FreeBSD website redesign...

yeah that's the very look i tried to achieve there, i think it's a lot better than whatever the hell we got these days, THAT is true minimalism, not these blocky modern shit you see on modern websites
 
Kai Burghardt said:
Huh, well, I like to KISS – keep it simple, sir. I live under the impression that this whole redesign process was misguided: it’s not like any serious user gets convinced to use FreeBSD because of some fancy‐prancy website (and if they are, they not our target demographic – at least that’s my understanding). If I was in charge we’d basically have the same site like OpenBSD; it looks antiquated but gets its job done.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I would like to flirt with the idea that FreeBSD people do like pretty things and functional things. Something simple can be both but so can be other designs. FreeBSD is a fancy-prancy OS, so it might deserve a website that is not rudimentary in design.
 
loveydovey said:
Hmm, I would like to flirt with the idea that FreeBSD people do like pretty things and functional things. Something simple can be both but so can be other designs.
Click to expand...
Indeed. But note that achieving simplicity and functionality is *hard* work, involving lots of iterations, feedback from users & paying close attention to what they are saying.
 
bakul said:
Indeed. But note that achieving simplicity and functionality is *hard* work, involving lots of iterations, feedback from users & paying close attention to what they are saying.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it would have been nice to have a testing page and option to send testing feedback. That would nice. I still find it strange that they use a website generator to make the website. :/ I'm not saying that they didn't make the page with love from members of the community as the footer says. But, it would have been cool to send some feedback before it went live with errors. :\
 
JohnK said:
I think NetBSD's site has everything you'd need right there within reach.
I've always gotten lost on OpenBSDs site for some reason.
Click to expand...
how, these websites are so similar
in fact, i think OpenBSD does a better job here by keeping it quite dense, it all fits inside my shitty low-resolution screen and there's still quite a bit of empty room for adding more stuff
 
For what I see, it has been mainly redesigned the home page, however I see there are some papercuts:

1. A Powerful, Open Source Operating System. I agree that "powerful" is meaningless and doesn't convey anything special. Advanced, sophisticated, works better. But stating a: "Unix-like, Open Source Operating System" works best.

2. The first disconnection:

1779249970728.png


Here there is the first disconnection. It is assumed for granted that any people whom is going to read is aware about these topics. People that comes from Win or MacOS might completely ignore everything about ZFS, Virtualization, or Jails. There must be something that introduces the highlights and the highlights must, at least, be linked to each manual devtion.

3. The second disconnection:

1779250447856.png


From the highlight is jumped to something that is completely different but the background is the same, the first time I thought that were some technical boxes, but then I realized those were communication boxes. Here I see two additional problems:

3.1 Highlights: 4 are technical features related with the OS; the last 2: Documentation and Community are not. OS features and Project/Community features must be clearly separated IMHO.

3.2 Info boxes might be in the wrong place: if you are new to FreeBSD maybe you are more interested in the highlights, but if you are veteran you want to have these information at the begin of the page and you don't want to scroll over something that know already very well every time.

4. Footer is too crowd:

On Android, in responsive mode, when you consider the boxes and footer, the length of the page is ridiculously exaggerate:

1779250968227.png


Beastie can be hidden in responsive mode, and the footer list in responsive mode could be implemented as collapsible menu to keep this section shorter.

Unfortunately, I think the main page needs some reworking... 😔
 
LibreQuest said:
I've thought of a way to make everyone happy. Remake the entire page in cutting edge Macromedia Flash (TM) and it can play a nice .mid midi music file in the background with an animated cursor that makes a bubbly sound when you make a selection.
Click to expand...
A good example for such an engaging style is the second half of the opening credit's for Monty Python's Holy Grail: colors, music, text, blinking ...

View: https://youtu.be/79TVMn_d_Pk?t=195


(turn your speakers down if you want to remain sane)
 
It looks good so far to me. This wasn’t a shock to some who frequent ML and source tree dev.

The good news is that the FreeBSD community can contribute toward the redesign. A possible feature for the old timers can be to have an old school design of homepage with just the click of a toggle or some homepage feature of some sort. Similar to a Light/Dark mode feature.

Overall there is plenty to work on at FreeBSD homepage redesign and anyone in the FreeBSD community can contribute if you choose to do so.
 
freezr said:
1. A Powerful, Open Source Operating System. I agree that "powerful" is meaningless and doesn't convey anything special. Advanced, sophisticated, works better. But stating a: "Unix-like, Open Source Operating System" works best.
Click to expand...
yeah i still think the previous "The power to serve" slogan is better, tho' as someone pointed out it could imply that the OS is more directed towards servers

freezr said:
2. The first disconnection:

View attachment 26217

Here there is the first disconnection. It is assumed for granted that any people whom is going to read is aware about these topics. People that comes from Win or MacOS might completely ignore everything about ZFS, Virtualization, or Jails. There must be something that introduces the highlights and the highlights must, at least, be linked to each manual devtion.
Click to expand...
yeah these should at least be included in a "Learn more" sort of section if they wanna highlight that

freezr said:
3. The second disconnection:

View attachment 26218

From the highlight is jumped to something that is completely different but the background is the same, the first time I thought that were some technical boxes, but then I realized those were communication boxes. Here I see two additional problems:

3.1 Highlights: 4 are technical features related with the OS; the last 2: Documentation and Community are not. OS features and Project/Community features must be clearly separated IMHO.

3.2 Info boxes might be in the wrong place: if you are new to FreeBSD maybe you are more interested in the highlights, but if you are veteran you want to have these information at the begin of the page and you don't want to scroll over something that know already very well every time.
Click to expand...
agree

freezr said:
4. Footer is too crowd:

On Android, in responsive mode, when you consider the boxes and footer, the length of the page is ridiculously exaggerate:

View attachment 26219

Beastie can be hidden in responsive mode, and the footer list in responsive mode could be implemented as collapsible menu to keep this section shorter.
Click to expand...
nah i think he could be shown alongside the logo, he's the mascot after all, what would be the point of having him if he's hidden
and yeah either they make the footer's menu sections collapsible for a more dynamic feel or they just reduce the font size so that you could have 2 links on the same line and save some space
 
"The power to serve" was a really good slogan.
It is now more applicable than ever - serving the owner of the hardware, not the vendor of the operating system.

The index page the more I look at it the more weird I feel...the content on it, the blocks feel like someone gave AI a task to impersonate FreeBSD web site. It is trying to communicate highly technical terms in simpleton design language.

Check out Proxmox web site - https://www.proxmox.com/en/

The first three blocks communicate technical stuff, they're bland, text only, no stupid icons that don't mean anything.

Then comes the "simpleton" part below with the blocks with dumb icons containing regular human stuff.

While I still don't like this design archetype I guess it works well on portrait mobiles lining up everything vertically.

Here...bhyve icon from the new site

1779280124285.png


What are you communicating here? Is this based on an official byhve icon design? Is this the new official bhyve icon design? Or maybe it is the whole VMM stack thing, not just byhve. If I google photos byhve now, I see this thing nowhere, I see totally different logos and graphics.

Notice how Proxmox doesn't have icons on their "Proxmox Virtual Environment" and blocks next to it. Graphics here associates the bit of graphics with that product. It brands it.

Is a potential user, who is targeting features of virtualization and enterprise storage, going to stumble on FreeBSD.org and visually get triggered by these icons, and say aha this looks like a great OS to install on a $20.000 server, lets explore further?

Frankly and without any sort of intent to hurt anyone, the index page feels really really cheap.
For someone that doesn't know FreeBSD it can look like a companion site for a vibed product, not a 35 year old successful enterprise operating system.
 
1. Redesign purpose — “Web for all”: liquid, “responsive” design, that fits in a window of any size, accessible by a touchscreen, by any device from a small smartphone to a projector on the wall, readable by text-only browsers (TUI), without scripts, graphics, media, even with no CSS styling rules. No need versions for reader mode, for disabled, for presentation, etc. Conclusion: good work!

2. Usability and clarity for visitors. What is the purpose of the website? Who are intended visitors? Which services are intended for passersby, for customers, for partners, for ourselves? I think the homepage is dedicated to newbies and newcomers from other operating systems. Long-time users have bookmarked specific forum threads, Git repositories, RSS news feeds, mailing lists, etc. As such, the information organized and presented in a fairly clear and concise way — OK. How would I like to improve?
“About”: “Introduction” = “Resources for Newbies”:
  • “The FreeBSD Handbook and FAQ”… — OK.
  • “Articles for deeper understanding of specific topics.” — I would also add this entry as a second (middle) item in the list.
  • “Manual pages are good for reference but not always the best introduction for a novice. They generally provide information on a specific command, driver or service.“ — I would rather say that:
    “Manual pages are complete references, they provide detailed information on a specific command, driver or service.”
“Documentation”: “Articles” — I am wondering why the article list does not include what I consider to be the most important one for newcomers: Slawomir Wojciech's (vermaden) “Quare FreeBSD”? He has laid out precise and unbiased criteria to understand strengths of FreeBSD and distinguish differences from Linux and other OSes. I would link it from the top of the front page, perhaps from the description or slogan, at least from the word “Power”.

The light/dark background toggle should be placed at the top, since visitors will want to switch it right away rather than reading all the way to the end.

3. Accessibility and semantics for bots. It would be beneficial to refine entries as clear as possible for indexing crawlers, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), too.
  • Metadata: descriptions, keywords in ‹head›;
  • Alt txt, figcaptions for images, media, etc.
  • It would be better to link section headers ‹h3› (on the frontpage) to an appropriate article, manpage, or handbook chapter.
  • If only the horns are now officially considered the FreeBSD logo, then the whole little daemon should be renamed as a mascot or something.
  • It probably is not difficult to fix a few HTML, CSS, Atom errors.
  • And to slim down the excess weight of some images.
  • Maybe also improve INP for overall website performance.
EFF Privacy Badger finds no trackers, and The Privacy Inspector praises this website as completely clean and visitor-friendly.

Overall, the redesign turned out pretty well, congratulations!
 
Last edited:
Zare said:
"The power to serve" was a really good slogan.
It is now more applicable than ever - serving the owner of the hardware, not the vendor of the operating system.
Click to expand...
now that makes a lot more sense and now i want the old slogan back

Zare said:
The index page the more I look at it the more weird I feel...the content on it, the blocks feel like someone gave AI a task to impersonate FreeBSD web site. It is trying to communicate highly technical terms in simpleton design language.
Click to expand...
yup, it definitely clashes with how FreeBSD feels as an OS

Zare said:
Check out Proxmox web site - https://www.proxmox.com/en/

The first three blocks communicate technical stuff, they're bland, text only, no stupid icons that don't mean anything.

Then comes the "simpleton" part below with the blocks with dumb icons containing regular human stuff.

While I still don't like this design archetype I guess it works well on portrait mobiles lining up everything vertically.
Click to expand...
probably, it does feel more polished than this new one at least

Zare said:
Here...bhyve icon from the new site

View attachment 26224

What are you communicating here? Is this based on an official byhve icon design? Is this the new official bhyve icon design? Or maybe it is the whole VMM stack thing, not just byhve. If I google photos byhve now, I see this thing nowhere, I see totally different logos and graphics.

Notice how Proxmox doesn't have icons on their "Proxmox Virtual Environment" and blocks next to it. Graphics here associates the bit of graphics with that product. It brands it.

Is a potential user, who is targeting features of virtualization and enterprise storage, going to stumble on FreeBSD.org and visually get triggered by these icons, and say aha this looks like a great OS to install on a $20.000 server, lets explore further?

Frankly and without any sort of intent to hurt anyone, the index page feels really really cheap.
For someone that doesn't know FreeBSD it can look like a companion site for a vibed product, not a 35 year old successful enterprise operating system.
Click to expand...
very well-put, this really doesn't feel like a BSD whatsoever, it's as if it's trying to imitate an existing modern OS and failing miserably
 
vienuolis said:
1. Redesign purpose — “Web for all”: liquid, “responsive” design, that fits in windows of any size, accessible by touchscreen, by any device from a small smartphone to the projector on the wall, readable by text-only browsers (TUI), without scripts, graphics, media, even with no CSS styling rules. Conclusion: good work!

2. Usability and clarity for visitors. What is the purpose of the website? Who are the intended visitors? Which services are intended for passersby, for customers, for partners, for ourselves? I think the homepage is dedicated to newbies and newcomers from other operating systems. Long-time users have bookmarked specific forum threads, Git repositories, RSS news feeds, mailing lists, etc. As such, the information organized and presented in a fairly clear and concise way — OK. How would I like to improve?
“About”: “Introduction” = “Resources for Newbies”:
  • The FreeBSD Handbook and FAQ… — OK.
  • Articles for deeper understanding of specific topics. — I would also add this entry as the second (middle) item in the list.
  • Manual pages are good for reference but not always the best introduction for a novice. They generally provide information on a specific command, driver or service.— I would rather say that:
    Manual pages are complete references, they provide detailed information on a specific command, driver or service.
“Books and Articles Online” = “Documentation” — I am wondering why the article list does not include what I consider to be the most important one for newcomers: Slawomir Wojciech's “Quare FreeBSD”? He has laid out precise and unbiased criteria to understand strengths of FreeBSD and distinguish differences from Linux and other OSes. I would link it from the top of the front page, perhaps from the description or slogan, at least from the word “Power”.

The light/dark background toggle should be placed at the top, since visitors will want to switch it right away rather than reading all the way to the end.

3. Accessibility and semantics for bots. It would be beneficial to refine entries as clear as possible for indexing crawlers, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), too.
  • Metadata: descriptions, keywords in ‹head›;
  • Alt txt, figcaptions for images, media, etc.
  • It would be better to link section headers ‹h3› (on the frontpage) to the appropriate article, manpage, or handbook chapter.
  • If only the horns are now officially considered the FreeBSD logo, then the whole little daemon should be renamed as mascot or something.
  • It probably is not difficult to fix a few HTML errors.
  • And optimize some images.
  • Maybe also improve INP for overall website performance.
EFF Privacy Badger finds no trackers, and The Privacy Inspector praises this website as completely clean and visitor-friendly.

Overall, the redesign turned out pretty well, congratulations!
Click to expand...
did you write this with ChatGPT 😭
 
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