CLUG Website

[Dom Latter]

simon andrews (BI) wrote:

<snip website woes>

We seem to have this conversation regularly...

> I've therefore had a go at putting together such a page.  
> 
> www.proteo.me.uk/clug/

Excellent.

Some suggestions (hey, I'm a techie, I'm supposed to quibble):

"used on everything from Desktop PCs and servers to toasters"
not forgetting supercomputers, Google, etc.  Which does raise
the question - what's the audience?  I'd be tempted to slip in
"you already use Linux - you just don't know it".

I'd surmise that most Linux users will just go ahead and sign up
anyway; therefore the gloss should be aimed at the typical PC user.

Also how about something like:
"you don't have run Linux on your PC to join.  We're happy to help
  people get to grips with Open Source alternatives like the _Firefox_
  web browser, the _Thunderbird_ email program, and the _OpenOffice_
  applications suite - even if you use Windows". [1] [2]

"Equally if you are an experienced user looking to swap advice
  with your peers, then you are of course welcome.  No question
  is too esoteric."

"If you're interested in running Linux but don't want to change
  your current setup - no problem: simply download _Ubuntu_ or
  _Puppy_ to a CD and run it in 'demo' mode, without changing your
  current system in any way".

"Using Linux is about choice: choosing a reliable and virus-free
  way of running your computer, and then choosing exactly how you
  want it to behave, rather than letting a multi-million dollar
  software company tell you.  Sometimes there are so many choices
  that you need advice: that's where we come in".

I realise that the above contains a fair amount of my own personal
philosophy which may not be shared by everyone here.  Is it over the
top?  It's very important to shy away from "religion": nobody likes
being told that they're stupid because they still run Windows...

Lastly:
"people from Cambridge" - perhaps "connected to Cambridge"?
I am not from Cambridge, and these days I spend most of my
time elsewhere.  But I'm still a Cluggy.

And really really lastly - it could probably be tarted up a bit
with some judicious CSS.  It's the sort of webpage *I* like -
clean, fast, minimal - but I'm not the typical user.  I use Linux.

[1] Which I hope reflects the attitude of the group as a whole.
[2] Underscores indicate links, if that needs explaining.