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redhat.com Redone
Anonymous Coward writes "Red Hat has re-layed-out the site yet again. Looks like an attempt at a portal, but only internal resources. IWNSM (it would not surprise me) if future versions of Red Hat had netscape and lynx's default home pages set to redhat.com :) " It looks quite a bit like Yahoo. The GeekToys section is a bit timely, too, if not a bit heavy on Nerf.
Fetch the raw document with wget or lynx -source, or from netscape do a "view source" on that page. Now, look at the javascript gunkola at the top. They assume that if you're not running Linux, and you're not running Windows, then you must obviously be running a Mac! That's hilarious.
It was done in the /usr/bin/netscape script as a forced command line parameter when the browser is opened without any other parameters. Even setting the NS home page internally had no effect, since NS won't display the homepage when one is passes as a parameter. I didn't appreciate having to track this down and fix it myself.
Well, it wasn't -that- bad, but I think they could have made it a little more Lynx-friendly. The list of links look particularly horrible.
God, this is ugly. Is the template of the future? It looks like zdnet and shopper, yahoo, etc. Is there something about America where interesting design loses out to load time again and again? I love Euro sites for their interesting graphics and layout. If this is the is the result of Redhat's IPO and their desire to make the site into more of a viable e-commerce look, then "hooray for capitalism!" as Austin Powers once said. Of course the flipside is "Down with good design!". Alexis de Tocqueville's critique of the homogenizing effect of our nation in his book "Democracy in America" is borne out yet again. I work in e-commerce and though I understand the concept of sucking the life out of graphics and simple layout to improve load time, it is not an excuse for poor design. I'm glad that I split my Linux twixt SuSe and PPC. I'd rather have 'business simple' or 'amateur look' over e-commerce genericism any day. Letch
Hey, you think your house is cool?
Yeah yeah everyone is launching their goddamn portal. I for one detest portals, but whatever. No more link to /. on the front page now :(
--
"Some people say that I proved if you get a C average, you can end up being successful in life."
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
Never quite put my finger on it before, but you've definitely got a point - there are fundamental differences between Euro sites and US ones...
Sort of the same as the automobile industry - US designs cheesy godawful cars and EU designs cars that yuppies all over the US are cashing in their stock options to buy on a yearly basis.
Interesting. I'm going to continue to observe this effect as I browse the web, looking for cultural barriers like this. Lifes simple ironies (cultural/design ethos on an International medium) are interesting, at times...
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I haven't played with it much, but this layout looks really solid. News is readily retrievable, the search box is decent sized so you can see what you type, and I can scan the page in a second or two instead of reacding it. Bravo RedHat.
All in all, I can't complain. The issue with Lynx is a little sad at this point. Lynx under AIX was my first browser (over a 14.4 modem to an ISP), but it is NOT standards compliant. A page that is useless without graphics is inexcusable because users with limited bandwith may load without graphics and the visually impared need ALT definitions. However, demanding that a page look good for people without graphical support... that is kinda pushing it.
The fact that Lynx is free does NOT mean that it much be supported by Redhat. Redhat embraces opensource, but with free (like beer) browsers, supporting based upon open source is kinda silly, especially when far better open source browsers exist than Lynx and Netscape has source available, albeit not for the production browsers.
Alex
Red Hat finally placed links for ftp mirrors and the errata at the top of the page. It's at least usable from that perspective.
(Btw, that's as regards Netscape. I've not yet learned how to use Lynx with proxy servers - but after posting this I'll try. ;-))
Graham
Graham
Linux - Fast Pane Relief
Although it may look bad in Lynx. w3m is able to render it fairly well. The left column scrolls down a long way compared to the rest but its certainly usable.
.jp/~aito/w3m/eng/
I'm amazed at how many table/framed sites w3m is able to render as a text mode browser.
You can find it at http://ei5nazha.yz.yamagata-u.ac
As you know an archive of mailing lists are a great resource and time saver if you can search through them.
I had to look elsewhere to get them. Moongroup.com has a great Red Hat mailing lists archive.
You know what would make me happy? Being able to play dvds on my linux box.. which was what decss and livid were for. If I were more of a programmer, that would be my project right now - the RIAA can kiss my curvy behind - I want DVD for linux!
--
http://av.com/?text=y
All the power of Altavista with none of the chrome. Great for Lynx users.
I agree. I want to be able to find the latest info on their products in 2 clicks or less.
Something tells me that free email and stock quotes aren't far behind. :-)
Prediction: within the next couple of months expect to see free email @redhat.(com|net). Although I myself admit that this is very silly, there is definitely some amount of geek appeal to having @redhat E-mail address. It'll certainly impress the PHB who reads your resume (if he doesn't know any better).
--
...designing Nerf toys that are not for export. Looks like those dern furriners aren't allowed our latest tech...
*chuckle*
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
The old site, like many today (cnn, msnbc, abcnews) only used 800x600. So on my 1024x768 screen I had a big white space on the right site of the browser (while running browser at full screen).
Good to see that the new redhat.com uses this space properly. Now if only we could get the other sites to figure it out.
Noticed that other sections of the site, like the errata, etc., haven't been redone yet.
When I loaded up the site, I was gretted by a Sun advertisement up top. I guess they must be moving towards portal-dom if they accept advertising. from a competitor in the OS business. :)
Organisationally, I think the site is an improvement over their old one. It has a simpler layout, and I find it easier to browse. I think they could make it more attractive while keeping the fairly uncluttered layout, though...
--Lenny
Obviously it's because the fucking fuckers fuck with the fucking fuckers fucking, fucking don't fucking they? (The fucks.)
I'm sure we all feel better now.
"We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code." Dave Clark, IETF