The screens highlighted in blue here show the screens of concern within the www.fedoraproject.org structure and which ones I’ve mocked up:
The main idea is that we’ve got a main download page that is very pared-down and offers you a single thing to download (aimed at users who want to try out Fedora for the first time and who don’t have very specific needs as to what they must download):
From that page, you may also navigate to a ‘More Options’ set of tabbed screens that organizes all the various downloads we offer by desktop, architecture, format, spin, etc. This is aimed towards current users who know what they are looking for:
Now that I think about it, one case I forgot to address is users looking for an upgrade path! 🙂 I’ll have to go back and fix that for sure.
Anyway as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on these designs and make any necessary revisions to accommodate. The full set of mockups is here:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Website_redesign_2009/Mockups/Get.fpo#Main_Download_Page
Also, the set of http://spins.fedoraproject.org/ mockups that are meant to accompany these mockups are available here:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Website_redesign_2009/Mockups/Spins.fpo
I like that "More Options" page. Especially the first tab (per desktop) is exactly how I'd expect the download page to look, and the mockup looks great. I also like that both 32-bit and 64-bit are listed there. Great work there! I just wish the "More Options" page were the default. That "one button" page is really unhelpful and patronizing. But I guess we'll never agree on that part. ;-( It's also still hard to get to that "More Options" page, the huge "Download Now!" button still overshadows all the links. 🙁
@Kevin, we'll see how the simple default page works and adjust based on feedback & usability testing. Now that you point out the large download button on that page, I think it's a bit too big, I may have uploaded the wrong version, I'll check tomorrow and make sure because I remember sizing it smaller than that.
Pretty nice. Two things I think could use some improvement
* The cloud on top sorta looks cartoonish. Can't we have a real cloud instead? I am not sure what the cloud is supposed to convey. Does it match the feel of Fedora? I am not sure about that.
* The default page with the single download link is rather abstract. It doesn't provide any incentive for me to download Fedora. Why should I download it? What features does it offer? Who is it for? There are no screenshots, no happy people. nothing. Since Fedora insight is going to launch soon, you might also want to consider accommodating a news feed into the front page.
@Rahul – re: the cloud – yeh a lot of people have expressed they don't really like that artwork. I've left it in so I could get the mockups done more quickly – for the first iteration these are going to use the template we have for http://www.fpo right now. I'm not sure what to replace it with though. If you have any ideas I could get started on sketches.
Re: the appeal of the download – the download page is really supposed to be part two of a progression that starts with part one here: http://duffy.fedorapeople.org/temp/woot/page1.png and that does have a lot of shininess I think to woo you into downloading.
I kinda like the cartoonish clouds, they give the page a bit of individuality, its own voice, originality. Having real clouds would make it boring, something people already saw on a ton of other websites.
But take my input with a grain of salt, I am well known for acting childish, so I obviously have an attraction for this type of stuff.
Not necessarily every day. Every month maybe? I think we could do that. It would be a brilliant opportunity for more members in the design team to contribute. Their contribution would make it to the FRONT page of fedoraproject.org. That is a great incentive.
@Rahul to be blunt, there are probably close to 50 opportunities for more people in the design team to contribute, many are highly visible. And they need attention.
The cloud could be replaced by a splash showing the important news of the day. For today, it could be a big splash that Fedora 12 Beta release is coming up in a couple of week. Everybody gear up and start testing
@Rahul I like the idea of having a news feed on the front page, but I don't think that would make for a compelling graphical presentation unless it was custom-designed each day – we don't have the bandwidth for that, though. 🙁
I thought a lot of the feedback received on your question about what people use to install was for the DVD, less for the live CD, do you think advertising this way the Desktop spin is the best option?
Also, I see on the sitemap you can go from "get fedora" to both "more options: spins tab" and "spins directory". How are they different? is not redundant?
Mairin,
Note: see, again posted under anonymous but not negative this time.
I like those mockups. Good to see you dropped the (in my eyes) stupid panda.
Just one suggestion (so far) the last image has a tag with "* FEDORA DEFAULT" but the text below also says it's the default. I would just remove that tag since it's not adding anything and not making it that clear gives the user a more objective view of the spins. Most users will download the first one anyway because they are to lazy to move there mouse down ^_^
Keep it going like this,
Anonymous.
The text below is barely noticeable, will get seen only by people who pay attention but the tag draws attention, it will definitely not get overlooked. However, I think you are right people will most likely download the first (which is also featured as a single item in a previous page).
I see KDE is still a second-class citizen.
Hi Trever, if you have concerns about that I would advise you take them up with the Board. I'm designing according to their requirements, and that the default spin be featured more prominently than others was one of them.