On 9/3/10 1:31 PM, Adam B wrote:
How is the website programmed? If done properly the page content is independent of the style. Use page templates and CSS stylesheets so that you have a single point of change for the entire website. Stay away from static HTML files. Use PHP, JSP, Freemarker or something similar.
Sorry, I think it's going to stay static HTML: the website is generated using DDoc macros and I believe Walter is unlikely to want to go in any other direction.
Using stylesheets can allow your users to view the site however is most pleasing to them. For example. Go to this page: http://www.thesitewizard.com/css/switch-alternate-css-styles.shtml and then in FireFox select: View-> Page Style and switch between the two provided styles. Neato! If you want my opinion on the visual style I'd say it's a huge improvement over the digital mars site. The flare gives it a sophisticated feel. However, please don't let trivial matters like the "look" of the site slow us down from getting accurate and useful information out to the world. If you have a single point of change the look can be tweaked as time goes on.
I haven't been changing the content--indeed I have purposely stayed away from doing so. I believe that the desired direction is to get a good look and feel working independently of the content, and the content can be modified independently of my changes. I do have some thoughts on what kind of content changes I'd like to see, though.
In terms of layout I agree with filgood that a site like http://fantom.org/ is a better model. It has the most important links in BIG colorful text on the home page: 1) What is D? 2) What does it look like? 3) How do I download it? With a site like fantom.org <http://fantom.org> you can tell that somebody sat down and though out: What's really important to my users? What are the primary use-cases of my visitors? My 2cents. I'd be glad to help if you need it. - Adam
If you or anyone else is interested in hacking at my look and feel please let me know and I can send you a .zip of the DDoc source code with my changes. If you want to hack at the original DDoc files without my changes they're in the Phobos repository at http://www.dsource.org/projects/phobos/browser/trunk/docsrc
