Re: [Firebird-website] A few thoughts about (new) site structure,

[tjelvar e. <tj...@fa...>]

> Yes, i think about this way too. But, some of moments - such as
> main color scheme, menu and navigation scheme, site structure
> and home page structure+blocks+content - must and can be
> "selected" before designers begin to work.

kuler.adobe.com is a good starting point for creating site color  
profile.

> m also in favor of the KIS principle. Text based, without much
> graphics (maybe except the home page), no expandable sub-menus.

+1
Any graphic elements except logo requires work as site grows.
And may easily become blurry as new fonts / elements are added.

 > I think, 5-7 menu items is optimal. My suggestion -
 > Home - Downloads - Documentation - Development -
 > News & Events - Support & Community - About.

+1
5-7 elements, gives good overview.

 > For additional navigation sub-pages can have additional
 > menu bar (under the top) or left menu column - as Carlos
 > already said, i agree. Also i agree about 3-4 level limitting.

I see good reason for second topmenu level - diminishes menu options  
to the left (2-level) to a
fair amount.

 > This demo has thrown up a number of things on my 'test environment'  
and
 > highlights one of the problems of static html. I have text  
overlying boxes on
 > some browsers.

IMHO, pages, flat files or in a database, should contain no html,  
wikisyntax / markdown lasts better over time.
Final cross-browser output is the template responsibility.
And hierarcical content structure keep things in place and may  
autogenerate menus and teasers / listnings.


> The topical approach you suggest has one crucial issue for me: it  
> forces
> us to mix information of interests for different kind of site users  
> into
> humongous resource sections (especially the download and documentation
> section is problematic). Just take a look at our current site for what
> and how much information we would have to "sink" into these two  
> sections!

Selected download item may contain shortcuts to appropriate elements  
in the docs (or/and shortcuts to current pdf's).
"Release info, configuration" etc may all be in hierarcical docs.

regards
//Tjelvar eriksson