► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Suggestions and comments about the ReactOS website

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Blue
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► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Blue »

About This Thread:
Please Note: Thread will have a task list limit of 20 adjustment actions posted below.
(NEWS:) Thread edits will happen if they come to mind. You may check back if you wish & see if their is more to read. Thank you for your time.
☻ (Reason for EDIT) Adding a new quick link 3 ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪ to the body of the thread.

I welcome all comments over this topic & if you feel anything is wrong please let me know in your posting(s).

Name: Blue
► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪
☻ Thread Last Updated: 4/23/2014
☻ Build: ReactOS-0.3.16-REL-iso
☻ OS Running Oracle VM VirtualBOX
☻ (Thread Status): NOT COMPLUTED
☻ [Task total left] = 9

If you wish to read more of what I have to say. You may look at the following threads & added quick-links.
► 1 ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪" : http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=13249
► 2 ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪" - http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 95#p108295
► 3 ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪" : http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 22#p108422
► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪ : Your on

INTRO
Please note: To everyone reading thread. Thank you, for taken the time out of your busy day to read from- Blue. :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Website redesign:
Jobs (Main website)
1. This area needs to be edited out and redesigned. The way it is right now is very poorly done.

Website redesign
2. When I look over on the NEWS forums you see ReactOS - v.XXXX.. It does not give you any information on the improvements that where made on the new builds... I think it would be a good idea to start making a run down list of achievements that the new build has achieved other than just leaving a (HERE Link) If you want the new ReactOS download, we did it go get it... (Now you can see if its any better from last yourself & try to see what we've done & comment back here). That's the feeling I get when I like at that forum area... The information does not need to be every little thing that was changed but a good basic idea on what works better & if any new features are added in or if a area that was not working before now works etc...

Release notes Information like this would be nice to add to the last build report.
[ external image ]
Website features:
More USER Set information:
3. More USER information at top of user box for the forums- what version of ReactOS & what Virtual the person is using to run ReactOS that a user can set themselves.

Promotional Video Feed
4. Please add a Promotional VIDEO to the main website page. Kind of like how this one was made...
<iframe width="640" height="390" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yVpbFMhOAwE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Website icon design.
5. ReactOS website team should look into updating the forum icons of the website & maybe if you feel up for it make themes for the website body.

Main page of website.
6 Please add ~ | SLIDESHOW | NEWS | VIDEOS | ~ click-able area into the welcome page to show the community how the OS builders feel about working on the OS. This way it could bring in more people to helping & what ReactOS believe in & how they see what needs to happen going forward with this project. This way the community can even vote on the best promotional videos to be added to the website and get the community more involved into improving the OS builds.

[ external image ]

ReactOS Maintainers
7 When a maintainer of ReactOS posts on a thread. Their post should have a design all a way around the 4 sides of the posting space or just give them colored posts to know who is a community member to a OS maintainer.
OPERATING IMAGE CENTER
Download Center info
8 Please fix the information as shown below & remove the information under "CD Booklet" that saying: ReactOS 0.3.16 is still in alpha stage and is not recommended for everyday use." as you will not need it anymore as it would be above in the download table information and have it read like so below: \/
The ReactOS 0.3.16 software includes binary and source distributions of the latest ReactOS. This includes the kernel, various subsystems and some basic applications. Please bear in mind that ReactOS 0.3.16 is still in alpha stage and is not recommended for everyday use. For installation instructions see the Installation guide and corresponding Wiki article.
ReactOS ISO Downloader website links
9. Please make the download page area more like OpenSUSE.org.... [Example]: Size ISO (also suitable for USB stick) Contains... Suitable for installation.... , Download Type: 32 Bit .... , Documentation • Release Notes • License.
SUPPORT COMPATIBLITY CENTER
Compatibility Center
10. Please add a Compatibility Center to this website community driven. This is community driven and it does not have to be only down to the builders. (We could have a app area just for them also to add). That way the builders wall have recommended software from others in the field that is working on the ReactOS. This also can make improves little easier down the road for others learning or greater ways of doing something better from using older software that they thought was great but has been outdated for sometime... Now back to the community part: As the community can rank & rated software and leave messages over how they got it to work etc. by giving feedback builders could also look into work around of fixing it little faster... by the user base this would also keep the top working listed apps on the main page. Everyone can see what apps really work in the OS builds that are working 100%. This area might be the best idea. (Now my example): Have you even gone over to this website? http://www.cnet.com/ where they do product reviews etc... we should have this area also for the user base setup almost like that.
WIKI
ReactOS Wiki Center
11. Forums should have a edit-able wiki center for the ReactOS community website. This way the community can explain how to do Basic/Medium/Advance understaning to help Improve on the OS or app builder community's understanding), other than having to search the whole web data base... This would improve ReactOS and would add more community driven support for all projects. ReactOS It community driven so lets give it more community support! & see great things happen! ReactOS website already has a good start on this but it can be improved on even going as far as adding drop down menus & wiki data file quick content search this in the end adding more informative information to the building of the OS as it would allow more diverse information about each data file in the OS to be searched faster. Have you ever tried to look up something example like the "d3dx9_29.dll' etc. When I'm talking about a wiki. I mean have it listed file by file. This way it can be put to better use. Kind of like a part dictionary. This could give information on how to edit the data down to how a person is installing it into the system... ReactOS does have a Wiki but its under used I believe... I could be wrong if I'm looking in the wrong areas to try to find information about data files.. & if you don't have to go off the main website its a pules. categorizing part names could be a improvement even if they did not work at this time.

NOT PREFECT BUT BASIC IDEA IN THE IMAGES BELOW:

View 1
[ external image ]

View 2
[ external image ]
Last edited by Blue on Fri May 30, 2014 2:51 am, edited 58 times in total.
milon
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by milon »

You can (should?) add website feature requests to JIRA. They belong in the ONLINE section: http://jira.reactos.org/browse/ONLINE

#4 - Compatibility Center: There's been talk of that, but it's hard to know what hardware ROS works with. Hardware is very complex. Instead, we have a page listing computer setups and what works/doesn't. Please add any hardware that you test with. The more https://www.reactos.org/wiki/PC_ROS_Rigs

#5 - wiki: https://www.reactos.org/wiki Yes, this is editable by anyone with a user account
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Blue
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Blue »

Welcome, Milon Thank you, for the comments from above:

A. >>> Can you please add Website features: to the requested areas for me? Than I'll delete the post above. :)
B. >>> Improved the main thread body posting for understanding reasons.
C. >>> WIKI & the Compatibility Center: will have your reply information.
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Blue
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Blue »

Added new ideas to the thread body
- #2
- #3
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Blue
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Blue »

Nightly Builds should be updated to the following:
Give the status of the build. as the image shows:

[ external image ]
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Black_Fox
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Black_Fox »

That doesn't make any sense. If the build fails, the iso will be missing :-) You can click on the "View details at the BuildBot Web Interface" link on that page and check the overall status in BuildBot (Waterfall display for instance).
hbelusca
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by hbelusca »

Black_Fox is perfectly right here. To monitor build statuses, you basically go to http://build.reactos.org/builders . The getbuilds interface is just to download isos, so it only should display the existing isos. In other words, if no iso is created (because of a build failure, or because somebody committed something in some branch), then they should not be listed there.
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by The_French_Rat »

hbelusca wrote:Black_Fox is perfectly right here. To monitor build statuses, you basically go to http://build.reactos.org/builders . The getbuilds interface is just to download isos, so it only should display the existing isos. In other words, if no iso is created (because of a build failure, or because somebody committed something in some branch), then they should not be listed there.
Or make it so that when one tries to download a failed build, they won't be able to click on the download link.

EDIT:
Blue wrote:Nightly Builds should be updated to the following:
Give the status of the build. as the image shows:

[ external image ]
Or just put 'Non-existent ISO' beside the name of the build.
Just think of ReactOS as the XP beta, Whistler.
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dizt3mp3r
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by dizt3mp3r »

I really do think that most of this stuff should go on the FP. Nightly builds, bugs fixed, the lot. ReactOS is a technical project, visitors should not be protected from this stuff nor should it be hidden from them under menu options and drill-throughs.

It shows that a LOT is going on and that it is the point of a dynamic content driven FP. Make the FP more dynamic on a daily basis to reflect the work that goes on in the project.
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milon
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by milon »

dizt3mp3r wrote:I really do think that most of this stuff should go on the FP. Nightly builds, bugs fixed, the lot. ReactOS is a technical project, visitors should not be protected from this stuff nor should it be hidden from them under menu options and drill-throughs.

It shows that a LOT is going on and that it is the point of a dynamic content driven FP. Make the FP more dynamic on a daily basis to reflect the work that goes on in the project.
+1, I agree very much
middings
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by middings »

dizt3mp3r wrote:I really do think that most of this stuff should go on the FP. Nightly builds, bugs fixed, the lot. ReactOS is a technical project, visitors should not be protected from this stuff nor should it be hidden from them under menu options and drill-throughs.
I'm a dummy but from the ReactOS front page (FP) I can find the daily builds page. I can click on the Bugtracker link at the top of the FP and discover a lot about bugs fixed and bugs reported. Using JIRA was a challenge for me at first because I had never seen a JIRA installation before.

The space in a browser window is limited. I normally have my browser window at much less than full screen size. Only so much can be seen and most users avoid scrolling their browser window so they miss whatever is "below the fold", i.e. whatever can only be seen by scrolling the browser window down.

If I were Blue and believed that the ReactOS FP is unexciting, uninformative, or difficult for newcomers and should be redesigned, then I would start learning to use the tools that were used to build the ReactOS.org site. I would try to find live examples of project FPs (preferably ones that have all the big features of the ReactOS site: a forum, wiki, bug tracker, downloadable nightly builds, build status, and developer blogs) that have the exciting look and feel, information displays, and ease of use I would want the ReactOS.org FP to have. I would leave links to them in this thread so others could see for themselves. I would follow up with a mock-up of a ReactOS FP that illustrates the changes I'd like to see. Finally, I would submit an improvement proposal to JIRA in the ONLINE project category that describe exactly how the ReactOS.org web site building tools can be used to implement one of my suggestions.

"Talk is cheap. Show me the code."--Linus Torvalds
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dizt3mp3r
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by dizt3mp3r »

Yes, yes, yes - but the FP is a portal to diseminate information and at the moment it really doesn't do enough. It doesn't tell anyone how much is going on. Of course all the information is available but new and casual users won't know, nor want to drill down. The number of clicks that divide the user from the information they might find useful generally shows how de-optimised a site is.

Look, the FP needs to say more about the project and what is going on, it is a content management system - that is what it is designed to do, to push content to the user on the pages where it is required. The ReactOS FP has always been dull with regard to content. It is dry and technical. OK, that's fine, lets start presenting technical information that will draw people into the project.

Simply said, the FP can be made more interesting.
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by Black_Fox »

Yes? Such as? I want to see screens, not to blocks of text "current FP should be done better/contain more information" without any specific ideas which helps nothing.
"There should be a list of commits" is just a requirement, but how? Do we narrow some existing element, throw something out and fit this in, or do we just append it and make the homepage vertically larger? Etc...
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dizt3mp3r
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by dizt3mp3r »

I don't need to answer that, it isn't for me to say, it should just be apparent and obvious - the newcomer just wants 'stuff'. 'Stuff' that changes, 'stuff' that is interesting, 'stuff' that will draw people in. Regulars want interesting 'stuff', we have some of that already. Most of all, the FP must change almost dynamically according to what is going on behind the scenes.

The point has been been made. I would now leave it to the web dev to decide what is available to display from the content management system and other sources. I am not the web dev. It is the dynamism of the FP that needs to be added to.
Skillset: VMS,DOS,Windows Sysadmin from 1985, fault-tolerance, VaxCluster, Alpha,Sparc. DCL,QB,VBDOS- VB6,.NET, PHP,NODE.JS, Graphic Design, Project Manager, CMS, Quad Electronics. classic cars & m'bikes. Artist in water & oils. Historian.
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Re: ► Website ReactOS Design Talk ♪♪♪

Post by middings »

I browsed around and looked at the Front Pages (FPs) or home pages of some other projects, Haiku, Linux Mint, and Ubuntu. Their FPs present themselves dressed in posh eye-candy but hide all or nearly all of the backstage magic techies might want to see behind layers of click-throughs. The FPs of the Arch Linux, Debian, OpenBSD, and NetBSD projects show less flash (they look like web pages from the late 1990s). Despite their projects being less end-user focused, like their flashy counterparts their FPs do not present breaking news about every last build or commit up front. They too require click-throughs to reach that information.

What about hardware projects Arduino and Raspberry Pi? Eye-candy again.

I conclude that projects with pretty FPs have one or more skilled graphic artists in their web page team. Big money can buy that talent and small projects either have one or don't. Some project teams probably prefer the functional appearance of simpler, mostly-text FPs; perhaps they want to signal that they are committed to producing quality code, not pretty web pages.

After looking at the FPs of those other projects, I believe ReactOS's compares favorably to its peers.

"I enjoy hard work. I can sit and watch it for hours." :mrgreen:
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