Bitcoin Forum

Note: Of course, this comes down to those that actually run and update the website (Gavin?).

I think we all can agree that the Bitcoin.org homepage could use some love.

In general, it could be prettier and at least sport the Bitcoin logo. But it also could be more descriptive of the Bitcoin project in a way that's more accessible to people that stumble upon Bitcoin after the intermittent media attention that it receives or some rogue "Donate Bitcoins" button that stimulates their curiosity.

I'm not a professional designer, but I can code any idea into well-formed html/css, and I'd do it all for free.

I believe in minimal designs that front-load only the information that can be quickly scanned and digested. Further reading and information (like Wiki explanations) can always be neatly linked to for those so inclined.

Mockups created at: https://gomockingbird.com. I can also create Photoshop mockups.

Idea 1
https://i.imgur.com/IDXff.png

Idea 2
https://i.imgur.com/KNZSB.png

That looks really nice. I like the first one better.

They look good to me. I prefer the first by a bit.

I like the first one too. Never saw the video, but already  use bitcoin for several months.

Yeah, I like the first one better as well. I started making the second one first and it changed into the first image after a few more minutes of fiddling.

I'll make some more visually representative mockups with Photoshop.

Idea 2 seems to be more visually appealing, but thats just me.

For some reason I only saw the download links in #2 and I didn't see the "What is bitcoin" in #1. I would go with #2 for the video and download layout and then I would take the text format that is currently on bitcoin.org and replace that with the text in #2.

I like number 2. Can you add a poll to the thread ?

You don't need a poll. Just pick the good features from both mock-ups, after all they are anything but a final design where we have to chose either one.

What about swapping Download and "What is Bitcoin" in #1? So the order would be: What is bitcoin?, Download, Quickstart

Here's an idea.

(The default image for that video really needs to be changed.  :D)






https://i.imgur.com/yQbLj.png

Looks good. Maybe we could set up a git repo to work on the redesign?

I like both of them.

And the half-done coloured one too.

The color version looks good. I'd prefer to have the download links at the top, though, now they just break the flow of the page.

i'd say remove windows (zip) option. just offer it on some separate download page.

+1

I would also like download links in vertical column, rather than horizontal bar.


+1

How about using the bitcoin logo that use binary as the official logo?

http://bitcoin.nl/graphics/bitcoin_goldv2_mini.png

You can thanks skull88 for the logo.

Alphabetized the download list. Put Linux first.

I prefer second (and second the motion for a poll).

Also, this gomockingbird tool looks great (first I've seen it).

+ 10

That is just golden... Literally & metaphorically.

+10101

That coin is gorgeous, Kiba!

Not mine, but skull88!

I think we should ask skull88 for public domain confirmation just to be on the safe side.

I like #2 better

I agree!

Here's what I'm thinking:


http://c3141292.r92.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.jpg (http://c3141292.r92.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.jpg)

I swiped the layout and some other parts from another site however I'm working on composing a separate post and don't wish to share that URL just yet.

• bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.tar (http://c3141292.r92.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.tar) with SVG
• bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.pdf (http://c3141292.r92.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.pdf)
• bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.png (http://c3141292.r92.cf0.rackcdn.com/bitcoin-homepage-sgornick.png)

That looks amazing.

That looks too "commercial" to me. People will probably think that Bitcoin is run by a business from looking at that. I prefer the simple layout.

I don't see a problem with it looking too "commercial." I would rather NOT see something that looks like somebody's kid threw it together in 10 minutes from their parents' basement. This means, among other things, styling the main page, the wiki, the forum, and whatever else, all to match.

People love websites like this, I'm sure anybody who isn't a follower of RMS thinks this is cool.

Sorry, I don't care for it. Too convoluted. Dobry Den's version draws the eye to the relevant information and (if the download links are moved to top) has them grouped naturally. With this design, if I'm trying to read the info for consumers, my eye is being constantly drawn over to the merchant column. At a glance this tells me nothing, that's not a good thing.

Nope, didn't like it really.

1) First impression is a mess
2) Second impression is "typical business".
3) I think we want Bitcoin idea to be more independent, opensource & p2p - related than business-related (i may be wrong there though).

Not sure about sgornick's layout but I approve using Tron guy for the linux download.

I prefer #2 of the original poster's layouts. Don't really care for the second poster's layouts, as it is very filled with information, but doesn't really say anything. Most people like that layout when they are looking at a business that they want to buy from, but Bitcoin isn't a business - it's a way of life.

I like this. The logo could be different though. We could get some professional to finish the visual appearance for the wanted layout.

The current plan is indeed to keep the main page and wiki separate. The main page should be an advertisement to newbies, while the wiki contains all the details. JesusTheCaffeine's idea of explaining the benefits for consumers and merchants is good, but maybe not on the front page if it's too much text.

Cut the two Windows downloads to a single installer download. There's little reason to have a .exe and a .zip.

It would be good to have the "big 3" all on one place, and then a link to a page with all other versions on it. You could call the .zip file a "portable" version since you don't have to install it.

This is a perfect design. I was going to get around to doing this, but you've already done the job.

The flow is perfect. From top to bottom:
- What is Bitcoin.
- Where to get it.
- Now what to do with it.

Any new person will be interested in those topics. I vote this for the new front page design.

Nice. Simple. Uncluttered. Concise.

Couldn't be better.

Add this:
http://bitcoin.nl/graphics/bitcoin_goldv2_mini.png

And remove the drop shadow for the coin. It's inconsistent with your plain flat colouring on the rest of the page.

I like the alignment, although I'm not sure about the download buttons. Having all 4 there is claustrophobic. Maybe better to get rid of the left Windows button and replace it with some javascript that expands the blue bar to offer the 2 windows download urls below when clicked.

Soon there will be both 32bit and 64 bit Linux versions, and you can't just keep adding more buttons!

If there's no javascript enabled then the page will simply offer the links straight up.

[Windows] [Mac OS X] [Linux]

Windows expands the bar to show below:

- Windows Exe (Recommended)
- Windows Zip

Mac OS X is a normal URL.

Linux expands to:
- Linux (Recommended)
- Linux 64bit
- Debian package

Agreed.  It should not be too flashy nor too advocating.


PS.  I don't like the "virtual" adjective in the subtitle "P2P virtual currency".  I"d prefer "P2P digital currency"

I don't know if you all are familiar, but I think distributed.net's page is concise (but reports a lot of old news, sadly).
Link: http://distributed.net (http://distributed.net)

lol... this is why hackers make poor designers. We think differently to usual people.

Usual people like sites like yahoo.com , use MSN messenger, have a facebook

Me- I go on IRC and use email.

So I sometimes have trouble when designing interfaces for general use because I start thinking about what *I* would like. I reckon many of you have the same problem but aren't mindful of it.

I am fond of the prompt> There was a console program a long time ago called Quick that was a GUI for the old DOS prompt. I loved it. You had the power of the CLI and the usefulness of the GUI. They made it so easy to use the CLI that it was a great learning tool. You picked up the commands and attributes over time.

I also like websites that are simple hierarchical structures. This takes time to organize but the results are simple, easily understood, and non-cluttered. Usually with no or minimal graphics also.


OmniOutliner Pro does a great job of doing this, for simple, easily organized, and fast websites

+1

It's clear, simple, and to the point.

Definitely not a fan of sgornick's proposed design. Far too much text, far too cluttered.

I just wanted to repeat one more time thing that has been said: in my opinion also, default video preview is really not working well for site image.

I show people website and their first question is like "who's that woman?"

Aren't bitcoins pegged by Asians though?

Yeah, a new thumbnail would be nice.

Maybe one with the Bitcoin logo in it? That would be the most logical choice.

Did anybody bribe skull88 already to release this on public domain ?
If not, we could make a bounty  - i think it's worth it.

IMHO, the top should have 2 download links: one that is the "default" client for the user's platform (identified by User-Agent), and the other linking to a table of alternative clients/platforms.

For example, on the main page:
[  Download wxBitcoin for Windows  ]  |  (Download other clients/platforms)

And on the second page:

Client    | Win | Mac | Ubuntu | Deb | Fedora | RH
----------------------------------------------------
wxBitcoin | D/l | D/l |  D/l   | D/l |  D/l   | D/l
BitcoinD  | D/l | D/l |  D/l   | D/l |  D/l   | D/l
Spesmilo  | D/l | D/l |  D/l   | D/l |  D/l   | D/l
...

What is spesmilo?  At some point I thought it was the esperantist version of bitcoin, but this word doesn't seem to mean anything in esperanto.

It's nothing to do with Esperanto (except there's a translation of it).

It's just a random (Esperanto) name picked for another Bitcoin client,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spesmilo
The Spesmilo was supposed to be a world currency to go with the world language of Esperanto :p Thought that the name had similar connotations with Bitcoin.

BTW, I somewhat agree with luke-jr now I think about it. There's only one bitcoin.org, and having only 1 official version is exclusionary to all other competing implementations. In the same way email.org wouldn't only be about one program called Email but have links to a bunch of different versions.

I really like what seems to be the majority opinion, Dobry Den's layout with skull88's coin at the top.  The download links should be visible within the top 768 pixels of the page as most people hate searching for links.  And yes, change the preview image for the video.  Perhaps the node map at 0:42?

I also like sgornick's layout, but I think it should be used on a site targeted to merchants.  The column headings could be "Advantages for you" and "Advantages for your customers."

From skull88 : http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=687.0

I prefer the official logo over skull88's logo.

Re: the logo. Could we please be careful with the Thai Baht B thing? The logo is really cool but it is for a currency that has existed for much longer than BitCoin ...

I wouldn’t say that it looks like ฿. Also, the official logo has the same kind of B (favicon of bitcoin.org and the client’s logo). I like skull88’s logo better.

Maybe they think the woman is satoshi......

Who's that woman:
  Anna Lee (http://www.flickr.com/photos/annamatic3000/2507477664/)

I don't know nuthin 'bout changing video default images.

If anybody does, I'd be happy to replace or tweak the link to the video at bitcoin.org.

I think you just need to 'shop a better looking one into the photo and reedit the video to include it.

upload it to youtube. it has an option to set the default image.

I think the photo of Anna and the Yap stone is just fine.  It has some surprise effect and has the merit of getting out of tech context.

She's also a real person, not a greasy basement dweller.

Are we agreeing on a particular design? What's the next step to getting it implemented/live?

Well, I'm guessing Gavin has access to the website server. Someone needs to turn that design into usable code first, though. That may be difficult or not so difficult depending on the CMS bitcoin.org is using, if any.

The webmaster is Sirus.

Ah, okay. Good to know. Thanks. :-)

Sirius and I both have access to the webserver, although Sirius knows a lot more about Drupal than I do.

But if somebody puts together Drupal templates (theme?  what does Drupal call them/it?) with the spiffy new look I'd be happy to upload them.  Or, even better, create a Drupal account for that somebody so they can update the look and content themself and fix the bugs that are almost certainly going to happen.

They are called Drupal Themes. I actually design and develop them for a living :)

I went ahead and made a "polished" mockup that I was envisioning for bitcoin.org. I also tried to include a lot of the suggestions made in this thread.

If people like, I would be happy to make this a theme and post it on Drupal.org.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1791401/bitcoin-layout.png

Nice. But that blue is far too garish and attracting for negative space. I suggest you use rare hues for the background. Also tone down the detail on those squares.

Could you mix it up with some green (green tinted with yellow) to make it a little more intriguing.  The blue/grey makes it look bland/corporate.

Also for the 3 download buttons, let's replace it by one button (detected by the browser user-agent OS) right-adjusted like how google does with google-chrome. Underneath is a link "See other downloads".

The Linux or Windows link should then expand the bar to show the 2 options as radio buttons (with the default selected) and then you can click 'Download'.

Just some suggestions. I like it overall.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2akk1p3.png

Hard to correct the colours though since I don't have the original svg

I would get rid of the blue thing. To me, I feel that the navigation and content area are disconnected and create a weird feeling in me.

agree

Why not go with this exact design?

https://i.imgur.com/yQbLj.png

(Change the bitcoin icon to the new one though)

It's much simple & nice.

I agree with genjix. Although I don’t like the light blue, but that may be personal preference.

What about not providing any implementation for MS Windows© or Macintosh© ?

That would save some space on the page, so that we could make some room for a FreeBSD, OpenBSD or other Free Open Source operating systems.

I can convert it to a Drupal theme when I get home to my desktop computer this weekend (nothin' like cruising the Bitcoin forums on Spring Break).

I'll make the download bar more minimal and push it to the top of the page below the navigation so it doesn't interrupt the flow of information. There are other tweaks that have been suggested since that was posted.


That's a good idea that keeps trivial changes from getting bottlenecked by you or Sirus.

edit: I see that partyp made another version. I'll go ahead and convert my mockup into a Drupal theme just for some closure and post it here.

The blue in the top is too bright. If you saturate it or do something to make it not attract the eye too much, then that design would be perfect.

You could also make the topbar have a small border on the bottom edge and have it look like it's floating above the blue design with a slight shadow. The edge between it and the rest of the page seems too sharp. However this could also be a problem with the choice of blue being entirely too distracting compared to the rest of the theme


I personally prefer that one over the other mockup, as it gives it a more professional feel and is comparable to today's popular website designs. The other mockup may get down to busines, but it lacks a certain elegance like other open source project sites stereotypically have.

open source projects don't need snazzy websites that look cool. They need plain minimal sites without ads that are quick to the point.

free software says: "we are so cool that we don't need to win you over like a business. Here's the facts. Make up your own mind"

What if you turn the blue in the middle into pixel art as a homage to the original bitcoin.org design ?

Pfft. It's just more work.

It's also that they usually cannot afford professional web designers, and are mostly ran by programmers, not designers.

Being elitist about free software as an excuse is a pretty shitty excuse. Web pages are there to inform, web page design is there to make the information welcoming and available to everyone. Businesses know this and design their sites accordingly, however they have incentives to also hide information from sight to influence your opinion. Bitcoin not having that incentive doesn't mean it doesn't have the incentive of attracting new users/demographics.

Currently the demographic for are those who have varying economic/politic opinions from the masses -or at least are more educated about what they believe in-, and tech nerds who like open source stuff and find bitcoin interesting. With the increased use of Bitcoin and more acceptance, it is already attracting a broader audience due to more vendors accepting it thus making it more viable. With a site with mostly words, most of the new users could be scared away. That drupal theme is more compatible with including small diagrams while with the other example it would seem out of place due to the boring and sterile feeling the design gives off.


However you're probably not trying to be elitist about it at all and just confusing minimalistic design with lack of forethought on design. The drupal theme is indeed minimalistic, and with some corrections, could be called plain as well.

The other design could be worked to fit the bill. The area above the menu is too big with the huge logo. The menu itself doesn't tell me what page I am on. Making the logo smaller and incorporating half of it on the menu bar would reduce the wasted space on the top. Moving the logo to the left and having the menu align on the right would make it more attractive. The menu itself could remain black with a small space of white above it for the BITCOIN part of the logo while the menu bar itself has "A P2P VIRTUAL CURRENCY" and the bottom part of the logo in the menu bar itself. (if you want to be clever, you could make it a bitcoin going into a coinslot). The example needs to be widened to see how it would look on normal monitors. However you don't want it too wide, you would have to center the information, but if you center it, you would need some sort of side-content to distract the eye away from all the empty space. A bunch more stuff would be needed for all that to look smooth and as welcoming as the drupal design.

I am unsure if you're trying to be ironic in criticizing the page design itself, or being totally honest with the idea of turning the download area into the current bitcoin blue pixelation.

Personally I think the idea would make the download area too busy.

Derp. I'm a pro designer + cg artist. I'm not confusing anything. Get off yer high horse.

I know plenty about design.

We don't need tons of glamour. That just makes Bitcoin look like a scammy company with something to hide. Bitcoin is what it is.

I say go for that plain and simple design IMO.

We are trying to emphasise a few simple points when describing Bitcoin and why it's better. The design should reflect that.

https://i.imgur.com/yQbLj.png

You're really coming off as an ass, when I was just giving friendly advice. I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt that you were not being smug, but you're kinda making it hard.


Honestly it looks to me like you're trying to claim that while keep linking the design as an image. If there was changes to the image, you should detail what they are.
You should also use something that's not 600px wide, as no one uses a 800x600 monitor anymore and anything done in that space wouldn't be indicative of what it would actually look like. 


You should provide a better response than "Lol open source == 'plain and minimalistic'" and "Corporations = evil ; Corporations use fancy design ; thus fancy design = evil".


I've already gave my input, and the reasons behind it. You haven't done anything to make me concede to your point. I also would like to request if you can't respond to this post in a non-flammatory way, just to ignore it. We don't need to spam up the thread with borderline (or completely) flaming posts.

Here is my design with not so bright blue... I also made the menu slightly larger and gave it a drop shadow. Therefore, the menu and the main content are a little closer and it cut down on the negative space a little. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1791401/bitcoin-layout2.png

I've also attached a new design where the menu is attached to the main content. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1791401/bitcoin-layout3.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1791401/bitcoin-layout2.png

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1791401/bitcoin-layout3.png

I would still get rid of the blue.

I think partyp's latest design is the best in this thread so far.  I'm ambivalent about the blue border.  genjix, I understand your sentiment, but I think the majority of the world's population associate a polished look with quality, rightly or wrongly.

I agree. If you're keen on trying it with the pixelated backdrop, try a light gray that meshes with the scheme, but it might be best if it was removed entirely if it can't be worked with.

Personally I like the first one with the title bar then the content below, but that could just be in comparison to the quick way you implemented the tabbed styling on the second one.

That one (the first one) is my favorite so far. I like the blue. From the image, it seems to be too wide, though. Does it work without horizontal scrolling with 1024x768?

Yeah the main idea for the pixelation block stuff was for the idea of bitcoiners trying to find blocks, and also to maintain something from the original design :)

I will try graying out the blocks later... I have to head out to run some errands.


Yes, It appears wider because I wanted to show what it would look like on slightly larger screens.
The container width on the site will be 960px which fits nicely in 1024 width.

I don't want to hijack the design discussion...

... but I would like to open up discussion of content.  I'd like to see the bitcoin.org home page to be less about bitcoin-the-software and more about bitcoin-the-currency.

You don't have to download and run any software to run bitcoin, and I think most non-technies are better off using an online wallet service rather than running bitcoin.exe.  So I'd like to see the DOWNLOAD/HOWTO sections moved to a separate page, and have the home page have links to there and to a Wiki page that lists the online wallet services (and starts with a little discussion of the tradeoffs of using an online wallet provider instead of running bitcoin yourself).

I'd be perfectly happy if the design and content was improved (as already discussed) and then the content was changed later, if there's general agreement that de-emphasizing the download is a good idea.

+1

I didn't like the blue either.


+1

Good idea. It will be easier for new users to start using an online service rather than software.

Perhaps there should be a link pointing to a page for "advanced users" which will want to have their own client and/or miner.
Or there could be 2 sections - one for normal users, and one for advanced users (the easy one being the default).

Can we also get away from having 'the one true' version of bitcoin listed?

Ideally we want multiple clients. There should be a list of different clients like "here's some ways of connecting to bitcoin:"... For now it'd only be 'Bitcoin' and 'BitCoinJ'. But in the future would be Python clients, various forks and builds for different platforms.

Could the mainline Bitcoin also be renamed? It's confusing to refer to the currency, protocol and 1 implementation by one name. I suggest Bytecoin to mix things up a bit.

The whole idea would be a list of different implementations. No one version would be better.

I realise this is bad for end-user convenience, but it's *much* more healthy for project development, because this way many versions get exposure instead of one version approved by the cabal to go up on the site. Diversify.

Secondly, can sgornick's news items be put on the front-page? I'd like to see him become maintainer of a front-page news feed.

http://www.bitcoinnews.com/

It shows to new people that this project is active, and things are happening. Especially for new services to get limelight.

Maybe also show the exchange rate. It's a common question for new users to ask how much a bitcoin is, and where they can get some.

http://bitcoinwatch.com/

Satoshi has been opposed to the creation of new client software, so he probably won't want different clients listed on bitcoin.org.

That was because he planned further changes to the client. But he's left now.

I think it is because using different clients was not safe. And it may be not safe today too.

No I remember him explicitly stating that it was because he could make breaking changes to the protocol at any time. Now there's no risk of that. We need forks and other clients. Have one client named 'Bitcoin' is a killer for any other implementations.

+10

On wikipedia it's also confusing that this quick info box is containing information like: "Written in: C++", "Size 5.2 MB - 9.7 MB". It seems common to me that people think at the beginning it's all about this program and not protocol.

Also I like idea of having just a button for system detected from user-agent and just some extra link for showing others.

I whish I could think of bitcoin more as a protocol than as a software.  But I can't since there is no RFC or clear protocol description document.  Satoshi's white paper is nice, but it is not enough I'm afraid.

Is there any more effort to redesign the website?

Bumpy bump.

wiki is new front page \o/

imma cool wit this

Bump bump. I think the project is stalling.

Stalling is confirmed!

So, how do we revive this project?

Still working on it? I'd set it up on bitcoin.org if it's ready. Doesn't need to be a Drupal theme, static pages load better.

I'll pay you 20 BTC for the job :)

First of all, all of the designs (with all respect for their makers) are only better than average. No one looks like it should for a Bitcoin official site - stunning, yet simple. If we want to make a really good website, we have to try harder.

We already set up a bounty for animated movie for Bitcoin and it turned out great. Why not set up a bounty to hire a proffesional website designer? I personaly know a few that would do a really good job if paid well :).

Edit: To clarify what "well" means - I guess around 600 - 800 BTC.

I'd like to offer 500 BTC for a really cool website. 250 BTC for semi-cool.

These are my previous sites:

http://genjix.freehostia.com/
http://britcoin.co.uk/

Tell me what you mean by 'really cool'. Does my style fit that category? Because it usually takes a lot of work to design a professional looking site.

Probably for a Bitcoin website we'd make pixel art + some mascots.

genjix: Your websites look fine, but for "average joe" this is not the right direction for design. A design for mass audience (which is what we are aiming for in the end) should be clean, easy on the eyes, with some easy to understand image concepts. It should have nice graphics, but not too heavy so it'll load quick on slower ISPs and older browsers. Like you said, it's not a thing you can do overnight - its a process that needs professional software, skills and experience in design. That's why I think we should hire someone that has it all and pay him to do this, instead of hacking something ourselves.

whitehouse.gov cost 18 million dollars

 :D

London 2012 logo was £400,000

Bounty campaign or fundraiser sounds good. I created a bounty specification page (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin.org_bounty_specification) on the wiki. Please contribute if you have good ideas.

Should we put the "Trade" and "FAQ" links to the front page content instead of navigation menu? Should we have the contact details on the front page, so we'd only need 1 page?

Should we have a news section? I'd say no and keep bitcoin.org as a simple introductory page for newbies. Regular users can find news elsewhere.

Goverment websites are overpriced big time, web agencies are sucking as much as they can from them, because govs are clueless about this market. A solid website design (frontpage + 1-2 pages, no coding, just the PSD) can cost around $500 - $1000, so I guess that's not much for a community like this.

Does it really need to be a durpal theme?

I can only work with HAML and SASS.

Drupal is useful mostly for translations, but if some other system can handle them, it's ok too. Some easy way to generate static or well cached pages would rock.

Flattr (http://flattr.com), Mozilla (http://mozilla.org) and Dialogix (http://www.dialogix.com.au/) for example. Or any site from here (http://www.sitesketch101.com/beautiful-websites). Bitcoin.org is the most visible part of the project, so why settle for the second best? :)

Does it really need to be Drupal at all? Drupal is great for what it does well, but it's a huge, monstrous hog which is serious overkill for most sites on which it's used.

It sounds to me that the home page should look something like this: http://www.weusecoins.com/

How is WeUseCoins different than how the intended bitcoin.org homepage will look/behave? It seems to me that what separates bitcoin.org from WeUseCoins is that bitcoin.org is the place to discuss bitcoin stuff with the community (wiki/forum/IRC) and also to download the program. So if those two things are on secondary pages.... i think you can really just copy what WeUseCoins did for the homepage if that's the goal. It's simple, looks professional and easy to understand. (And the video is awesome!)


Thank you!.. i'll take better than average :)
I am a full time designer/drupal themer and I made the designs in this thread over night (the chance to help bitcoiners was irresistible). So, If anyone wants me to elaborate on my current designs, or go a completely new direction-- I am definitely willing if paid.

Yeah, weusecoins.com does a great job as an introductory site. Bitcoin.it is a good community portal and knowledge base. So what should bitcoin.org be? Since bitcoin.org is the number one search result, there should be at least some introductory stuff and downloads. "Less software and more currency" sounds good. We could translate it to as many languages as possible.

Why not make the wiki the front page?

I could even put that weusecoins as a huge banner on there.

bitcoin.org should be a simple site that says:

This is better than redirecting straight to the wiki. Wanna make a pretty static html for this, anyone? :) Or find some free template.

Sure. ;D

Might take a few hours to paint the pictures.

EDIT: Give me Saturday. Since this isn't a full site, I don't want donations either.

EDIT2: Just so you know I'm working on this and haven't forgotten... Still early stages. But you can see the futuristic abstract direction we're going with:
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/192/woman3z.png

We gone 4 days without anything going on. Don't want this project to die just yet.

I made a proposal for the new page: http://www.bitcoin.org/newsite/. Feel free to comment or edit.

- use horizontal space, make two columns for that. Remember, scrolling bar is your enemy! :)
- put the weusecoins.com video somewhere near the top

This better: http://www.bitcoin.org/newsite2/ ?

I like it :D

Number 2 is better.

Let use that bitcoin logo with the binary on it!

I feel like the Twitter feed belongs on the right side.

I made it the front page. Now at least the front page is slashdot-proof :)

I'll still be fine-tuning the CSS. In the spirit of open source, everyone is welcome to improve the index.html in any way and I'll set it up if it's better. Add to github or wiki? :P

I would like to see the current version number of the program on the homepage. Otherwise it looks good.

http://beta.garyshood.com/ is my version

Thanks for contributing. It's browser-compatible, looks somewhat cleaner, doesn't need scrolling and supports translations. No video, but weusecoins.com is linked anyway. The intro text could be shorter. What do you guys think?

I think the weusecoins video should be available in the front page, just like it's now.

another idea (not finished/WIP): http://bitcoincharts.com/~tcatm/bitcoin.org/

Excellent layout here, I really like this one.

I really like tcatm's version. One thing that I would change is shortening the intro text and placing another link to the video at its end, like this:

http://bit.ly/gZRsGh

I’m all for tcatm. We should make it "The total eventual circulation will be 21 million bitcoins, currently divisible to 0.00000001." though.

Is the video going to be embedded?

I don't see the obsession with the video on the front page when there is a link dedicated to that. I come to the main page to download the client or access the forums. if I needed to see the video to see what bitcoin was, I'd just click "What is Bitcoin?" view it one time, and then never want to see it again.

@kiba: My mockup has a dedicated link to the video. I don't think there is enough space to show the video on the front page in a reasonable size.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5437/screenshotzd.png ie7 for above design

IE works fine here: http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/4906/86163378.png

Different version of IE?

I think it's IE8 (win7) which is also available for WinXP.

Your point, while valid, has one flaw. Take note that this site is not only for people who know what Bitcoin is and want to do something with it. It's PRIMARILY for people who don't know what it is. They want to get some information on it. The video is the BEST way to do it.

yes, so I'm sure they'll click What is Bitcoin? and then they'll see the video.

I added a small hack to fix the layout in IE7.

It looks nice, but it's too wide.

Current bitcoin.org looks good, but I think the horizontal space could be utilized better.  The page is a bit too long/thin.

Edit:
This one is better proportioned in my opinion.  Are you using a low resolution?

What screen resolution are you referring to? It works from 995px wide screens up to >1500px.

It causes a horizontal scroll bar to appear on the width I keep my browser at. The navigation menu is barely visible on 800x600.

Fixed. Video playback is broken on <983px and Firefox 3, though.

Doesn't seem fixed:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6527/screenshotpr.png

You can see that the navigation menu could be easily missed on 800x600. (And I find the appearance of horizontal scroll bars on ~1000px width annoying, anyway.)

I didn't know you were using Internet Explorer. The fix only works for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

Doesn't work on Firefox, either, unless I enable scripting.

I don't think we need a TL;DR description of Bitcoin at bitcoin.org. Weusecoins.com is a better introduction for newbies. Bitcoin.org should have a short description of the project, direct download links (icons for win, mac, linux) and links to other Bitcoin resources. The video can be thrown out to keep things simple, although it might be good to catch the visitor's attention.

tcatm, I like the page structure and footer style of your version. The logo and the yellow text background should be changed. Some pro could design the logo. Body_wrap looks cleaner without the stripes. We could try something lighter and more colorful instead of the dark gray theme. Trying #B0318E for the language bar background already made it look more fun :) Fooling around with Firebug is fun.

I think it's very important to have a good explanation of what Bitcoin is and how it works on bitcoin.org, translated into many languages.  Bitcoin is still something very new and different and most people don't know much about it. While the wiki is nice for in-depth articles a short but correct overview (say 2..3 subpages: What it is, how to use it and fundamental protocol rules) will be helpful to users just discovering bitcoin. It shouldn't go too much into how it is used today, though. Just explain what you can do with it (i.e. no RPC documentation) and don't focus too much on the "official" client.

Translations are a good point.

I asked many times on IRC chat about translating the wiki in italian language, I also sent an email. Nothing ...

added download icons to http://bitcoincharts.com/~tcatm/bitcoin.org/