Hi JT,

That looks quite nice.

What I like:

• it is something new and different
  
• It is not so in your face colourfull like the current design, which makes it allready a lot more sophisticated.
• a BIG download now button
• a clear search field
• dark font on a light background
• karma and shopping cart more to the center of the page
  

What I don't like:

• it is so crowded, I don't know where to look first
• all that clockwork that is scattered around the page it distracts me from the content

What I would change:

• the different sections have a style that look very similar make them more distinct and easier to recognise
• make the landingpage less cluttered (less information) and move the 'main menu' to the bottom.
  
• make the style 'a bit' adjustable to the user, for example add a switch to the stylesheet that allows you to turn off that clockwork or whatever it is
• lose the line 'Join the..... can be.' from the landingpage. Just put there 'WebGUI, the best Content Management System in the universe.' and blow up the 'Get started with WebGUI' so that a first time user does not have to look where to go but gets there right away. 
• Lose the 'What is WebGUI' the 'Get started with WebGUI should cover that'. Instead add a 'See a WebGUI demo now!' button.
  
• Put a large screenshot of WebGUI in admin mode on the front page next to these two buttons and link it to a page that just has 50 thumbnails of WebGUI in one page that shows off a lot of the interface of WebGUI, like the features page, but with less info and a bit bigger thumbnails.
• Put some of the swag in a small advertorial window and link directly to the swag shop on the community and developer portals.
• On the community portal, don't put a story about what the community is, but provide a complete (and hopfully customisable) dashboard that shows latest comments to the git repositories, forums, rfe's and bugs as well as the staff blog and tbb.
• On the community portal Make the header that contains that big banner with the people behind webgui smaller, or even better yet, move it to a column on the left or right
• Create space next to "karma" and "basket" for "messages from friends" or "my RFE's" preferably again customisable

I'm sure I can come up with a lot more suggestions, but for now this should do. :)

I'm willing to help in achieving the above mentioned points in any way.

Koen de Jonge - ProcoliX
http://www.procolix.com
Hosting - WebGUI - Virtualization

--- (Edited on 3-March-2009 19:13 [GMT+0100] by koen) ---

Attached mockup to show what I mean for the landing page, also, look at the Joomla website for an example of something I think looks good.

--- (Edited on 3-March-2009 19:55 [GMT+0100] by koen) ---

If the whole site is a community site then I would suggest to have the content of the frontpage for first time users shown to visitors and not shown when logged in, but instead allow for a dashboard when users are loggedin.

If WebGUI has the features, then why not use them on your own site?

Koen de Jonge - ProcoliX
http://www.procolix.com
Hosting - WebGUI - Virtualization

--- (Edited on 3-March-2009 20:00 [GMT+0100] by koen) ---

From the mock-up, it looks like there are 3 different wiki's.  If that's the case, then I'm a little worried about people trying to find information.  It's always nice to have 1 place to go looking, and if they're in 1 wiki, and should be in another, someone is going to get frustrated.  That would be either the person looking for information, or us, who will tell 50 kUsers that, "You're looking in the wrong wiki..."

Aside from that...

The design is beautiful.

I like the segmentation (aside from the wiki thing mentioned above).  Actually, maybe the site-wide search will address that kind of problem.

--- (Edited on 3/3/2009 12:15 pm [GMT-0800] by perlDreamer) ---

First of, I like the new design!

A few suggestions:

• for many reasons I prefer it if the first page shows change. I.e. news, list of the latest posting of the forum, maybe fields showing the latest versions etc. That stimulates coming back and improves your google ranking
  
• currently, the thing I don't like about WebGUI.org is that the recent discussions list on the right is not on the first page. I really like that list. The extra click on discuss to get that list is a little barrier, albeit a small barrier. Again that helps to stimulate people returning.
• perhaps a 'cloud' with keywords about what's cool about WebGUI? i.e. full-featured, secure, shop, framework, GPL, etc. etc.?
  

--- (Edited on 3/3/2009 9:24 pm [GMT+0100] by Albert2) ---

This is really promising and will be a big help to the community as a whole. I really like the idea of focusing on drawing new users in via the homepage. I'm so glad to see this discussion.

The proposed design is more sophisticated and moving in a great direction. I like the interior pages and agree that the homepage can be leveraged more for first time users.

Here are my additional observations:

• The design is a little busy with the gears. While these design elements are a nice touch, I think they can be toned down a little so the main focus is on content. This is especially true in the area where the download button is located. I had to take a second look to notice the button.
• The white banner text in the homepage is a little hard to read as well. Can the people be toned down a little?
• Dates on news releases would be helpful.
• Will the Bazaar be searchable? If so, how will that functionality be represented and differenciated from the main search? I'm finding the tags misleading in the bazaar. An example is the 'themes' tag. (I know tags are added by users but they aren't consistant.)
  
• Love the IRC link.
  
• A dashboard would be very helpful for regular users.

Overall, nice job! Looking forward to the updated usability and appearance. Thanks for including us in the conversation.

Diona

----
Knowmad Technologies
http://www.knowmad.com

--- (Edited on 3/3/2009 7:37 pm [GMT-0500] by dionak) ---