TxP.com home page

squaredeye · 2008-09-11 14:14:36

HOLY CRAP!
I missed a lot. Again apologies.

Destry is garnering great ideas from other writers in the forum, but is still handling the main work of putting together a wireframe/content. I am not entirely sure of where the content/layout has landed in order for me to work out a second iteration. For what its worth, Destry’s original comments and those that ensued about my original comp are spot on. I’m not married to any design. My job as designer is not to KNOW ALL and snog with my designs, but to facilitate content and function to form, and make it match and engage the current brand (hopefully giving it wings).

what I need to design a second round if someone’s willing to make a handy list (pullleeeasse!)

Link to present content
Link to Destry’s preferred layout
Any must read posts that will effect the design (typographical choices, inspiration, tone, audience, etc)

Thanks!

Matthew

Destry · 2008-09-11 15:33:01

So what you need, then, is a summary in graphic brief form. :)

Well here’s the summary anyway…

Content: The only two links you need to know are site map (for orientation) and more presently home. Content is not yet finalized in either location, but that’s where it will be, not here in this thread.
My wireframe is close; both Dave and zero’s renditions of the home page seem more or less based on it. I think we need to consolidate and assess the ideas given since then to help lead the home page content details, but we need to find a compromise because there’s a point where enough is enough on the debating and not everybody is going to see their two cents or you might as well put the whole website on the home page. (Remember “horse by design”).
Last point…I guess wet’s Txp Relaunch page is again the official place on those details (and people need to update/lock it accordingly).

renobird · 2008-09-11 15:48:37

Matthew,

Glad to see you (figuratively of course). I’m looking forward to seeing the next version.

destry wrote

but we need to find a compromise because there’s a point where enough is enough on the debating and not everybody is going to see their two cents or you might as well put the whole website on the home page.

Exactly.

)

Bloke · 2008-09-11 15:54:54

squaredeye wrote:

Any must read posts that will effect the design (typographical choices, inspiration, tone, audience, etc)

Other than the ones on the wiki that pretty much cover the whole tone/audience thing, the mock-up by nemoorange and fallout thereafter pretty much sums up the typography and how people see the bits gelling.

fwiw, I’m leaning towards a more paper-publication serif / sans-serif split between headers and content because it conveys classic ‘print’ and ‘text’ ideals to me. I think that’s what we’re building on; the fact that Textpattern is about the writing and the content. I’ve been told that online copy tends to be solely sans-serif, which may explain why a serif font for the copy stands out and instils the words ‘high quality’ & ‘authoritative’ in my head. Maybe it’s just me!

Last edited by Bloke (2008-09-11 15:56:22)

squaredeye · 2008-09-11 16:31:34

bloke,
very good. I am gathering that.

One thought is that while serif fonts too speak to high quality, they also speak to antiquity, which can be problematic when one is looking for a quality CMS that they expect not to BE a publication, but to help them publish.

Sans-serif typography always has the quality of being less obtrusive and “getting out of the way” as helvetica is famous/infamous for. These things need to be taken into account when producing a site for a product that is technologically solid, and ought to “get out of the way” so that users can do whatever they want with it. A serif font MAY communicate too strongly for this?

Matthew

jstubbs · 2008-09-11 16:37:16

Serif fonts like Georgia look great – much better than a sans-serif font. I personally like David DeSandro (nemoorange) mockup the best so far. Its clean, simple and elegant, just like TXP.

However, I do agree with Bloke that a Georgia (or similar) header with a classic sans-serif font for body copy is also nice.

Taking a look at the homepage copy text now….

renobird · 2008-09-11 17:07:13

squaredeye wrote

Sans-serif typography always has the quality of being less obtrusive and “getting out of the way” as helvetica is famous/infamous for. These things need to be taken into account when producing a site for a product that is technologically solid, and ought to “get out of the way” so that users can do whatever they want with it. A serif font MAY communicate too strongly for this?

I agree with Matthew on this. Although, I think the complimentary use of both is ideal. Personally I think this should be left to Matthew to present some options – not to be nit-picked to death or subject everyone’s individual preference – but more like choose from A, B, or C. Because this is not the U.S. Senate…so we can’t just talk all day and get nothing accomplished. : )

Jason Santa Maria has some good stuff in his portfolio.
Yes, I know he did the WP admin redesign. Whatever you think of the app – the admin interface is very well done.

driz · 2008-09-11 21:34:38

http://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?pid=188950#p188950

Yuck! Please don’t do anything like that for the new Textpattern website, it looks like a FrontPage template or something, not the site of a professional publishing application! x

MattD · 2008-09-11 22:12:57

driz wrote:

Yuck! Please don’t do anything like that for the new Textpattern website, it looks like a FrontPage template or something, not the site of a professional publishing application! x

A bit harsh considering others are saying they like it. Be constructive Driz.

driz · 2008-09-11 22:16:05

MattD wrote:

driz wrote:

Yuck! Please don’t do anything like that for the new Textpattern website, it looks like a FrontPage template or something, not the site of a professional publishing application! x

A bit harsh considering others are saying they like it. Be constructive Driz.

That doesn’t mean anything :D People like many things, like IE for instance! Doesn’t mean they are right!

But on a serious note, that design doesn’t do any justice! Mebbe look at some CSS galleries for guidance, see how other open-source sites make use of playful and fun metaphors! x

Last edited by driz (2008-09-11 22:18:18)

Neko · 2008-09-11 22:26:57

MattD wrote:

A bit harsh considering others are saying they like it. Be constructive Driz.

Well, honestly I don’t like all those serifs. All serifs: headers and paragraphs. What happened to the classic TXP typography? It was made by a prominent designer/typographer and, after all these years, it still looks darn good. I wouldn’t change that. Or, if I really had to change something, I’d rip Textism typography off. :) At least, it could be considered a kind of evolution of our own.

Also, mentioning Michelangelo seems a bit out of place to me. If I had to pick a copy, I’d stick with our actual one:

Textpattern is a flexible, elegant and easy-to-use content management system. Textpattern is both free and open source.

Or something along those lines. There’s a reason why copywriters are being paid good money in order to write brief sentences like those. The reason is: because writing all those brief sentences is hard. :)

IIRC we had a copywriter among ourselves. And damn good about it. Maybe we could ask her for a little help?

Regardless, I also like a lot the various Wordpress family copies:

Blogging is too hard. Through WordPress we’ve enabled millions of people to effortlessly publish to the web. Now we want to enable millions more.

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

They’re all “simple-no metaphors-no cultural references-no we’re better than you” claims which go straight to the point. Not that the current “Michelangelo/Hemingway” thing is anything like that, it’s just I tend to prefer simpler, more direct copy.

Last edited by Neko (2008-09-11 23:07:59)

Bloke · 2008-09-11 23:40:26

squaredeye wrote:

while serif fonts too speak to high quality, they also speak to antiquity, which can be problematic when one is looking for a quality CMS that they expect not to BE a publication, but to help them publish.

True true, I hadn’t thought of that angle. Perhaps that explains the sans-serif bias on the web; or maybe I’m just too old skool. Either way I don’t really mind; I’m small fry in this game so take my opinions with a mountain of salt :-)

Bottom line is I’ll take any of the options provided thus far, as they’re all a step up in usability from the three-column one we have today; they’re all scalable and tweakable and offer a unified Textpatternverse with a common brand identity.

P.S. Thanks zero for revamping the Reasons to try. Much better. Anyone else have anything to add/remove from the list?

If that bit of copy goes ahead (perhaps in this form or as maverick’s cool Reasons NOT to try!) I envisage randomly picking a small handful — certainly less than 5, depending on space — to display each time the page is refreshed. Chances are one of them will resonate with a visitor and they’ll click to find out more about that feature. The fundamental interconnectedness of everything takes care of the rest!

squaredeye · 2008-09-12 02:41:38

Bloke/Stef,
Mountain of salt taken, but your comments were really helpful, and not to be dismissed :))

Matthew

nemoorange · 2008-09-12 03:08:30

Seems like my submission may have been premature. All the same, thank you for those who responded.

For now, we should focus on the content. First goal needs to be settling on a final version of the copy. Once that is in place, we can provide Matthew with opinion’s on the look and feel in the design.

Instead of approaching this situation with a “the homepage should have . . .” mindset, we should start thinking about what sort of functions will the txp site serve? What problems does the site face that we need to resolve? As I see it, the homepage should be geared towards two types of people:

People who have never heard about Textpattern before, and want to learn more
People who already know about Textpattern, and but need to navigate to a certain section

So the main homepage / landing-page doesn’t require much copy. Consider the homepage for Omeka. The presentation is minimal, clear and direct. Just a couple lines of copy. This gives both the new and experienced user the impetus to dig deeper. New user would then select to view a full list of features, or possibly scope out a couple featured sites. And the experienced user can quickly navigate to her desired section. No need to load up the front page with too much information.

Again, just some ideas to play around with.

jstubbs · 2008-09-12 06:15:20

Dave, your design is great, its just a shame that it was not clearer earlier that Mathew had been appointed to design the new site! I am sure he will come up with something very good.

I edited the homepage copy text yesterday for clarity and brevity. It could be improved further – I’ll have another go this weekend.

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