First concept for a refreshed orchardcore.net

[buzznick]

We've been working on a discovery and a first cut of a new design for orchardcore.net, and we'd like to share it and hear what you think before we take it any further.

Here's the preview: https://orchardcorewebsite.blob.core.windows.net/demo/v1/index.html

This is a design concept, not a finished delivery. The code behind it isn't optimised or built for production; it's only there so we can all look at the same thing and talk about the direction. The proper build comes later.

A few things on the page are still placeholder, the "used by" logos, the showcase sites, the stats and the demo link, so please don't read too much into those. They'll be real in the build. Right now we're after feedback on the overall direction.

Who it's for

The discovery pointed to two groups, and we kept both in mind throughout.

The main audience is .NET developers. They've already chosen .NET and are deciding what to build on next. They tend to evaluate quickly, trust other developers more than marketing, and want to know whether the project is active, what the code looks like, how to get started, and how it compares to the .NET tools they already know.

The second group is the people who fund or approve those decisions: agency owners, product leads, CTOs, and the clients who get told an agency has picked Orchard Core. They don't usually write code, but they decide whether Orchard Core is considered at all, so they need to feel it's a safe, sensible choice.

The thinking behind it

We're a developer community without many designers, so it's worth saying why we made these calls, not just what they were.

We also wanted it to feel connected to Orchard Core as it is today. A completely different style would be jarring the moment someone moves from the site to the admin, so we used the current admin UI as our reference. We adapted the colour tones and the typography a little, but tried to keep them close enough that the site and the product still feel related.

We went for a clean, modular layout, a handful of self-contained sections that each do one job. It suits a modular product, it's easy to scan, and it will be easy to extend later without turning into a mess.

The palette is built around Orchard Core's green, kept calm and natural, with warm off-white backgrounds that alternate to give the page some rhythm. No loud gradients or trends. We wanted it to feel mature and trustworthy, which matters to a cautious buyer as much as to a developer.

We used very few icons on purpose. They're easy to overuse and often ambiguous, and they leave the reader guessing what each one means, so we leaned on plain headings and short text instead.

We also kept photography to a minimum. Stock photos tend to look generic and staged, and they don't really suit a developer product, so we used real things instead: admin screenshots, the actual top contributors pulled from GitHub, and simple typographic layouts.

Comparing against Umbraco and ABP

Most people weighing up Orchard Core compare it with Umbraco, the closest CMS, and ABP, the closest application framework, so rather than pretend that doesn't happen, we added a short comparison.

It sticks to plain facts: what each one is, what it's best at, how it's licensed, and how it's governed. We were careful not to talk the others down. Umbraco and ABP are both excellent, and the table is only there to show where Orchard Core sits, as the option that is both a CMS and an application framework, open source, with no paid tier, and community-led. If you spot anything inaccurate or unfair in there, please say so.

What we want it to do

Two goals shaped everything. The first is to get more people installing and trying Orchard Core, so we made it easy to copy a command, try the live demo, or jump to the docs and be up and running in a few minutes. The second is to reassure the business side that Orchard Core is a solid, low-risk choice: free with no paid tier or hidden module fees, community-led and .NET Foundation backed, more than fifteen years old, with clear answers to the cost, hiring and longevity questions a buyer tends to ask. There's a small "For Businesses / For Developers" toggle so each reader can see the points that matter to them.

Feedback

This is a first direction, not a finished site, and we'll keep refining it together. Does it feel like Orchard Core to you? Is anything missing that you'd need to evaluate it or recommend it to a client? Is the comparison fair? And please shout if anything reads like marketing fluff or a claim we can't back up.

With 3.0 just shipped, this feels like a good moment to refresh the site, so once we're happy with the direction we'd like to get a version live fairly soon rather than let it sit.

[Piedone]

I think this is generally really good, also the content. Did you incorporate feedback from yesterday's meeting?

[buzznick]

Not changed anything yet, will update shortly.

[buzznick]

I have now added OpenID Connect into the features and 2 factor auth in the security bullet points in the why choose orchard core section. Again this wording is just placeholder and once built can be updated to anything. I checked the image and can confirm that it is Vancouver and the tower is the Vancouver Lookout tower.

[Piedone]

Thank you!

[Skrypt]

https://github.com/OrchardCMS/OrchardCore?tab=BSD-3-Clause-1-ov-file#readme
Licence is not MIT as mentioned.
Side story; funny, because I worked on the Wings Over Water website a couple years ago.
Also these cards are not redirecting on the websites.

100% better than the actual site. Approved!

[buzznick]

Thanks, will update the licence text. We haven't added the actual links yet, these are just place holder items.

[buzznick]

I have now updated the licence on the design.

[buzznick]

Thanks everyone for the feedback on the first concept, it was really helpful.

One thing stood out: almost all of it was about content rather than design. To me that is a good sign. It tells me the overall look, layout, and direction are landing well, and the things to refine are mostly wording and detail, which we always expected to change.

Extending the theme to the rest of the site

This is a rebrand, not just a new home page, so the look and feel needs to carry across the whole site. To show that, I have put together two more designs:

• Orchard Harvest: https://orchardcorewebsite.blob.core.windows.net/demo/v1/harvest-upcoming.html

• Orchard Harvest, pre-event version: https://orchardcorewebsite.blob.core.windows.net/demo/v1/harvest-pre.html

• Try Orchard Core (redesign): https://orchardcorewebsite.blob.core.windows.net/demo/v1/try.html

The goal is a consistent look and feel across the board, so wherever someone lands they know it is the same project.

I kept each one as its own single page rather than folding them into the main site. Each page has a single focus and a different goal, and keeping them separate lets each do its one job well:

• Orchard Harvest is about getting people to buy a ticket, and giving them what they need to make the case to their company. It is built in a modular way, so the content can change as the event moves through its stages. For example the pre-event version (linked above) is aimed at attracting sponsors and getting people to submit a talk, which then becomes the ticket-selling version closer to the date.
• Try Orchard Core is about giving people the confidence to spin up a demo site, and explaining how it works so they know what to expect.

What I am after

As before, please do not focus on the wording. That will change. What I would value most is feedback on the design and the flow of each page: does the journey make sense, is anything in the wrong order, does it feel like part of the same site as the home page.

What is next

Now that Orchard Core 3.0 is out, we want to start building the theme and aim to get this live in the next week or two so we can really promote it. So this is a good moment for any last thoughts on direction before we move into the build.

[Piedone]

Overally, still great. And with the Harvest page, frankly something we badly need. Hopefully we can get this rolled out quick enough so it can have an affect, like in July? A couple of quick notes:

1. I'd use the light logo variation in the header. We're not that serious :).
2. One not about the wording still: please use US English. The colonists have won :D.

[agriffard]

Suggestion: We should use the language of the country that will win the Football world cup (Sorry for Italian speakers).