Bitcoin.org Redesign (mockups inside)

[FatherMcGruder]

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.

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[kiba]

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

[ryepdx]

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

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.

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.

[kiba]

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.

[ryepdx]

The webmaster is Sirus.

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

[Gavin Andresen]

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.

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.

[partyp]

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

[genjix]

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.

[genjix]

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

[kiba]

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.

[hippich]

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

[genjix]

Why not go with this exact design?



(Change the bitcoin icon to the new one though)

It's much simple & nice.

[N12]

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

[grondilu]

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.

[Dobry Den]

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 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.

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.

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.

[Thndr]

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.

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.

[genjix]

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"

[Anonymous]

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

[kiba]

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.

[Thndr]

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"

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.

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.

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.