
After 10 years ReactOS website has got new design - jeditobe
https://www.reactos.org/
======
pavlov
This is the previous design from 10 years ago:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20060421204854/http://www.reacto...](https://web.archive.org/web/20060421204854/http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html)

It certainly looks dated, but compared to the new design there are a few good
things about it:

\- High information density

\- Screenshot at the top

\- Link to legal review and licenses (questions that any enterprise customer
would have)

\- No gratuitous animation sequences

I wonder if it would have been possible to update the ReactOS site's design
while retaining its informational quality. Just improving the typography and
working on the padding between boxes could have made a real difference.

More generally, I wish the tide of web design trends would turn towards
information density once again. Edward Tufte, a legend in the field and
proponent of visual density, famously called PowerPoint presentations "chart
junk" because they spend slide after slide on charts with minimal information
in each.

Modern websites willingly do the same, forcing the user to scroll through a
dozen screenfuls just to glean some basic information about a product.
Animation makes this even worse, because the user has to sit and wait while
the site slowly delivers information in animated word-sized chunks.

~~~
qb45
> Animation makes this even worse, because the user has to sit and wait while
> the site slowly delivers information in animated word-sized chunks.

This is exactly what pissed me off within the first 3 seconds, that there is
no way to see everything they have to say without waiting until the animation
goes whole cycle and then waiting some more to make sure I didn't miss
anything.

It looks like they took design tips from people optimizing for addictiveness,
not usefulness. Hint: you don't need their tips if you are a FOSS project and
actually lose money on people spending more time on your site than necessary.

~~~
vicmarcal-ros
Hi! You can move through animations thanks to the slider below it. So you can
jump to the animation you want to see again.

On the other hand, a home page is just that...the main page any kind of
visitors will arrive, from great IT guys (as you) to no-IT guys at all. If you
know about the project already it's pretty obvious the level of the info in
the home page has been lowered to ease the understanding of the scope of the
project. Tell a non-IT guy we're creating an operating system clone aiming NT
architecture and they won't catch what is this about at all. All the tech
details are waiting you in the new "Developing" section of the site then ;)

~~~
qb45
Frankly, those animations are so simple that they could be replaced with
static images (the first one would need a split in two). This way I can choose
which one to watch simply by moving my eyeballs or maybe scrolling in case of
small screens. Two simple, widely know and efficient interfaces.

Maybe I shouldn't be too harsh, after all it was me who as a teenager hacked
this panel displaying information about currently selected file in Windows 98
Explorer to slide in/out during navigation like menus in StarCraft, but c'mon
- it's one thing to create such stuff and another to actually really use it.
Even I couldn't bear those sliding panels for long :)

------
thecatspaw
What bothers me about this site is that the first thing they do is put down
Windows, instead of highlighting their own features.

What they say about windows "Closed source, licensed, spy [sic]" may be true,
but it doesnt tell me anything about their product. I could as well think "oh,
I dont want to be spied upon, lets switch to linux".

Those sliders also did not make it obvious to me that it can run windows
server 2003 applications (according to wikipedia).

And please dont override scroll behaviour.

~~~
nailer
It's 'spy-cy'. Get it? They're saying Windows is spyware without actually
saying it, by saying it's 'spicy'. 3edgy5me.

~~~
TickleSteve
thats an in-joke that doesn't really work for the vast majority of people.

...it also shows a juvenile level of humour that isn't appropriate for a group
that wants to generate trust in an OS.

~~~
RaleyField
> juvenile

Cringe at their FAQ. I don't want my OS supplier to pretend to be hip. Super
weird especially because they aren't a for-profit so it's not even a scheme to
get to your money, they are just clueless a bit. Casual approach has to be
earned through human contact.

[https://www.reactos.org/joining/faqs](https://www.reactos.org/joining/faqs)

------
jensen123
All this animated stuff makes the new site really annoying. Does anybody
actually like this stuff? Or is it just the developers who want to show off
how much Javascript they know?

~~~
Kequc
I don't mind the animations but I just can't stand it when websites mess with
the scrolling. The page does not behave as I expect when I scroll using the
trackpad on my macbook. I don't know how it behaves with a mouse scrollwheel
but I assume it feels strange.

There is no universal way to reliably mimic scrolling with javascript. There's
too many different browsers and devices, all of them treat scrolling
differently.

------
lorey
It's a template called Porto available for 16$ at themeforest. They also
forgot to change some default pictures: [http://themeforest.net/item/porto-
responsive-html5-template/...](http://themeforest.net/item/porto-responsive-
html5-template/4106987)

~~~
joshmn
This doesn't bother me as much — FOSS projects don't need a rockstar designer
for their website, do they?

Unless a "designer" "developed" the website for them and they got blindsided,
which I'm sure happens more than I care to understand. I've seen it happen at
well-funded companies — employees claiming they designed something, management
had no idea they didn't really do much work at all, etc.

~~~
lorey
Of course you don't have to reinvent the wheel. I just wanted others to know
if they like the design. And maybe they should change the default picture
above "following".

BTW I think they did quite well. I especially like the "live activity" box at
the footer that shows recent changes.

------
cr3ative
It is a shame they decided to override the default scroll behaviour.

~~~
jbrooksuk
Please, please, please don't override scrolling. On OSX with a Trackpad it's
unusable.

~~~
arc0re
Indeed. This is really bad design

------
V-2
A new design, but was it proof-read by someone?

 _" ( a step by step and video guide can be found here)"_ \- nevermind things
like the space after the opening paranthesis, let's not be picky... but there
is no link.

 _" Here you can find a guide about how to request a position to translate the
site, and here an awesome tool created by XXXX"_ \- again, no links, and I
have some doubts whether XXXX is an actual person : ) It surely doesn't
inspire much trust in a prospective user who is assumed to ask questions such
as _" Free and Open-whaaat...?"_ or _" is ReactOS legal?"_.

[https://www.reactos.org/joining/faqs](https://www.reactos.org/joining/faqs)

------
snvzz
I want to follow their news, but I can't seem to find an RSS feed.

In its place, there's stupid facebook/etc social crap buttons.

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zyngaro
Great but fails to explain what reactos is and what it's about.

------
jeditobe
Old version of site to compare

[http://web.archive.org/web/20160207071226/http://www.reactos...](http://web.archive.org/web/20160207071226/http://www.reactos.org/)

------
nikentic
Why do they override the scroll behaviour?..

------
jeditobe
Send them feedback in IRC (webchat.freenode.net #reactos) or forum
([https://www.reactos.org/forum/](https://www.reactos.org/forum/))

------
diminish
Since the beginning I had a dream of doing IE compatibility tests with ReactOS
but other options showed up and IE lost its relevance in relevant parts of the
Internet.

------
JackuB
Maybe it's time for another redesign…

Site is quite broken on iPad

~~~
vicmarcal-ros
Hi! Vicmarcal from ReactOS here. Which issues are you having navigating with
the new ReactOS site? I'm using Ipad, and while there is too many work to be
done in the responsive area(some bootstrap fixes mainly), I see it working in
my Ipad. :)

~~~
smpetrey
Not completely unrelated, but the scroll-jacking in general is annoying.

------
spossy
nice rip of [http://osticket.com/index.php](http://osticket.com/index.php)

~~~
philippnagel
No. They're both using the same Wordpress theme
([http://themeforest.net/item/porto-responsive-
html5-template/...](http://themeforest.net/item/porto-responsive-
html5-template/4106987)).

~~~
lorey
Same theme, but plain HTML the and not a wordpress theme on both pages.

------
merb
I think when they will get NTFS support thinks will start to go crazy.

~~~
progman
ReactOS has made great progress. The last time I tested it I wondered if it
could ever be useful. Now it provides an instant desktop with XP compatiblity,
variable desktop sizes and flawless network access.

In my opinion XP was the best Windows ever. I think there are many people with
legacy PCs who think the same, and who would love to have a XP alternative
with real sustainability, even more due to Microsoft's attempt to lock every
Win7 user into the privacy-less Win10 ecosystem.

The ReactOS team should consider to make a business of it. There are so many
options. Company support, driver development, 3D, better OSX/Linux
cooperation, Docker-like applications w/o desktop etc. They could provide a
whole new ecosystem around Windows while retaining independency from MS.

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juhq
Holy fuck that scrolljacking, people pls, stop doing this!

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bwd1992
SCROLL JACKING!!!!

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smpetrey
The scroll-jacking is strong with this one.

