Main page is a disaster

[genjix]

Hey,

I want to propose a new main page.

Today I did a drive-by 4chan while waiting to backup my computer. There was an economic argument raging with people lambasting banks and screaming about the government. I posted about bitcoin (the basic ideas) and watched with wry amusement only one person respond.

It was a one-liner about the title on the site "If you have version 0.3.9 or lower, please upgrade for an important security update!".

Reword this. As we know it's not a critical update but a good update. This is very off-putting as it looks very sketchy to new people (insecure network).

To me and other hackers (or types that congregate around these sorts of projects), the main page looks fine. Nice, clean, simple. We can see through it to the content. But to most it looks like 1995.

The main page should be art-sex. The main page should show that the project is highly active. The main page should hand hold.

- Beautiful graphics. Blues are cold colours which are mainly used on business sites to indicate distance/professionalism. A new main page should use yellows/reds/warm colours which come out of the page instead of receding away.
- A news feed showing the latest posts. I've written a bot to update forum posts onto a wikipage, but when I tried to port it to the Bitcoin wiki I couldn't find an API for SMF to integrate it with.
- Clearly highlighted/focused links which guide you to 1) download bitcoin 2) use it 3) buy bitcoins from a trusted trader 4) find services to use. The current layout is hacker-friendly. Neat sections and find everything for yourself.

One idea is possibly to just use the wiki as the main-page,
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page
That can be easily be reworked to fit. It's easier to quickly update things to get them working. Lots of content/activity for a new curious user to click through rather than a single dead page.

If we could find an API for SMF then I can easily add a forum post section like on,
http://poker.bitcoinvegas.com/
(See the layout? Left is articles/static info. Right is community/news. Main items are highlighted at the top of the page)

[1713469722]

1713469722

[1713469722]

1713469722

[1713469722]

1713469722

[caveden]

It's not just the main page, the software GUI too.
Both could really use some designer's work.
I can't do more than complaining, though 

[Stefan Thomas]

I quite like the front page as it is. Remember it's the front page of a piece of open source software. Not the "How to get started with Bitcoin website". Why don't you just post a link to www.bitcoinme.com instead when you're dealing with newbies? Or better yet, create your own introductory site the way you think is best!

Also, I would recommend a service like MyBitcoin.com over the official client for people who are just trying it out. Since you don't have to install anything it's less commitment and you still have all the same features.

[genjix]

me and mtux are going to work on a newb-oriented client so that too will be fixed.

bitcoinme.com sounds too spammy/like a sales pitch for my tastes.

[Bimmerhead]

Could just use one of the already available SMF portal plugins.  They might not have a up-to-the-minute web 2.0 sytle but they aren't bad and they have a familiar look to many people.

[Garrett Burgwardt]

And bitcoinme doesn't render correctly in opera. I like the site as is, though an update would be nice, especially if it worked toward a more minimalist design

[Bimmerhead]

Here's a nice looking portal system for SMF, free: http://www.tinyportal.co.uk/
With some features that would be useful here including an article manager and download manager: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=97

[Mahkul]

This is a very good point - both the graphics and the content on the main site could use an upgrade.

When I was creating my website about Bitcoin I was going to just copy and translate the content of the original website to Polish, but then I decided to do it my way.

Who owns the main page anyway, is it Satoshi?

[ptd]

True, why don't we just completely remove the main, trade and contact pages and make our homepage the wiki? The main page is not well maintained, whereas the wiki is.

[dust]

bitcoinme.com sounds too spammy/like a sales pitch for my tastes.

Agreed.  Statements on bitcoinme.com like:

"The value of  ฿1.00 BTC (one Bitcoin), went from  US$0.06  to  US$0.50  ...within only about 4 weeks.   Yes...   That was an 833% increase in it's value."

make bitcoins sound more like a get-rich-quick scheme than a legitimate currency/payment system.

True, why don't we just completely remove the main, trade and contact pages and make our homepage the wiki? The main page is not well maintained, whereas the wiki is.

I support this.

[caveden]

True, why don't we just completely remove the main, trade and contact pages and make our homepage the wiki? The main page is not well maintained, whereas the wiki is.

I support this.

Me too.

[mpkomara]

+1

[sirius]

Maybe bitcoin.org should be a visually refined site (like mozilla.org) that has just the key points listed, plus links to the wiki and downloads? Wikis have a lot of text in a small font and are poor for 5 second impressions. The wiki is better for regular bitcoiners instead. Having the trade page in a wiki would be a relief.

Who owns the main page anyway, is it Satoshi?

Satoshi owns the domain and I'm in charge of the server.

[Gavin Andresen]

Wiki for the trade page is a fantastic idea.

And I like the idea of a re-organized, simplified home page.  Who should the home page target?  I think there are few potential audiences; successful web sites design their home pages to one or more specific types of visitors.  For bitcoin, I think visitors are likely to be:

1. Geeks who are interested in "how is bitcoin supposed to work."

2. Geeks who are interested in "how can I use bitcoin for a project I'm thinking of working on."

3. Non-geeks who are interested in "what the heck is bitcoin and why should I care."

There are also several audiences I don't think bitcoin.org should target (for example, people hoping that bitcoin is a way to get rich quick).  Am I missing anybody?

I've been busy putting together a 5-minute talk for audience number 3; I think I can re-purpose some of what I wrote for the website.

[ribuck]

3. Non-geeks who are interested in "what the heck is bitcoin and why should I care."

And: "How do I get started?".

[Nefario]

geeks will always find the info if it's there.

Really I feel like a page should target #3 only

Yes, as long as there is an index( is this the right word?, a table of contents?) that is.... at the bottom of the page for geeks then that is enough for them, they care more about the details than the cover. I think #3 should also be the main target of the homepage.