Re: *.gnome.org common header

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Fri, 2006-03-17 at 10:46 +0100, Claus Schwarm wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:13:56 +0100
> Quim Gil <qgil desdeamericaconamor org> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > I was thinking on a "Contact" tab in the GUADEC/subsite nav bar instead.
> > It makes more sense for users browsing the GUADEC/subsite web, I think.
> > 
> 
> And here start the problems. ;-) art.gnome.org does this, too: They use
> the "global" header but change the GNOME icon and link.
> 
> This is a good way to confuse users: they click "Main page > Community
> > GUADEC > Contact". Now, where do they wanted to go? To the main page
> contact or to the GUADEC contact?
> 
> I think a global header will fail.
> 
> A site is either part of the main GNOME web -- wgo -- and uses its
> header 1:1 including the design, or it's not. In the latter case, they
> should use no element of the global header.
> 
> This is, at least, my suggestion.

I would argue that a lot of stuff is part of the
main GNOME web, or should be.  And they'll actually
feel like part of our web site if we put a little
effort behind making it happen.

I can give at least two examples of a global header
being incredibly successful, even across multiple
subdomains:

Wolfram:
http://www.wolfram.com/
http://documents.wolfram.com/
http://support.wolfram.com/
http://store.wolfram.com/
http://gallery.wolfram.com/

Apple:
http://www.apple.com/
http://developer.apple.com/
http://store.apple.com/

It does work, when done correctly.

The biggest issue is that subdomains are often using
the global header icon to link to the top-level of
that subdomain, rather than to wgo.  Personally, I
don't even think that's a problem if they use custom
header icons, like art.gnome.org does.

Furthermore, custom backgrounds or colors in the header
should be encouraged on subdomains, or on significant
subsections of the site.

--
Shaun