[drupal-docs] Drupal screenshots + sites list

[Steven Wittens]

>I think that Mambo's Gallery page serves a different function than the 
>Drupal sites list. Let's recognize the Gallery page for what it is: eye 
>candy and a way to show off what professional web designers can do with 
>Drupal.
>
>
>  * The case studies are more about featuring purpose than aesthetic 
>appeal; a site could not have the flashiest design, yet well represent 
>how a particular purpose can be implemented.
>  
>
I agree that mambo's gallery page is a theme showcase... but we have the 
theme garden for that, we don't need it on drupal.org. I would simply 
like to enhance the case studies list and add thumbnails to make it more 
sexy, and on the front age, link to that instead of the ugly sites list.

A site does not have to have a great design to be featured (but of 
course, it is a plus). A simple thumbnail, no matter of what, makes the 
site more tangible. But really, most 'decent' Drupal sites look quite 
nice anyway. It's only the really basic bluemarine blogs that are ugly.

And it is these ugly bluemarine blogs that are the majority of the sites 
on the current sites list. It is not good advertising, no matter how you 
put it.

>* The Drupal sites page is like a big phone book where people can surf 
>and see what other, often more average (not professional web developers) 
>are doing and perhaps find some ideas they can use; the site designs on 
>that Gallery page are beyond the average Drupal site administrator to 
>create. The Drupal sites page also effectively communicates the idea 
>that there is a *very* large community of sites out there. And it makes 
>someone feel like they are a part of that community the first time they 
>get listed on it.
>
>That being said, I would like to see the Drupal sites page listed in 
>alphabetical order by site title and maybe a little more creative 
>styling (someone better than me would have to come up with that idea :)
>  
>

I agree that the sites list can still be useful, but it's really been a 
problem child for a long time. It used to be sorted in alphabetical 
order, with the result that sites near the top would get a lot of 
traffic, while everything else would be ignored. Some people started 
adding low ascii characters to their site name to be listed higher. 
Adding a pager would've only worsened this.

So we changed it to what we have now, which is list sites in the order 
they are pinged in. This gives sites an equal chance at being listed at 
the top. But in its current form it would be hard to add a pager, 
because the list changes order constantly.

Perhaps instead, we can change it around to be more portal like. A bit 
like this:
http://www.acko.net/dumpx/sites.png

We list N random Drupal sites and provide a simple keyword search. The 
"browse more sites" link takes you to the full list, which is alphabetic 
and has a pager. We could even add a "Drupal sites" tab to the search 
page. This portal site would be linked to from the case studies list, 
inviting people to check out Drupal-powered sites "in the wild".

Steven Wittens