New Website - Pursuing consistency and convergence

[Jerry]

I like it!!
Think it flows well with the LL4.x look/feel

Thanks! Don't be shy folks, if you see a way to word something better please let me know, I'm no writer.

[Jerry]

New Features page coming to life...

[firenice03]

I like it!!
Think it flows well with the LL4.x look/feel

[Jerry]

I've covered Series to Series upgrade and the nightmare that it currently is (thanks to Ubuntu) in another thread.
You both have some valid points which I will take onboard, but for now, we'll move back to the web specific stuff.

[Yoru3]

 @trinidad
You seem to have made a number of presumptions in your somewhat dismissive and supremacist style response, and perhaps you did not actually read my comments.

 
Firstly I stated the “easy upgrading within the series”, and you do not need to restate it as if I did not know.

 
Secondly you are assuming the upgrade I was taking about should be in-place, which may well be infeasible. The upgrade may well involve completely reformatting the system drive, but what I clearly stated was that the upgrade process could involve the storing and restoring of the user data and configurations., on an external USB hard drive.

This could be part of the managed series upgrade process, thus minimizing human errors. It would also have the advantage of ensuring all the correct data and configurations were stored and restored. And if it is done in an appropriate way, could be used manually in a fallback situation.

 
One hopes that such possibilities are being considered, and that there are not any premadona developers involved that would prematurely dismis such ideas.
 
With regard to Microsoft, who you seem to have a distinct disdain for, you may or may not have noticed I mentioned the  end  of extended support for Windows 7 as being January 14, 2020.

 
You should also be aware of the Microsoft Windows 10 strategy, which they have called ‘Windows as a Service’ (WaaS), which rather than producing new Windows versions, will involve continuous updates of the Windows 10 system, which could and almost certainly will result in the system  looking and performing differently over the course of time. Which IMHO is a major strategic error on a number of counts.
 
Firstly, in order to continue financing the operation, it is more than likely that Microsoft Windows 10 will change to a subscription service. This will turn off many consumer users, who are trying to reduce their recurring costs.
Secondly, it is estimated that around 70% of the worlds companies are now using Windows 7 and will not just be very reluctant to upgrade to Windows 10, but upgrade with the addition of extra recurring cost.

Thirdly, since the updates will be continuous there will be a problem of managing compatibility with existing hardware, which will either suddenly stop receiving updates due to unsupported features, incompatibility etc. or the system will just no longer work.

 
All of this will mean as I said “there will be a large wave of users unhappy with the prospect of Windows 10, and looking for a stable, future proof alternative, during 2019”.

 

 
 

[trinidad]

@Yoru3
Updating and upgrading WITHIN a series is automated in LL maybe better than any distribution out there. From one series to a next series i/e 3.x to 4.x is something highly unlikely to ever happen for a multiplicity of reasons, like: repository depth, different base packaging, no net install provisions, evolving hardware, deprecating hardware, and user skill. Fundamentally such a thing is outside the declared mission statement of LL, given the complicated process it actually is. It would also be expensive in every sense of the word, expensive in rack space, expensive in man hours, expensive in fiat, and probably exponentially expensive in user dissatisfaction, given LL's positioning itself as a gateway distro. It would also be of no particular use to anyone other than a hobbyist. Time is better spent updating packages to correctly reflect changes in a new series. Computing changes every second of the day. Nothing ever stays the same for long, and the pace of development is accelerating not decelerating... EXCEPT... that MS is still the greatest form of legalized extortion since income tax.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

Windows 7 real extended support has not been free for quite a while, nor has the upgrade to Windows 10. W 7's secure functionality is severely deprecated for the modern Web without an alternative browser like Firefox. Security updates for IE in Windows 7 no longer upgrade the browser so they are useless as they don't apply correctly to any function that even exists in the base software. They're there, but just hanging in "space" often just doing nothing. MS extended support is a hoax unless you pay for it, just like it was for XP at the end. Security updates that were quite simply benign non-interactive lines of code to appease a few US congressmen and consumer advocates.

TC

[Yoru3]

Looking good.
Another aspect worth emphasizing is the future proof features of the distro, including the road map and easy upgrading within the series. I suspect there are still many on 3.x that are unsure whether the upgrade can be achieved without risk to their installation.


Something else to think about on the same theme, but longer term, is facilitating an easy migration from one series to the next, well before 5.0 arrives.
What will be especially relevant in that time frame is the end  of extended support for Windows 7 being January 14, 2020, when all updates will end.

That will mean there will be a large wave of users unhappy with the prospect of Windows 10, and looking for a stable, future proof alternative, during 2019.
Like many others, my migration from Windows 7 to Linux is still in progress, but I would say I have now reached a point of commitment, where contemplating a complete rebuilt would be unthinkable, without an appropriate error proof plan to get from one series to the next. Without loosing user data and functionality in the process. Which is what has tended to happen in recent years with Windows.
So I'm hoping by the time 5.x come around there will be an easy, reliable and perhaps even automatic migration method in place. Even if part of that method is to use an external USB hard drive to temporarily store all user data and configurations. After all, external USB HDs are relatively cheap and ubiquitous nowadays. If that could be achieved then you really could say you have a future proof system.

[Vera]

Awesome, Jerry! Thanks! I've checked it out and it works, https is now forced. Thanks again!! 

[Jerry]

Thanks @Vera I have set forced https on the Forums. Try it now.

[Vera]

"Socialise" is fine, it's the British English version. "Socialize" is the US English version.

Also Jerry, this is a VERY MINOR thing that I hadn't planned to bring up unless you were making changes to the website anyway, but... is there a chance you could please force https on the forum? It's there, but it's not forced right now, so if you go to https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums and change the https to http, it stays as http - at least in Chrome. Which is not as ideal as redirecting back to https.

The main LL website itself appears to force https, but not the forum, although the forum does seem to do a pretty good job of staying on https most of the time.

My guess (and it's only a guess so far) is that whatever CMS you are using on the forum (SMF)? is set to using https but that some stuff is slipping through the cracks, and you prob need to add a few lines to the .htaccess file to fix it as described here https://www.a2hosting.com/kb/security/ssl/redirecting-users-to-ssl-connections. It needs to be added early on in the file. I mean the .htaccess file in linuxliteos.com/forums, not the one in linuxliteos.com.

Unless you've already done that and something else is overriding it the other way.

[trinidad]

I believe it's "socialize"

[Jerry]

Thanks Vera, I've added your wording in. Download page started...

[Vera]

Ooh, yes [drools]. The new design is AWESOME!! It not only is waaay better than the current design, but is also head and shoulders above the designs of other distro websites.

One item of proposed feedback, the text "...based on the Ubuntu LTS series...." would be better stated as "...based on the Ubuntu LTS (long term support) series...."

Newbies coming from PC are not going to necessarily know what LTS stands for, and might worry that LTS stands for something inferior instead. Having the words "long term support" in there is reassuring.

[Jerry]

As if today, the majority of feedback I see about our theme and icon choice is that people are liking it in Series 4.x.

In pursuit of consistency and convergence, the main website (and other parts including the Forums) will seek to see a familiar theme standard throughout.
This design looks incredible on mobile devices and tablets and will certainly put us out front in terms of looks and impact in the linux community.
The new website will be searchable.

Here is a quick, very early taste of the what the future main website could look like.



There is still A LOT of work to be done and the above is far from finished. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the pursuit of ensuring that all Linux Lite branding and look is consistent, from OS through to our many online presences.