Improvements to the Introduction page

[aronowski]

Improving the introductory section on Qubes OS website - general thread for ideas and open discussion.

1st diagram

Our website currently does have a diagram that is made to present a newcomer a perspective, on what are qubes and their roles, e.g. that sys-net handles the networking stack, or that dom0 is the administrative console, or that qubes run different operating systems.

However, I think that a newcomer might be overwhelmed by the current presentation, and therefore I created a draft of a diagram, which I would present a newcomer instead. Here's the draft:

While it simplifies the whole deal by omitting details such as the networking stack bound to sys-net, I believe the first impression should be as simple as possible for the user to get an idea, what is the concept of Qubes OS.

By that concept I mean that it's not strictly about virtualization, but compartmentalization. I've seen here how useful and example could be, so a user imagines having multiple laptops for distinct tasks, but all the magic happens on one physical laptop.

The draft I attached is a loose concept on what I wanted do present and I'm surprised how much appreciation it got. I have a strong feeling that it can be improved, but as of right now I only have these ideas:

• how to present the fact that certain qubes are offline? Would a red X or a crossed out Wi-Fi connection icon/Ethernet port metaphor work well?
• does the metaphor of the big laptop (which contains the smaller ones) being a hypervisor work well?
• do not yet present details such as the stacks handled by the qubes, or which operating system they run by default, or anything else that goes deep into the current implementation, rather than the general ideas - maybe even instead of the qubes' names we could use something generic, like "secure top-secret storage", "service console", "network router", "firewall", "your work machine", "your personal deals", "your random web browsing"?
• maybe ensure that dom0 is somehow presented with an emphasis on the fact that it's the administrative console for the other small laptops (how?)
• let's leave out the Whonix qubes, since this I would put in a section, which is about privacy in Qubes OS, rather than the general introduction to Qubes OS
• and naturally do not mention at all the management qubes.

What the current diagram presents well

The current diagram does present well the details, but maybe we could reimagine it with the concept above and put the new one somewhere else, where more technical details are presented?

For instance, take my draft and add the operating systems' logos or even desktops with the default wallpapers to the small laptops. Or have the sys-net laptop an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi connection symbol blatantly visible and oversized, so they match the height of the actual small laptop. Or have dom0 have a crown on top of the small laptop? Or have an icon of a secret agent in a suit and glasses guarding the vault laptop?

2nd diagram

This one.

It's more about qube organization and what they can touch ("data flows"), so maybe we could reuse the diagrams we already have, where personas with the names: Alice, Bob and Carol present their organization?

They also fit the style of the website better IMHO. The current diagram looks a bit out of place.

The "Made to support vulnerable users and power users alike" paragraph

The paragraph currently shows a picture of a high resolution desktop with the windows. However, maybe for the context of, as we say there:

a place where you can click on links, open attachments

we could use a user-friendly comic that demonstrates, what are disposables?

The concept of a disposable is that a fresh machine gets created, something is done on it, like reading a suspicious website or opening a suspicious file, and then it gets destroyed.

How we could present this with the laptop metaphor? Maybe we could have a drawing of a person dressed in a wizard robe with stars on it, a witch hat and having a magic wand, standing next to their work laptop (conveniently presented as a blue shape like the default work qube), who:

1. creates a red (as it's for disposable qubes) laptop with their wand in one hand, which when created stays on their other hand and has a "disp1234" name on it somewhere, maybe where normally a keyboard is
2. says that they're about to open a file like "CV.pdf", maybe even show it on the laptop screen as an icon with a caption?
3. gets a shocked face/reaction and the laptop shows something like a sad face pictogram with the text "PWNED"
4. says "No big deal, it's isolated from my work laptop" and uses their wand to make the infected laptop disappear?

Each of the points I would present as a different comic pane.

I would not at this point present in any way that that disposable qube could be made to be offline, as I find it going too much into the details of security, rather than the concept of disposables.

[andrewdavidwong]

general thread for ideas and open discussion.

While I appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to contribute to the project, please note that the issue tracker (qubes-issues) is not intended to serve as a discussion venue. Instead, we've created a designated forum for discussion and support. (By contrast, the issue tracker is more of a technical tool intended to support our developers in their work.) Thank you for your understanding!

[aronowski]

Apologies for the organizational dilemma I may have created, Andrew.

Please, let me know, if I should close this ticket and rewrite it according to the template we already have, or handle this even more optimally.

[andrewdavidwong]

No worries. Since it's a website/documentation issue, let's see what @unman thinks.