Comments on the new website (openpandora.org)

[Binky]

Doesn't scale at all (fixed width+fixed height --> agahurgh! )

Too little information (needs a community portal or suchlike

Doesn't fit in with the forums, wiki etc

A really high-quality render might be better than the photo being used atm

 

[urjaman]

Now, having thought about this a bit more, I have to agree that this site is a bit of a setback in a lot of areas.

But first to be positive:

+ no ancient information as was on the old site

+ better as a selling page (highlights the good sides of pandora, and a quite direct order now link)

But that is about it. The layout seems quite fixed and hard to edit/improve (as well as not scaling at all..).

And it is missing a lot of the stuff I as a pandora user want from a primary pandora site. First I ignored that as the site not being aimed at user but for boyers. But that is not correct. Boyers will be users real soon now, so if they're at all like me they will quickly want the same information as users - pre-learning a bit so you're ready when you get your device. And if the site doesnt seem to fit for the users, that gives a bad feeling of the extended pandora user experience maybe even before you have 100% decided to get a pandora.

I think we should have more info on the history of the pandora (the creators), a link to the repo, the firmware download and the pandora wiki, etc. I know all(/most?) of these are available from the forums, but needing to go through the forums makes users a bit like second class citizens or something...

(And emulatators ... but that site is a proper published text, not just a forum post so it should be fixed ASAP).

 

[EvilDragon]

I still have the old site, and I plan to restructure it to give all this indepth information as well as an overview of projects like SL4P, linking to Tutorials.


The community can help with that, I'll post my ideas later.

 

[Binky]

I think the biggest problem with the new site is looking bad when the display area isn't  'just right'

What if the new one were centred both vertically and horizontally in the display area, and given smooth edges

I t could act as a sort of extended introduction, with useful links to forums, wiki etc always visible in the space around it.

 

[sswam]

Doesn't scale at all (fixed width+fixed height --> agahurgh! )

The first answer here shows how to zoom a whole page with css.  With a little of javascript, it could scale the page to fit the window.  I can do this if desired, but I don't really think it's necessary, we can easily zoom in or out using the browser zoom.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1156278/how-can-i-scale-an-entire-web-page-with-css

The new site is awesome; don't be bitches, bitches!

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, here are my ideas for the portal.

Basically, it should not replace the Wiki or the website, it should be an addition and a good starting point for new and potentially new customers.

I'd like to keep the design simple as the old website was but wanted to rearrange the menu, structure and add new information.

This is my current idea:

Main Menu:

The main menu (the tabs at the top) would have the following topics:

General Information
Games

Emulators

Desktop

Programming

OS

These would have the following subtopics:

General Information:

About the Pandora (this will have a quick overview about what it is)

History of the Pandora (the history, with all the drama and fun as a summary)

What you can do with it (show all different kinds of aspects)

Behind the scenes (information about the production, the team, etc.)

Games:

Free Games (I want to list a few great homebrew / OpenSource Titles here, including videos and screenshots)

Classic PC Games (Games that run through engines, i.e. ScummVM, Quake, etc. Original datafiles needed)

Android Games (while Android isn't the native OS, I still want to show a few videos of Android games running here)

Emulators:

The submenus will be different systems, like PSX, PC, SNES, Arcade, SNES, etc. Each system will get a brief description of the current emulation status as well as videos showing some games of the emulator (the videos I already started to post in the video thread).

Desktop:

Submenus split into different categories (Office, Internet, etc.), listing and showing videos of fitting apps. So similar to the Emulators-Section

Programming:

Submenus will be different coding languages (C++, GLBasic, Python/Pygame, etc.), including links to more information about how to code on the Pandora.

OS:

SuperZaxxon (based on Angström): Some informatioon about our own OS, including Videos.

SL4P: Information and links to the SL4P project, incl. Videos.

ArchARM. Same here

Android: And here

That's my current plan. What do you think about that? Good idea?

Anything missing?

Of course, I'd appreciate it to get help with the different articles / topics as well. Whoever would like to help me and write one of these sections, let me know

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I think that about covers it ed. sounds good.

 

[Mr_Loon]

...

A really high-quality render might be better than the photo being used atm

+1 or preferably a good Photo.

General thoughts on the site is that the home page makes a good sales page but not a great home page. Due to the fact that it is apparently not that easy to update (Emulatators).

Would it be possible have the current Nav Bar as seen on the forum (Tutorials, Community etc.) running along the top or bottom? Navigational consistency is a fairly important aspect of good web design IMHO.

@ ED : Sounds great for a portal site, something about mini menu would be good in the OS section too.

 

[ptitSeb]

Just added Scratch to the long list of programming environnements availables   .

But may be it belong more to an "Education" topic, with the Tux4Kids and other things (like the molecule modeling software, HP calc emulator, etc.) inside ?

 

[Linux-SWAT]

The video doesn't play under Linux (Firefox and SeaMonkey). I only have sound.

When i click on the top left Pandora logo, the Pandora screen goes white, and i don't have sound anymore.

Also, a link to best youtube videos should be easy to reach.

 

[Toupee]

The content is great, and I like the prominent "order now" button.  But I really don't like the aesthetics... it just looks... cheap.  Like a generic site design.  Not thematic at all.  I really think something that drives home a nostalgic feeling... something pixelly and bold with fun sprite-like icons, not this blue and white swooshiness.  No offense to the designer.  Functionally, it's great.  I just think quite a different look could really make people delve deeper if it catches their interest straightaway.

 

[EvilDragon]

Okay, I just bought IP.Contents, which is a content manager for Invision Power Boards.

That means: We can include the content and menus here directly on the boards, no additional software needed

 

[Binky]

Is there any chance of getting 'quick quote' back? I've been missing it since the upgrade...

 

[EvilDragon]

Is there any chance of getting 'quick quote' back? I've been missing it since the upgrade...

I'll check.

 

[hmc]

This is my current idea:


.......

Desktop:


Submenus split into different categories (Office, Internet, etc.), listing and showing videos of fitting apps. So similar to the Emulators-Section

I only comment on this one, as it's my own main interest:


The category name "Desktop" seems a bit fluffy. I'd rename it to something like "Work" or "Productivity" or maybe directly name it "Office work", so that for the visitor it is immediately obvious, that this sectoin is about working on the Pandora.


"Desktop" could mean, that it's about tweaking the desktop skin / theme, or arranging icons etc. Too superficial IMHO.


If you call it "Office work", then of course the sub category "Office" would not be a good choice. maybe split it into sub sections like


- Document editing (which would include what the "Office" category would have listed: Text processing, spreadsheets, presentations, outliner, editors, whatever


- Internet


- PIM (calendar, address book, syncing with other systems such as PC, Google etc.)


- Remote administration


- Remote control of PCs


- Miscellany (for e.g. project management software, document viewer, data base application, e-book reading, if this belongs here and not in a completely different category etc.)


The e-book reader thought just gave me the idea to add an entirely new main category "media", that would list music and video players, e-book readers, podcast aggregators etc. I think such a category is still missing.