Aaron, the design works. I love sites that look like somebody designed the grid first instead of just using what has become a standard — the 3 column web site approach.

The white text on the black menus is a touch small. To get around the harsh contrast of the white text on black you could cheat with a slightly gray text instead of white. I think you could pull it off if the text were a touch larger.

Other than that I think you’re hearing from the vocal minority. As with any redesign, people love to hate change.

On a personal note, it’s been a while! I can’t believe David Groom has gone full circle back to Novell. It’s encouraging to see any company (technology or otherwise) that understands the value of a visual brand. Cheers and good luck with it.

I can only offer my opinion as a frequent user of the web sites of technology-related companies. I assume you’ve been getting enough of these opinions already, but I’ll go ahead anyway since I’m hardly ever on a forum where my opinion is asked.

My first reaction was “Not another company that’s decided making a stunning visual impression is better than helping me get to the information I want quickly. Not another web site where everything is in motion and the menus don’t stay put. Not another web site where the use of flash on the front page gets in my face (typophile, I’m looking at you, too). Not another company where I have to figure out how to bypass the front page to get to useful content.”

[Edited after a minute more thought.]
After getting past my first reaction, I realized that there are some more specific things I can say that (perhaps) may be helpful: (1) When you design a site like this, you are facing an uphill battle because I have come to expect a flash-based site to give me in particular a bad experience. (2) There’s no content on the front page. When I visit, I’m usually looking for very specific technical information about one of your products, and the flash-based front page is at best distracting and at worst one more layer I’ve got to bypass. (3) Please make sure my scroll wheel will work inside your flash animation (even if that means not using a flash animation). My laptop screen isn’t tall enough to fit the whole site, and when my scroll wheel no longer works, it feels like you’re telling me that your design is more important than allowing me to use my computer the way I normally do.

I don’t mind the country selector—it’s good to remind residents of the United States that they can be alphabetized just like everyone else, rather than being listed first.

Having gotten all that off my chest, my layman’s perspective is that the front page looks nice. I also have a lot of sympathy for designers who want the page to be visually appealing, but it’s as if there’s a race out there for companies to show they aren’t falling behind in the race to have a bold new look. I liked the old, less-bold look, but I have come to the opinion that all these companies must have a very clear idea of who they’re trying to impress, and that person isn’t me.

Finally, I’ll also add that the version of the front page I saw first (with Javascript and Flash turned off, my default browsing setting) was... not bad. It followed the same general layout, didn’t move around, and took me to a helpful menu relatively quickly once I got over the fear that it wouldn’t. It also bypassed the language and country selection. So, as long as you keep providing a nice fall-back to those with the bells and whistles turned off, you have my blessing to go crazy with the bells and whistles.

st

On my computer your menu (second page, after going through the country stuff) is nearly unreadable. Small white type on black medium weight generally fails. Make the type bold, larger, or loose the black (there are colors out there, you know).

Another note, on many Choose your country drop down lists, I can type a letter C and go immediately to that country. On yours I had to scroll. A small thing, but a useful one if you can implement it.

I wish to thank you all for your thoughtful feedback. It has been very helpful in our post launch reviews.