Five years ago the website for Yii got a facelift, a new face.
Now, that face is getting really old.
Any plans to update the looks?
I know that you are all busy, but perhaps Yii could arrange a Yii coding session?
There must be a lot of talented designers/coders in the Yii community who are willing to help out.
I think it’s a pity that the site looks like a relic from the past because it doesn’t really convey the beauty that lies within.
Yes. There’s a plan to update website for a long time. Actually there’s some code written already such as new docs viewer (incl. translations), fulltext search, about page w/ github contributors list etc. Design itself in a new version isn’t very good though.
The code is currently closed.
Also there’s yiiframework.ru website in the making. This one is opensource so some parts could be later adopted by .com: https://github.com/samdark/yiiframework-ru and https://github.com/eshill/Yiiframework.ru/tree/master/Preview
Sounds great, but I am not really talking about code here. 
Surely, it must be possible to keep the theme/looks separated from the proprietary backend?
I am looking forward to seeing it, however.
I like the layout
However, I really don’t fancy the colours.
Could you try and make the header background grey?
And the links red (Yii red) ?
And then perhaps the box background Yii green ?
Perhaps I should make a mock-up test so that you can see…
Anyway, I think it will look better if you applied the Bootstrap theme to it - it looks un-themed.
Edit:
See how the panels looks better when the optional Bootstrap theme is applied:
Just a suggestion for the second screenshot that shows a doc page:
Could you make the content column more narrow and put a scroll-spy page toc to the right, maybe?
It should follow you (fixed) as you scroll the page.
A more narrow content column will make it easier to read and a scroll-spy toc would make it easier to quick navigate.
It is bootstrap-themed. I don’t like visual style of it. After finishing .ru website if its designed would have more time, he’ll probably design .com as well.
If you need to pick colors, the Material Design palette https://www.google.c…r-color-palette is a good starting point.
As a guideline, blue is better, because it is the less problematic color for color blind people.
IMO, most of the buzz words could be removed from the front page.
We are not Laravel - so we don’t need buzzwords much.
How about a practical overview with examples - code snippets and all - that very briefly cuts to the chase and tells a story about Yii and what it can do ?
Yii is practical and developer driven, not fed by the latest fads.
Re: new site in development…
Is it possible to discuss the interface, buzzwords, technical elements in the community?
Yes. It is absolutely possible to discuss it. What do you think to start with?
I like these sites:
Twig: http://twig.sensiolabs.org/
Symfony: http://symfony.com/
Hexo: https://hexo.io/
Especially Twig and Symfony. They are clean and to the point.
Hexo looks kind of like 1000s of other sites made with Bootstrap, but I do like the format for their docs. (As I mentioned before 
)
What I was wondering was if you are going to post your ideas / progress with regards to the new Yii site.
I think that many of us from the community are both anxious and have a lot of opinions/wishes.
EDIT:
Codeception -> http://codeception.com/ - also a inspirational site - makes me want to test everything! 
It would be nice to mimick (mock?) the Codeception main page: massive Yii masthead with ‘Install’ and ‘Quick start’ buttons.
"Create a Yii application in less than 5 minutes" …
etc…
Codeception sells itself well. I think we can do the same.
Which examples/selling points do you think we can put at the front page?
Tale Jade for PHP which I am using have this mock testimonial on the front page:
[indent] Finally a fully-functional, complete and clean port of the Jade language to PHP
— Abraham Lincoln
[/indent]
That made me smile
And it also made me respect the project a bit more because it shows that the people behind the project does not care about buzzwords and marketing mumbo-jumbo - they are honest.
Perhaps it would be better to ask the numerous teams that uses Yii to make their living?
How would they sell it?
I am not talking about just dropping their testimonials on the front page, but really ask them how they would like Yii to sell itself.
I personally think that honesty (and humour) gets you a long way.
That is actually the reason why I am using Yii personally: it is honest.
I think that the front page should be as minimal as possible.
I like this testimonial given to the Ogre3d project which I have been involved with for over 10 years:
[i]
To the seasoned developer OGRE looks different. It is like the carbon steel knife my friend uses to cut sushi in his restaurant. Deceivingly simple, yet a very potent tool in the hands of a craftsman.
[/i]
The CakePHP website actually does a great job of explaining why you should choose CakePHP.
A header with an action button, 6 bulletpoints and a ‘companies using CakePHP’ showcase.
One very important feature of CakePHP is great docs.
The docs pages are well done, effective and good looking.
Yii must do the same thing!
Since, to me, code speaks louder than words, Yii should probably use a best of breed source code highlighter - like highlight.js.
I will perhaps pull myself together and make some mock-ups…
If there are anyone else reading this besides me and Alexander, you are welcome to chip in with your opinions
I’m following the conversation and agree on all your points jacmoe… nothing to add for now
Just fooling around:
6802
What do you think?
I know that the font doesn’t look like the official Yii font, but I like it.
I tried to use the three Yii colors.
And because the hero background is Yii blue it means that Yii cannot be blue.
But I think that it should not be blue because it needs to be at least as prominent as the word ‘framework’.