much.

We would have to add other translations of “Couch” if we add a Japanese 
symbol/translation. Also, the “Couch” in  CouchDB is an acronym  for 
“Cluster Of Unreliable Commodity Hardware” (I remembered that from a 
screencast I've seen and had to google it…should be on the homepage?!), 
so that makes it even a bad idea to translate it.

Adding “Planet” or “Wiki” is not necessary, that information is already 
present in a heading or highlighted in the navigation bar.

> I like the idea of this graphic a lot but I am not sure it is relevant to
> the feature set of the Relaxville app if that is important?   I don't have a
> better idea for Relaxville.
>
>   

It might be sufficient to just change the “relax” from the linked logo 
above to “relaxville”. *g*

> I am looking forward to seeing the new wiki styling :)
>
> I appreciate the feedback.
>
> Cheers
>
>   
http://twitpic.com/cne19

Re: Website redesign

Posted by cinnebar <xc...@gmail.com>.
On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 12:11 AM, maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> I think all the fancy stuff like cars, horses or chinese (?) characters is
> unnecessary.


Hi agree that excess and overkill is undesirable.  The content of the
graphics is still fluxy...still experimenting with ideas... and the set
online is gradually being updated... http://bit.ly/iItaQ
The oriental symbol is a Japanese symbol for couch and I have been using it
because images cant be translated the way text can.  Do you think that the
use of this symbol would alienate American or European users or compromises
the 'identity' of CouchDB?

The CouchDB logo we have is pure awesome, there is no need to try to improve
> that.

The lettering could be improved though. That said, I like what you've done
> to “CouchDB” in the wiki graphic, maybe you could pick up the current logo (
> http://imgur.com/OarG7) and work on that?
>

I wasn't trying to improve the CouchDB logo at all!  I agree its pure
awesome.  The headers I have been making concerned with bonding the logo to
a page specific look and feel while referencing a lazily consistent
structure across a group of pages.  I guess the idea is to condense a whole
lot of information into a tiny and immediate amount of space, geared more
for new or infrequent users.  The file sizes now average somewhere between
10 to 20Kb, which isnt big for graphics.

As for the Relaxville logo, the name of the application makes me think of a
> downtown scenery full of relaxing people in relaxed positions, like hanging
> out in front of café's and working on their couches. This would only work in
> a big header and might be overkill, so a more simple version I could think
> of would be to expand the current CouchDB logo and add more seats and
> relaxed people sitting on it.


I like the idea of this graphic a lot but I am not sure it is relevant to
the feature set of the Relaxville app if that is important?   I don't have a
better idea for Relaxville.

I am looking forward to seeing the new wiki styling :)

I appreciate the feedback.

Cheers



>
> cinnebar wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 7:58 AM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>>>
>>>  Noah Slater wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>>>        Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper
>>>>> serious todo
>>>>> list now. :)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back
>>>> until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>>>
>>>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks
>>>> the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and
>>>> make a
>>>> new patch for the site because of some small changes.
>>>>
>>>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the
>>>> documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you
>>>> agree.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Great! Let me know how you get on!
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi it is really awesome that you are updating the wiki with a consistent
>> theme !
>>
>> I have been making some more crazy header graphics in the last week or
>> so...
>> Have uploaded some: http://bit.ly/iItaQ
>>
>> ...at this point the images are still a bit rough in places...balancing
>> image impact against the weight...
>>
>> Not sure if you will find the wiki graphic useful or appropriate but
>> thought
>> it may be relevant to mention...
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
I think all the fancy stuff like cars, horses or chinese (?) characters 
is unnecessary. The CouchDB logo we have is pure awesome, there is no 
need to try to improve that. The lettering could be improved though. 
That said, I like what you've done to “CouchDB” in the wiki graphic, 
maybe you could pick up the current logo (http://imgur.com/OarG7) and 
work on that?

As for the Relaxville logo, the name of the application makes me think 
of a downtown scenery full of relaxing people in relaxed positions, like 
hanging out in front of café's and working on their couches. This would 
only work in a big header and might be overkill, so a more simple 
version I could think of would be to expand the current CouchDB logo and 
add more seats and relaxed people sitting on it.


cinnebar wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 7:58 AM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org> wrote:
>
>   
>> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>>
>>  Noah Slater wrote:
>>     
>>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>>         
>>>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo
>>>> list now. :)
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back
>>> until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>>
>>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks
>>> the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and make a
>>> new patch for the site because of some small changes.
>>>
>>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the
>>> documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you
>>> agree.
>>>
>>>       
>> Great! Let me know how you get on!
>>     
>
>
>
> Hi it is really awesome that you are updating the wiki with a consistent
> theme !
>
> I have been making some more crazy header graphics in the last week or so...
> Have uploaded some: http://bit.ly/iItaQ
>
> ...at this point the images are still a bit rough in places...balancing
> image impact against the weight...
>
> Not sure if you will find the wiki graphic useful or appropriate but thought
> it may be relevant to mention...
>
>   

Re: Website redesign

Posted by cinnebar <xc...@gmail.com>.
On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 7:58 AM, Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org> wrote:

>
> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>
>  Noah Slater wrote:
>>
>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo
>>> list now. :)
>>>
>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back
>> until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>
>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks
>> the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and make a
>> new patch for the site because of some small changes.
>>
>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the
>> documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you
>> agree.
>>
>
> Great! Let me know how you get on!



Hi it is really awesome that you are updating the wiki with a consistent
theme !

I have been making some more crazy header graphics in the last week or so...
Have uploaded some: http://bit.ly/iItaQ

...at this point the images are still a bit rough in places...balancing
image impact against the weight...

Not sure if you will find the wiki graphic useful or appropriate but thought
it may be relevant to mention...

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Volker Mische <vo...@gmail.com>.
I would not reset the padding of the <ul> on
http://couchdb.apache.org/downloads.html

Though it might be intended.

Cheers,
   Volker

On 09.07.2010 14:55, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
> Oooooold thread.
>
> I finally managed to get to commit it. I'm sure there are rough edges,
> please let me know :)
>
> Maddiin, thanks again for you work! :)
>
> Cheers
> Jan


Re: Website redesign

Posted by David Coallier <da...@php.net>.
That's what I'm talking about :)

On 9 July 2010 13:55, Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org> wrote:
> Oooooold thread.
>
> I finally managed to get to commit it. I'm sure there are rough edges,
> please let me know :)
>
> Maddiin, thanks again for you work! :)
>
> Cheers
> Jan
> --
>
> On 15 Nov 2009, at 16:50, Noah Slater wrote:
>
>>
>> On 15 Nov 2009, at 15:30, maddiin wrote:
>>
>>> I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added new var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB Project Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be FrontPage).
>>
>> Aha! Sorry, and thanks.
>>
>> I'm going to be doing the 0.10.1 release soon, so I might use that as an excuse to look at this too.
>>
>
>



-- 
David Coallier

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Klaus Trainer <kl...@web.de>.
Just like to say that Jan's are also my nitpicks :)

After all, distinguishable links, neutral background color, and emphasis
with italics instead of bold are basically good style guidelines.

In addition, I'd just go without the lamp...

- Klaus


On Sat, 2010-07-10 at 11:26 +0200, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
> Hey,
> 
> I like what I see. There's a few details, that I'd like to see improved 
> (yay bikeshedding), but the general direction is pretty good :)
> 
> My (personal, highly subjective) nitpics:
> 
>  - The start page illustration is too big. On a 13" MacBook, The "Relax"
>  is already cut off. I'd look at resizing things so everything can move
>  50–100px (probably closer to 100px) up.
> 
>  - Links should have a contrast colour (red? :) to be distinguishable
>     form regular text.
> 
>  - Emphasis should be done with italics, not bold.
> 
>  - I reallyreallyreally don't like the background colour :) — I'd go with
>    a plain white background and have the lamp make a bright-yellow
>    light field. Alternatively, a bright grey, potentially textured, so the
>    lamp light could be full white. — Or we just get rid of the lamp :)
> 
> Again, I generally like the direction and I think we can make something
> great out of it! :)
> 
> Cheers
> Jan



Re: Website redesign

Posted by Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>.
Hey,

I like what I see. There's a few details, that I'd like to see improved 
(yay bikeshedding), but the general direction is pretty good :)

My (personal, highly subjective) nitpics:

 - The start page illustration is too big. On a 13" MacBook, The "Relax"
 is already cut off. I'd look at resizing things so everything can move
 50–100px (probably closer to 100px) up.

 - Links should have a contrast colour (red? :) to be distinguishable
    form regular text.

 - Emphasis should be done with italics, not bold.

 - I reallyreallyreally don't like the background colour :) — I'd go with
   a plain white background and have the lamp make a bright-yellow
   light field. Alternatively, a bright grey, potentially textured, so the
   lamp light could be full white. — Or we just get rid of the lamp :)

Again, I generally like the direction and I think we can make something
great out of it! :)

Cheers
Jan
-- 



On 10 Jul 2010, at 00:08, Klaus Trainer wrote:

> Anyway, it's good that the discussion has been brought up again ;)
> 
> 
> On Fri, 2010-07-09 at 23:52 +0200, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
>> Hi Klaus, all,
>> 
>> I'm happy to help working on "the blue design", apparently this
>> completely went under my radar. I'll have a closer look tomorrow. 
>> I'm sorry I went with this in a wild-west manner, but my impression
>> was that there wasn't any movement on the website front since
>> winter and wanted to get at least some change out. I clearly have 
>> been wrong and I'll rectify this tomorrow :) Sorry again!
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Jan
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by J Chris Anderson <jc...@gmail.com>.
On Jul 9, 2010, at 3:08 PM, Klaus Trainer wrote:

> Anyway, it's good that the discussion has been brought up again ;)
> 

fwiw I think I prefer the blue design also (but not so strongly as to be upset if we end up stuck on the current new design)

> 
> On Fri, 2010-07-09 at 23:52 +0200, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
>> Hi Klaus, all,
>> 
>> I'm happy to help working on "the blue design", apparently this
>> completely went under my radar. I'll have a closer look tomorrow. 
>> I'm sorry I went with this in a wild-west manner, but my impression
>> was that there wasn't any movement on the website front since
>> winter and wanted to get at least some change out. I clearly have 
>> been wrong and I'll rectify this tomorrow :) Sorry again!
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Jan
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Klaus Trainer <kl...@web.de>.
Anyway, it's good that the discussion has been brought up again ;)


On Fri, 2010-07-09 at 23:52 +0200, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
> Hi Klaus, all,
> 
> I'm happy to help working on "the blue design", apparently this
> completely went under my radar. I'll have a closer look tomorrow. 
> I'm sorry I went with this in a wild-west manner, but my impression
> was that there wasn't any movement on the website front since
> winter and wanted to get at least some change out. I clearly have 
> been wrong and I'll rectify this tomorrow :) Sorry again!
> 
> Cheers
> Jan


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>.
Hi Klaus, all,

I'm happy to help working on "the blue design", apparently this
completely went under my radar. I'll have a closer look tomorrow. 
I'm sorry I went with this in a wild-west manner, but my impression
was that there wasn't any movement on the website front since
winter and wanted to get at least some change out. I clearly have 
been wrong and I'll rectify this tomorrow :) Sorry again!

Cheers
Jan
-- 



On 9 Jul 2010, at 21:38, Klaus Trainer wrote:

>> last I checked it was just the front page that had been done. I was
>> surprised to see the patch also, but I do like movement.
> 
> I also like movement, but I don't think that this one has been to the
> better. Moreover, the project website might be too important to just
> switch its design without community consensus.
> 
> Personally, I've liked the project website just because all important
> links were clearly arranged in the sidebar.
> 
> In order to get all the important links, people now have to go to the
> wiki (over the "Documentation" link).
> 
> When I'm looking for the dev mailing list, I need to follow the
> "Documentation" -link.
> 
> If I'm looking for the repository, there is a website:
> http://couchdb.apache.org/community/code.html
> ...but where is a link to it? I couldn't find any, not even in the wiki!
> 
> Furthermore, the fact that the red navigation bar takes the full screen
> width, but the header and the content body not, is quite irritation.
> 
> In my eyes, nearly all those changes are for the worse and have to be
> fixed!
> 
> 
>> it'd be a lot of work to bring the other pages into the blue design (I
>> think)
> 
> Regarding the blue design, my opinion is that the start page it's really
> stunning. I also like the sidebar with the revised naming and the more
> use-case-oriented focus.
> 
> I'd like to propose a simple solution for the other pages (beside
> index.html) and therefore ported the downloads page to the blue design
> (http://github.com/KlausTrainer/couchdb_web). I've simply adopted the
> header and breadcrumbs from the "traditional" design.
> 
> If enough people say that they'd prefer the blue design, I'd be willing
> to also port the rest (approx. 10 pages).
> 
> I know that regarding the blue design, as it is, there is space for some
> fine tuning. Nonetheless, I think we should find out whether people
> (you!) generally like it or not before scrapping it.
> 
> 
> - Klaus
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Klaus Trainer <kl...@web.de>.
> last I checked it was just the front page that had been done. I was
> surprised to see the patch also, but I do like movement.

I also like movement, but I don't think that this one has been to the
better. Moreover, the project website might be too important to just
switch its design without community consensus.

Personally, I've liked the project website just because all important
links were clearly arranged in the sidebar.

In order to get all the important links, people now have to go to the
wiki (over the "Documentation" link).

When I'm looking for the dev mailing list, I need to follow the
"Documentation" -link.

If I'm looking for the repository, there is a website:
http://couchdb.apache.org/community/code.html
...but where is a link to it? I couldn't find any, not even in the wiki!

Furthermore, the fact that the red navigation bar takes the full screen
width, but the header and the content body not, is quite irritation.

In my eyes, nearly all those changes are for the worse and have to be
fixed!


> it'd be a lot of work to bring the other pages into the blue design (I
> think)

Regarding the blue design, my opinion is that the start page it's really
stunning. I also like the sidebar with the revised naming and the more
use-case-oriented focus.

I'd like to propose a simple solution for the other pages (beside
index.html) and therefore ported the downloads page to the blue design
(http://github.com/KlausTrainer/couchdb_web). I've simply adopted the
header and breadcrumbs from the "traditional" design.

If enough people say that they'd prefer the blue design, I'd be willing
to also port the rest (approx. 10 pages).

I know that regarding the blue design, as it is, there is space for some
fine tuning. Nonetheless, I think we should find out whether people
(you!) generally like it or not before scrapping it.


- Klaus


Re: Website redesign

Posted by J Chris Anderson <jc...@apache.org>.
On Jul 9, 2010, at 8:24 AM, Noah Slater wrote:

> 
> On 9 Jul 2010, at 16:20, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
> 
>> I looked at the thread and these was the last patch that I saw.
>> 
>> user@ brought up the topic of a new design so I though I'd go and commit that one. I'm not married to anything here and happy to commit any other patches brought to my attention.
> 
> Sure, and it's refreshing to see some actual movement here.
> 
> However, my concern is that changing the brand of a website is a Big Deal. If the blue design is still a viable option, only needing some minor work before a patch can be ready, then it would have made more sense to wait for that. Switching out to a third design in the near future may confuse users and damage our brand.
> 
> Does anyone know where we stand on the blue design?
> 

last I checked it was just the front page that had been done. I was surprised to see the patch also, but I do like movement.

it'd be a lot of work to bring the other pages into the blue design (I think)

that said, I wrote some front page copy for it that I think is more reflective of our use-case than the technical copy that's been on the front page forever.

http://github.com/jchris/couchdb_web/blob/master/index.html#L76

> I can't remember what happened to it.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> N


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 9 Jul 2010, at 16:20, Jan Lehnardt wrote:

> I looked at the thread and these was the last patch that I saw.
> 
> user@ brought up the topic of a new design so I though I'd go and commit that one. I'm not married to anything here and happy to commit any other patches brought to my attention.

Sure, and it's refreshing to see some actual movement here.

However, my concern is that changing the brand of a website is a Big Deal. If the blue design is still a viable option, only needing some minor work before a patch can be ready, then it would have made more sense to wait for that. Switching out to a third design in the near future may confuse users and damage our brand.

Does anyone know where we stand on the blue design?

I can't remember what happened to it.

Thanks,

N

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>.
I looked at the thread and these was the last patch that I saw.

user@ brought up the topic of a new design so I though I'd go and commit that one. I'm not married to anything here and happy to commit any other patches brought to my attention.

Cheers
Jan
-- 


On 9 Jul 2010, at 17:11, Noah Slater wrote:

> Jan,
> 
> We had another design brewing, with a blue background. I thought we were working on that. I'm quite surprised to see this old design rolled out without a thread to discuss which one we wanted to go with, and if we were happy with rolling them out. I'm a little confused...
> 
> On 9 Jul 2010, at 13:55, Jan Lehnardt wrote:
> 
>> Oooooold thread.
>> 
>> I finally managed to get to commit it. I'm sure there are rough edges, 
>> please let me know :)
>> 
>> Maddiin, thanks again for you work! :)
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Jan
>> -- 
>> 
>> On 15 Nov 2009, at 16:50, Noah Slater wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> On 15 Nov 2009, at 15:30, maddiin wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added new var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB Project Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be FrontPage).
>>> 
>>> Aha! Sorry, and thanks.
>>> 
>>> I'm going to be doing the 0.10.1 release soon, so I might use that as an excuse to look at this too.
>>> 
>> 
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
Jan,

We had another design brewing, with a blue background. I thought we were working on that. I'm quite surprised to see this old design rolled out without a thread to discuss which one we wanted to go with, and if we were happy with rolling them out. I'm a little confused...

On 9 Jul 2010, at 13:55, Jan Lehnardt wrote:

> Oooooold thread.
> 
> I finally managed to get to commit it. I'm sure there are rough edges, 
> please let me know :)
> 
> Maddiin, thanks again for you work! :)
> 
> Cheers
> Jan
> -- 
> 
> On 15 Nov 2009, at 16:50, Noah Slater wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On 15 Nov 2009, at 15:30, maddiin wrote:
>> 
>>> I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added new var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB Project Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be FrontPage).
>> 
>> Aha! Sorry, and thanks.
>> 
>> I'm going to be doing the 0.10.1 release soon, so I might use that as an excuse to look at this too.
>> 
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Jan Lehnardt <ja...@apache.org>.
Oooooold thread.

I finally managed to get to commit it. I'm sure there are rough edges, 
please let me know :)

Maddiin, thanks again for you work! :)

Cheers
Jan
-- 

On 15 Nov 2009, at 16:50, Noah Slater wrote:

> 
> On 15 Nov 2009, at 15:30, maddiin wrote:
> 
>> I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added new var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB Project Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be FrontPage).
> 
> Aha! Sorry, and thanks.
> 
> I'm going to be doing the 0.10.1 release soon, so I might use that as an excuse to look at this too.
> 


Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 15 Nov 2009, at 15:30, maddiin wrote:

> I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached  
> again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added  
> new var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB  
> Project Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be  
> FrontPage).

Aha! Sorry, and thanks.

I'm going to be doing the 0.10.1 release soon, so I might use that as  
an excuse to look at this too.

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
I've attached them in a previous mail, but you'll find them attached 
again with this mail as I already made a change to the wiki (added new 
var to wikiconfig_local.py: page_front_page = u'Apache CouchDB Project 
Wiki' / else the main heading of the wiki frontpage would be FrontPage).


Noah Slater wrote:
>
> On 15 Nov 2009, at 14:24, maddiin wrote:
>
>> It's not only the css, we need to add the couchdb.py theme file to 
>> wiki/data/plugin/theme, images and stylesheets to wiki/htdocs/couchdb 
>> and, at least for MoinMoin version 1.8.5, add a wikiconfig_local.py 
>> (for 1.6.x the wikiconfig.py may has to be edited, I'm not sure).
>
> Where can I get these files?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 15 Nov 2009, at 14:24, maddiin wrote:

> It's not only the css, we need to add the couchdb.py theme file to  
> wiki/data/plugin/theme, images and stylesheets to wiki/htdocs/ 
> couchdb and, at least for MoinMoin version 1.8.5, add a  
> wikiconfig_local.py (for 1.6.x the wikiconfig.py may has to be  
> edited, I'm not sure).

Where can I get these files?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
It's not only the css, we need to add the couchdb.py theme file to 
wiki/data/plugin/theme, images and stylesheets to wiki/htdocs/couchdb 
and, at least for MoinMoin version 1.8.5, add a wikiconfig_local.py (for 
1.6.x the wikiconfig.py may has to be edited, I'm not sure).

My guess is that the INFRA-team has to do it, which would really suck as 
we would have to wait for them for every change we want to apply.


Noah Slater wrote:
>
> On 15 Nov 2009, at 12:43, maddiin wrote:
>
>> Wiki:
>> http://twitpic.com/pmexo/full
>
> How do we update the wiki CSS? Does anyone know?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 15 Nov 2009, at 12:43, maddiin wrote:

> Wiki:
> http://twitpic.com/pmexo/full

How do we update the wiki CSS? Does anyone know?

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
Hi Chris,

totally forgot about screenshots. I made some changes that should be 
reviewed first of course, e.g. dropped the documentation and get 
involved sections from the homepage (I already edited the wiki to 
contain these pages and link to them from the homepage).

Homepage:
http://twitpic.com/pme28/full

Homepage/Downloads:
http://twitpic.com/pmetj/full

Homepage/Screenshots:
http://twitpic.com/pmevr/full

Wiki:
http://twitpic.com/pmexo/full

Note: The grey links mean that a page was not yet created. I just made a 
quick c&p of the frontpage.


Wiki/Syntax reference:
http://twitpic.com/pmf2r/full


Chris Anderson wrote:
> Maddiin,
>
> Is it possible to post a link to a screenshot of these designs? They
> sound exciting but like it would take a while to get on the screen.
>
> I think we are definitely due for a website redesign. I still think
> it's got to be more about linking to content (as well as the current
> technical material).
>
> Let's keep this moving.
>
> Chris
>
> On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 11:58 AM, maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>   
>> I've attached two files, in couchdb_website you'll find a diff file called
>> new_layout.diff with changes made to a checkout from today.
>>
>> The other attachment is, as you might guess from the name, for the wiki.
>> You'd only need to merge the contents of this archive into the wiki root if
>> the MoinMoin version in use is 1.8.5 (I still don't know which version is
>> installed and got no response on JIRA).
>>
>>
>> Noah Slater wrote:
>>     
>>> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> Noah Slater wrote:
>>>>         
>>>>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>>>>             
>>>>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo
>>>>> list now. :)
>>>>>           
>>>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back
>>>> until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>>>
>>>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks
>>>> the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and make a
>>>> new patch for the site because of some small changes.
>>>>
>>>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the
>>>> documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you
>>>> agree.
>>>>         
>>> Great! Let me know how you get on!
>>>       
>
>
>
>   

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Chris Anderson <jc...@apache.org>.
Maddiin,

Is it possible to post a link to a screenshot of these designs? They
sound exciting but like it would take a while to get on the screen.

I think we are definitely due for a website redesign. I still think
it's got to be more about linking to content (as well as the current
technical material).

Let's keep this moving.

Chris

On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 11:58 AM, maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> I've attached two files, in couchdb_website you'll find a diff file called
> new_layout.diff with changes made to a checkout from today.
>
> The other attachment is, as you might guess from the name, for the wiki.
> You'd only need to merge the contents of this archive into the wiki root if
> the MoinMoin version in use is 1.8.5 (I still don't know which version is
> installed and got no response on JIRA).
>
>
> Noah Slater wrote:
>>
>> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>>
>>> Noah Slater wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo
>>>> list now. :)
>>>
>>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back
>>> until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>>
>>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks
>>> the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and make a
>>> new patch for the site because of some small changes.
>>>
>>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the
>>> documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you
>>> agree.
>>
>> Great! Let me know how you get on!
>



-- 
Chris Anderson
http://jchrisa.net
http://couch.io

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
I've attached two files, in couchdb_website you'll find a diff file 
called new_layout.diff with changes made to a checkout from today.

The other attachment is, as you might guess from the name, for the wiki. 
You'd only need to merge the contents of this archive into the wiki root 
if the MoinMoin version in use is 1.8.5 (I still don't know which 
version is installed and got no response on JIRA).


Noah Slater wrote:
>
> On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:
>
>> Noah Slater wrote:
>>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>>
>>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious 
>>> todo list now. :)
>> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold 
>> back until the upcoming weekend. :)
>>
>> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything 
>> looks the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the 
>> stylesheets and make a new patch for the site because of some small 
>> changes.
>>
>> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move 
>> the documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits 
>> if you agree.
>
> Great! Let me know how you get on!

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
On 27 Oct 2009, at 20:56, maddiin wrote:

> Noah Slater wrote:
>>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>>
>> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious  
>> todo list now. :)
> Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold  
> back until the upcoming weekend. :)
>
> I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything  
> looks the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the  
> stylesheets and make a new patch for the site because of some small  
> changes.
>
> While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move  
> the documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits  
> if you agree.

Great! Let me know how you get on!

Re: Website redesign

Posted by maddiin <ma...@googlemail.com>.
Noah Slater wrote:
>> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)
>
> Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo 
> list now. :)
Just in case you reached that point on your todo list, please hold back 
until the upcoming weekend. :)

I've started making a “CouchDB theme” for the wiki, so everything looks 
the same throughout the page. I need to clean up the stylesheets and 
make a new patch for the site because of some small changes.

While making the theme, I recognized it might be a good idea to move the 
documentation section to the wiki. I'll make the necessary edits if you 
agree.

Re: Website redesign

Posted by Noah Slater <ns...@tumbolia.org>.
> Wow, time goes by… last mail in this thread was on September 1st. :)

Thanks for the nudge. I've added this to my actual proper serious todo  
list now. :)