[sword-devel] CrossWire website up and running

[Chris Little]

Just a few quick comments:

The page is looking nicely improved. I like that it is mostly visible 
from within a single screenful, with minimal scrolling necessary.

Most of my complaints probably pertain the the icon bar. There's the 
strange mouseover growth behavior that others have mentioned. Maybe it's 
supposed to look like the MacOSX dock, but it really just comes off as 
jarring. I think the usual thing to do here is some kind of highlighting 
(e.g. switch between the plain icon and a version that is glowing with 
yellow or such).

Of the icons, all use transparency except the Windows icon, which has a 
solid white background.

I can't see the need for a Java section any more than I can see the need 
for C++, Qt, Python, or JSP sections. The technology behind the software 
isn't a significant piece of information to the user, so I think Duke 
and the Java section should just go.

We don't have any Palm software (though I do think that PalmBiblePlus 
and UniBible should be linked to from our Handhelds section). Since we 
don't have any Palm software, it's a bit confusing to have an icon of a 
Palm V representing that section. I'd recommend either a generic, 
unidentifieable handheld or that plus a phone. Even an iPhone might 
work, since we do plan to support that.

"The Sword Project" in the menu bar is still not cased correctly (SWORD).

In general, I'm afraid I don't care for the menu bar. I don't think 
"Read the Bible" should have been demoted to the sidebar. I don't think 
the news section belongs within the CrossWire site as opposed to the 
Sword site (but we can discuss that in IRC). I don't like with widening 
that came with going from 2 lines to 1. And I think there is some 
slightly non-standard ordering of the menu bar items.

The top of the page also has a lot of poorly-employed space. I know you 
didn't touch anything above the menu bar, but I wonder whether we could 
use that space a little better. We may want to shorten/widen the logo, 
design a more modern-looking logo, or even nuke the uppermost burgundy 
bar. We could potentially center the logo on the page and flank it with 
3-4 menu items along the page borders, e.g.:

Home                                                      Volunteers
News                      CROSSWIRE                       Publishers
About Us                                                     Contact


--Chris