5 ms·

What a nice funky design. That front page has a soul, unlike almost everything else I see nowadays.

viraptor 6y ago
There's a post about the design here: https://radicle.community/t/the-journey-to-radicles-new-brand-and-website/355 https://radicle.community/t/the-journey-to-radicles-new-bran...
- throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
  The main site page is just awful. It's amateurish, image/animation heavy to no value, almost negligable information. They may have something good but the site's just obscuring it.
  - viraptor 6y ago
    I think it does a good job listing project ideas / features / roadmap and is a pleasant step away from the bland corporate brands. Love the esthetic. You just can't satisfy everyone.
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      The front page alone is 9MB. Edit: perhaps more importantly, I have to gain a feeling for the product, to work out whether it's worth the perhaps nontrivial time evaluating it. If I'm presented with this what it indicates to me, rightly or not, is that the product is image-led, the project is perhaps childish if the website is (clips from ghost in the shell?), fails to understand technical load (the website's bloated, what does it say about technical competence of the company) and whatever. I don't care about corporate blandness, I need solid info, directly in front of me, and not having my eyes pulled away by flicker. I could be completely getting the value of this project wrong but first impressions suggest I may well be wasting my time with it.
      - hombre_fatal 6y ago
        > The front page alone is 9MB. I don't understand how people think this is damning with no further context, especially on a forum presumably full of technical people. Virtually all of that (>9MB) are its gifs. 9MB of dozens of analytics.js files? Sure, awful. 9MB of gifs and <1000KB of html/css on a landing page? Who cares. Btw, for lack of a kinder word off the top of my head, your rant about some images on the landing page is very juvenile. The tone of "hmm, it would be a shame if your design choices made me assume you were technically incompetent and a waste of my time :/" is really toxic. Everyone here would understand what you mean if you just said the landing page was over the top for you. Fine. OP would know that a bold design to be divisive. And frankly some self-awareness on your part would help temper your reaction here instead of dramatizing it and sounding wounded. Similarly, claiming that a project interested you but you couldn't even get past a landing page because it had some gifs is really just your loss, not anybody else's. Once again, had you just said "I wish there was a more informative page" (which is certainly a fair ask), someone could have linked you to https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html. I know that now it seems like I'm the one overreacting, but your comment has some tropes of really bad communication habits that we tend to think are just part of internet discourse, but they aren't doing you justice.
        throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
        > ... on a landing page? Who cares. I care. Wasting other people's resources is bad manners and contributes to a culture where waste is acceptable. > waste of my time :/" is really toxic. It was honest feedback. If others feel the same way the product marketing team is making a potentially serious mistake. Give me info, not anime android animations. It wasn't toxic. > but you couldn't even get past a landing page because it had some gifs is really just your loss, not anybody else's. If other people feel the same way, it very definitely stops being my problem and becomes the product's problem as people get turned off it. That was a core point you missed. > could have linked you to https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html. Why in your view was this not on the front page at the top? (edit, and see this link & earlier reply https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25321788 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25321788) > but your comment ... but they aren't doing you justice Thanks (genuinely) but I stand by this. It said what was wrong (IMO). it said what I wanted (again IMO), it was honest if blunt feedback the marketeers could use to decide if my point had merit (if they can admit they might have been wrong). We differ but I appreciate your constructive feedback.
  - pdonis 6y ago
    I don't like it much either. I think this article from the docs is a much better intro to what the thing is: https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html
    - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
      That is exactly what I was after, thanks.
- nulbyte 6y ago
  I like the sketch of the first design presented there. It seems to fit with the product. Unfortunately, the cult-route they went with produced a busy page with lots of animation that distracts the reader. Also, overlapping headings with animations and changing colors immensely reduces readability. If it weren't overly animated and the headings were legible, this design might actually be pleasantly nostalgic. But in its present state, it makes me wish for old radicle, when it was built on ipfs and had no GUI. The overt use of animation is exactly how I tend to think of unnecesary GUIs.
- 2bitencryption 6y ago
  this is just me, but I'm honestly way more interested in this design post than I am about the product itself. love the design - it's honestly something I've never seen before (at least, not in the context of software). I love how it rejects the tired old aesthetic of the "software tool front page" and goes in a totally different direction while still getting the point across.
  - gugagore 6y ago
    > With the swap to GIFs and net art we nailed the early web vibe that p2p so naturally pairs with. I bet there are _some_ early web software pages that would resemble this page.
yunohn 6y ago
Especially for a FOSS project! Usually they tend to go with a default theme with the most drab design. As an engineer, I sympathize with the effort needed to make it look good though.
theelous3 6y ago
Reminds me of the better aspects of brutalist web design: https://brutalistwebsites.com/ https://brutalistwebsites.com/ mixed with some actual formatting.
studius 6y ago
the site design is cool. hosting it on GitHub is ironic, though. could it instead just be hosted via radicle? (mirrored to GitLab, GitHub, BitBucket, SourceForge, Savannah, ...)
thiht 6y ago
I came here to say just the opposite. The first thing I did when seeing the frontpage was to leave. It just felt overcrowded, unreadable and aggressive to me. It's fun to see how different our opinions can be about this kind of things, I really didn't expect it in this case but here we go :)
- enriquto 6y ago
  way offtopic, but can you point to a couple examples of websites that "have a soul" according to your personal criterion?
  - arafsheikh 6y ago
    Not OP, but I feel Wikipedia “has a soul”. The design doesn’t get in the way, is consistent and the information density is just right.
- ljm 6y ago
  I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me since. It makes a bold statement and feels unique.
- derbOac 6y ago
  I think page design standards need drastic changes, but to be honest I thought this page was broken the first couple of times I visited. I'm still not convinced there isn't some broken elements involved in its appearance. That being said, I'm all for distributed systems so I hope for the best with this (without meaning to imply anything about it one way or another relative to other similar things that have been developed).
madoublet 6y ago
Very cool design. Matches well with the name. In my mind, Radicle invokes the design of the 90s (skids, grunge, hip-hop). This isn't quite that but it still works.
d0100 6y ago
Nice design, but I couldn't understand anything. I have a 21' screen and it way to wide. Our peripheral vision was made for motion, if you want human attention, put it in the center! I can only digest the content properly if I stand a couple of meters away
theferalrobot 6y ago
Totally agree, design today takes itself way too seriously to the point that it all looks like it came from the same corporate hell hole. This is a breath of fresh air.
fungos 6y ago
At first I thought it was broken as I opened in mobile and it was very confusing. Otherwise, on desktop it looks funky, but fine - not awesome but not bad.
bigbubba 6y ago
I like the GITS gif, but the page in general feels like a fever dream to me.
messo 6y ago
I agree, it stirs up feelings of the web that was, but in a modern and functional way. (mobile view)
kzrdude 6y ago
Feels like a new decade. If we remove some of the UI screenshots, which look like they are stuck in current design styles.
futhey 6y ago
This might be the coolest website I visit all month, if it ever finishes loading.

There's a post about the design here: https://radicle.community/t/the-journey-to-radicles-new-brand-and-website/355 https://radicle.community/t/the-journey-to-radicles-new-bran...

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
The main site page is just awful. It's amateurish, image/animation heavy to no value, almost negligable information. They may have something good but the site's just obscuring it.
- viraptor 6y ago
  I think it does a good job listing project ideas / features / roadmap and is a pleasant step away from the bland corporate brands. Love the esthetic. You just can't satisfy everyone.
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    The front page alone is 9MB. Edit: perhaps more importantly, I have to gain a feeling for the product, to work out whether it's worth the perhaps nontrivial time evaluating it. If I'm presented with this what it indicates to me, rightly or not, is that the product is image-led, the project is perhaps childish if the website is (clips from ghost in the shell?), fails to understand technical load (the website's bloated, what does it say about technical competence of the company) and whatever. I don't care about corporate blandness, I need solid info, directly in front of me, and not having my eyes pulled away by flicker. I could be completely getting the value of this project wrong but first impressions suggest I may well be wasting my time with it.
    - hombre_fatal 6y ago
      > The front page alone is 9MB. I don't understand how people think this is damning with no further context, especially on a forum presumably full of technical people. Virtually all of that (>9MB) are its gifs. 9MB of dozens of analytics.js files? Sure, awful. 9MB of gifs and <1000KB of html/css on a landing page? Who cares. Btw, for lack of a kinder word off the top of my head, your rant about some images on the landing page is very juvenile. The tone of "hmm, it would be a shame if your design choices made me assume you were technically incompetent and a waste of my time :/" is really toxic. Everyone here would understand what you mean if you just said the landing page was over the top for you. Fine. OP would know that a bold design to be divisive. And frankly some self-awareness on your part would help temper your reaction here instead of dramatizing it and sounding wounded. Similarly, claiming that a project interested you but you couldn't even get past a landing page because it had some gifs is really just your loss, not anybody else's. Once again, had you just said "I wish there was a more informative page" (which is certainly a fair ask), someone could have linked you to https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html. I know that now it seems like I'm the one overreacting, but your comment has some tropes of really bad communication habits that we tend to think are just part of internet discourse, but they aren't doing you justice.
      - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
        > ... on a landing page? Who cares. I care. Wasting other people's resources is bad manners and contributes to a culture where waste is acceptable. > waste of my time :/" is really toxic. It was honest feedback. If others feel the same way the product marketing team is making a potentially serious mistake. Give me info, not anime android animations. It wasn't toxic. > but you couldn't even get past a landing page because it had some gifs is really just your loss, not anybody else's. If other people feel the same way, it very definitely stops being my problem and becomes the product's problem as people get turned off it. That was a core point you missed. > could have linked you to https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html. Why in your view was this not on the front page at the top? (edit, and see this link & earlier reply https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25321788 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25321788) > but your comment ... but they aren't doing you justice Thanks (genuinely) but I stand by this. It said what was wrong (IMO). it said what I wanted (again IMO), it was honest if blunt feedback the marketeers could use to decide if my point had merit (if they can admit they might have been wrong). We differ but I appreciate your constructive feedback.
- pdonis 6y ago
  I don't like it much either. I think this article from the docs is a much better intro to what the thing is: https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html https://docs.radicle.xyz/docs/what-is-radicle.html
  - throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
    That is exactly what I was after, thanks.
nulbyte 6y ago
I like the sketch of the first design presented there. It seems to fit with the product. Unfortunately, the cult-route they went with produced a busy page with lots of animation that distracts the reader. Also, overlapping headings with animations and changing colors immensely reduces readability. If it weren't overly animated and the headings were legible, this design might actually be pleasantly nostalgic. But in its present state, it makes me wish for old radicle, when it was built on ipfs and had no GUI. The overt use of animation is exactly how I tend to think of unnecesary GUIs.
2bitencryption 6y ago
this is just me, but I'm honestly way more interested in this design post than I am about the product itself. love the design - it's honestly something I've never seen before (at least, not in the context of software). I love how it rejects the tired old aesthetic of the "software tool front page" and goes in a totally different direction while still getting the point across.
- gugagore 6y ago
  > With the swap to GIFs and net art we nailed the early web vibe that p2p so naturally pairs with. I bet there are _some_ early web software pages that would resemble this page.

yunohn 6y ago

Especially for a FOSS project! Usually they tend to go with a default theme with the most drab design. As an engineer, I sympathize with the effort needed to make it look good though.

theelous3 6y ago

Reminds me of the better aspects of brutalist web design: https://brutalistwebsites.com/ https://brutalistwebsites.com/ mixed with some actual formatting.

studius 6y ago

the site design is cool. hosting it on GitHub is ironic, though. could it instead just be hosted via radicle? (mirrored to GitLab, GitHub, BitBucket, SourceForge, Savannah, ...)

thiht 6y ago

I came here to say just the opposite. The first thing I did when seeing the frontpage was to leave. It just felt overcrowded, unreadable and aggressive to me. It's fun to see how different our opinions can be about this kind of things, I really didn't expect it in this case but here we go :)

enriquto 6y ago
way offtopic, but can you point to a couple examples of websites that "have a soul" according to your personal criterion?
- arafsheikh 6y ago
  Not OP, but I feel Wikipedia “has a soul”. The design doesn’t get in the way, is consistent and the information density is just right.
ljm 6y ago
I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me since. It makes a bold statement and feels unique.
derbOac 6y ago
I think page design standards need drastic changes, but to be honest I thought this page was broken the first couple of times I visited. I'm still not convinced there isn't some broken elements involved in its appearance. That being said, I'm all for distributed systems so I hope for the best with this (without meaning to imply anything about it one way or another relative to other similar things that have been developed).

madoublet 6y ago

Very cool design. Matches well with the name. In my mind, Radicle invokes the design of the 90s (skids, grunge, hip-hop). This isn't quite that but it still works.

d0100 6y ago

Nice design, but I couldn't understand anything. I have a 21' screen and it way to wide. Our peripheral vision was made for motion, if you want human attention, put it in the center! I can only digest the content properly if I stand a couple of meters away

theferalrobot 6y ago

Totally agree, design today takes itself way too seriously to the point that it all looks like it came from the same corporate hell hole. This is a breath of fresh air.

fungos 6y ago

At first I thought it was broken as I opened in mobile and it was very confusing. Otherwise, on desktop it looks funky, but fine - not awesome but not bad.

bigbubba 6y ago

I like the GITS gif, but the page in general feels like a fever dream to me.

messo 6y ago

I agree, it stirs up feelings of the web that was, but in a modern and functional way. (mobile view)

kzrdude 6y ago

Feels like a new decade. If we remove some of the UI screenshots, which look like they are stuck in current design styles.

futhey 6y ago

This might be the coolest website I visit all month, if it ever finishes loading.