Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

hakjoon · 2007-03-12 18:25:18

I’ve come to accept that this is the way things are with Textpattern and I try to contribute how I can. ~~Although I have to say the rewards for time invested don’t really encourage more time.~~

~~A lot of the surrounding community infrastructure does not come from the dev team yet it is also important for TXP’s success.~~

~~Just as a counter point MODx is developed with the same guiding principle as TXP (the devs work on what will make their projects easier) yet there is a tremendous amount of transparency.~~

Edit: you know what we’ve been here before and it just is what it is.

Last edited by hakjoon (2007-03-12 18:27:59)

hcgtv · 2007-03-12 18:36:21

Jeremie wrote:

And on the core dev team, does anyone want in? I think it’s the first thing to ask.

That would have to be asked by the Dev Team.

ma_smith wrote:

I have received more help from some of the dev team than I know what to do with, and so I say the following without any disdain, but simply out of open thinking, but I am really surprised that there hasn’t been a fork from this system given your comments above, which I sympathize with.

Forking is easy, supporting it is another story and of course you have to have a reason to fork. What will you do that’s different – newer admin, easier for writers to enter content, better templating, etc.

hakjoon wrote:

Edit: you know what we’ve been here before and it just is what it is.

Yeah, that’s the post that got me wondering what I had gotten myself into :)

squaredeye · 2007-03-12 18:49:36

hakjoon wrote:

Edit: you know what we’ve been here before and it just is what it is.

Too true. And I agree wholeheartedly. It is what it is :) So Firefusion, did you get what you were looking for :))))
I think that’s it for me… I’m now laughing that I entertained these ideas again. Its a funny road to go down.

Jeremie · 2007-03-12 19:09:15

Yup, that was my reason for trying to re-focus the thread. Take a good look at it’s subject ;)

hcgtv · 2007-03-12 19:26:16

Jeremie wrote:

Yup, that was my reason for trying to re-focus the thread. Take a good look at it’s subject ;)

Ok, back on topic.

The Debian people get a lot of flack for keeping such a spartan look for their front page, in lieu of Ubuntu’s rise in popularity. I like the Textpattern front page, it’s what it is, a lean CMS tool and the emphasize is on tool.

FireFusion · 2007-03-12 22:12:09

I wasn’t suggesting at all that we have something just like EE’s site. I think just a new looks that stays simple but makes TXP more appealing and better organises things into clear sections.

squaredeye · 2007-03-12 22:32:57

Firefusion,
I agree.

maniqui · 2007-03-13 05:21:14

I don’t really have good (nor bad) arguments to answer FireFusion’s question.
I will simple reformulate the question to:

What is wrong (if anything) with the current Textpattern.com design?
What could be the real benefits (or cons) for the community/dev-team/TxP itself of modifying the Textpattern.com site look&feel?

As I said before (in the expired thread linked above), Textpattern is a zen thing (i don’t know what it means, hehe) and Zem seems not only to think the same but he also said:

Textpattern has a lively community because it is good, not because it is open source.

I would say: Textpattern is good and it certainly won’t be better just for having an stunning homepage.

Textpattern seems to be and old man who doesn’t seems to look so handsome and stronger as someone younger. The old man even looks very weak! But he is very calm and quiet and always smiling.
We all know the true: he has the kung-fu.

I’m not sure if I have reached a satori yet, but using Textpattern I have achieved some states very similar to an enlightenment.

Yeah… time to sleep…

gaza · 2007-03-13 13:17:24

I’m not sure. Once you try out Textpattern, and get it working just the way you want it to… it’s hard to think of using anything else. The flexibility is just amazing and can’t be found anywhere else.

The default template sucks, but it’s almost like a Zen monastery test… once you go ahead and move forward, even though you had your doubts, the reward of enlightenment comes to you.

)

squaredeye · 2007-03-13 13:30:13

maniqui wrote:

What is wrong (if anything) with the current Textpattern.com design?

What could be the real benefits (or cons) for the community/dev-team/TxP itself of modifying the Textpattern.com site look&feel?

not great:

It lacks finesse
The typography is the most dominant element on the page, and even though I’m not a pro in typography, I would suggest it needs work to have a better “tempo” and rythm.

benefits:

attract a larger base of users to a solid community
more users means more solutions/plugins/templates
more users means more funding for improvements to core or large plugins (possibly)

Ultimately, Zem is absolutely right. I use TXP because of the structure, tagging system, logic, etc. not because it looks pretty with the default install. This posture makes TXP a better setup for a developer than a wordpress type blogger.

IMO.

Matthew

Jeremie · 2007-03-14 00:54:17

It also lack a xhtml strict validation, and some better/cleaner code and semantic. Not a huge thing, but some people looking for a web software check this first (and the software own webpage is pretty much what they’re looking at).

maniqui · 2007-03-14 18:31:50

I’m agree with you, Jeremie.
The site fully validates in XHTML transitional.
To validate in XHTML strict it needs just a little change because there are still some target:_blank in the source.

I also agree about the semantics of the current site, but as you said, it’s not a huge point and it can easily be improved.

But the true is that beyond its look&feel, Textpattern.com is a bit outdated, both the text and the images. Is it the time to update and improve it and change its aesthetics? I think it will be a waste of time and efforts right now.
When Textpattern 4.1 is released, I think it will be the time to re-think and re-release Textpattern.com, with fresh content.

About the look&feel, I would like to see something simple, similar (in concept and simplicity) to the current design.

FireFusion · 2007-03-15 10:07:06

I think one of the biggest flaws in Textpattern sites is how scattered around resources are. Clients are already confused by the fact there is a .com .org .net each performing different functions. I always have to give people 10 or so links when introducing them to Textpattern.

This is just a bit of fantasy but if we had something like this site where everything feels like part of the same thing (Development, plugins, wiki, forums, docs, themes and a google coop search where people could add their sites). I’m not suggesting we move all domains into one but if they have the same look and top menu bar.

Jeremie · 2007-03-15 11:37:24

FireFusion wrote:

I’m not suggesting we move all domains into one but if they have the same look and top menu bar.

Well, I am (suggesting this), and have been.

It would be a big help for the newcomers, and only require the main webmaster to relinquish control over some subdomain (and their jailed ssh/sftp, I’m assuming Joyent’s Accelerator can jail) and give new subdomain for new projects.

hakjoon · 2007-03-15 13:22:31

They are all on the same server already. All it would take is some httpd.conf changes.

I am also a fan of the unified domain. Textbook has already moved to textbook.textpattern.net. It makes much more sense for it to be textbook.textpattern.com

Last edited by hakjoon (2007-03-15 13:23:55)

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#16 2007-03-12 18:25:18

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#17 2007-03-12 18:36:21

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#18 2007-03-12 18:49:36

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#19 2007-03-12 19:09:15

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#20 2007-03-12 19:26:16

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#21 2007-03-12 22:12:09

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#22 2007-03-12 22:32:57

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#23 2007-03-13 05:21:14

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#24 2007-03-13 13:17:24

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#25 2007-03-13 13:30:13

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#26 2007-03-14 00:54:17

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#27 2007-03-14 18:31:50

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#28 2007-03-15 10:07:06

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#29 2007-03-15 11:37:24

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

#30 2007-03-15 13:22:31

Re: Does Textpattern.com need a new look?

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