Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 11:05:47 -0400 From: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu> To: Tony <abletony84@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD's backwards webdesign / corporate identity Message-ID: <20120409150547.GA73820@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> In-Reply-To: <CADnJ0kHO%2B5dzNZdBCWjH=nmKK=WROUhm%2Bz0vAsn62cdFB3zzrA@mail.gmail.com> References: <CADnJ0kHO%2B5dzNZdBCWjH=nmKK=WROUhm%2Bz0vAsn62cdFB3zzrA@mail.gmail.com>
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On Sun, Apr 08, 2012 at 02:40:12PM +0200, Tony wrote: > Hello! > > As much as I love FreeBSD, I'm a bit alarmed by its webdesign / corporate > identity. Since FreeBSD is the world's best OS, I believe it should have a > design that reflects this. A design that is so neutral and stripped of any > unnecessary details that the user's attention is directed straight on to > the content as opposed to how the content looks. A design that you can look > at over and over without getting annoyed. > Whereas there are a few small things I could see improved in the FreeBSD website, generally, it is functional and does what it is supposed to do; provide information about FreeBSD for people looking for information. It is not there to be wallpaper for someones desktop. > The current design is an uneven mix of various styles, and seems more > forced than well thought out. First you have the shiny Satanic 3D-lookalike > logo (yes, despite what y'all say, it's still Satanic) that might look cool > the first few times one looks at it. Now though it's more like "what the > hell *is* that thing anyway"? (ref: Tres > Logos<http://www.amazon.com/Tres-Logos-Robert-Klanten/dp/3899552679/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332777820&sr=8-1>; Don't see anything useful there. As far as the sextoy logo, can't say that I like it, but Where is anything better? > ) > > Then you have a surrounding layout trying to cater to that logo, but fails > miserably as it was made by programmers as opposed to people with an actual > education in design <http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/>. There is no natural > flow <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_flow>; and the whole thing just > comes off as corny <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=corny>; - > and this makes us all look bad. I also hear > PostgreSQL<http://www.postgresql.org/>is planning to sue FreeBSD for > stealing its design. The FreeBSD site heirarchy of information leading to further information is a bit ragged in places, but show us something better. The Royal Academy front page is not too bad of a website home page, but isn't really appropriate to FreeBSD. FreeBSD is a serious working project, not some bling bling sales site. > > I propose a new, supersimple look for FreeBSD based on > Helvetica<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkoX0pEwSCw>. > No devil logo, no bells and whistles, just straight forward "FreeBSD" - the > world's best operating system. So simple that hardly anything it will go > out of fashion and need to be replaced, so simple that it'll remain as > current now as it will be a hundred years from now. There was nothing there. The site didn't work. > > "Perfection is achieved, not when there's nothing left to add, but when > there's nothing left to take away." I looked at the URLs that you include and saw nothing that made any sense relative to FreeBSD. The socalled 'design council' page made one of the cardinal errors in web page design by making it a fixed width beyond the browser window's size. It subverts browser reflow. I hate that. It abuses the whole sysem and makes it hard for people so hav a desktop layout the way they want/need. eg, it trashes the page. So, come up with some actually good design before you next barf all over the list. Then, maybe someone will incorporate some of the worthwhile ideas. ////jerry > > Tony > http://siegelgale.com/ <http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/>; > http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/ > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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