New homepage

[samueldr]

The current homepage, whilst perfectly right as the contents is there, should get a makeover.

TODO : Describe specs in details / complete proposal

[samueldr]

The layout work has been mostly completed. See https://nixos.wiki/

The contents as of right now is exactly what was on the homepage before.

What needs to be done

• [ ] Finalize UI touches.
• [ ] Review contents.
• [ ] Add nix/nixpkgs/nixos disambiguation.

Finalize UI touches

While it looks good, it's not 100% updated. The contents of the boxes are still "plain lists", which works for now, but should probably be updated visually.

Then, when all the contents is in, we need to go back and fixe small visual issues if there are.

Review contents

The boxes' contents are what was already on the wiki homepage.

I don't know what could be missing, what should be added, what should be removed.

Add nix/nixpkgs/nixos disambiguation.

While it should also be part of the main website, a short blurb explaining the relationship between the three projects should be front and center. Let's not forget that newer users too will use the wiki!

What I was thinking were three boxes, horizontally aligned at the largest, shortly explaining: what nix is, what nixpkgs is, what nixos is. Hopefully, making it more obvious what is built upon what.

Those explanations would link to an appropriate page/section in the wiki explaining it more in depth.

[ixxie]

I love the new homepage; it really makes such a huge deference to the feel of the site! I have just the following suggestions:

1. I find the higher level sectioning ('Getting Started', 'Community' and 'NixOS Wiki') a bit confusing and unhelpful; I would remove it and rename some of the box titles to clarify ('News' -> 'Wiki News', 'Manuals'->'Getting Started').
2. Box headers are too large compared to their content font size; current factor of title to content seems to be 2.6, I would opt for 2.0 (see for example a five minute guide to better typography)
3. The top and bottom padding in the top banner are asymmetric; is this intentional? I can see the merit but I think the asymmetry needs to be toned down a little.
4. Content of the boxes needs to be worked on as well, to balance the columns as well as update to the new content in the rest of the Wiki; for us Wiki contributors, it would be nice to know how to modify the box content.

Keep up the good work :)

[samueldr]

I have to look at it again, but I think the sizing issues are all related to the header font size changes which haven't yet been applied to the site.

The box contents are all on the page, the edit link in the footer can be used to edit the page. The boxes are templates, but the contents are simple wiki markup. Only the news box is special. That one, you follow the link to the news page, and edit it there.

Oops, wrong button.

[roberth]

Please don't put the Nix/NixPkgs/etc manuals near a Getting Started header. When people get started using those, they will be lost.

[ixxie]

Boxes for the front page:

• Getting Started
• Get In Touch
• Setting Up
• Wiki
• News

[makefu]

Any updates on this needed? i think the website and front page look quite neat now.

[srid]

The frontpage could provide a link to a set of articles detailing how to configure various software and things on NixOS (nginx, redshift, emacs, ...)?

[ixxie]

@srid good idea, what about a Configurations box?