Hello everyone!
Currently the website looks quite old, and the download/demo URLs are not where most sites place it (which, at least for me, breaks my muscle and UX memory when glancing over websites).
I want to propose a modernization of the website, and I have already began making some designs. They look a bit weird and definitely will need some adjustments when the website is being made, as I have always struggled with designing in tools (found it much better to just wing it on the spot 😛), but should get the general idea across. Currently the designs are basically identical, with background variations, but if the core maintainers have objections, I can modify them.
Design
Design is the largest part of my modernization plans. As mentioned before, these are rough, but should get the point across. I have also taken the liberty of modifying the logo a bit for the designs, hope no one gets mad.
Variations
1 - Fancy gradient (ROUGH)
Fancy gradient
In this version, the background is an image. Bad for performance, great for looks.
Areas of improvment:
- Make more vivid
- Make text colours match better
- Replace the card thing with an image, or make the height larger (still prototyping, is an experiment)
2 - Linear gradient (ROUGH)
Gradient background
My idea is to have the gradient stretch the entire page, which can make the website look sleek. Might be a bit of a design problem for the sections, but that is a future me problem.
Areas of improvment:
- Make more vivid
- Replace the card thing with an image, or make the height larger (still prototyping, is an experiment)
3 - One colour (ROUGH)
One colour background
In this version the background is just one solid colour. I would like a warm colour more, but I am trying to go with the FreshRSS blue theme.
Areas of improvment:
- Replace the card thing with an image, or make the height larger (still prototyping, is an experiment)
Design guidelines
I tried making everything be shades of blue, and complimentary colours (correct term? not an artist). Text should also be a darker tone of blue (original colour sampled from the circle in the logo), as pure black looks bad.
Also, even without the website overhaul, I would suggest making the text in the colour be two-tone, with "Fresh" lighter and "RSS" darker. That should provide a nice seperation effect.
Tehnical side
While this isnt nearly as important as the design (in my opinion), I would suggest moving to a JS framework, preferrably Astro. JS frameworks are powerful when paired with data, and something like FreshRSS could benefit with such a website. For example, the website could list a list of versions, or it could finally close #9, or maybe just make life easier when working with .md files. If Astro gets chosen, it would be great for performance (compared to the other JS frameworks), and will ensure great DX when working with .md files.
However, that is one more tool for the core maintainers to learn when maintaining the website. Though, in my opinion, Astro is easy to learn even for people who haven't dabbled in JS frameworks at all. JSX is pretty much the hardest thing to learn, the rest is super simple.
Choosing a JS framework would also make hosting much simpler, and cheaper. Astro, Next.js, Remix.js, etc, can be deployed on VERY generous hosting platforms like Vercel, Cloudflare Pages and basically any JAMstack website hoster.
On a final note, I would like to code the website, as I want to fully flesh out my design idea and, if allowed, can easily implement JS frameworks as I have lots of experience with them. If I do that, though, could I have a little mention in the footer that I made it? (The larger the portfolio, the better 😄)