Solved Accessibility: linking to the FreeBSD site

For FreeBSD Forums:

if there are some other problems pointed out in this thread, please point those directly at me.

danger@

BlueFreeBSD lacks a link to the FreeBSD home page:
  • the FreeBSD logo (without the word Forums) refers to forums, should refer to the FreeBSD home page
  • the Forums button refers to forums ☑

Thanks.



A parallel bug for FreeBSD documentation:
– now Closed FIXED.
 
Last edited:
Thanks!

Still referring to the forums, as far as I can tell. NB the URL, bottom left:

1640779209366.png

 
I fixed it in the FreeBSD Style so that the top FreeBSD logo points to www.freebsd.org main page. However the BlueFreeBSD style issue is a bit different. There is no FreeBSD top navigation menu with the logo and only a logo that is originaly a XF logo. This will require some other tweaks, let me see.
 
Cool. Thanks. No rush on this, it's just neat to have consistent meanings for clicks on FreeBSD logos.

(FWIW I wouldn't want replication of the www.freebsd.org navigation menu/bar. BlueFreeBSD is pleasantly compact without it.)
 
I found there was an XF option for it, but am not sure whether it is feasible like this now as it also added a new button "Home" to the layout...
 
But that reverts the logo link (outside of the regular (red) FreeBSD style) back to the forums URL.

So it's either the logo pointing to FreeBSD.org, with a rather superfluous Home option on the Forums menu, or the logo points to the Forums and there is no Home option ...
 
So, nothing to be done about it, the logo now points to FreeBSD.org in all styles, and all styles now have a "Home" button to FreeBSD.org.
 
Am I missing something - how is this seen as a feature ? Neither Home nor logo returns back to forums. Even the navigation link at the bottom sends me to freebsd.org when I click to "home". But I came to forums, Home should be forums.
 
Can XenForo allow a word change in contexts such as this?
URL change would be more appropriate.

The links got "repaired" broken.

"Home" usually is the root of the current domain, which is forums.freebsd.org.
"Home" is NOT a link to a completely different domain.

And no, renaming the "Home" link isn't a solution either. That would render the breadcrumb useless.
 
I know them very well and i can't find the paragraph where it says that "Home" can link to another domain.

Today there are several standard ways to return to "Home":
  • Home button with text “Home” or an icon of a house
  • Clickable logo
  • Breadcrumb trail

Using the logo to link to the FreeBSD page is just wrong and counterintuitive.
Using the "Home" button to link to the FreeBSD page is just wrong and counterintuitive.
Using the "Home" link in the breadcrumb navigation to link to the FreeBSD page is just wrong and counterintuitive.

Of course you can rename them to "FreeBSD" but then you lack a "Home" button.
 
Sorry, I guess these two in particular:
  • There is more than one way to find relevant pages within a set of web pages
  • Users are informed about their current location within a set of related pages
There should be at least one way (at least one link) to the FreeBSD site. It's highly relevant.

"Home" can link to another domain.

It can do, for some sets of sites, however (I do agree) it's not appropriate for Home here to lead away from the forums.

A linked word FreeBSD should lead to the FreeBSD site. FreeBSD Forums is one of a family of sites with the FreeBSD site at their core.



… only a logo that is originaly a XF logo. …

I'm reading between the lines here.

If it's normal for XenForo to allow nothing more than a logo at that level (top left), then might there be an add-on to allow something more?

Compare with, for example, how the GitHub Community presents things:

1640851015801.png

  • adapted use of a logo that lends itself to adaptation (in this case, the phrase Support Community)
  • to the right, the linked phrase Back to GitHub.
I'll take a look:
 
What I see is a horizontal bar with Buttons (menue,FreeBSD, Account, ... swarch) and all of them interact with the forum - except one in the middle. Principle of least surprise would suggest differently, yes?
Oh and I use BlueBSD.
 
Reference screenshots

BlueFreeBSD as it appeared at noon on 29th December:

1640854090458.png
  • no link to the FreeBSD site
  • Forums menu to the left, beneath the FreeBSD logo


BlueFreeBSD at the time of writing:

1640853698457.png


1640853771464.png


  • Home to the left (and in three other places)
  • Forums menu to the right
– and condensed at the time of writing:

1640854324687.png




I use BlueBSD.

Thanks … I changed the title here:
  • from BlueFreeBSD lacks a link to the FreeBSD home page
  • to Accessibility: linking to the FreeBSD site
 
I don't know the web standards, I'd assume common sense though. I came to forums web page, I'm browsing around. I need to go back to main page. I see the home in navigation that brings me to a freebsd.org. This is really not a feature. I need to manually edit the URL to get to the home of the forums. Or, scroll down and select 2nd level to get to the forums.

Am I really the only one who things this is crazy?
 
This is why this is so tricky (a XenForo choice, not ours):

1640865345372.png

See how they explicitly state: ".. your home page, outside of the board..". So this is made specifically to tie the top logo and an added "Home" button on the menu bar to the same place. Whatever URL goes there is where the logo and "Home" on the forum bar point to. Put nothing there, and Home disappears and the logo points to the local installation.

Now, the default Red Style has an added top section that is governed by a wholly different template. In that template, the FreeBSD logo is pointing to FreeBSD.org, and it is unaffected by the settings in the screenshot above.

If I remove the URL for the "Home page URL" in the screenshot, the Red Style is basically perfect: the logo points to FreeBSD.org, and there is no additional Home button on the forum bar. If you want to go back to the frontpage, click on "Forums", and you're there.

But it messes with the other styles, because the logo will then point to "/" (forums.freebsd.org).

So whatever you do in this XenForo setting, specify a URL or not, cross/uncross the box, it goes wrong somewhere for someone.

Some people want to click on the logo to go to the forums frontpage, others want to go to FreeBSD when they click the FreeBSD logo. Some are used to behavior A, others to B.

For users of the default Red Style this is more or less moot, because the added header takes care of "all things FreeBSD" -- I call it "the parent company header".

But the other styles have either a logo pointing to the forums, or a logo and a Home button pointing to FreeBSD.
 
From a personal perspective of "least intrusive change / least obnoxious feature" I would say that leaving the "Home page URL" blank, which would make the logo in the non-Red styles point to the forums (/), and losing the added "Home" button everywhere sounds the best.

The users of the Red Style would then not have a Home to click on that leads them astray. The Red Style has its own dedicated FreeBSD section already, the other styles would then basically lose a direct link to FreeBSD.
 
I've not changed any style, I'm assuming I'm the Red Style user (also judging by the color). I do have Home that is sending me to the freebsd.org. I mean yes, there's the Forums navigation button I could use. But still I'd argue that home for this page is forums, not freebsd.org.

ff.png
 
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