[KDE Dot News]
 faq
 flatforty
 contribute
 subscribe
 configure
 search
 rdf
 main


  KDE.org: New Design, New Implementation
KDE Official News Posted by Navindra Umanee on Saturday 01/Mar/2003, @19:43
from the not-breaking-news dept.
The KDE Web Team is proud to present a new and exciting design for the official KDE site! This is the first overhaul of the flagship homepage since Kurt's vastly successful update more than two years ago. The KDE Web Team has maintained a focus on standards-compliance as well as improved the overall usability and accessibility of the site. Also featured prominently is an overhaul of the content as well as the implementation of a whole new design matching the shiny new Keramik/Crystal look from KDE 3.1.

Over the next few weeks and months, even more of the KDE.org family of sites will be migrated over to the new target. Meanwhile, feedback and bug reports are welcome at webmaster@kde.org. Maintainers of KDE mirrors: Please take note of the updated requirements for hosting mirrors due to internal changes.

The new maintainers of KDE.org are Christoph Cullmann, Rainer Endres, and Jason Bainbridge. The design of the new website is based on work by Sebastian Faubel.

Chris Howells, Dirk Mueller, Olaf Jan Schmidt, Datschge and Neil Stevens have contributed at various levels performing either invaluable grunt work or contributing designs and ideas.

There are also many people who have also contributed feedback and fixes -- please let us know if we have forgotten anyone who should be listed here.

Huge kudos go out to any and all who have been involved!

A note from Christoph Cullmann:

The whole process of redesigning and restructuring of kde.org began at the end of 2002. After many heated discussions, a multitude of drafts and a lot of fun, we finally reached a state that we felt deserved deployment.

What has been done?

  • A new default design matching the current look of KDE has been created.
  • Much content has been reviewed and updated, and the menu structure has been updated to reflect usability concerns.
  • We have adopted usage of the latest web technology including XHTML and CSS1/2, while maintaining compatibility for older browsers as much as possible.
  • The underlying PHP scripts and HTML code have been overhauled or altogether rewritten. Maintainers of web mirrors should therefore consult the updated KDE Mirror HOWTO.
We hope to port over the remaining KDE pages in time. If you wish to help in this process or otherwise contribute new artwork, patches or bug reports, please contact us at webmaster@kde.org.

As one of the new maintainers of KDE.org I would like to thank the people involved in redesigning process for their invaluable contributions. I sincerely hope that users will enjoy the new website, and find it a worthy replacement to the old one.



<  |  >

 
  Related Links
 ·   Articles on KDE Official News
 ·   Also by Navindra Umanee
 ·   Contact author

Thread Threshold:

The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whomever posted them.
( Reply )

Over 40 comments listed. Printing out index only.
Hmm... doesn't validate
by Ed Warnicke on Saturday 01/Mar/2003, @20:37
Check out:

validate www.kde.org

the sight doesn't validate ( but it's admirably close, clearly they were trying ). Perhaps these issues could be fixed.

Ed

[ Reply To This | View ]
Looks ok
by foo on Saturday 01/Mar/2003, @21:06
Hmmm looks ok, the spacing between lines of text is a little big though, and I reckon the text should be left-justified, it's easier to read.

Oh well just personal opinion. Looks ok but maybe not 100% professional... actually I prefer the GNOME website, simpler and cleaner. Just IMHO. Seeya.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Lovely Improvement but...
by Rizwaan on Saturday 01/Mar/2003, @23:58
The font size is very big. it should be the same size as it used to be. The big font looks ugly.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Perfect but...
by Shift on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @01:36
Very good.
Now the site is far from a XHTML/CSS compliant website - few errors keep -

So I have an item in my wishlist : I want Konqueror to kept the previous stylesheet I choose in the "Stylesheet" menu after I close and reopen it. I don't want anymore that websites use cookies to do so.

Rmq :
Mozilla is worst than Konqui on that point. It doesn't kept the stylesheet after clicking a link on the page :)
[ Reply To This | View ]
problem with no javascript
by Andreas Otto on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @02:17
Hi,

I use Netscape 4.7.8 un SuSE linux.
The site looks greate with JavScrpt but has a grey background
without JavaScript.

Q: it is possible to get it working without JavaScript ?

( the old site worked without JavaScript too)


mfg

aotto
[ Reply To This | View ]
broken link
by Andreas Otto on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @02:33
Hi,

sorry I have to post a broken link in the news section because
I can not find a "webmaster" URL (or something else) on the main site

URL: http://developer.kde.org/build/compile_kde2.html

Broken link: ftp://download.kde.org/stable/2.2.2/


mfg

aotto
[ Reply To This | View ]
old webpages
by me on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @02:41
Are all the old webpages archived somewhere (other than cvs)? It's always quite funny to look at old webpages, and I wodner how kde's first page looked.

Isn't there also some internet-archive where you can have a look at i.e. microsoft's first attempt of a website?
[ Reply To This | View ]
Hey, looks good!
by esuvs on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @02:58
Good work on the site guys! I think it look much nicer than the old one!
[ Reply To This | View ]
Resemblance
by Stof on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @03:03
Is it just me or does the new design somehow remind me of Microsoft.com? Look at all the blue.

And the spacing between lines should be a bit smaller...
[ Reply To This | View ]
Sorry, I dont like the new look
by Stefan on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @03:35
I don't like the new look, here's why:

Details
- too big blue colored boxes (waste space, add no usability)
- sans serif fonts (dont like them, they look cheap)
- too much line spacing (space-wasting)
- graphics too light, no distinctive coloring

General
- cheap look --> not well-designed
- layout wastes screen space --> bad on small displays
- link boxes: too large --> irritating, need more time to find stuff
[ Reply To This | View ]
This one looks better imo
by pe on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @03:57
http://www.kde-look.org/content/preview.php?file=4582-1.jpg
[ Reply To This | View ]
Looks very different in every Browser
by Schugy on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @04:23
Just assume that almost nobody will ever change the default font settings.
Konqueror uses the best fonts on my 1280*1024-Screen.

The standard font and the headlines are too big in Mozilla and Opera 7.0.0. pr1.
This causes large boxes, large distances between the words.

Only the underlined links look good in every browser.


I don't like this font color very much:
#3991EE

And then I just klicked into that K-banner on top to find a value that fits into this design.
#ACBEE6
Try to build an environment out of the color range that is used by this very nice banner. It's just a matter of harmony :-)

These link-boxes (awful grey background color #EEEAEE) are much too wide. No link gets close to the border.

Try to make smaller box-headlines and decrease the height of that font background. Then try to use the look of your default KDE-theme!
You know how the new kde title bars look like?

And then just little spaces between this link boxes.

Thx for reading
[ Reply To This | View ]
Little bit OT but a good reading.
by AC on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @04:40
Due the article from Nicholas Petreley yesterday on Slashdot. Now even Miguel de Icaza writes about GNOME. Even he admits that GNOME has seriously fallen behind KDE. Read more

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2003-March/msg00026.html

here.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Not bad
by ac on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @04:52
I like it, but I think it could do with a larger, more distinctive KDE logo at the top.
[ Reply To This | View ]
I do like it
by Charles de Miramon on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @05:16
Despite the naysayers, I find the new look very nice and it is certainly a very good thing to have a unified look between the desktop and the web sites. Thanks Cristoph and the others for your hard work.

I was wondering if it could be possible to be able to click on the upper left KDE logo to go back to the home page of the web site. It is kind of standard in most websites.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Doesn't render right in Konqueror 2.2.2
by David Walser on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @06:29
The search box and 3 dropdown box widgets in the top right are not full height, they look less than half normal height. In the right column the links run over the left side of the box that's supposed to be under them.

At the top there's a short yellow bar with text on the right and left...the text is white, you can't read it. Also the text is slightly taller than that yellow bar. The KDE logo sticks below the the bluish box a bit.

At the very bottom (this may have been intentional, but doesn't look right) there's a light blue bar that goes all the way across the page, with a darker one sitting on top of it in the middle column.

If you want a screenshot, let me know.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Usability
by Anonymous on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @07:21
I don't mind the layout, but I do dislike the white background. For people like me with light sensitive eyes, it gets rather grating after reading a lot of text via computer. When web pages don't force their white bg down my throat, I can view it with a nicer background like a dull grey.
[ Reply To This | View ]
I like it
by CmdrGravy on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @08:13
Personally I like the new design much better than the old one. All the problems with that old one - tiny text, horrible font, nasty colours has been fixed in this new version.

Now everything is well laid out and clearly readable which makes it look a whole lot more professional and easier to read. Nice one.
[ Reply To This | View ]
very nice
by quarus on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @08:48
I really like the new design ! Good work and thanks you !
[ Reply To This | View ]
Alternate stylesheets
by Haakon Nilsen on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @09:53
I haven't seen this mentioned, so I'll do the job. The new design has support for a set of alternate stylesheets, which effectively decides how kde.org looks in your browser. So if you have differing needs or tastes, just change the style. In mozilla, this is easy. Go to www.kde.org, View -> Use Style in the Mozilla menu, and have a look at the different styles!
[ Reply To This | View ]
This is great.
by Timothy R. Butler on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @15:29
I always thought the old design was rather, well, ugly. I liked the colors and style of the pre-October 2000 design (no offense to anyone intended, I just suspect web design was not the speciality of the ones who made that version of KDE.org), and this new rendition is again a nice looking site. It looks clean and modern, and finally makes KDE.org comparable to GNOME.org again.

Any chance the Dot will get a matching style?

-Tim
[ Reply To This | View ]
I still prefer the original site
by Ez on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @16:13
I think the original site looked better and was more functional.
I liked the boxes on the left edge, with links to the relevant info in small boxes.

See here: http://www.kde.org/screenshots/images/large/kde2b3_1.png

The last design (cira 2000) and this latest revision use large fonts with each link bulleted - not the best way IMHO.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Is the source that builds the content available?
by Glen Ogilvie on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @16:16
Hi,

I like the look and feel of kde.org, and would be interested in adapting it for an internal project I am working on. I have downloaded the CVS copy, however, can't see any admin type bits that update the site without modifying pages by hand.

Is the backend available? if so, where do I get a copy?

Thanks
Glen Ogilvie
[ Reply To This | View ]
NEW Design Feedback
by Alex Radu on Sunday 02/Mar/2003, @19:05
The design of KDE's website is definitely a major improvement in every area. It is very usable, cheerful, easy on the eyes, consistent, full of features and takes up little bandwidth. The site reflects the image of what we want people to see in KDE perfectly.

Who wouldn't want a usable, good looking, feature rich, cheerful consistent and not very demanding desktop. I know I would! For those criticizing the fonts, you are greatly mistaking, on my Xandros box with Freetype 2 enabled in Mozilla, those fonts look gorgeous and I do not need to squint or manually change the font size to see it well.

KDE.org vs GNOME.org

In my opinion KDE.org outshines GNOME.org by quite a long shot. First of all it is much easier to read the text without manually changing the size and in the naviagtion panel I can not even change the size. This brings me to the next complaint, GNOME's site is far more resource hungry than KDE's and in effect loads slower and is harder on their server. I also find it does not have good usability or consistency in it. Professional websites need to have their navigation panel on all web pages for easy access to the user and the style should not dramatically change. KDE achieves this well, GNOME is another story entirely. Their website is also gloomy and the contrast between a gray background and black text is nowhere near as good as black text ona white background like on KDE's page. These are only a few apparent problems, but there are many more.

Problems with KDE.org:

- Doesn’t display too well in Explorer, navigation panles stretch up mroe than they should.

- Only a part of KDE related websites have adopted the new design and color-scheme.

- At the top right there is a "Choose your location." drop down menu. The idea it conveys is fundamentally wrong, someone's language is not determined by my location in many cases. For example there are many people in the US who prefer to communicate with another language online. Therefore the dropdown menu should be changed like this. "Choose your language" and the countries should be replaced with the language it is meant for.

As a web-designer I have to say you guys have done an outstanding job with your website as long as you convert all your websites to that design and fix a few more minor issues here and there.

A GREAT desktop environment DESERVES a GREAT website!
[ Reply To This | View ]
I really really much prefer this over the old site
by rajan r on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @02:06
The old one was ugly, ugly, ugly and of course, ugly. Did I mention ugly? No... it wasn't that bad (I liked it a lot when it first came out), the big problem was that it was horribly inconsistent between subsites (e.g. koffice.org). Hope this would fix the problem. One thing I don't get is that why are the fonts so freaking big? Most websites use 12px ot 10px, but not the sizes you guys are using.... If there is anyone visually impaired, I'm sure he would be using a browser that allows text to look bigger.
[ Reply To This | View ]
It rulez
by AC on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @03:45
The new design simply rulez.
[ Reply To This | View ]
please please ...
by anonymous ... on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @05:34
No more blue .. no more blue :(
[ Reply To This | View ]
use of apache forrest
by ac on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @05:58
Has anyone look at using forrest for KDE ?

http://xml.apache.org/forrest/index.html

forrest is now being used to generate the pages for most of the apache projects.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Hooray!
by Heathen on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @07:41
Keramik, Crystal, kde.org...

Where would KDE be without the help of these wonderful teenagers who are making it what it is today: a big shiny ball of blue? I thank God KDE doesn't let trained designers interfere with the appearance of the project. Who wants subtle when you can get loud? Who wants elegant when you can get flashy?

Carry on my fine lads. I know you won't rest until you've given everything in KDE that signature baby blue glow. And I love you for it.
[ Reply To This | View ]
strange - can not change color under settings
by Andorsch on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @11:54
Hi!
I tried to choose a different coloring scheme under settings, but it did not work with konqueror 3.1.0 or mozilla 1.2.1.

I have javascript enabled and cookies enabled.

I can see the cookie coming in, but after I accept it, the selector displays again the kde-windows coloring...

regards,
andorsch
[ Reply To This | View ]
php-nuke
by Anonymous on Monday 03/Mar/2003, @12:36
Looks like KDE.org can use php-nuke for its current layout.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Classic mistake, bg but not fg/txt color set
by Duncan on Tuesday 04/Mar/2003, @06:45
My default settings are light text on a black background. The site's default settings are white background, no text color set.

That means I get my white text color default, on the site's white background color default, and I can't see it unless I select all, or change style sheet options.

If the background is specified, the forground/text should be as well, to avoid just this sort of problem. Unfortunately, this is an all-to-common mistake, both according to the tutorials at http://richinstyle.com , which specifically caution AGAINST this mistake, and from my own experience.

(Disclaimer: I am not a web designer. I just suffer when folks that are make this sort of mistake on something that WOULD be common sense, if they stopped to think about it.)

Duncan (No e-mail address because last time I posted that here, I had to dump that address for the spam it generated and create a new one. Luckily it was one I could do that too. There should be a warning!)
[ Reply To This | View ]
switch.php doesn't work
by luci on Tuesday 04/Mar/2003, @14:33
it does seem http://www.kde.org/media/settings.php is there for nothing now... unimplemented?
will it be working some time in the future?
[ Reply To This | View ]
Splendid
by EUtopian on Tuesday 04/Mar/2003, @14:49
I see that the new site has received some criticism, and I hope it doesn't removes focus from all the great work. Personally I have nothing but praise for the site, I think it looks gorgeous and is one of the most well-designed sites I have seen. Clear and simple yet beautiful. I can't really think of anything that I dislike about it.
[ Reply To This | View ]
A suggestion
by Alex on Tuesday 04/Mar/2003, @21:53
Please make the text light up or change size when the mouse is voer the links on the navigation panek
[ Reply To This | View ]
multilingual site ?
by capit. igloo on Wednesday 05/Mar/2003, @04:08
can we expect, some day or other, a multilingual site and forum like mandrakeclub ?
[ Reply To This | View ]
Does not work with squid proxies...
by AM on Wednesday 05/Mar/2003, @04:32
The CSS styling does not work with mozilla through
a squid proxy.

When I look at my logs I see rather strange lines
being served

http://www.kde.org/media/styles/standard.css - NONE/- image/gif

the style sheets are being severed as images...
When I turn the proxy off everying looks OK.
[ Reply To This | View ]
IT DOESN'T WORK! MUST BE A BUG!
by Myself on Thursday 06/Mar/2003, @01:18
Ok, let's put things clear. Am I the only one that feels that this CSS stylesheets thing doesn't work? I tested:

* with/without proxies
* from two different internet providers/locations
* 3 different browsers (konqi from cvs, mozilla, opera).
* Cookies and java/javascript were on in all cases,

and ***Neither works***

This means that it doesn't seem to be my network config, nor my browser's problem. IT MUST BE A BUG on the site.

A Couple of questions. Is there a script that says:

if (in UK) then make_it_not_work

??? That's the only answer I find :-(
[ Reply To This | View ]
New KDE webpage Survey?
by NS on Thursday 06/Mar/2003, @16:31
I think KDE should have a survey, if KDE folks like the new KDE webpage?

Items should be:

* Hate it
* Looks Ok
* Don't Care
* bad
* Good
* Nice
* Excellent

Or something like this.

I don't really like it. It looks like novice webpage. It should be compact. http://www.apple.com/macosx/ has good text spacing and layout except for those big tab above and very big icons and big J Box image. Mimimised scrolling, a probably small tab layout will do.

But I think should be replace by now with the negative comments. Please redo the webpage and then have a SURVEY.
[ Reply To This | View ]
Shame on you. New look does not work on Konq 2.2.1
by Mustang on Friday 07/Mar/2003, @15:04
You must be kidding guys. The new web site looks problematic in Konqueror 2.2.1.
1. Button heights are 4 ro 5 pixels
2. Tables do not align
3. Resizing spoils.
4. Colors change during loading.

Do not blame or accuse me. I've been using KDE ever since and my setup is really OK. You should have checked.

Check out the file I've attached.
Click to download attachment snapshot10.png
92KB (94788 bytes)
[ Reply To This | View ]
The Fine Print: The previous comments are owned by whomever posted them.
( Reply )
  "When I'm not hacking on a computer, I like to play the guitar and get drunk. Sometimes both at once." -- Richard J. Moore
KDE®, "K Desktop Environment", "KDE Dot News", "got the dot?" and the KDE Logo® are trademarks or registered trademarks of KDE e.V. in the European Union, the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the poster. The rest: Copyright © 2000-2008 KDE e.V. for The KDE Project. For further information or comments on this site, please contact the Webmaster.
[ home | post article | flat forty | subscribe | search | rdf ]