Re: [Axiom-developer] Front page esthetic

[Alfredo Portes]

Hello everyone,

It seems that modifications to the axiom wiki frontpage has become a
hot topic. I do not see the frontpage that much cluttered, but surely
improvements can be made.

Compared to the other Computer Algebra Systems web pages, I do see the
axiom-developer much more advance and  more user friendly. Their idea
of simplicity, is having couple of links in a fix page, that has not
been updated in years. Simplicity in web pages is measured by: "can I
get what I need in the least amount of clicks".

I do think that probably axiom-developer should morph to a hybrid
between static pages and a wiki page similar to www.ubuntu.com. There
the wiki is used for collaboration among users. Maybe this could
reduce the work load on Bill that has to maintain the wiki, and the
fight the tedious spam problem.

I do not know what was the first expectation with the Wiki. In our
part (Doyen), the Wiki is the foundation of Tim's idea. Maybe it was
expected to do contributions to Axiom directly to the wiki, some kind
of online development environment. This to me is a great idea. But
apparently this is not occurring by reading Bill's comments.

For me the wiki is very useful. Everytime I have to remember some
comment, I need to improve the Doyen, I can find the information
really quick. The Wiki allows me also to see the work done for Axiom,
were it is right now, and the future plans. This cannot be done by
using static pages, and it is much faster than wasting time looking in
mailings lists.

Regarding the frontpage I think the audio/visual section should be
very relevant, together with screenshots. I think this is the
"screenshots" section in many pages, which usually is the most popular
to new comers.Probably more appealing screenshots are needed.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards,

Alfredo Portes