Redesign of Grex's Home Page?

May 23 01:46 UTC 1998

Grex's home page was designed in an era when the web was young and we
expected most people to be looking at it with "lynx".  A major goal was
to keep everything fitting on one lynx screen.

These days, it looks dignified, but it doesn't really give a good feeling
for what Grex is or what Grex is about.  You have to wander through an
awful lot of pages to find out everything most people should know about Grex.

I personally thing we need a livelier, more informative web page.  Several
times recently I've tried putting together a better web page, but most of my
ideas required original artwork, and my artistic abilities fell pathetically
short.  So today I have up on trying to draw new graphics and did a
mostly-text design.  It is at

        http://www.grex.org/~janc/newhome.html

Now, it is not my intention to propose this a Grex's new home page.  It has
some significant flaws.  It is my intention to try to encourage other people
to come up with ideas and designs for a new web page.

A couple comments on what I was trying to do.

  - I wanted an unusual look.  We're an unusual system.  We shouldn't have
    an ordinary looking web page.  (Our current web page is unusual looking
    because of its sheer plainness - not a bad virtue.)

  - I wanted to put a lot of information about Grex right up front.  You
    should be able to get a decent idea of what Grex is without looking any
    further.  I'm not afraid to cover our web page with words.  I don't
    mind scaring off people who don't like reading.

  - I jammed a mess of links onto the front page.  I want to give a sense
    of a lot going on and a lot of options.

Anyone want to try their and hand at a better design?

response 4 of 64:

May 23 05:17 UTC 1998

Ditto - I think you've done a great job of expressing excitement with
simplicity!

response 6 of 64:

May 23 12:46 UTC 1998

One problem is that there are more links I'd like to add like for lost
passwords and stuff, and I'm not sure where to fit that in.

response 8 of 64:

May 24 15:50 UTC 1998

I love the new look, Jan!  My computer is using only 16 colours for some
reason, making the pink tables a little hard to read, but otherwise it's
great!  (And for most people, I suspect the colours are fine.)

Can you increase the space between the backtalk and telnet links?  It's a
little confusing as is... it looks like one link.

You could add the Lost Your password? link to the Welcome to Grex list -- it's
pretty evident, so while it doesn't quite fit there, it fits better than
anyplace else.  Another think I've seen done is to have the Lost Your Password
info available from the create a new account page.

Thanks, Jan!

response 10 of 64:

May 24 21:41 UTC 1998

I'm the first to dissent? :-)  The web site could use a
make-over, but I prefer the current heirarchical approach to
all the links on one page.  The heirarchy needs reorganization,
and Jan's page does a great job of that.  It's tough to fit
everything into one of four categories, but things fit pretty
well into the Welcome/Government/System/Community sections.

But I think putting all links on one page looks cluttered, and
daunting to someone unfamiliar with Grex.

Since I'm probably in the minority, one suggestion for Jan's
layout: left-justify the lists of links; multiple centered rows
of text are harder to read than left-justified.

Also, I made an attempt at a graphical makeover a couple years
back, with icons for each of the then-present main menu items.
It's just a single-GIF screen mockup...I don't really care for
much of it, including the facetious logo :-), but it provides
an alternate approach for discussion.
See http://www.cyberspace.org/~ajax/grexmenu.html

response 12 of 64:

May 25 06:45 UTC 1998

Jan wrote:
>I'm not afraid to cover our web page with words.  I don't
>mind scaring off people who don't like reading.

Your page is good, but I don't mind scaring off people who just read
'unix shell account' ;-)
I'd like a sort of middle way between old page and jan's suggest

luca_

response 14 of 64:

May 27 15:07 UTC 1998

Though artistically interesting, I don't care for links all over the place
(4 different quadrants), and there are just too many links for a home page.
Call me boring, but I think the current home page, perhaps spruced up a bit,
is a better way to go.

response 16 of 64:

May 29 16:50 UTC 1998

Jan I like the fact the new web page proposal is designed with tables, it's
a good compromise between accessibility and using the webs formatting features.
Having said that I have to say I think there is too much information on the
home page.  If I didn't know about Grex I would probably find the number of
links overwhelming and I wouldn't bother to look further.  I also personally
find the pastel colors a bit offputting, I prefer white, black, grey, various
shades of dark blue etc.  I think this basic design could work well if the
various tables were on seperate pages and the color scheme were a little more
high contrast.

response 18 of 64:

May 30 15:50 UTC 1998

I like that fact that everything is up front just because it's efficient. 
For the user, everything is there, you only have to follow links and come back
if you really want to pursue stuff.  It is a complete overview.  I like the
quick connections to the conferences, with registration/login as options only
if you want to participate.

Is there some way to have a link generate the output of the pwho command?
That would be a comparatively simple way to give some idea of party without
really taxing the system, I would think.

response 20 of 64:

May 31 07:21 UTC 1998

The problem with a *lot* of information on the opening page is that people
aren't going to be able to keep it organized in their head.  I just read on
the web that you don't want to have more than 6 options on any one menu
as short term memory can only hold 7+-2 options.  I have to agree the #
of links on the new page prototype gives me a headache looking at it.  BTW
I do appreciate the fact you are working on a new web page Jan I just think
that you might want to think about ease of navigation issues.

response 22 of 64:

May 31 16:05 UTC 1998

One note - I'm not "working on a new web page."  I'm hoping someone else will,
and am just trying to get the ball rolling.  I'm having some tendenitis
problems, and aim to be limiting the amount of typing I do.

response 24 of 64:

Jun 5 08:16 UTC 1998

From Grex page I can see the uptime of the machine.
I'd like also a finger link "see who's connected" maybe if each login
listed is also a link to their WWW directory.
I think new people will see clearly who we are: a lot of intelligent
people from many parts of the world.
luca_