There's a lot of talk going on here about "User focus" which is absolutely great. In the 15 years of Wine development, we've accrued quite a large user base (myself included; I've never even written a patch for Wine, and only started using Wine 5-6 years ago). Perhaps these questions need to be answered:
Q 1) What do users want to see on the site? Q 2) What do we *want* the users to see on the site? Q 3) What *will* the users see when they visit the site?
I propose the following answers:
A 1) Some download (or instructions to download something) that makes all their Windows programs work nicely, fluff their pillows and make them a good cup of cocoa. Regular visitors would want to see signs of project activity (such as the WWN or the 2-weekly release notices) A 2) The FAQ (and other useful information) A 3) The eye is drawn to the big white box in the square that says "Information, Download, Help" etc. Most users will likely click on the "Download" link straight away, but maybe while it's downloading they'll take a look at the "Information". The buttons at the top are secondary and at the moment, not likely to be noticed by a first-time visitor.
This is coming from someone who's answered a lot of questions in #winehq that are answered quite well by the FAQ.
I think the proposed layout is good overall. Both the original proposition linked to by Jeremy and Cesar's modifications have pros and cons, and are IMO a vast improvement on the current winehq site.
The rest of my two cents: - Keep the "buttons" to the sub-sites at the top right. Visible, but out of the way at the same time - Keep the news items on the front page brief and have a dedicated news/archive page for full details - Scrap the "latest releases" section (only kidding, but it's about the only thing so far that hasn't been objected to in some way) - Less wine, more beer! (Or in .de, weniger wein, mehr bier!)