Suggestions for system home page

[Dimitris Glezos]

OK, I'll throw yet another idea on the table here. :)

I sat back and thought a bit about the default home page of the browser,
served at file:///usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html. I feel it isn't really
what the users should see as a system home page.

What we should aim is a page that feels like "home", something
welcoming, a collection of useful information for the desktop. Some
random ideas follow:

  1. For start, that page should be a collection of useful documentation
links, with clever use of graphics and positioning.

  2. Ideas of docs that should be included are a desktop guide, the
release notes, FAQs and links to other useful documentation, like
fedorafaq.org, fedora news, fedora people, etc. Links to online content
should be specially noted, because not everybody is 24/7 connected.

  3. The presentation should be in a pleasant way, keeping in mind that
the initial page should be short, simple, sweet and handy. So that the
user will *want* to use them, to learn more and browse through the
pages. Also, it should have a differenet look and feel than fp.org.

  4. An infobox with "docs news" would be nice, like "From July 2006, a
new guide that might interest you, is available at http://...". Could be
irritating though.

  5. Text ideas: "This is a collection of documentation about your
system, a place where you can explore the world of Fedora." ...
     "If this is the first time you are using Fedora, be sure to check
out the following documents:"

  6. Ideally, the user should be able to search in this (small)
documentation database. Or, even better, be able to aggregate content
from various documents, like his doc db, the online docs and the wiki.
Hell, we could even be able to aggregate there (or at a separate "live"
page) latest planet posts, news, etc. Of course, this dynamic content is
a totally different story.


An example of a nice-looking splash home page is the initial screen of
the Eclipse platform [1].



-dim

[1]: Screenshot found on the web:
http://207.56.100.120/221Spring2006/EclipseWelcomeGrab.jpg




-- 
Dimitris Glezos
Jabber ID: glezos at jabber.org, GPG: 0xA5A04C3B
http://dimitris.glezos.com/


"He who gives up functionality for ease of use
loses both and deserves neither." (Anonymous)
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