Audacity Manual Contents

Peter 13Jun12: Looking almost there - and looking good +0.95

Can we please have the flags box that James has at the top of his mockup. I thought we had already achieved consensus (James, Gale and me certainly in favour) that this was the way to go.
I still think that James' positioning of the FAQ inside the "Using Audacity" at the top of that section is better - both aesthetically and functionally (the FAQs are all about the use of Audacity). I lik the larger boxwith the thinner border for it that James provides - if we were to leave it above the "Using Audacity" then I think we do need to retain the smaller box and the thinner border. FAQs seem to me to have equal prominence whether thay are placed above or inside "Using Audacity".
I also very much like the way that James has place the Manual's title inside the greenish information box. Looks much better like that IMO.
For my money the side nav bar does not necessarily need to be rigidly consistent with the page contents structure - but I would prefer to see FAQs promoted up the list in the side nav bar to be below contents and above tutorials.
I like the box around the preferences but I find the one wrapped around "More Details for the Project Window" more than somewhat distracting and would much prefer to see it removed.

Peter 13Jun12 later: with Bill's recent changes my vote goes to +1 (the best of Bill & James)
Bill 15June12: I think this is ready for prime time. +1
- Peter 15Jun12: +1 and this means we get a fresh look for the upcoming 2.0.1 release, which is great. Many thinks to Bill for all his hard work on this and to Gale too for all his reviewing and suggestions.
Gale 16Jun12:
- No obvious display problems (IE More Details border was fixed). I think the boxes inside the TOC add next to nothing; if we had bullets and lists as we should have (and I would want if I can find a fix some time), I would get rid of the boxes inside the TOC. As it is now though, I do want the box please for "More Details" as the design makes no sense otherwise. I suggest it would look better with "More Details" indented from left and the border enclosing "More Details for the Project Window" itself (so analogous with "Guide to the Project Window").
  - Bill: I've said elsewhere that I'm +1 for lists if and when we can get them working. I'm also fine with either losing all the grey boxes or boxing "More Details". I'm also OK with boxing the Prefs listing only, as that was originally done to set that off.
    Having tried boxing the entire "More Details" and "Prefs" sections I can say it doesn't work: since these sections can be different heights the bottoms of the boxes don't line up. It also messes up the side-by-side placement (don't know why, but adding a 1px border seems to cause the Camino rendering engine to think they're wider than they are; I'll have a look at this page in Chrome when I'm done editing here).
    Removed box around "More Details..." as I couldn't see why we were separating that from the project window image which it references.
    Increased indent of the "More Details" section.
    Added a horizontal rule under the window image - easy to remove if we want.
    Removed box around Prefs sections list - trivial to put back if we want it.
- I added 5px padding at the bottom of the "translators" and green "Manual" divs (I know these are not actually note and intro divs but I think those too should actually have padding-top and -bottom to look nicer). I also added padding at the side of the "Help us with translation" text (the text was jammed against the right border when browser was maximised).
  - Bill: Fine with me. I take it you're OK with no left and right margins the way real intro and note divs have? I have a strong preference for them being full width.
- On the position of FAQ, I think it's funny that until recently Peter wanted it outside "Using" and I didn't. Peter persuaded me on his "book" pages it should be outside and now he wants it inside again! I don't care that much about "inside" or "outside" and I think now it has been toned down a bit, it has roughly equal prominence inside or out, but that's the problem - I still feel it a serious distraction away from the main Manual content for repeat users. I reduced the padding at top and bottom so it now appears to be about the same as that around "Guide to the Project Window". I much prefer http://manual.audacityteam.org/m/index.php?title=User:Billw58/Front_Page_no_tables&oldid=18847 but I can just about live with the FAQ as it is now. Sidebar is "wrong" for Tutorials - maybe it looks better "wrong" - I'll try it "correct".
  - Bill: Well, folks are allowed to change their minds! I, too, have a mild preference for the FAQ section outside the Using section. But that makes it more "in your face" so wouldn't that be more of a distraction for repeat users?
- Why so much vertical space between bottom of "Quick where and how" and "Understanding..." and likewise with the two major sections to right?
  - Bill: To set them off. I've removed the extra space but I also think it makes sense to have a little extra space above "Understanding Audacity" and "Help with advanced topics". I have no strong preference either way.
- Do we want to try a smaller logo? I browser-scaled it to 450 px as an example, I think that is better with this "new look"?
  - Bill: I like the smaller logo. Should I scale it in photoshop? I could also get rid of the (small amount of) extra white space around it and give it a transparent background.

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