Re: [sup-talk] New website design for sup - preview

From: Anirudh Sanjeev <anirudh@anirudhsanjeev.org>
To: rogutes <rogutes@googlemail.com>
Cc: sup-talk <sup-talk@rubyforge.org>
Subject: Re: [sup-talk] New website design for sup - preview
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:00:23 +0530	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <1271048913-sup-1077@deepthought> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20100411224659.GA2411@urvas>

[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3764 bytes --]

Hi Roguetes,

Excerpts from rogutes's message of Mon Apr 12 04:17:00 +0530 2010:
> But the frontend of Sup is the ncurses client, isn't it? I do care about
> my e-mail client's UI, I care less about its website.
Please don't mix up a good UI and a graphical UI. Sup has a fantastic user
interface. If it put all of the information in a non-organized
non-efficient manner, the result might not be as pleasing as one might have
originally thought.

As for the website, I think that the proposed changes with the content
migrated will make it more appealing to potential users, and for hardcore
users who do not care less about a website, and rather evaluate a product
on it's own merits - it wouldn't bother them.

> _Wasted_ vertical space is bad: the more you see of the real content, the
> faster you skim through.
If you need to "skim through" then the content should be very precise,
highlighted and in a very simple manner - which it currently isn't.

> Your proposed list of features seems to enforce structure by design, but
> it fails to carry out its mission by succumbing to javascript fun. But
> yes, the current website could put some kind of emphasis on the features
> section.
If I see a new project's website, the number one question on my mind is
"How will this impact my life positively". I want people to understand that
sup will definitely change how they work for the better.

> The point is that the wiki, not the homepage, needs a facelift. And the
> homepage could list the most visited pages of the wiki.
> I've seen the GMail guide in the wiki prior sending my mail and I still
> feel that such a guide is more appropriate there.
The guide is still there on the wiki, and I just thought it might be useful
to put more important "Getting Started" information readily available. I
noticed one interesting thing however - sup-config presents a nice "wizard"
to configure your email, and is very user-friendly (as opposed to editing a
.suprc).

However, if a user feels that all he/she needs to get started and get
efficient is just sup (and doesn't know about offlineimap and msmtp), then
he/she might not get the full blown experience.

> copying the content, you replaced it with your version. If yours would be
> chosen as final, I would mourn the current one, so I raised my points
> about it.
I still have to migrate most of the content - I tried to include as much as
possible. You have already mentioned a few which I've already incorporated
(but can't push changes right now as I have some connectivity issues), but
this isn't a problem specifically.

Still, you have a very valid point - this isn't the optimum iteration of
the frontpage for sup's intended audience. But the question I ask is if the
old variant is, and if the new variant is better/worse off than the old
one.

> Anyway, our dialogue looks incompatible: you seem to be worried about
> projects lost in web space, whereas I am worried about the trends of the
> web. One more issue adding to the incompatibility might be the destructive
> tone I initially chose. Sorry about that.
I just find one thing disheartening - so many developers write a great tool
but lose motivation as it doesn't gather a great following. And also so
many users are looking for a good tool (how many people are out there
looking for a better email client), and even when the find the right one,
they're so "numbed" by the quick-click internet out there, that they just
ignore it unless it absolutely stands out.

As for trends on the web, I'm not a big "web2.0" person either. But I know
the value of good typography (for instance, are you happy putting a bad
font on your console), and presenting content in a manner that's easy to
grok.

Thank you,
Anirudh
-- 
http://anirudhsanjeev.org

[-- Attachment #1.2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --]

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/plain, Size: 140 bytes --]

_______________________________________________
sup-talk mailing list
sup-talk@rubyforge.org
http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/sup-talk