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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Banner (by David on 2021-10-18 00:23:32 GMT from United States)
You show the banners with the old one on top and the new one on the bottom and the poll options in the opposite order...I'd guess that's likely to confuse a few people. Also, you describe the new one as more modern, but it looks like something out of the 1970's (whereas the classic one at least looks 1990's vintage at worst).
2 • New Banner (by Kasper on 2021-10-18 00:24:20 GMT from United States)
OMG, am I actually first?
I like the old banner. But the new one is really nice and stylish. Switch to the new one. Or switch them off from time to time.
3 • Re the Banner (by Curious on 2021-10-18 00:33:59 GMT from Canada)
Why do people feel the need to mess around with something that is already PERFECT???
The "new" banner has this curved font that is much harder on aging eyeballs. Also, that "falt" look is also harder to distinguish compared to the 3D effect of the current Banner. That "stylized" thing that is supposed to represent a globe hardly does so.
It's bad enough there are people who constantly feel a need to "fix" things; but the current design is already perfect. So do NOTHING. Tell those artists to go away and "fix" something else......
4 • Kelvinator (by Friar Tux on 2021-10-18 00:46:49 GMT from Canada)
@1 (David) Re: the new banner, I'm reminded of the old Kelvinator type-style. (Yeah, I'm old enough to remember that.)
5 • Banner (by DaveW on 2021-10-18 01:06:36 GMT from United States)
I like the old banner better, but I would suggest using the font and colors of the "Put the fun back..." line from the new banner.
6 • New banner (by Tony on 2021-10-18 01:08:32 GMT from Bulgaria)
The new banner is better in my opinion, maybe the text can be made a bit bigger but in general I think it is time for a change,
7 • Auxtral review, compared to "average" Linux system. (by Greg Zeng on 2021-10-18 01:51:14 GMT from Australia)
Finally Distrowatch readers now have a sense of "average" when testing the hundreds of Linux operating systems. In this Distrowatch testing: Intel i3, slow HDD, low 6 GB of memory. Realtek hardware and no external GPU. Varying attitudes are shown to Grub-customizer, Snap, Flatpak & appimage. Most testers or reviewers are not aware of this.
Linux systems have major families, with favored top-ranking brands to be compared against. Debians, compared to LMDE. UBUNTU compared to Mint Mate, or KDE Neon. Arch-based, compared to Manjaro - KDE. The RPM, Puppy, LFS, "independent" systems seem so dis-organized with internal mess, that it is hard to determine what their "standards" might be.
Which means that most of might be able to have better results, for the Distrowatch test reports? There are other shortcomings common to most distributions. Most have strange ethnic language settings, which are hard to detect & remove. There is now a stronger Love-Hate relationship towards Calamares & to Synaptic Package Manager. Most distributions avoid or make impossible to add these packages in a GUI. Very few sometimes offer Muon package manager, instead, or as well.
Only sensitive & frequent testers can detect these "fashion" changes.
Surprisingly the beginner-only distributions try to avoid Gparted. Either not available at all, or in the final installed version, not allowed in the final system. The Kubuntu-type sytems avoid Gparted, but KDE-Neon prefers it, very wisely.
8 • "Do you like the classic banner or the new banner better?" (by R. Cain on 2021-10-18 02:05:59 GMT from United States)
Let me answer this question by asking YOU a question, DistroWatch, along with some observations.
A) Exactly why would you consider switching to this particular 'new, flat style banner'?
1) The new banner---VERY objectively---does not have as much contrast as the current banner, and, hence, is most definitely not as 'readable'.
2) The current banner is highly 'recognizable' by---probably---millions of readers which have been following you over the years.
3) The current banner has been around a long time; it is "old". Is this 'the' problem?---the same "problem" which drives a lot of Linux distributions to make highly-questionable decisions regarding their "User Interface"? (Does "Dark Mode" ring a bell? Does 'grey-on-white' low-contrast print ring a bell? Both these, and more, are the result of low / no-IQ thinking on the part of 'devs')
If the answer to (A) is "...change for the sake of change; the current one is old, and needs changing..."; "...it's time for a change..."; then you don't need anyone to point out to you that you need to, at a very minimum, investigate more options. This 'new, flat style banner' does not seem to be a compelling alternative to the banner which has served you extremely well for all these years.
"Newer" does not necessarily mean "better"...unless a LOT of thought has gone into the new change(s)...along with all the ramifications which will accompany those changes.
9 • Re. Qubes testing reproducible Debian builds (by Dave on 2021-10-18 02:25:52 GMT from United States)
Does this mean that that Qubes is planning or considering switching its base from Fedora to Debian?
10 • Banners (by albinard on 2021-10-18 02:26:05 GMT from United States)
The new banner looks like something you'd find on the trunk of a 1950 Cadillac.
11 • Banner (by Hoos on 2021-10-18 02:30:54 GMT from Singapore)
Don't like the new one.
I recognize the font as the one used on vintage Chevrolets. While it can be a pleasantly-quirky font in certain circumstances, it's not the most legible nor can it be said to be modern.
Also, note the placement of the full-stop before the "com". The spacing on both sides of the full-stop is unbalanced.
12 • The old banner is better...much better! (by Torsten on 2021-10-18 02:35:50 GMT from Germany)
I prefer the good, old banner. The new, flat one is very much in the style of the 1950s....blah!
13 • New banner because... (by Bob on 2021-10-18 02:50:57 GMT from United States)
...the current banner doesn't co-operate with the userstyles "DistroWatch dark theme" I made many years ago.
14 • Terminal speed (by Simon on 2021-10-18 03:09:56 GMT from New Zealand)
There's also input latency: the amount of time between typing a character and seeing it appear on the screen. It's so tiny that it doesn't matter for most people, but for people very sensitive to it (e.g. gamers who really like to see instant responses to input), it can be (just barely) perceptible on some systems, giving the heavy terminals like gnome-terminal and konsole (which can take about ten times longer than the likes of xterm, to draw the characters as they're typed) a feeling of being slower.
15 • banner and sulk (by popolito on 2021-10-18 03:41:53 GMT from Australia)
The old banner works better for me as I block all site themes in favour of dark custom themes, so coloured banners look terrible for me.
I am old and confused at 90% of things today, but the moment there is an Ubuntu update, do we really need to see that each DE flavour of *buntu gets it's own update entry in the main page? Maybe one that combines the flavouors into a single post. They are not doing anything other than passing on upstream changes/variations with these point releases. If maybe a flavour like Kubuntu (I like Kubuntu) made some other changes, outside of what ubuntu has done to it's core, maybe thats considered an update?
Same with Debian
16 • That Banner (by Flyingalone on 2021-10-18 03:53:57 GMT from Australia)
The old banner it's easy to read goes well with dark mode for tired and or old eyes, the new banner looks from the old days as commented in previous posts above, the 50's etc,
suggestion why not open this to the readers and other artists to design a banner to suit Distrowatch for the years and decades onward ?
although the new banner is stylish and cool just the wrong wrong decade.
the new banner globe looks horrid and cheap please think about using the old banner globe instead.
Well back to the drawing board !
17 • Subliminal message... (by Tech in San Diego on 2021-10-18 04:19:45 GMT from United States)
I found it! The original image size is 468x60 and has a file size of 27.7 KiB whereas the proposed image is 468x59 and only 22.3 KiB. One would conclude that the proposed image would load faster and have the added benefit of saving disk space.
All the Best!
Tech in San Diego
18 • New banner (by Auric Goldfinger on 2021-10-18 04:21:30 GMT from Brazil)
Thank you for ask :).
It is very uncommon inside this computer and software world anyone ask our opinion! Debian adopted systemd only listening to their insiders. Gnome created a desktop unusable by desktop user just to make it looks like an Apple Phone thing. KDE, bloated. Microsoft changed from a highly configurable and user friendly Windows 7 to a bloated, full of privacy traps just because it is an monopoly.
Again, Thank you for ask :).
19 • the banner hammer has spoken (by fonz on 2021-10-18 04:24:04 GMT from Indonesia)
there shouldve been a 3rd option: dunno. i prefer the old style but yeah, i could care less about 'style' and whatnot.
@15 is right i guess, id prefer if all the buntu family got grouped together instead of the 'parade' we usually see. most of the time they do get released together, with the very few exceptions that rarely happen. iirc they were grouped together a few times in the past here.
snaps, speeding up, to the grave, when..?
20 • Flat is 'modern'? (by Wedge009 on 2021-10-18 04:29:04 GMT from Australia)
On top of what @18 suggested about moving past Windows 7, it also seems MS set this trend of making people think a flat look is somehow 'modern' (or at least brought the idea to mainstream). It just happens to be the design fashion at the moment (which I rather dislike) and the trouble with calling something 'new' or 'modern' or 'future' is that it will eventually become old and dated again at some point...
That being said I'm actually neutral on the DW logo poll, so abstained this time.
21 • New banner loads long time, (by nightwalker on 2021-10-18 04:32:53 GMT from Japan)
it looks loading the site will not end for ever.Does it really work?
My PC uses firefox 91.2.0esr (64bit) for opensuse 15.3.
22 • Old banner v New banner (by Deleatur on 2021-10-18 04:37:56 GMT from Argentina)
I truly like both of them (despite the fact the new one seems to be taken from a fridge of the 60s xD)
23 • @8, new-fangled stuff (by Methuselah on 2021-10-18 04:45:30 GMT from Canada)
"highly-questionable decisions regarding their "User Interface"? (Does "Dark Mode" ring a bell?" As the Cable Guy said: That's funny right there! I count at least three posters today who like and use dark themes. Make that four. It's a blessing for older eyes, along with night light and other highly questionable" GUI decisions. You might note that just because you dislike or don't use something, it doesn't follow that others will agree.
24 • Dark Themes (by Wedge009 on 2021-10-18 04:57:31 GMT from Australia)
That's a funny thing about dark themes also being very popular currently. I understood from the early 2000s that research indicates black-text-on-white-background was best for legibility and reading. I understand having a dark theme can have its place but it seems it's become so popular to the point that it's demanded in feature requests if a software project doesn't already have one.
25 • Banner (by T-Khan on 2021-10-18 05:25:38 GMT from Russia)
What's up with this new "use Linux or BSD"? Can't I use both?
26 • Banner (by x on 2021-10-18 05:49:14 GMT from United States)
i am still partial to the original banner, long gone. Both the current and new banners are acceptable to me. Fluff is not very important to me, plain text would not deter my visits to DistroWatch.
27 • Banners (by uz64 on 2021-10-18 06:07:14 GMT from United States)
Overall I prefer the old one. I just don't like the new "globe." However, I do kind of like the new font. Honestly, a mix of old globe plus new font might just be the ultimate banner in my opinion... but since the question is between old vs. new, I would have to say old.
28 • newer old banner (by screetcher preacher on 2021-10-18 07:04:00 GMT from Canada)
the newish / older \ banner is better than the old / currently new \ banner. just as long as you don't include the arse end of a Chevy doing wheelies and leaving tyre tracks all over the page - there's plenty of such hot-heads in the world already.
29 • Add DW banner to the controversies! (by nooneatall on 2021-10-18 07:17:35 GMT from United States)
As if systemd, Wayland, GUIs, file systems, package managers, and "themes" weren't enough, this banner question immediately splits readers into three groups:
1) Old 2) New 3) Distrowatch has a banner?
My eyes practically don't see static parts of a known page. I suppose if you change to lewd / garish / Satanic that I'd have an opinion, but there's no choice such as "don't care" or "please quit nagging me about trivia".
In any case, suspect that you don't actually want numbers for help deciding, just approval of the new one, else why ask?
30 • New-Old whatsit (by Someguy on 2021-10-18 08:01:54 GMT from United Kingdom)
Leaves me suspicious! What is really being tested? Readership numbers? Or is it some deep psychological test of folk's tendencies to need to see their comments in 'print'? Bit like all this social media nonsense. As Mr. Z said in interview - it's not for your benefit, it's all about making money (by data mining)! For the record I voted for the existing one...
[Banner that is]!
31 • Auxtral 3 (by Ashe on 2021-10-18 08:20:17 GMT from Hungary)
About the RAM issue.
The reviewer mentioned the Clam antivirus software and SolydXK. SolydX has the same "insane"(ish) RAM usage at start. The perpetrator, most likely, is the antivirus software. With SolydX, if you stop the service (or remove Clam altogether), the RAM usage goes down by 800-900 MBs at start.
32 • Banner (by Romane on 2021-10-18 08:39:19 GMT from Australia)
You know the old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
33 • banner and banished (by pierre on 2021-10-18 09:09:16 GMT from France)
A lot of twisted knickers in these comments. Both banners have their merits. I recall the old ones with the blue globe, which from a look at the Internet Archive seems to have been replaced by the current one around early 2009. But I didn't realize (or I don't remember) that there'd been another earlier one featuring a female blonde avatar, and prior to that there was no banner at all.
More shocking to me is that this week's news has no mention of what I'd consider two of the week's biggest stories: KDE's 25th anniversary and dedicated Plasma edition, and the announcement of the Pinephone Pro.
34 • Banners (by Quazatron on 2021-10-18 10:03:55 GMT from Portugal)
It just goes to show that nowadays everyone must have an opinion on all subjects and must defend it at all costs, even if the subject is a tiny banner on a website.
Having said that, here are my 2 eurocents: I like the new one, I'd just drop the "Use Linux or BSD" tag, we all know why we're here.
35 • Banner ... (by whoKnows on 2021-10-18 10:38:35 GMT from Switzerland)
It looks antiquated and kinda fifties.
But ... the website itself also looks antique ...
36 • banner (by mircea on 2021-10-18 10:45:17 GMT from Moldova)
I like old banner because it has better contrast...
The iscription 'Use Linux, BSD' is visible & has different color, than other inscriptions,
on new banner it 'sucks' -> it is not visible, cause has almost the same color as the 'DistroWatch' inscription.
Also inscription 'Put the fun back' -> has same color as the black line '--------', which again makes it 'not visible'
All of that subconsciously makes new log a yogurt of colors (mess)
Old banner had better contrast ...
DistroWatch had one color of red, 'Use Linux, BSD' other color
Line was bald and dark black
'Put the fun' was thin and different color of black
The contrast & balance was good, it didn't strain the eyes.
New logo -> hard to read....
either remove "Use Linux BSD", "black line" and simplify things futher ...
OR change colors...
37 • Banner (by James on 2021-10-18 10:45:47 GMT from United States)
I never even noticed the new banner before the current Opinion Poll:
Do you like the classic banner or the new banner better?
o like the new flat banner
o I like old classic banner
x Don't care
38 • New can be better but often is not (by Appalachian on 2021-10-18 10:49:53 GMT from United States)
Keep the old banner. I have no strong preference between flat and, er, non-flat? Curved? Topographic? Whatever you call the old style lettering.
That said, much of the changes in the new one are not for the better.
* As others have pointed out the spacing around that dot between "DistroWatch" and "com" is uneven.
* The shadows behind the letters are mostly not visible and, when you can see them, they only serve to hamper legibility instead of enhancing it.
* An assumption (by me) is that the desire for a new banner is to give the appearance of something new. If so, then this banner fails in that regard too. The globe icon is reminiscent of what was considered a modern look in the 90's while font goes back even further into the past.
39 • Banner: (by dragonmouth on 2021-10-18 12:28:33 GMT from United States)
I agree with @3 Curious. Leave the old banner. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Don't be making changes for change's sake.
Over the years, you have developed a brand. Stick with it. Should Ford "improve" it's blue oval around the cursive name, Ferrari it's prancing horse or Maserati it's trident?
40 • Banner style (by AdamB on 2021-10-18 13:35:22 GMT from Australia)
I voted 'old classic banner' because the 3D look works well for my eyesight. I strongly dislike the current fashion for a flat look, and low contrast. The current globe is a good piece of artwork, the new proposal is uninspiring.
I do like the font used in the new banner - maybe because I'm a wrinkly. Nevertheless, the font used in the current banner perhaps has better legibility.
I don't think that the 'or' between Linux and BSD is necessary.
I am happy with the existing 'into'.
The only thing that jars slightly with the current banner is the rather bright red used for 'Use Linux, BSD.'.
41 • Legibility (by Friar Tux on 2021-10-18 13:49:36 GMT from Canada)
@24 (Wedge009) You're right about black lettering on white background being more legible according to that study. But that was for PAPER. White on a device screen has the glare of a 60 watt bulb (test it for yourself). At my age (70), staring at a 60 watt glare doesn't allow me to see the black (?) font. On my devices, I use cyan (#00FFFF) font on a dark teal background (#000000 - #001111). I usually spend about 14 hrs a day on my laptop. (I do just about everything on it - reading, writing and 'rithmeticing.) And guess what... NO headaches, NO blurry vision. This tells me more than any study so I'll be sticking with my dark theme, thank you.
By the way, DW, as I've said many times before, this is your site, do with it as you see fit. While I appreciate you asking my opinion, ultimately, you have more knowledge and insight as to what needs to happen on your site. Go with it.
42 • Flat, but ... (by whoKnows on 2021-10-18 14:03:06 GMT from Switzerland)
It could stand some color.
https://ibb.co/nzvD26d
43 • Terminals, poll, etc.. (by Otis on 2021-10-18 14:09:14 GMT from United States)
Thanks for that about terminals; I had no idea and am now in "learn something new every day" mode.
Please keep the current banner, as that new design seems to diminish things. The current one is "new" enough.
@7 about gparted I noticed the same thing you point out about its availability and lack thereof in many distros targeting the users they seem to want to target. I long ago made a live disc of gparted and even though it's outdated I still find myself using it on the last spinning disc machine I have left, having moved on to solid state drives. The utilities in some distros allow for partitioning etc in their own often limited ways; that's okay too
44 • Banners,.... and Ubuntu updates (by Jeff on 2021-10-18 14:19:48 GMT from United States)
I prefer the look of old banner, do not see any need to change it.
Also agree with comments 15 and 19, the 'buntu tribe should all be listed together when new releases are made, there is little difference between them.
Other distros that have more than one desktop as a version do not get a separate notice for each desktop when they release a new version.
45 • a banner is a banner...NOT! (by tom joad on 2021-10-18 14:54:32 GMT from Germany)
I voted for the new banner. I like it. But I have a suggestion too. I would like to see the current banners world icon replace the icon in the new banner. That would be swell and a go for the switch in IMHO.
Rock on!!!
46 • New, FLAT style banner (by R. Cain on 2021-10-18 14:59:04 GMT from United States)
I knew there was something nagging in the background, and it finally occurred to me, so---
I checked a thesaurus for synonyms of the word "FLAT".
DistroWatch, most synonyms of the word,"flat" are far from complimentary. Some are even on the wrong side of disparaging.
You may want to re-consider...
**************************************
...and @41:
"...You're right about black lettering on white background being more legible according to THAT STUDY. But that was for PAPER. White on a device screen has the glare of a 60 watt bulb..."
1) What study? Citation(s) needed, please.
2) Have never been aware that the medium has any effect on contrast. A citation here would definitely be of interest, and highly educational, to a large portion of DistroWatch's readers.
3) 'White' on my screen does not have the glare of "...a 60 watt bulb...".
If it did, I would simply turn the 'screen brightness' down.
47 • another controversial poll? (by Tad Strange on 2021-10-18 15:37:43 GMT from Canada)
I like the new font better, but don't like the shadow effect, which makes it harder to read. Remove that and it'd be much better.
As for "modern", if you mean modern in the way that everything 1950's-1960's is new again, then yes it fits with the modern style.
Not saying that's a bad thing. I remember the travesty that was named Ford Mustang in the 80's. Going back a few decades did wonders for it..
48 • It's the shadow (by YaZerg on 2021-10-18 15:56:01 GMT from Mexico)
Both designs are fine if you get rid of the letter's shadows. That would make them flatter and more legible. Being said that, I prefer the old one. The continents are way more beautiful than the imaginary lines of the coordinate system.
Maybe match the red colors too, if you want.
49 • banner (by John on 2021-10-18 16:53:05 GMT from Canada)
To be honest, without the poll I would not have noticed the banner change. I am curious on how many people would not have noticed (like I did).
But I like the new banner as shown in the comparison
50 • Banner (by Tobin on 2021-10-18 17:08:57 GMT from United Kingdom)
If you do use the new banner, at least get rid of the comma after linux.
51 • Banner-opinion (by or other floss os on 2021-10-18 17:09:42 GMT from Hungary)
The 'old' one is much nicer. And it's funny to say but much more modern.
And if you say about the new one: "more modern, flat style" - how can it's font style came from around 1950? What way is that a modern one? Truely not
But if you update the banner put some thing into it: Use linux, BSD or other FLOSS OS.
- What I mean? I talk about ReactOS, HaikuOS, KolibriOS, Openindiana etc - so use a FLOSS OS at all ;)
52 • Banner (by LightBit on 2021-10-18 17:35:16 GMT from Slovenia)
I prefer new flat one, but I think it would be even better without shadow.
53 • Citations (by Friar Tux on 2021-10-18 17:37:02 GMT from Canada)
@46 (R Cain) I'm not sure which of the many studies @24 (Wedge009) was quoting, but if any study will do, just google it. Regarding the brightness, if you lower the screen brightness, it also affects the contrast so you still loose out on readability. I keep my HP Pavilion set at 90%, all the time and using a white background at that setting is 60-watt-bulb-bright. But, since I can use a dark theme, this whole conversation is moot. (By the way, just for fun, when we had a rather longish power failure a month or so back, I put a bright white wallpaper on my laptop and lit up my living room for a while. The power failure lasted about 45 minutes and my laptop about two hours. It was a nice little experiment.)
54 • Auxtral Xfce (by Bob on 2021-10-18 19:11:44 GMT from United States)
I just tried Auxtral Xfce in Gnome Boxes. No happiness. The desktop boots up fast, but when I tried to open anything in the menu, the system would lock-up, causing me to "Force Shutdown". So, I tried it again, this time going straight to "instal Auxtral", which led to the same lock-up problem.
So, just for comparison I downloaded the Cinnamon version Jesse had tested. No problems. Installed without any issues. Opened the terminal, checked for and installed updates. All is well.
-The only oddity is the "Install Auxtral" icon is still on the desktop.
I'm not a Cinnamon person, but, what the heck. I'm going to test-drive it for a while.
The Xfce version is DEFINITELY not ready for prime time.
55 • banner, OS landscape (by mandy tor on 2021-10-18 19:38:34 GMT from New Zealand)
I voted New banner as sometimes a change can be refreshing. However, the 1950's fridge font - been there, done that, repented and redesigned (where I had used it). The shadows have to go, the comma is superfluous. A new design is an opportunity, but do it right as you get stuck with it for a while.
I agree with @7, @15 and @18. Canonical make a big noise, but people actually use the downstream distros (based on LTS, not the 6-monthly circus).
@15 would resonate with the comments on The Register about 21.10, the best being from Doctor Syntax, "Gnome continues to remind us why a choice of desktop environments is a good thing." It really looks like Windows and Ubuntu are a binary star, rotating furiously around copying one another.
KDE lost the plot with Plasma - many issues that they refuse to fix, which broke things that used to work. Try setting your clock to 24-hr if KDE decided your 'locale' fits their list of 12-hr ones. That is just one papercut from the library.
56 • ram (by grindstone on 2021-10-18 20:03:24 GMT from United States)
To use 1.3 to get to idle ought to be criminalized. This is not the fault of a distro creator, but every lower level upstream and successive generations of devs with other goals than user resources. There has always been more pain to make something lighter and leaner and for (?) generations (of humans) and this has been justified by code dev/maint benefit arguments which ring increasingly hollow. Has fundamental usage of computers changed to such a degree as to suppport this bloated state of affairs or is it all anti-virus machinations? (And stay off my lawn).
57 • Snap forced updates? (by Mark on 2021-10-18 20:46:20 GMT from United States)
Do snaps still download packages with no user control (even when the Ubuntu setting is not to update automatically)? It's a matter of principle.
58 • The Batter of Dischord (by José Augusto on 2021-10-18 21:05:57 GMT from Brazil)
And then, Eris, goddess of strife and discord, therefore, as part of a plan hatched by some wonderful reader, tossed into the party the "Banner of Discord", a new Distrowatch banner inscribed in red letters...
As simple mortals, Jesse, Ladislav & Bruce were unable to decide wich banner was the best, starting in comments an epic war, which spread over distant lands...
So, I took the decision to ask the Pythoness about this subject and the answer was: "nosce te ipsum"!
So, that is my answer. You guys (J+L+B) have been doing a wonderful job with Distrowatch. At this point in time listen your hearts and take your choice. All us will render congrats to your decision.
59 • Banner Poll (by Sam on 2021-10-18 22:52:07 GMT from United States)
Alternative: Use the new flat earth icon from the "new" banner" with the font of the old banner.
60 • suspect banner (by Q2 on 2021-10-19 01:16:43 GMT from France)
"flat style", "no shadows", "flat Earth". mmmmm....is distrowatch trying to say something with this new banner? That the Earth is really flat, that there will be no continents left due to Global Warming, and that there will be no shadows left due to smog blocking the Sun? This could be one of them there conspiracy theories. Now all those distro reviews with "iffy" conclusions - and that highly suspect Page Hit Ranking - are starting to make sense !!!
61 • new banner (by paolo (italy) on 2021-10-19 04:54:36 GMT from Italy)
Is difficult to decide wich banner are the most beautiful, both are good
and also in the message @42 is linked a new beautiful flat banner.
May I ask for the site a dark theme (like in Sparky Linux site)?
I think it can be good for people with some eyes problem like me
and everyone can decide to switch between clear or dark design site.
62 • OLD logo vs new logo (by SAL-e on 2021-10-19 05:34:25 GMT from United States)
I can appreciate the effort and the fan contribution.
The new logo is flat stylized font with 3D shadow. Seems a bit disjointed and not too good match with the rest of the site. If the whole site is redesigned might be better fit.
As currently the old banner is better match. Personally, I like the current site design. It is clear and easy to read with very good balance between a lot of information without getting over crowded like a man page.
63 • Banner (by John on 2021-10-19 11:27:03 GMT from Australia)
I actually think the whole website needs an update and refresh. It has essentially been the same for years. It is so 1950s. Changing the banner is only window dressing. Keep the content but get a website designer to dress it up with a whole new look.
64 • @63 John: (by dragonmouth on 2021-10-19 12:32:10 GMT from United States)
I agree. By all means we should have a "modern" looking site with garish colors, blaring music, constant popups, constant animation, all kinds of bells and whistles.
/sarcasm
65 • Banner (by Luke on 2021-10-19 13:06:26 GMT from United States)
Not gonna lie...I'm not a big fan of either so I didn't vote. If I had to choose, I'd say the newer one, but I don't like the font. I clicked through the Wayback Machine and found that the current banner has been in place for over a decade, and there has only been one other banner before that. I remember that old one! It's not great either by today's standards but I do have some nostalgia for it.
I'd like to see some sort of banner art competition...bonus points for a smaller filesize/SVG format to save a bit of bandwidth!
66 • A suggested slight improvement to the current banner (by TH in Minnesota on 2021-10-19 14:43:47 GMT from United States)
I like the old banner. One suggestion I think to improve it: make the first letter of each word the same bold thickness as the other letters. I think that would look better.
TH in Minnesota
67 • Banner (by vw72 on 2021-10-19 15:45:48 GMT from United States)
I like the new banner, but either is fine. The problem is that the poll only gives the option of the new and old banner. There are probably many more DW users that would be fine with either one. Poll should really ask preferences as to old, new or either is fine. Otherwise, you can't get a real sense of support for the old or new among all DW users.
68 • Banner (by buckyogi on 2021-10-19 16:37:20 GMT from United States)
"Use Linux, or BSD" Love the new banner, but as has been mentioned earlier, lose the comma.
69 • DW Website design (by Otis on 2021-10-19 21:40:04 GMT from United States)
@63 This site is not "50s" or any other decade, to its credit. It's just a very easy to navigate Linux/BSD site. Bells and whistles can be seen at many of the individual distro's sites from GhostBSD to MXLinux and Zorin etc. Go down the list and click the distro sites. But Distrowatch is about access to all that, not imitating them.
70 • DistroWatch banner (by Simon Plaistowe on 2021-10-19 22:27:57 GMT from New Zealand)
I like aspects of both. IMHO the new banner has a more consistent font (capitals look inconsistent in the old one) but would benefit from a touch of the 3D look, as per the old banner. Also, the grammar could be improved, ie: "Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux or BSD" ("into", not "in", and no comma in the second sentence).
71 • @70 and the tagline (by popolito on 2021-10-20 10:07:50 GMT from Australia)
@70
"Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux or BSD" ("into", not "in", and no comma in the second sentence).
wouldn't "Putting the fun back into computing with Linux and BSD" be a more inclusive of the two? I don't think anything in the design of the site needs changing as I don't make use of those parts (most images turned off, almost plain text).
72 • Banner (by Mike W on 2021-10-20 13:17:38 GMT from United States)
Wait, there's a new banner? ;-)
73 • Well... actually... (by Friar Tux on 2021-10-20 20:49:26 GMT from Canada)
You know... I actually really like the banner @42 (whoKnows) linked to, though I would put the "fun" back into computing. I like the globe, the font, the colour... yeah, I realize it was done in jest, but I actually like it better than the two, here.
74 • Flatter logo, please (by A. No Neem on 2021-10-20 21:00:15 GMT from France)
Flat logos are usually easier to recognise and flat text easier to read.
But they need to be really flat! Shadows are bad ideas behind or under text. They just make it harder to read. I believe going flat is a good idea, but do not stop halfway.
What was wrong with the old version: shadows under the text, transparency in the logo, 2 different fonts in the name DistroWatch (one should be enough). It looks like bad 1990s Web amateurish design, when non professional designers used to jam in as many effects as could be, when style is exactly the contrary, a matter of self-restraint.
What's wrong with the new one: shadows behind the text. Get rid of 3D in text. 3D should be reserved to CAD and arts.
75 • I prefer this (by popolito on 2021-10-21 06:08:34 GMT from Australia)
@75 my pref https://ibb.co/6rMGZtd
76 • Banner Style (by Otus9051 on 2021-10-21 06:54:50 GMT from India)
The old one and new one do have very subtle changes, but instead, I would have liked a modern redesign of the whole site. The current style is VERY OK, its not that it is bad, its the OG and who hates the OG Version? TBH, I would like a modern redesign but the old site theme still connected with it, kinda like what XDA used to do, but if you change platforms, then make a subdomain like old.distrowatch.com like reddit.
77 • Logo (by whoKnows on 2021-10-21 14:05:30 GMT from Switzerland)
You could also try some less weird font, stretch it, to make it taller and narrower, and put some globe, as some would prefer, or even modern-globe as a "global search". That's somehow what DW is about - kinda Linux news and distribution search machine.
https://ibb.co/BCNyzvj
https://ibb.co/ZLhyjtf
78 • banner (by dave on 2021-10-21 20:24:17 GMT from United States)
Switch to no header image. Just use text.
Isn't anybody gonna point out that @3 is "by Curious" ??
79 • Banner (by Travis on 2021-10-21 21:08:04 GMT from United States)
What the hell? What is the obsession with changing the looks of things that aren’t broken, look better, work better and have more recognition , instead of all the time changing things that aren’t broken? Of course I chose the old banner because I’ve been visiting this site for a bit of years and the change in banner is for no reason, except doing it “because”. “Because” nothing. I remember a poll before a while back where it was asking visitors if they thing the site theme and look should be changed. Absolutely not, but for a long while in the Linux community (at least), there has been an obsession of changing things that aren’t broken. It makes no sense and all it is I see is to fit in, be trendy, etc. That’s stupid.
80 • Survey not quite complete... (by R. Cain on 2021-10-21 22:22:20 GMT from United States)
The survey should have had one more option, for the reader to consider---
"I might have voted for a new banner, had I been given several different new choices"
81 • Banner Design (by Az4x4 on 2021-10-21 23:47:03 GMT from United States)
Ref: 32 • Banner (by Romane on 2021-10-18 08:39:19 GMT from Australia)
You know the old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
**************************************
Or, along those same lines, "If you can't fix it, don't break it."
At the very least, if you're intent on changing the banner for the sake of change, invite design alternatives to the current banner, then let people choose from the top three or four you select with the idea that change is something you'd actually like to see.
82 • banner negs & pros (by funder on 2021-10-22 07:01:47 GMT from France)
banner negatives:
@32: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"; @81: "If you can't fix it, don't break it"
but in support of change, there's: "What's old is new again", and "Buntu brown is the new black"
And as far as "put the fun back into computing" goes, if you REALLY want to be up-to-date with what's happening in big tech and national statecraft, wouldn't you want to throw out the "fun" part - it's so 1900's - and poll some edgy alternatives:
* hacking
* tracking
* spying
83 • Bruce Banner (by Trihexagonal on 2021-10-22 13:37:29 GMT from United States)
I voted for the new banner.
The old one is actually more attractive but the lettering looks like it was made by someone at GeoCities using one of the default gimp banner tools.
I do think the globe depiction on the old one is more attractive than the new one, but clashes with the new banners flat lettering.
The world icon on the new banner has a nondescript all-inclusive global look, and representing all those different continents on the planet was bound to cause someone to be offended sooner or later.
Best be done with that and the issue of the designation of distros that might offend someone before the tears start to flow, just to be on the safe side.
But what do I know...
84 • Banner Poll (by Otis on 2021-10-22 20:20:28 GMT from United States)
As of Friday, 3:19 pm in my location the poll is:
I like the new flat banner: 585 (35%)
I like old classic banner: 1073 (65%)
Significant minority preferring the new, flatter design.
Not Earth-shattering no matter the choice the site guru(s) decide, but I'm with the majority on this one and hope it sticks.
Number of Comments: 84
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