Our New Website Header (& Other Tweaks)
- by justin.kestelyn
Last week, the Oracle Technology Network Website went fixed-width. There are several reasons for this, most relating to providing a consistent user experience, easier management of Website content, etc. Furthermore, it's fairly standard for developer portals these days - java.sun.com, MSDN, and IBM DeveloperWorks are also all fixed-width sites. (My apologies to everyone who is unhappy about this change, but it really is an overall positive one.)
Today, we have rolled out a brand-new header, the first step in what we call the "Mosaic" project - which is an effort to make the user experience across all Oracle Websites more consistent. To summarize the impact:
The "pull-down" menus on the OTN site disappear; most of them move into a "flyout" button in the header.
You can access the OTN flyout from any page on Oracle.com or the OTN site. Great for our page views. :) You also have direct access to the Downloads index from anywhere on Oracle.com.
If you so desire, you can directly access product overviews, Oracle University and Support info, Oracle Store, etc etc from the OTN site now.
Due to limited space in the flyout we cannot accommodate *all* the pull-down items, but they are all no more than 1 or 2 clicks away.
This approach has been validated in extensive user testing over the last few months; I welcome your feedback now in comments. There are many other changes in train, with the next one being: A major homepage redesign, the first in 4 or 5 years.
