SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
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I think would be nice to have a redesign on the homepage after some long time. Why? Well, propaganda is a mess, and the homepage still have the link for store.slackware.com, it lack a hyperlink to SlackBuilds.org, also the site appears to lack accessibility.
I think Patrick could run some contest, the community to try show some nice new looking site, or maybe some promotion stuffs, like wallpaper, logo, stickers, etc. This way Patrick don't need spend time on this stuff, also the people who have skills with this, and time to spend, could contribute(is not a critic).
I think this way we can reach other folks and grab some new attention on the site. I personally like devuan.org site style, but it lack some info, gentoo.org in other hand have good info on the site front page, and both don't use javascript and cookies, which is a plus.
This thread is open for critics, but not for hateful speech.
Last edited by gbschenkel; 09-07-2022 at 09:23 AM.
Reason: Misspelled words
+1 for this. My nephew was curious why I was using Slack instead of Windows. Didn't recommend him though. He found navigating through the site alien. Site navigation needs some redesign, while preserving lynx compatibility. Also using some slightly larger font than the current one would help too :-)
Last edited by prejudices_mars; 09-07-2022 at 08:35 AM.
I think would be nice to have a redesign on the homepage after some long time.
Good morning!
The suggestion to change the Slackware website does come up from time to time. For me the minimalist design of the website is in alignment with the Slackware philosophy. Slackware is simple to use, stable, and robust.
It isn't my place to tell Mr. Volkerding what to do with his website.
People could create community websites. The Slackware website is robust, updating it is a risk, and I imagine website problems isn't something the Slackware project can currently afford. Then there is inflation from the global energy and food crisis along with the debasement of the US Dollar. Distrowatch trolled the website hard in its review of 15. I agree it needs updating, replacing the links to out of date information with links to Slackware Docs would be a great improvement.
Agreed. Personally I like the design, but the content besides the homepage needs serious updates. Links to Alienbob's stuff, slackpkg+, and SBo will also be great.
Of course, it's [Ctrl +] & [Ctrl -]. Also possible in browser settings globally.
Why would one propose to change website code; well, so that one doesn't have to change one's browser settings ...
Best not argue who exactly has to change browser settings now, and who exactly will have to change browser settings after the code update.
But you're absolutely right, it can be done locally in firefox, even colors/css & whatever, via user.js, userChrome.css and userContent.css.
Site's just supposed to serve "sane defaults", so IMO it's fine the way it is.
The Slackware website is robust, updating it is a risk, and I imagine website problems isn't something the Slackware project can currently afford.
Any static site is robust, in the end... So, I doubt that's the explanation.
The truth is that the Webdesign seems not to be the strongest skill of our BDFL, he's also a Control Freak, as we know, and the result is what you can see on-line.
In other hand, let's see the bright side: at least Slackware have a site.
As many remember, in the past happened to have no one for several years.
Last edited by LuckyCyborg; 09-12-2022 at 08:19 AM.
It's true HTTPS would put Slackware.com much higher in some search engine results, but doesn't need redesign (just replacing dead links like the store). Almost all redesigns of major websites only made things worse and people quit.
Any static site is robust, in the end... So, I doubt that's the explanation.
The truth is that the Webdesign seems not to be the strongest skill of our BDFL, he's also a Control Freak, as we know, and the result is what you can see on-line.
In other hand, let's see the bright side: at least Slackware have a site.
As many remember, in the past happened to have no one for several years.
I believe I read that someone else set it up with php long ago and that code isn't very well understood. I think the website is facing the same problem that 15 had. It requires economic resources to do and as the Tao of Programming states (something like), "even if a program is just two lines, someone will have to eventually maintain it." That someone may want to be paid. I think within the hierarchy of needs, fixing the website ranks lower than other things like dealing with inflation. I just noticed that this subdomain has https! https://packages.slackware.com/
I believe I read that someone else set it up with php long ago and that code isn't very well understood. I think the website is facing the same problem that 15 had. It requires economic resources to do and as the Tao of Programming states (something like), "even if a program is just two lines, someone will have to eventually maintain it." That someone may want to be paid. I think within the hierarchy of needs, fixing the website ranks lower than other things like dealing with inflation. I just noticed that this subdomain has https! https://packages.slackware.com/
The code isn't complicated, it just takes a while (or at least it did for me) to understand what it's doing. It's robustly over-engineered ;-)
It's not that difficult to re-implement the site looking more-or-less as-is because whilst the content is dynamically generated, apart from the security page it's static content that's more easily managed directly in HTML (or inline within more simplistic code).
We can't put HTTPS on www.slackware.com until the back-end is upgraded.
Akamai has provided sponsorship to Slackware on the Linode platform, so we have well-spec'd compute available for a new server.
The code isn't complicated, it just takes a while (or at least it did for me) to understand what it's doing. It's robustly over-engineered ;-)
It's not that difficult to re-implement the site looking more-or-less as-is because whilst the content is dynamically generated, apart from the security page it's static content that's more easily managed directly in HTML (or inline within more simplistic code).
We can't put HTTPS on www.slackware.com until the back-end is upgraded.
Akamai has provided sponsorship to Slackware on the Linode platform, so we have well-spec'd compute available for a new server.
Thanks for the clarification! Would upgrading the back-end be time consuming? We are all guessing at what the hold up is.
Thanks for the clarification! Would upgrading the back-end be time consuming? We are all guessing at what the hold up is.
Re-factoring the existing code base to run on the latest OS stack doesn't seem like a good idea to me, so a decision on how the site would be re-implemented would be required first. As I said, the only complex bit I can see is the security info viewer.
I don't have any other answers than that I'm afraid.
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