The Omeka home site is very nicely designed and implemented. It features both video and text instructions as well as easy access to forums and other support areas. I found it inviting and easy to use.
Eprints presents me with an overwhelming amount of information on the home page and as I go deeper in any given direction, I have the sense that I'm getting lost and that all these layers are just glommed on to each other. It is a much more confusing site than Omeka, perhaps reflective of the age and complexity of the Eprints platform itself. It's pretty utilitarian in a way, but not in a really good way, to my taste. It does give me a sense that this is a very BIG platform with a lot going on, which is a good thing. I think Eprints is due for a major overhaul of it's website.
DSpace.org has a much more spacious and inviting atmosphere. The left column menu bar gives an early indication of the DSpace platform interface and the News and Upcoming events column at right give a sense of an active user community. The placement of the New User features front and center engenders a sense of welcome for prospective newcomers. The weakest point in the DSpace platform seems to be support. The User Forum has been down for at least weeks and the DSpace wiki has been in the process of cleanup after migration for as long. I personally feel lost in the DSpace support area and this single fact may mean the difference between using DSpace for my repository and using it.
Drupal shows its strong points right from the home page. The design is clean, but contains lots of information. It offers good reasons to use Drupal with all the Modules, Themes, Active Developers, etc. etc. It also welcomes new users with a get started button and gives a feel for the active community of Drupal users with the various News, Updates, Forum Posts and Commits (sp?). The slogan is very persuasive: "Drupal: Come for the software, stay for the community" - wow. Indeed, there is a huge Drupal Community and it is easy to access and very active. Hmmm, maybe I need to reconsider Drupal as an option, now that I think about it!
JHOVE is pretty bare-bones and technical-looking. Which is probably a valid reflection of JHOVE in general. You have to be a geek to hang with JHOVE. PKP Harvester has a much friendlier design, interface and implementation. There are a couple support options, through manuals or discussion forms and although the information is dense, the organization of the site really helps navigate through so much information.
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