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How can you give the PHP site a hard time for looking old and then praise Python's modified WikiMedia layout? The point of all of these sites is to maximize fu

How can you give the PHP site a hard time for looking old and then praise Python's modified WikiMedia layout? The point of all of these sites is to maximize functionality and make language information easy to get at. All that maters is UX, graphical niceties don't improve on that, and no one serious about learning a new language is really going to be dissuaded by "ugliness". But the real answer to the title question is simple: They're made by programmers, not designers.

sgdesign 14y ago
> no one serious about learning a new language is really going to be dissuaded by "ugliness" What about people who are not serious? As I said in my post, this "ugliness" acts as a filter to turn away non-experts. Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view, I personally think it's bad.
- ryankey 14y ago
  People who aren't serious don't really matter, unless they become serious. The new design will alienate people who had gotten used to it and enjoyed that it was easy to find the resources they needed. Also, any language not already attracting new users probably won't have many incentives for keeping them around (I'm thinking of lisp with its scary parentheses). Being fairly new to programming myself, I've actually noticed that the most powerful languages usually have websites with terrible aesthetics. It usually means that instead of worrying about how the site looks, most of the people involved are solving problems with the language. The only changes come when usability is hindered.
yen223 14y ago
PHP's main page is a good example of how not to design a main page. - The first thing the user sees is a massive wall of text. The whole site looks visually cluttered. Everything is arranged haphazardly. - The more useful parts (e.g. the introduction, documentation links, download links) are hidden away in small corners of the site. - The relatively useless Events and News sections take up >80% of the site. Python's site looks slightly better, but not by much.
- Akram 14y ago
  Because the best way to browse the enormous PHP site is via Google search. Type in your query and Google will point you to the specific page you are looking for.
  - ryankey 14y ago
    The PHP site doesn't need a massive facelift, but honestly, this is actually a bit of a problem. The site is basically just a hosting of the resources already, why not make it easier to find things from inside the site?

sgdesign 14y ago

> no one serious about learning a new language is really going to be dissuaded by "ugliness" What about people who are not serious? As I said in my post, this "ugliness" acts as a filter to turn away non-experts. Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view, I personally think it's bad.

ryankey 14y ago
People who aren't serious don't really matter, unless they become serious. The new design will alienate people who had gotten used to it and enjoyed that it was easy to find the resources they needed. Also, any language not already attracting new users probably won't have many incentives for keeping them around (I'm thinking of lisp with its scary parentheses). Being fairly new to programming myself, I've actually noticed that the most powerful languages usually have websites with terrible aesthetics. It usually means that instead of worrying about how the site looks, most of the people involved are solving problems with the language. The only changes come when usability is hindered.

yen223 14y ago

PHP's main page is a good example of how not to design a main page. - The first thing the user sees is a massive wall of text. The whole site looks visually cluttered. Everything is arranged haphazardly. - The more useful parts (e.g. the introduction, documentation links, download links) are hidden away in small corners of the site. - The relatively useless Events and News sections take up >80% of the site. Python's site looks slightly better, but not by much.

Akram 14y ago
Because the best way to browse the enormous PHP site is via Google search. Type in your query and Google will point you to the specific page you are looking for.
- ryankey 14y ago
  The PHP site doesn't need a massive facelift, but honestly, this is actually a bit of a problem. The site is basically just a hosting of the resources already, why not make it easier to find things from inside the site?