From: Tom Werner <tom@...>
Date: 2006-06-21T02:46:30+09:00
Subject: Re: ruby-lang.org redesign?

Kyrre Nygard wrote:
> Please, DO NOT PUBLISH THE NEW RUBY WEBSITE!
>
> PLEASE DON'T --- I REPEAT PLEASE DON'T, AGAIN, PLEASE DON'T!
>
> The website is a joke to the trained eye.

False.

I think the redesign is just what the ruby-lang.org site, and the Ruby 
language needs. Ruby is a powerful, contemporary language, and needs to 
present an image that portrays this. Little nitpicks about absolute 
paths to CSS files and such, while worthwhile to fix, have nothing to do 
with the merit of the site design.

> My advice is, if you're too lazy to whip up a new design, then keep
> the current layout, but just the layout. Drop everything else, the 
> shades,
> gradients, the logo---everything you added to make the site fancy.
> I'm not saying these things are bad, I'm just saying that it requires a
> lot of practice to master them. And ofcourse, some common
> sense on when to use them and when not to.

To me, and my arguably trained eye, the gradients are executed nicely. 
They add a touch of warmth and attention to detail.

> Starting off as black white only is a very good approach, because that
> is often the only way to highlight the actual content.

There's nothing sadder to me than an open source project with a crappy 
web page. As I'm sure you're aware, a polished web presence is paramount 
in today's product culture. The current ruby-lang page is outdated, and 
quite frankly injurious to the language.

I say, great work on the redesign. I can't wait to see it in production.

Tom

-- 
Tom Werner
President
Cube6 Media
cube6media.com