Talk:Main Page/New Design

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[edit] Proposal of new design/skin

A made a project of new layout for Main Page. Look at it please and comment it. I know that it probably needs some color nudging and perhaps rearrangement of some links, but even now it looks magnificient to me.

How it looks? Like merge of Nostalgia and Cologne Blue skins with consensus of old and new designs. A key to success were smaller fonts.

Image:New-wikipedia-layout.jpg
Click to enlarge

And here is article page layout:

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

Give it a chance folks. If someone actually wants to implement it I could send a PSD file with all the layers for easy manipulation.
Forseti 12:37, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hi, Forseti, I'm interested in implementing it for testing purposes. Just send me a message to ew[+]ewsoftware[-]de. Thanks. -- Eckhart Wörner
Done, Forseti 09:29, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Anyone who would like to see how this could look like in html can do this here and here. -- Eckhart Wörner 20:25, 20 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I like it. It definitely looks a lot more 'professional' which (as I have said before) I think is quite important. Not sure how easy it would be to implement though. The software treats the main page the same as any other page on the site, including the links in the side bar, so without changing the software we can't change the side links. Also, it would need to be implemented as a new skin to affect the page outside of the main content. I think this would be good, but how would the content look in other skins? If it is implemented, it should replace the default skin (with the default being kept as 'Wikipedia Classic') as it is primarily aimed at new users who won't have created an account yet.
I reckon a lot of people will be against the design because it uses more graphics and table code, but I don't see that as a problem. Let's see what people think though... --HappyDog 12:53, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Graphics is not a problem - this layout adds only 5 pics, all of which are below 20*20 pixels. Would be about 2-3 kB in GIF. BTW: why tables are bad? -- Forseti 09:29, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I believe that all main articles on the English wikipedia should receive a newer design -- kind of like that of the newer main page, which looks pretty good. I am for the Main Page/Forseti Idea. Wikigreat 16:08, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Wow. I'm in love... Please, even if only as an optional skin, someone implement this! -- Kwekubo 23:38, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I agree. Forseti's design is not only aesthetically beautiful, it is functional and is faithful to the spirit of an encyclopedia -- categories and reference, but it still has interesting entry points for current events, to make it link to what's happening today, now. How quickly can it be done? :) Fuzheado 06:05, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Feedback

It looks cute, but I'm not sure what it is supposed to be. A skin? A Main Page? Both? Which features of the site are supposed to be permanent navigational elements, which are supposed to be editable? Do you want the sidebars to be editable? If so, what is shown in their place on pages other than the Main Page?

The only actual content which we could transfer from this design to our current one is in the middle: the list of topics. I have explained in detail on Talk:Main Page why it is a bad idea to place so much emphasis on structure to gain readers.

As for the skin, this has to be implemented on the code level. There is no template system. The design in this mock-up is too confused about what it wants to be to be of much use in designing a new skin, though.

Forseti, you clearly have good design skills. I encourage you to come up with a page-independent skin mock-up, which should also be compatible with most browsers. Then we can talk about what it takes to implement that proposal. You may want to talk to User:Tarquin, who has also done some work in that area.—Eloquence 06:15, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

It's a design of Main Page. The links on yellow field should be permanent and on blue line below - dependent on page status (protected pages disallow editing for example) but presented independently of skin. Preferably skins would change the colors and other trivia only as opposed to current skins that significantly change the link repertoire. So for now forget about skins (I mentioned them because I borrowed some ideas from Classic and Cologne) and assume it is layout design.
Yes, different layouts could be done, but a) they should be skinnable too (so that one can change the colors if he can't stand them), b) they should be clearly targeted at 'casual readers', 'professional academics', 'serious writers' and so forth. But this isn't too important IMHO and could be eventually be done later, if really needed.
Back to this design: Essentially yellow topmost part should be permanent navigational elements, all below - subject for edit. Frankly, I think that the sidebars on Main Page need some serious CMS system that would make all the edits on Main Page for users. Manual edits would be disallowed so as not to mess things in all that tables and markup.
As for 'what in place of sidebars on other pages?' question, I have two proposals: 1. instead of blue sidebar there could be present toolbar (this from Cologne Blue is especially exhaustive) and red toolbar could vanish - eighter allowing article text to spread in its place or making whitespace. 2. blue sidebar - as above, red one - See also and External Links sections (or other useful links to the article). In case of second proposal, edit form for articles should change - instead of one textarea there should be one for article proper and one for each section on red sidebar. Mix and mold this proposals to your liking.
I agree that some things should be done at code level. Probably yellow part should be hardcoded. Also, I introduced 'Wikipedia News' section because I feel that 1. there is need for some gateway to the community on main page, 2. even old design lacked a place that would outline the most important current community proceedings like announcements, polls, debates etc.
Sidebars should be easy. They are intended to contain current {{msg:itn}} and similar tags. However current code would have to be modified somewhat: smaller pics and fonts should be presented. All else is HTML & CSS coding.
Please, tell me what exactly this mock-up should be. While I've done WWW coding I'm not accustomed to this terminology. Do you want working sample webpage like those on Main Page/Temp but static?
I'll make some projects in spare time, but now I'm too busy.
Forseti 08:35, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I really like the look of it. Not sure about all the layout changes, but I do like the top bar. The main page proposal looks very nice, the only problem I have with it is that it uses the sidebars in a way that's different from regular articles, which might be confusing... specific visual elements should have the same function everywhere. Fredrik 13:51, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Yummy. Looks very professional and unique, which is, of course, important if we wish to attract more Wikipedians. [ alerante | “” 20:47, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC) ]

love it. Great use of curved edges, inverse space, color and spacing. can we implement something like this? +sj+ 06:40, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] looks, but nothing new

[edit] Colours

Kingdom, Pylum, Class, Order, FAMILY, Genus, Species......... Doesn't matter the example, but Merlin is a good one. If I search tat way am I looking for real or fiction? Old or new? If I could even cut that in half like black and white, black and white is how its cut and doesn't even exist.

I can't design, but am I looking for a lead of my direction, the blue there and red not, could lead to an easy colourfull split in subjects would be much nicer than there or not and even possibly a classifaction all the same, but a way you can tell real or theory, black, white or gray...

The question I have is, being lots of colours in the world, why are red and blue the black and white of this world, everything I want can be any shade of gray................


  Have Fun

James

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