Better Web Experience
Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:41 am
This may seem harsh, but I say these things as a 15+ year web developer and a newly converted Mint user.
First and foremost.. the main website is in dire need of an update. It looks 2+ years old, is clunky to get around and is barely passable as a professional presence. Almost all the links on the main site home page, once you click them, have no links to return to the main home page and some of which look suspicious at best like the community page.
If Apple has taught us anything.. it is that people "buy" the pretty and the hip.
Look at the home page..
[url]http://www.linuxmint.com/[/url]
now look here..
[url]http://demo.rockettheme.com/joomla/voxel/?presets=preset5[/url] Or any of the themes there.. or at any other quality theme site..
Im not stumping for rocket themes.. I could care less what is used.. only that it doesnt look dated.
As much as possible, the pieces of the web presence need to be integrated and have a common theme. Just because they all have some green does not make this..
http://linuxmint.com/planet/index2.php
this
http://www.linuxmint.com/
and this
http://blog.linuxmint.com/
seem unified. The logins for as many pieces as possible also need unified.
This issue is called branding and image.
I had to do a few Harley dealer sites and the corp office had strict guidelines on everything in order to make sure no one made Harley look bad and no one misused their logos, colors, etc.. the result is a jillion unified presences and a strong corporate image across the board. Each had their "flair" but there was no doubt about either the quality of design or the branding.
I just came from distrowatch and was very surprised (and happy) to see that Mint has the most hits out of all distros..all.. more than RedHat, more than SuSe, even more than the ever popular Ubuntu.. not just for the month but for the last three, six, and 12 months.. just..wow.. imho, the Mint web presence does not reflect this and it should.
I would love to see the overall design and themes reworked and implemented across the board for all properties. I would like to have as many of the properties integrated into the main site as possible. I would require at minimum a link back to the main site and one login to all items. I realize the scope and scale of this. I also realize that there are hard working people probably donating massive amounts of time and energy on each of these properties. My suggestions are not to degrade the hard work I know goes into these things.. I know all too well.. My suggestions are to raise Mint up to the image it deserves and because I really really like using it and I want more people to find it and like it as much as I do.
And theres my 2 cents.
First and foremost.. the main website is in dire need of an update. It looks 2+ years old, is clunky to get around and is barely passable as a professional presence. Almost all the links on the main site home page, once you click them, have no links to return to the main home page and some of which look suspicious at best like the community page.
If Apple has taught us anything.. it is that people "buy" the pretty and the hip.
Look at the home page..
[url]http://www.linuxmint.com/[/url]
now look here..
[url]http://demo.rockettheme.com/joomla/voxel/?presets=preset5[/url] Or any of the themes there.. or at any other quality theme site..
Im not stumping for rocket themes.. I could care less what is used.. only that it doesnt look dated.
As much as possible, the pieces of the web presence need to be integrated and have a common theme. Just because they all have some green does not make this..
http://linuxmint.com/planet/index2.php
this
http://www.linuxmint.com/
and this
http://blog.linuxmint.com/
seem unified. The logins for as many pieces as possible also need unified.
This issue is called branding and image.
I had to do a few Harley dealer sites and the corp office had strict guidelines on everything in order to make sure no one made Harley look bad and no one misused their logos, colors, etc.. the result is a jillion unified presences and a strong corporate image across the board. Each had their "flair" but there was no doubt about either the quality of design or the branding.
I just came from distrowatch and was very surprised (and happy) to see that Mint has the most hits out of all distros..all.. more than RedHat, more than SuSe, even more than the ever popular Ubuntu.. not just for the month but for the last three, six, and 12 months.. just..wow.. imho, the Mint web presence does not reflect this and it should.
I would love to see the overall design and themes reworked and implemented across the board for all properties. I would like to have as many of the properties integrated into the main site as possible. I would require at minimum a link back to the main site and one login to all items. I realize the scope and scale of this. I also realize that there are hard working people probably donating massive amounts of time and energy on each of these properties. My suggestions are not to degrade the hard work I know goes into these things.. I know all too well.. My suggestions are to raise Mint up to the image it deserves and because I really really like using it and I want more people to find it and like it as much as I do.
And theres my 2 cents.