Suggestions for Lazarus web site

[Nebula]

Obviously any effort made by willing contributors is always a good thing, but... I'm not all that convinced that it will make all that much difference.

People won't be coming here on a whim, or at random. To be looking at the website at all, they will have to be already intrigued by Pascal, and I doubt they'd be put off too easily. Content is King, and if someone is keen to learn about it, they'll keep looking until they've found out what they're looking for.

Effort is better placed (IMHO) spreading the word on OTHER websites and forums

[jwdietrich]

Effort is better placed (IMHO) spreading the word on OTHER websites and forums

I think that we should do both, improve the Lazarus homepage and work on other websites (e.g. the entries at Wikipedia and elinux.org and many others).

[jwdietrich]

It is an honor to present another mock-up of the homepage of the IDE that I love.

Your suggestion is also beautiful, although I personally would prefer a bit more discrete colors. It is a great improvement over the current state anyway.

I also appreciate your idea regarding random projects. We need a description and screenshots of at least 10 projects for this option.

[Martin_fr]

Besides that, I propose that a random project be added to the homepage.

Tip of the day (random) info would also be useful for
- Packages that ship with the IDE and/or external packages. Both components or IDE extension (such as rk or editor-toolbar)
- Features like on http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/New_IDE_features_since

[nsunny]

Your suggestion is also beautiful, although I personally would prefer a bit more discrete colors.

It is mainly a 2-tone design. Grey is there to support the other 2 colors. You can modify it if you want. I could even give you the .psd (photoshop 7) file. I have designed it with vector shapes. So you can easily change colors of certain parts just by double clicking the layer.

EDIT: .psd file: http://db.tt/8uafUGUZ

Tip of the day (random) info would also be useful for
- Packages that ship with the IDE and/or external packages. Both components or IDE extension (such as rk or editor-toolbar)

That's a good idea. May be a tip of the day could also include something like Ctrl+Shift+C to automatically declare a function under the form class and other keyboard shortcuts. I mean tips should be short (in few words) so that it does not occupy a large space in the homepage.

[jwdietrich]

Tip of the day (random) info would also be useful for
- Packages that ship with the IDE and/or external packages. Both components or IDE extension (such as rk or editor-toolbar)

That's a good idea. May be a tip of the day could also include something like Ctrl+Shift+C to automatically declare a function under the form class and other keyboard shortcuts. I mean tips should be short (in few words) so that it does not occupy a large space in the homepage.

Thank you for your valuable suggestions. What we need now is a webmaster who implements the new design.

[nsunny]

Thank you for your valuable suggestions. What we need now is a webmaster who implements the new design.

I can implement that.
But are there any more suggestions that we should wait for? And is there anyone else willing to implement it?

[jwdietrich]

But are there any more suggestions that we should wait for?

Probably.

[nsunny]

After 5 hours of hard work I have created a
live mockup of Lazarus Homepage.

http://adnan.freevar.com/online/lazarus/

It is designed in such a flexible way. If you don't know php, just html and CSS - it is possible to change design of the layout. It is even possible to change the entire theme of a website with just changing one line of code. (For example, special theme for christmas)

Random projects has a text file (not php!!) having all the descriptions and screenshot filename. So, non-php devs can also change the content very often. I have kept in mind that there are many pascal developers in this community who know html and CSS, but not too many having php knowledge. So it will become easier to maintain if some php-guy has a heart attack!!

The installation is also very easy. Just one .php file in the root and the rest of the files reside in another folder. So, the root stays clean. There is just one modification necessary in .htaccess for DirectoryIndex.

em has been used as font-sizes instead of px or pt which makes it easier to scale (as Bart suggested).

It is only a demo.
It has many things to be added.

Any suggestion would be appreciated
 
TODO:
- Slides (and platform-wise Download button)
- Other pages (such as features, about)
- replacing some URLs (there are still many google.com and # links)
- Recent Forum posts list
- Announcement list

[jwdietrich]

Congratulations! Your life-demo is very beautiful and a huge improvement over the current Lazarus website (although I still have the opinion that a bit less gaudy colors would be more elegant - for my taste at least).

[nsunny]

Congratulations! Your life-demo is very beautiful and a huge improvement over the current Lazarus website (although I still have the opinion that a bit less gaudy colors would be more elegant - for my taste at least).

Thank you.
You are welcome to show me other color combinations if you like. It is not final yet. Get the psd file in my previous post, submit a screenshot. Then I will change the colors if everybody thinks fit. It is just a matter of some minutes.

UPDATE: I have successfully fetched forum recent posts in my local copy! I will try to update it when I finish styling it. I am also going for the announcement list.

[jwdietrich]

You are welcome to show me other color combinations if you like. It is not final yet. Get the psd file in my previous post, submit a screenshot. Then

Less is sometimes more. At least for my taste the following coloring scheme would be slightly more appropriate: http://simthyr.sourceforge.net/images/Laz-2-home-layout_variant_jwd.psd

But please, don't forget that this is my personal opinion. We don't know anything about the preferences of the majority of Lazarus users and developers.

[JuhaManninen]

After 5 hours of hard work I have created a live mockup of Lazarus Homepage.

http://adnan.freevar.com/online/lazarus/

Quite impressive page!

One comment though:
It has a fixed width layout as many pages nowadays have. It is against the original idea of how web browsers work.
I personally like when the page size is adjusted automatically for different screen resolutions and browser window sizes. There are still pages like that, for example
  http://distrowatch.com/
and
  http://www.codeblocks.org/

But yes, many top pages have a fixed sized layout. Your page looks good, too.

The installation is also very easy. Just one .php file in the root and the rest of the files reside in another folder. So, the root stays clean. There is just one modification necessary in .htaccess for DirectoryIndex.

What is PHP needed for? To me it looks like HTML, CSS and JavaScript is enough for such page.

I still have not got answers from web admin Marc. Does somebody know how to make an "HTML article" in TinyPortal?
FirmOS's Helmut has not copied a VM, nor has he answered me either.
Let's wait over Easter. Maybe things start to move.

Juha

[Blaazen]

The top menu is displayed badly, see screenshot. It is on Linux, Opera 12.14, 1680 x 1050. I also vote for tweaking the colors. Otherwise, nice job.

[nsunny]

UPDATE: I have successfully added recont post and latest announcements feature and random tip of the day to the homepage. I have tested it in local server. I will have to upload a dummy smf installation in my web server to make the live demo work . Until then... you will have to be patient.

@Juha

I personally like when the page size is adjusted automatically for different screen resolutions and browser window sizes.

Yes. they have their advantages. But think about the many elements that are on the page. These days big screen monitors are available. What would happen if someone browses these in such a monitor. Then these elements would be scattered through the page. It will look ugly. I like fluid layout for some websites that has mainly text (e.g. wikipedia). But to design a "stylish" homepage it is better to design a fixed layout webpage. But the CSS is open to everyone and patches can be applied to it.

What is PHP needed for? To me it looks like HTML, CSS and JavaScript is enough for such page.

PHP is for making it easier to (1) add pages, (2) edit them and (3) to have a better control of the layout. Think about an HTML static 5-page homepage (with the features, downloads, about etc. pages),  and after 6 months you need to change the top navigation links or change the Lazarus logo size. would you edit all the five pages? It will be more inappropriate when you will have more pages with the details, e.g. of major features or some comparison between different IDEs etc. You could have 25 pages running! It will be almost impossible and illogical to maintain.

But with this software/cms you will have to add a file for the new page and that's it. You can use the file right away! And editing the layout is easier, because I have used html files for layout template. Although it runs on php, the layout is "compiled" (yes compiled) using the html file's layout. (Not a line of php is needed to be written.) So it is easier to change. (Further details I will provide it in private due to security reasons.)

Plus, if I use static HTML then you will have to add every announcement by hand. But with this system, you just need to post in the "Team" board and it will be automatically be listed with a small summary in the homepage.

Does somebody know how to make an "HTML article" in TinyPortal?

I have worked with phpBB as a bulletin board/forum software, but nearly have zero idea about SMF/Tinyportal. Google might be your friend: how to create an html article in smf tinyportal
or here or article documentation

@Blaazen
I haven't tested it yet with Ubuntu. I will change the font-family to:
Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Ubuntu;

Any more good fonts for Ubuntu/Linux/MacOS? Further suggestions would be appreciated.