[Clipart] PR for 0.16

[Jon Phillips]

<topPost />

Please file this as a bug through our bug tracker as a request for a
website redesign. Our content has grown, so the old site does need a
cleaning off.

I vote to get rid of the google search, or nest it under advanced
search, and replace that main search with the keyword search.

I will fill in more info on the bug once filed...

Jon


On Mon, 2005-08-01 at 11:01 -0400, Jonadab the Unsightly One wrote:
> Christopher Ellison <chris_ellison at hotmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Has there been a discussion on design? 
> 
> Some, but most of it was months ago, and the issue could stand to be
> revisited, perhaps this fall.
> 
> > For instance, the "Incoming Clip Art" panel is nice...but it isn't
> > something that I would consider essential (as in front page
> > material) for a website aiming towards the general user---actually,
> > I found it somewhat distracting/confusing.  Overall, I am wondering:
> > Where is the white space? It seems kinda busy.
> 
> I tend to agree, for the most part, with this assessment.  We have a
> sidebar on the left with two sections, the incoming sidebar on the
> right, a banner and navbar across the top that includes one search
> feature, and a multiline footer box at the bottom; these things occur
> around just about every page, with a content area squeezed into the
> middle.  
> 
> Then in addition to all of that, the front page has in its content
> area a basic blurb, a screenshot, a submit form, *another* search
> feature, and a bunch of news items.
> 
> It's all very crowded.
> 
> In terms of simplifying, here are some of my thoughts...
> 
>  * Unify the sidebars, creating one sidebar with several sections.
>    (The one on the left already has two sections; adding a third
>    section for incoming would not be a major change, and we could then
>    do away with the right sidebar.)  I don't care which side the
>    sidebar goes on, but it should be on *one* side, not both.  The
>    number of "recent images" should perhaps be reduced from 15 to
>    eight or ten, to make that section of sidebar similar in size to
>    the others, and to keep the sidebar from running too long.
>  
>  * Roll the contents of the navbar across the top into the sidebar and
>   eliminate the navbar, leaving only the banner at the top.
>  
>  * Move both search features into the sidebar, with a more clear
>    explanation of the difference, or else dump whichever one is less
>    useful and have just one search feature.  This makes the search
>    available from every page and simplifies the layout of the main
>    page considerably.
>  
>  * Remove the submit form from the main page; it's redundant, as
>    there's already a link in the sidebar, on every page, that points
>    to the main submit form.
>    
>  * Submit Clip Art and Submit Screenshot should not have something
>    else in between them, so Join Discussion should be either before or
>    after both of them.
>  
>  * Simplify the footer.  Currently there are at least three lines, and
>    the middle one frequently runs over into two, depending on your
>    resolution and font sizes and things.  The first line has the
>    little icon-button things, but the other lines have text.  There
>    are two different links to the Creative Commons.  First off, the
>    links should either all have the icon-buttons (all the same size
>    and shape), or else they should all be text, styled the same way.
>    Second, they should all be in one block-level element.  Third,
>    there are entirely too many of them, given that this is a footer
>    that goes on just about every page on the site.  Most of those are
>    affiliate projects, and they should be listed on one page, probably
>    an Affiliate Projects or Links page existing especially for that
>    purpose, with *one* link on every page pointing there.  As an added
>    bonus, this would allow for a little blurb about each one,
>    explaining what it is and why we're affliated.  Finally, the footer
>    contains validator.w3.org icons, but have we checked that the pages
>    that include the footer all validate?
>    
> For the new and rearranged sidebar, I'm thinking something like
> the following...
> 
>   Available Clipart:
>    * Statistics: over
>      4300 clips by over
>      400 contributors.
>    * Browse Online
>    * Download Releases
>    * Search by Keyword:
>      _____________ [Find]
>   Contribute:
>    * Submit Clip Art
>    * Submit Screenshot
>    * Join in Discussion
>    * Report a Problem
>    * Request Clipart
>   Information:
>    * News
>    * Branding & Logo
>    * Questions & Answers
>    * Contact & Feedback
>    * View Screenshots
>    * Planet (weblog)
>   Developer:
>    * Roadmap
>    * Tools
>    * Wiki
>   Incoming:
>    * There are 101 files
>      incoming, of which
>      97 are svg.
>    * View Submissions
>  
-- 
Jon Phillips

San Francisco, CA
USA PH 510.499.0894
jon at rejon.org
http://www.rejon.org

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