Re: new website: draft 3

[Tim Reeves]

On Jun 29, 2009, at 12:48 AM, chip wrote:

Tim McNamara wrote:

On Jun 28, 2009, at 2:55 AM, chip wrote:

I think there is obviously far too much white space, also the same on the 
Downloads page.

I disagree and find that most web pages have too much stuff crammed into 
them, usually so much that it's hard to find the information one is 
looking for. I like the simplicity of the page and I don't even think the 
separator lines are necessary. If you want to see the mother of layout 
nightmares, look at the GoDaddy.com pages. Jeebus, those suck.

I agree with you, but, there is a happy medium. I think the Manuals page 
is it.

Well, there's naturally going to be more information on the documentation 
pages than on the home page, the downloads pages, etc. The home page and 
the download page are going to have more white space as a result. How is 
this a problem?

I thing it's also important to minimize the use of Javascript (unless 
you're doing Ajax), drop-down menus, etc. Most of that stuff can be done 
with HTML which loads faster and works with more browsers more 
predictably. Avoid cute for the sake of cute. Usability is the thing of 
key importance and not how nifty people will think the code is.
Again, I agree. There are ways to get drop-down menus without javascript, 
which I think should be, and can be, avoided for the entire site. 
Usability is the number 1 priority indeed, but appearance has to be up 
there as well. A simple site that looks attractive and contains a well 
balanced design can still be a very usable site. Lilypond is a very 
impressive program, and an overly simplistic web site would do it no 
justice whatsoever. IMHO.

I prefer "elegant" to "overly simplistic."  ;-)

And personally I think that dropdown (and whatever one calls the same 
thing popping out horizontally) menus on web pages should be avoided, 
period. I hate the damn things. YMMV, etc. 







I happen to agree with Tim ;-) on this one: I'm viewing at 1900x1200 and I 
think the amount of white space is good in the present layout. I also 
generally don't like dropdown menus and rollover "features". I don't like 
having to guess where things are or go on Easter egg hunts.

Finally, I think FAQs belong in the Introduction section not Infrequent 
Use even though it's true that they are not something that a person refers 
to more than a few times. OTOH, is the AU really a regular use item? Seems 
more like Infrequent Use to me. I know I've looked at it about 2 or 3 
times. Just my 2 cents.


Tim Reeves