8 ms·

Nicely done. Interesting how a website design will make people take a second and consider that's being presented. I remember going to the old website and immedi

Nicely done. Interesting how a website design will make people take a second and consider that's being presented. I remember going to the old website and immediately dashing out thinking this was something beyond me. The current design is tasteful, and well executed.

agumonkey 11y ago
guix design is 'fresh' too but a lot less inviting :)
- jolux 11y ago
  You mean http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/ http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/? Looks ugly as sin to me...this new Guile site though. It looks more like an Apple product than a GNU project ;) (in a good way)
  - jordigh 11y ago
    What about the GNU Octave site? Ugly as sin or uglier? http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
    - walrus 11y ago
      A few suggestions: - The front page needs some short code samples and their output. Also, maybe showcase some libraries or projects the Octave community has created. - Make 'Documentation' a top-level menu entry. - Provide some 'Getting Started' documentation. I know there's a section in the manual for that, but I don't dive into the manual when I'm just trying to get a feel for what something is. - The download page should have distro-specific installation instructions (e.g., apt-get install octave, pacman -S octave). For Windows, link directly to the exe. For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Other than that I think it's fine. The design on the navigation menu looks a little dated, but it's not a big deal.
      - jordigh 11y ago
        > For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Heh, as soon as we can find someone who can create one...
        stergios 11y ago
        How about "brew install octave" .
        jordigh 11y ago
        Slow, error-prone, obscure. Remember that Octave is used by people who regularly call themselves "not a programmer".
      - opk 11y ago
        Isn't it really rather pointless to show distro-specific installation instructions. Someone who can program in scheme or octave really doesn't need help on using apt-get. There's many options if you want to cover a good range of distributions. Someone that clueless will probably not realise the commands need running as root, either. It only makes sense for Windows and OS X.
        Retra 11y ago
        Someone who is learning scheme or octave may not know these things. This may be their first time installing something like this.
        walrus 11y ago
        I disagree. As someone who knows how to use my system's package manager, it saves me from having to figure out the name of the package and whether or not I need to enable a 3rd party repository. Also, I know at least two people who use Octave that aren't comfortable with their system's package manager. Both of them use Ubuntu for their research because it's easier to get compilers (Fortran and C++) working properly, but they use Windows for general (non-research) computing. One of them is a biophysics graduate student and the other is a chemistry undergraduate.
    - chadzawistowski 11y ago
      In terms of site design, I prefer Guile > Octave > Guix.
    - jolux 11y ago
      No, it looks much better. The drop-shadows are a bit cringey but again, the colors make sense and for what it's worth it's an honest design. This is clearly the homepage of a free software project.
    - Maken 11y ago
      Probably most Octave users (including me) prefer to use the command line client, but I don't think the new GUI is so terrible to not show it in the front page.
    - Nadya 11y ago
      Minor UX issue: Your side nav `buttons` should be able to be clicked from the sides. Not just the text. Similar to the `continue` button in the donate section. http://i.imgur.com/WgWwuRG.png http://i.imgur.com/WgWwuRG.png
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    I said 'fresh', as opposed to vanilla vintage gnu layout (http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/), not beautiful or good :)
    - jolux 11y ago
      Honestly I think that the "vintage" GNU site looks better than that one. Clean typography, sensible colors, it's even flat-design and it's not even trying! It's honest about what it is. Designers aren't going to be downloading Guix or probably GNU Screen. The older page is much more aligned with the FSF's brand, which is utilitarian and emphasizes freedom above all else. Guix's site looks very corporate, like a dead startup from the late aughts.
      - talideon 11y ago
        It looks more 'corporate' because they paid more attention to the site's information architecture[1]: rather than presenting you with a wall of text like old sites do, you're presented with what it is, why you should care, what it's like, and all in straightforward terms. That's easier to consume than the dense paragraph of material you get in the likes of the GNU Screen page. If you squint, you'll see things clearly: the page is broken up with whitespace into distinct sections, and there are no gigantic blobs of text. In contrast, the GNU Screen page is basically one big black blob of text between a header and a footer. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_architecture
        denniskane 11y ago
        Maybe. But at least the information on the Screen page is the god's honest truth... This site, however, is a load of pure propaganda. > With Guile you can create applications and games for the desktop, the Web, the command-line, and more. You can create applications on the web with Lisp? Really?!? And tell me about all of those wonderful command-line games! But then there is always the "more". Whatever the hell that is. Holy shit, the world has just gone completely insane.
na85 11y ago
>well executed IMHO the execution could be better. Doesn't render properly on my Nexus 5.
- talideon 11y ago
  Compared to what was there before, it's much better.
  - sdegutis 11y ago
    Website snapshot from October 13th: http://web.archive.org/web/20151013161308/http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/ http://web.archive.org/web/20151013161308/http://www.gnu.org...
    - userbinator 11y ago
      I'm going to disagree with most of the others here and say that I definitely do prefer the look of the old site. The simple, clear paragraphs of text give me a feeling of "take your time, relax and learn; there's plenty of interesting things to read here." In contrast, the new site feels like in-your-face flashy distracting "TRY OUR AMAZING PRODUCT NOW!!" marketing, which just evokes a visceral "go away, leave me alone" reaction not unlike that I experience from seeing ads. In addition, I had to scroll far more in the new site to read everything than the old one. For being basically decorative, those pictures are huge.
      - sdegutis 11y ago
        Maybe I'm just broken, but lots of paragraphs scares me off. The new site breaks everything down by section, and that makes it much less intimidating for me to skim and even read fully.
      - timtadh 11y ago
        In comparison to the new site the first sentence on the old one throws me off: Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the official extension language for the GNU operating system. Oh, so it is a language for writing plugins in. Kinda cool, but Python seems more newbie friendly than scheme for the same purpose. Might have a niche for some more scientific applications... Compared to the new site: Guile is designed to help programmers create flexible applications that can be extended by users or other programmers with plug-ins, modules, or scripts. That sounds much more general purpose. Maybe you would write the whole application in guile not just part of it.

agumonkey 11y ago

guix design is 'fresh' too but a lot less inviting :)

jolux 11y ago
You mean http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/ http://www.gnu.org/software/guix/? Looks ugly as sin to me...this new Guile site though. It looks more like an Apple product than a GNU project ;) (in a good way)
- jordigh 11y ago
  What about the GNU Octave site? Ugly as sin or uglier? http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/ http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
  - walrus 11y ago
    A few suggestions: - The front page needs some short code samples and their output. Also, maybe showcase some libraries or projects the Octave community has created. - Make 'Documentation' a top-level menu entry. - Provide some 'Getting Started' documentation. I know there's a section in the manual for that, but I don't dive into the manual when I'm just trying to get a feel for what something is. - The download page should have distro-specific installation instructions (e.g., apt-get install octave, pacman -S octave). For Windows, link directly to the exe. For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Other than that I think it's fine. The design on the navigation menu looks a little dated, but it's not a big deal.
    - jordigh 11y ago
      > For OS X, link directly to the dmg. Heh, as soon as we can find someone who can create one...
      - stergios 11y ago
        How about "brew install octave" .
        jordigh 11y ago
        Slow, error-prone, obscure. Remember that Octave is used by people who regularly call themselves "not a programmer".
    - opk 11y ago
      Isn't it really rather pointless to show distro-specific installation instructions. Someone who can program in scheme or octave really doesn't need help on using apt-get. There's many options if you want to cover a good range of distributions. Someone that clueless will probably not realise the commands need running as root, either. It only makes sense for Windows and OS X.
      - Retra 11y ago
        Someone who is learning scheme or octave may not know these things. This may be their first time installing something like this.
      - walrus 11y ago
        I disagree. As someone who knows how to use my system's package manager, it saves me from having to figure out the name of the package and whether or not I need to enable a 3rd party repository. Also, I know at least two people who use Octave that aren't comfortable with their system's package manager. Both of them use Ubuntu for their research because it's easier to get compilers (Fortran and C++) working properly, but they use Windows for general (non-research) computing. One of them is a biophysics graduate student and the other is a chemistry undergraduate.
  - chadzawistowski 11y ago
    In terms of site design, I prefer Guile > Octave > Guix.
  - jolux 11y ago
    No, it looks much better. The drop-shadows are a bit cringey but again, the colors make sense and for what it's worth it's an honest design. This is clearly the homepage of a free software project.
  - Maken 11y ago
    Probably most Octave users (including me) prefer to use the command line client, but I don't think the new GUI is so terrible to not show it in the front page.
  - Nadya 11y ago
    Minor UX issue: Your side nav `buttons` should be able to be clicked from the sides. Not just the text. Similar to the `continue` button in the donate section. http://i.imgur.com/WgWwuRG.png http://i.imgur.com/WgWwuRG.png
- agumonkey 11y ago
  I said 'fresh', as opposed to vanilla vintage gnu layout (http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/), not beautiful or good :)
  - jolux 11y ago
    Honestly I think that the "vintage" GNU site looks better than that one. Clean typography, sensible colors, it's even flat-design and it's not even trying! It's honest about what it is. Designers aren't going to be downloading Guix or probably GNU Screen. The older page is much more aligned with the FSF's brand, which is utilitarian and emphasizes freedom above all else. Guix's site looks very corporate, like a dead startup from the late aughts.
    - talideon 11y ago
      It looks more 'corporate' because they paid more attention to the site's information architecture[1]: rather than presenting you with a wall of text like old sites do, you're presented with what it is, why you should care, what it's like, and all in straightforward terms. That's easier to consume than the dense paragraph of material you get in the likes of the GNU Screen page. If you squint, you'll see things clearly: the page is broken up with whitespace into distinct sections, and there are no gigantic blobs of text. In contrast, the GNU Screen page is basically one big black blob of text between a header and a footer. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_architecture
      - denniskane 11y ago
        Maybe. But at least the information on the Screen page is the god's honest truth... This site, however, is a load of pure propaganda. > With Guile you can create applications and games for the desktop, the Web, the command-line, and more. You can create applications on the web with Lisp? Really?!? And tell me about all of those wonderful command-line games! But then there is always the "more". Whatever the hell that is. Holy shit, the world has just gone completely insane.

na85 11y ago

>well executed IMHO the execution could be better. Doesn't render properly on my Nexus 5.

talideon 11y ago
Compared to what was there before, it's much better.
- sdegutis 11y ago
  Website snapshot from October 13th: http://web.archive.org/web/20151013161308/http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/ http://web.archive.org/web/20151013161308/http://www.gnu.org...
  - userbinator 11y ago
    I'm going to disagree with most of the others here and say that I definitely do prefer the look of the old site. The simple, clear paragraphs of text give me a feeling of "take your time, relax and learn; there's plenty of interesting things to read here." In contrast, the new site feels like in-your-face flashy distracting "TRY OUR AMAZING PRODUCT NOW!!" marketing, which just evokes a visceral "go away, leave me alone" reaction not unlike that I experience from seeing ads. In addition, I had to scroll far more in the new site to read everything than the old one. For being basically decorative, those pictures are huge.
    - sdegutis 11y ago
      Maybe I'm just broken, but lots of paragraphs scares me off. The new site breaks everything down by section, and that makes it much less intimidating for me to skim and even read fully.
    - timtadh 11y ago
      In comparison to the new site the first sentence on the old one throws me off: Guile is the GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language for Extensions, the official extension language for the GNU operating system. Oh, so it is a language for writing plugins in. Kinda cool, but Python seems more newbie friendly than scheme for the same purpose. Might have a niche for some more scientific applications... Compared to the new site: Guile is designed to help programmers create flexible applications that can be extended by users or other programmers with plug-ins, modules, or scripts. That sounds much more general purpose. Maybe you would write the whole application in guile not just part of it.