At long last a facelift!

[vector]

Having had a little extra time now that 5.9 is out the door Omasta and myself performed a little surgery on the main web site. From a aesthetics standpoint I think the old girl looks pretty good. There has been lots of chatter in various parts of the forum that a face lift was needed. There was also discussion that we needed a separate thread for web site related ideas so consider this it. If the moderators would like to move related posts here please do, so we have it all under one banner. So at this point we are open to suggestions but remember I'm not much of a html hacker so things like getting forum posts on to the web site are going to need some instructions and maybe even some code on how to accomplish this. If there are pages that need a rewrite than feel free and post on http://pastebin.ca so I can do the updates easily. Lagagnon also is involved in helping to maintain the site so pastes will be extremely helpful for all concerned. Thats all I have for now go look:  http://www.vectorlinux.com
and lets make it a fun and informative site for all..................

Cheers,
Vec

[Dweeberkitty]

Looking better. Downloads page gives me this:

Warning: main(./mod/downloads/index.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /hsphere/local/home/vector/vectorlinux.com/mod.php on line 15

Warning: main(./mod/downloads/index.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /hsphere/local/home/vector/vectorlinux.com/mod.php on line 15

Warning: main(): Failed opening './mod/downloads/index.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php/PEAR:/usr/local/share/pear') in /hsphere/local/home/vector/vectorlinux.com/mod.php on line 15

EDIT: Also the "Submit" button doesn't seem to belong there. That's an administrative action and shouldn't be there like it's a public link.

EDIT2: "Account" button targets home page

[rbistolfi]

Perhaps the vl pc and the cup needs to have a transparent background

[kidd]

Buttons on the top menu do not lead anywhere.  I'm getting the same error as Dweeberkitty.

Now that you're there, please, update the downloads page.  It shows only 5.8 versions.

I like the new design. It feels better than the previous one for sure.

[rbistolfi]

I think the central column will look better if you add some space between. If you want to do that, edit the style sheet located at http://vectorlinux.com/themes/Pixel-Rave-Blue100/style.css, add

Code:

padding: 2px;

to the .type3 class, so it will look like this:

Code:

.type3 {
font-style : normal;
font-variant : normal;
font-weight : normal;
font-size : 12pt;
font-family : "Verdana", "Arial", "Helvetica", "sans-serif";
color : #000000;
padding: 2px;
}

[rbistolfi]

Now that you're there, please, update the downloads page.  It shows only 5.8 versions.

I suggest to add a big download button to the Introduction.

[rbistolfi]

To improve navigation, we can use a different color for a:hover, I like the classical blue for links. If you like the idea, replace the current A:hover line with

Code:

A:hover              {FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 11px; TEXT-DECORATION: underline;}

This is in the same style sheet: http://vectorlinux.com/themes/Pixel-Rave-Blue100/style.css

I will start to append to the same post, I will make a long monologue if not 

I noticed some table headers are uppercase and some lowercase. This is not convenient. Also some uses the div tag to align to the center. Always use css, you can edit easily all the elements of the same kind at once. In this case, is .sideboxtitle
I suggest all uppercase and left aligned:

Code:

.sideboxtitle      {
FONT-FAMILY: "Arial", "Helvetica", "sans-serif";
COLOR: #2E70A5;
FONT-SIZE: 10px;
font-weight: bold;
text-transform: uppercase;
text-align: left;
}

But you will have to remove the div tags. Also you can avoid the use of    and use css instead:

Code:

padding-left: 5px;

[exeterdad]

It's really a improvement Vec.  I haven't messed with phpWebSite.  But if the system is template based, how about instead of us suggesting and leaving it up to you to make it happen (You sort of said it's not your cup of tea).  How about us creating templates and you sliding them under the hood to see how they look?  Shouldn't be too hard for us web master wannabee's to install local phpWebSite's on Xampp and tweak until we think we have something.

[wcs]

Great improvement!

I suppose the Downloads page should have 5.9 Gold with the same prominence as the previous versions, instead of directing the user to the (non-clickable) osuosl repo.

Thanks for the work

[vector]

Well have a look at the old girl now lots o changes here and there thanks to all your input. Keep it coming................

cheers,
Vec

[nightflier]

Love the download buttons. That's what most people are looking for.

Maybe it's time for me to get my vision checked, I can just barely read the text on the main navigation buttons. The second to last one.. MMS0? MM80? MMBO? .. ah: clicking on it reveals that it must be MMBD. Even that is a little cryptic, unless you know what you are looking for.

[exeterdad]

I agree.  Those buttons are goooooood!  They really bring us up with the times.  Download first...  ask questions later.  I like it.

[Joe1962]

Looking good. The text on some of the top buttons changes on hover though, was that intended?

[nubcnubdo]

Dont forget our slogan:

...discover the difference

I recall a reference to "difference engine" in the movie I, Robot. That's Isaac Asimov for ya.

[GrannyGeek]

This is a big improvement. I'd like to see the screenshot of VL 5.9 Standard Deluxe in place of the sort-of logo on the right. I'd also like to see larger type in the text with more space between the lines.
--GrannyGeek