You are not the only one who is dissatisfied with the current docs homepage design. It was up-to-date at the time it was introduced. But it is just “out of time” according to today’s expectations. Visually, you can argue about it, but the structure and the implementation are still solid and flexibly customizable.
Similar is true for other parts of the Fedora website, as well. Fedora launched a “Fedora website revamp” project last November. The project has started first with the download pages (see Fedora Workstation Front Page Revamp (first cut, looking for feedback!) - #34 by maiki ). The project will gradually renew the design of the complete Fedora website. But this is a huge step and takes some time.
Therefore, we agreed not to put energies into the design now, which will be changed in a year or so for all Fedora sites anyway. But we will have to make some adjustments as we transition content. Your suggestions and feedback are welcome. Hopefully we can implement one or the other of your proposals while adjusting the interim solution and improve it further.
So, in the long run it will be something like no 1 of your proposals, and hopefully no 3 in the short term.