Front page top section - use prime space to promote prime content

[irinaz]

I propose to replace image of mobile/desktop/phone of Backdrop front page with three sections linked to major sections of the site and update tagline to "Modern lightweight CMS"

• Try backdrop
• Attend Backdrop Live
• Showcase of sites built with backdrop

[stpaultim]

@irinaz - I think that there are two issues here.

1. That we need to put a clear and prominent message on Backdrdopcms.org about Backdrop LIVE.
2. That we should make better use of the space currently being use for the first block.

I agree with both of these suggestions, but I think we should deal with them separately. Yes, let's get a message near the top of the page promoting Backdrop LIVE ASAP.

But, I am afraid that the discussion about a complete change to that block might need more discussion. Design changes to BackdropCMS.org do not usually happen quickly. By tying these two issues together, I'm afraid that we might not get our message about Backdrop LIVE up.

NOTE: For the last event, I hacked a message about Backdrop LIVE onto the front page of BackdropCMS.org that wasn't really very pretty. I'd be happy to have some input on how to do that.

I'm also happy to see something new done with this section of the site. I'm just not sure how quickly we can make that decision, but I am not opposed to making it quickly if that is possible.

[yorkshire-pudding]

There's also a question of tagline. IMHO, that is too long to be a tag line. The official one is "Put your content center stage" (I'll put up with the incorrect US spelling ;-) ) though there were a few others in the forum that sounded good too. That is another discussion that may not be quick

[jenlampton]

There's also a question of tagline.

yeah, that's not a tag line. That's an answer to the question "What is backdrop CMS?"

We had a tagline up there way back when, but people had no idea what Backdrop was, so having a tagline that prominent didn't make much sense. Maybe it's time for a change :)

[jenlampton]

I propose to replace image of mobile/desktop/phone of Backdrop front page with three sections linked to major sections of the site

I love this idea, but the recommended screenshot needs some design love. I will reach out to our b.org designers and see if anyone has time time for a quick homepage update :)

and update tagline to "Modern lightweight CMS"

Backdrop is only "lightweight" in comparison to Drupal. Compared to any other CMS it's a beast, so it will give the wrong expectations to the larger web development community if we used this word. But, see also my comment above about this not being a tagline :)

[irinaz]

+1 "Put your content center stage"

[klonos]

Backdrop is only "lightweight" in comparison to Drupal. Compared to any other CMS it's a beast...

I agree with that ^^

[jenlampton]

I spoke with @nicelobster last week and was able to get a fantastic solution for the top of our homepage:

[yorkshire-pudding]

Looks great. Two minor points:
Should we expand CMS? For non technical users, CMS could be considered jargon.
Can we use the tagline "put your content centre stage", perhaps under the logo?

[jenlampton]

Great feedback! I'm going to move your thoughts over to the brand refresh issue because I want to get the block/hero style update out before Backdrop live (and I don't want those thoughts to get lost)

[jenlampton]

I deployed my changes for phase I of the update: https://backdropcms.org. The showcase block isn't up there yet, so for now I put the old tagline into a custom block in its place.

Feel free to provide feedback here, or in Zulip, in the "home page update" stream :)

[irinaz]

@jenlampton , I love it! It is a real gift, thank you VERY much!

[yorkshire-pudding]

Looks great @jenlampton

[bugfolder]

Sorry, just found this issue now. I've got a couple of suggestions (which i made in the Zulip chat). Here's the current state:

I found it a bit odd that the all-caps headings are at the top of the card for two of them but at the bottom on the "Featured Site" card. Might I suggest that middle card be something more like this?

So that reading across the headings, it's clear what's in each card.
And then maybe swap the first and third card, so that the first thing the visitor sees is "What is Backdrop CMS?" (at least in the LTR world), then the featured site, then BDLive. ?

[jenlampton]

I found it a bit odd that the all-caps headings are at the top of the card for two of them but at the bottom on the "Featured Site" card.

That was a design decision. Having the heading at the bottom of that card is better, do you want me to ask for an explanation as to why? (I think it has to do with the image at the top, but a designer could give a more specific response...)

And then maybe swap the first and third card, so that the first thing the visitor sees is "What is Backdrop CMS?" (at least in the LTR world), then the featured site, then BDLive. ?

I've made this change. I can ask if the order is important for the design (the 3rd card is just a placeholder I made up since we only had two ready) but I suspect having the image in the middle is the only important bit :)

[bugfolder]

do you want me to ask for an explanation as to why?

Sure.

Putting headings above, rather than the below, the material that they are describing, seem like a pretty standard design practice, and it makes it easy for the viewer to just scan across the cards to see what each card is about. When I first saw this, I wondered "why is this stuff on the BD site?" Then when I got to the bottom I see "oh yes, it's a featured site."

Also, I don't think we need an extra link "Take me Outside NSW" that duplicates the text we see immediately above. It's not part of the featured site, and in fact it's not clear visually where "featured site" stuff ends and "our site" stuff begins. (Hence my addition of faint gray rule lines for delineation.) I think most people would recognize that if we're putting up a screen shot of a featured site, it will be clickable and we wouldn't need an extra link.

[jenlampton]

Also, I don't think we need an extra link "Take me Outside NSW" that duplicates the text we see immediately above.

There is no text immediately above. The only text in that block is the heading, and the name of the site. I think you are confusing the screenshot with the text, maybe? Not all websites will have text that appears in their screenshot.

It's not part of the featured site, and in fact it's not clear visually where "featured site" stuff ends and "our site" stuff begins

But, It is part of the featured site... it's the actual name of the featured site. Do you mean it's not part of the screenshot? I can ask about adding a border on the image (I think those are your faint gray rule lines). That might help here.

edit: Also, I just noticed the design did not include a screenshot, it used he header background image here. I think if I switch the image that might help a lot -- those probably won't have any text and will make that area less visually confusing!

[bugfolder]

There is no text immediately above

Yes there is, it's part of the screen shot. My point is that for this screen shot, we don't need a linkified title of the site, and, arguably, don't need that even for sites that don't include their title in the screen shot. Visually, that great big, bold, linkified text doesn't look very good, and I don't think it's necessary.

[jenlampton]

Maybe, we should choose a different featured site then. But first let me make the change to the image and let's go from there!

[ghost]

FTR, I agree that the block title above the screenshot would be good for consistency and also for less confusion about what the site is.

But I do not agree with removing the textual name/link if the site. As @jenlampton said, some screenshots won't have the name visible/readable, so knowing the name of the site/content (since this links to a node) is good.

[jenlampton]

If we use the hero image instead of the screenshot (which, I was supposed to do originally -- sorry about that folks) I think removing the site name becomes a non-issue:

I've got an email out to Nica asking about the titles and the block placements. In general, I believe that getting too many designers involved in any project tends to make the end result much worse than sticking with one vision (which is why I don't want to change anything based only on consensus), but if we can get the heading issue solved as part of her vision then everyone wins! 🤞

[bugfolder]

I believe that getting too many designers involved in any project tends to make the end result much worse

I totally agree with this; in the end, it's the editor's vision that wins out (and I'm not the editor). But I do think it's OK to give feedback.

Using a hero image rather than a screenshot justifies the linkified title of the site. Although if we're going to feature a site, I think a screenshot of the site is a better fit for the goal of the card. (And not all sites will have a hero image.)

If we keep the linked-text name of the site in addition to a screen shot, consider making it smaller than the current bold, large type; I think it would serve its function at body-text-size, since the thing we want to draw people's attention to is the screen shot itself.

[jenlampton]

Just adding a note here that I have fixed my previous mistake with the screenshot (see below) and also sent an email to the designer requesting some of the other changes mentioned here :)