I'm 22 years old and a student at Smith College. I'm originally from Newcastle, Australia. Previous programming projects include MatMice.com¹⁾, an online homepage builder used by more than one million children worldwide (Perl/PostgreSQL). Previous involvement with open source includes developing the new PostgreSQL.org website. For the Google Summer of Code, I'll be working on the FreeBSD website. My mentor is MurrayStokely.

Following are some of my ideas for a redesign of the FreeBSD website. MurrayStokely also has a good list of ideas, so I'll try not to duplicate here.

• The number of navigation elements should be minimized, and content grouped into sections.
• Graphics should be kept to a minimum, and not used for headings or navigation elements.
• For accessibility, an option to enlarge the text size should be available.

• The link to “Get FreeBSD” should be highly visible.
• Navigation and important content should be visible without scrolling.
• Quick links should be provided to commonly sought pages (e.g. mailing lists).
• Text should be minimal, and limited to a single paragraph describing FreeBSD (a link to “Learn More” could contain the content currently on the FreeBSD homepage).
• To keep the homepage fresh, three to four headlines and dates for each of the following content areas should appear on the homepage: latest news, upcoming events, in the media, security advisories, errata notices.

• The current site only has top level navigation; an optional second level navigation is necessary.
• Layout and top level navigation should be consistent across the entire site.

• Homepage design²⁾
• Secondary page design³⁾

Feedback is welcome; please email soc-emily@freebsd.org

Following is a rough timeline for implementing a redesign of the FreeBSD website.

Mon 18 Jul

• Complete initial design proposal (including homepage and secondary page).

Tue 19 Jul - Tue 2 Aug

• Propose design to FreeBSD community, and work on revisions.
• Become familiar with FreeBSD website setup.

Wed 3 Aug - Sun 7 Aug

• If design approved by community, code the design in valid XHTML/CSS.
• Browser testing of coded design.

Mon 8 Aug - Thu 25 Aug

• Implement design template on FreeBSD website, re-coding pages where necessary to meet standards.

Fri 26 Aug - Wed 31 Aug

• Testing and fixes.

Thu 1 Sep

• Redesigned website launch.