On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 09:54:54 +0100, Gert Driesen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I've attached a raw proposal for a redesigned home page for NAnt (I renamed > the extension from "zip" to "zap" as SF no longer allow zip files). > > Note: links will not be working and its lacking content in the right pane, > but its just to give you an impression. > > What do you think, should we use this one ? > > Is there anyone with more web design skills that wants to tackle this ? > > Any feedback is welcome. > > Gert > > PS. The code for the JavaScript tree was written by Jean-Claude Manoli, and > some ideas for the content of the tree come from the Ant website. >
Definitely agree with getting the hierarchical menus working in browsers other than IE. Hierarchical menus are a little bit of a love-hate thing... There's no better mechanism (that I know of) for rapidly accessing pages from anywhere, if you know where you are going. Then again, it means more to download (The entire navigation tree for every page on the site?), and it's not always obvious where you actually want to go from the _current_ context, if you're always looking at a global navigation view. In response to that last, if the global navigation view is good enough that you never need to follow "sideways" links (ie- you can always get straight to where you want to be), then it's probably not so much of an issue. Functionally, I'd suggest moving the Contributing section below the Nightly Builds section, which probably better reflects usage patterns (imho). Also, it's currently impossible to tell which entries are links and which are just "holders" for child items, without waving the mouse over each item... eg, Documentation and Contributing aren't links, but Releases and Nightly Builds are. Modifying the styles so links are more obvious is definitely (again imho) a must. Also, the default size of the menu on the left is taller than the page itself! If using a similar menu system to this, it might be worth collapsing the user manual section by default, and also to combine Releases and Nightly Builds into a single Downloads section, also collapsed by default. For the non-javascript people, the Downloads link would replace the Releases and Nightly Builds links, since they go to the same page anyway. Then again, it might just be an excuse to put more content in the front page. Actually, the Contributing section perhaps should change names, or the Mailing Lists section perhaps be moved to the bottom of the Documentation section? Finally, wrt the header blurb... is it worth extending it slightly, to something like "In practice it's a lot like Ant, with expressions and scripting support"? I think NAnt is firmly coming into its own from its Ant roots. :-) As a first cut, it certainly feels more functional (and professional :-) than the current page. I think it's certainly worth ironing out any issues and updating the site with a trendy new look. Let me know if you want a hand with the script behind the hierarchical menus, I'm not exactly a web designer, but I've done my dash with javascript (including *shiver* cross-browser support) and would be willing to look at any issues. -- Troy ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click _______________________________________________ nant-developers mailing list nant-developers@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nant-developers
