Fw: Feedback re static frontend site

[Mel Chua]

The 3 big feedback points I had, other than the first "whoa, this looks 
awesome!" impression.

The first is that the front page text sounds wonderful, and it's also 
written at what is probably above a 6th grade level; I'd love for 
children and non-native English speakers to be easily able to read this 
page. So I've translated the front page text into Simple English - see 
the bottom of this email. (I have no idea whether this is actually 
better, but thought it was worth trying.)

> * Although I still don't like the black background which I find
> gloomy, I don't think now is the time to fiddle with that. But I have
> to say I do find it extremely cool that the homepage colors change

+1 to both, for the record; black backgrounds for some reason make it 
hard for me to read prose text.

>>> * I found the floating menu disconcerting at first, since it hides
>>> text - I thought it was a bug. It took me a while to figure out it is
>>> a live menu. Could its function as a menu be indicated? Perhaps the
>>> categories could be arranged in a bar at the top of each screen -

I still find the floating menu disconcerting, and worry a bit about 
accessibility. Generally, I prefer plain ol' links over live menus, it 
seems more in keeping with the "simplicity" theme.

--Mel

---------------------

Original text:

The award-winning Sugar Learning Platform promotes collaborative 
learning through Sugar Activities that encourage critical thinking, the 
heart of a quality education. Designed from the ground up especially for 
children, Sugar offers an alternative to traditional “office-desktop” 
software.

Sugar is the core component of a worldwide effort to provide every child 
with equal opportunity for a quality education. Sugar is used every 
school day by almost one-million children in more than forty countries.
Originally developed for the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 netbook, Sugar 
runs on most computers. Sugar is free and open-source software—try it 
with a child today.

----

a first translation into Simple English (see 
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Simple_English_Wikipedia, I 
used the 1500-word list; computer, open-source, and some proper nouns 
like "Sugar Learning Platform" and "One Laptop Per Child" are the only 
words not on that list.):

The Sugar Learning Platform is software that helps children learn 
together. Exploring programs called Sugar Activities teaches them how to 
think about thinking, the most important part of a good education. Sugar 
  is designed for children, unlike "office software" designed for adults.

Sugar is the first part of a project to give every child around the 
world the same chance at a good education. Sugar is used every school 
day by almost one million children in more than forty countries. Made in 
the past for the One Laptop Per Child computer, Sugar now works on most 
computers. Sugar is free and open-source software - try it with a child 
today.