Made website, need opinion... :)

[makinasvp]

Hey guys, I was wondering if the website and the forums I made needs any work done?
Do you think people will get the idea about the blue pill and the red pill?
Tell me what you think please...
Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated... :)

www.ionlinux.com

[qpieus]

I think it looks good. I don't understand the blue/red thing though....

[daynah]

In Opera, you can see a thin line around the top and left of the image.

[makinasvp]

I think it looks good. I don't understand the blue/red thing though....

You ever seen the matrix?
The point I am trying to make with the intro page is that MICROSOFT is the MATRIX. If you want to UNPLUG yourself and wake up to reality, just like in the movie, you pick the RED pill. But if you want to stay plugged into the "dream" world, then take the BLUE pill and stick with Windows.

[makinasvp]

What about the forum guys? Do you think it lacks sections? or categories? What do you guys think? Or is it good enough the way it is right now...

[Spr0k3t]

In Opera, you can see a thin line around the top and left of the image.

Ditto in Firefox... the image looks like it's been badly stretched.

Blue pill and red pill analogy has been way over done imho. Not to mention that the release of "Matrix UnReloaded" made the entire saga not cool. It reminds me of the Highlander saga where the 2nd movie was completely written out of the Highlander timeline. So for people like me who don't keep with the red vs. blue donut vs caboose analogies, I think it would be a better idea to lace the links with words.

"Take the blue pill and remain in slumber" "Take the red pill, and I will show you the real world"

The point, if I had not seen the matrix... I would have clicked on the blue one. Since I've seen the 2nd and 3rd "UnReloaded", I immediately went and clicked on the blue pill trying to get injected back into the system.

"Ignorance is bliss"

[Ender Black]

I would have to say that personally, I really hate intro screens. Just give me the info I need now or I will find it elsewhere. I have seen the Matrix, but none of the sequels and I didn't get the red pill blue pill analogy until I looked at the url directions at the bottom of my browser.

IMO, a good website answers the following questions:
1. Do you communicate the purpose of the website clearly and easily?
2. Is it easy to navigate?
3. Is it readable?
4. Are you using web 1.0 hacks? If so, don't.

Edit: more to the post:

What is the purpose of your BBS that isn't satisfied by a thousand other BBS's? If I what to read or write about Ubuntu I am coming to these forums. What's your hook to bring in readers who want to join the ionlinux community? What is the brand image of your community? These are things that you need to flesh out...on the web, if you build it they will come mentality doesn't necessarily work. Come up with a hook, find a unfulfilled need by the market and then they will come.

[Bezmotivnik]

Do you think people will get the idea about the blue pill and the red pill?
Tell me what you think please...
Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated... :)

You need to lose that splash screen immediately. :rolleyes:

[Next.Step]

Yup. The index is a bit useless, but you could incorporate the red pill/blue pill in your forum logo.

[M$LOL]

What about the forum guys? Do you think it lacks sections? or categories? What do you guys think? Or is it good enough the way it is right now...

You should probably have fewer categories while there are few members, that will make it look like there are more posts (as opposed to almost everything saying "0 Topics"). Anyway, I love your splash screen, one of the few I've seen that's actually effective. :)

[Toadmund]

I joined.
Maybe the favour can be returned?
I need the support!
Not easy to get going!
I need a better hook, better topics, must pinpoint needs, need more members, all of that and etc.

[makinasvp]

Thank you for joining. I am working on tweaking the intro page a little. Maybe a better background and some non-obnoxious music... Thanks for joining the forum whoever has... :)

[Ender Black]

Music?!? OMG what is this 1995? Please, don't. It is the webmaster kiss of death!

[makinasvp]

you're right, which is why I uploaded voices instead. No music. :)

[makinasvp]

I think Im gonna add a different background... I'm not sure though. White isn't too compelling.

[Spr0k3t]

Tux is still 1100x1300 instead of proper scaling to 471x503. If you are not going to scale the image down to the page requested size than you should just leave the image at 1100x1300. The scale rendering by browsers is horrid. So throw open the gimp and drop a resize crop on his arese.

Also something you should take note of:
<bgsound src="redpill.mp3" loop=infinite>

Stuff like that, unless you are trying to sell audio... get rid of it... fast. It's an annoyance... I don't want to hear it over the music I'm listening to... it makes me want to immediately close the browser and switch to lynx (text only). Trust me, I've been doing this professionally for many years, in 99' and 2K I created the site used by Gateway.com.

[dbbolton]

i don't like the text on the introductory page.

[BoyOfDestiny]

Tux is still 1100x1300 instead of proper scaling to 471x503. If you are not going to scale the image down to the page requested size than you should just leave the image at 1100x1300. The scale rendering by browsers is horrid. So throw open the gimp and drop a resize crop on his arese.

Also something you should take note of:

Stuff like that, unless you are trying to sell audio... get rid of it... fast. It's an annoyance... I don't want to hear it over the music I'm listening to... it makes me want to immediately close the browser and switch to lynx (text only). Trust me, I've been doing this professionally for many years, in 99' and 2K I created the site used by Gateway.com.

I agree 100% with you, as I just did that (closed a tab, didn't run to lynx... Although I use w3m occasionally since Ubuntu comes with it)

I'd say please make the audio a link or something.

EDIT: Ok, I surfed it a little bit. I like it, although I'd say don't link to MS. Link to something like this
http://badvista.fsf.org/
;)

I like the forum too, anything that isn't using fixed width makes me happy (I like sites that make use of screen real estate.)
As for Tux, anyone think it would like nice with a transparent bg? I use custom colors for firefox to make it easier to read (right now it's chalk board style, darkgreen bg and wheat colored font, based it on an emacs theme...)

Keep up the good work.

[karellen]

no spash screen and blue pill/red pill choice, it's old stuff. besides that, the forum seems ok, I like the artwork ;)
hope you'll have more members soon

[koenn]

you might want to review the xhtml a bit :
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ionlinux.com%2F

[jammodotnet]

Not only do you NOT need music, but you should do without the splash page.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-convince-a-client-their-site-doesnt-need-music
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-convince-a-client-they-dont-need-a-splash-page

CONTENT BRANDING
Create a colour scheme for your site. A recognizable icon, logo, design, etc.
Every linux site uses the Penguin. You should try to be different, use something else, or a creative variant of the Penguin. Perhaps a vector inspired image? Check Deviant Art for inspiration.



What is the purpose of your BBS that isn't satisfied by a thousand other BBS's?
Come up with a hook, find a unfulfilled need by the market and then they will come.

I couldn't agree more.
Also, if your site main attraction will be your forum, why not remove it from its subdirectory and keep it at root? Unless you plan on having more to your site: blog, photos, download, etc.
If you so choose to keep the forum in its own directory, change the directory name to '/community/' or something other than PHPBB2.

404/403 ERRORS
Read this article on "Creating User Friendly 404 Pages" http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000819.html
Here is a great source of inspiration: http://www.plinko.net/404/area404.asp
Protect your directory index with something else than the 403/404 pages.
For example: when I access your http://www.ionlinux.com/images/ I get a 404 PAGE NOT FOUND error page, but instead it should be a 403 You don't have permission to access this directory on this server.
Different pages should present different errors in your logs. If you really want to track your visitors for page statistics, I recommend your subscribe to Google Analytics. Or if you have the $30+, purchase Mint http://www.haveamint.com/


you might want to review the xhtml a bit :
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ionlinux.com%2F

You should validate your pages as often as you can while you work on them.
If you use Firefox (you should) install the Web Developer Extension http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
You really should keep your CSS files seperate; NOT in the head of your documents. They are meant to be cached for faster loading times.

Your Blue Pill -vs- Red Pill idea ... not working amigo.
You are presenting a MAC style graphic on a linux themed web site.

I hope you don't take this as a harsh critique.