Forum:Link needed to "Home" page

Link to home page
From time to time I try to figure out what would help new users better navigate any particular wiki.

It seems the simplest tool would be a link to the "Home" page. Right now there is no "Home" page link on any Wikia wiki.

Most websites have a "Home" page link on every page of the site. The word "Home" is key since it is the common word almost every web user knows. Even non-English speakers are familiar with that word on websites.

At my main wiki users come from around the world, and they probably come mainly from Google searches. That is the common way users come to my websites. They usually come to particular pages, and not to the Main Page (the home page for most Wikia wikis).

I suggest adding the word "Home" next to the Main Page link found on every page. --Timeshifter 13:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is. It's called by the wiki name for search engine ranking reasons. Plus, there's always another link on the wiki logo.--AB 13:29, 25 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, but people don't know that the main page of a particular wiki is the home page. It is "Wikia-speak." And they may not even find the main page. Adding "Home" next to the Wikia name will not effect search engine ranking. Only if it were substituted. "Home" could be added next to the Wikia Main Page name in the sidebar. The logo would stay the same. --Timeshifter 18:00, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

Try this: *mainpage|Home -najevi 04:11, 26 July 2009 (UTC)
 * open MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar for edit
 * change the the line that reads
 * to
 * to
 * mainpage|
 * Save and then check the sidebar for your new "Home" link.


 * Thanks, Najevi! I combined the two into


 * *mainpage| home


 * See my reply to mendel below.


 * How do I change the text color just for "mainpage" text in the sidebar?

On Wikipedia, Home is an article. So your suggestions entails that clicking on a link called "Home" would not actually take you to the page titled "Home", and that is actually often a bad idea. -- ◄mendel► 09:55, 26 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Good point. I combined it into "Weedwiki home". --Timeshifter 18:35, 26 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I have since changed it to


 * *mainpage|Cannabis Wiki home


 * See http://cannabis.wikia.com/wiki/MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar and the "SITENAME" talk section farther down. --Timeshifter 18:10, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Text color for mainpage link

 * I investigate HTML elements, ids, names and classes by viewing the page source. In Firefox that's Ctrl+U. A handy browser add-on for FF is Firebug. With Firebug you can interactively inspect page elements, CSS and javscript on a page using a friendlier GUI. (... plus a whole lot more!)
 * Back to your question - the first link in the Monaco-sidebar navigation menu has the unique ID: a-menu-item_1 e.g.
 * Semantic MediaWiki Test Wiki
 * So if you add a style for #a-menu-item_1 via the MediaWiki:Monaco.css file then you ought to achieve what you ask for. -najevi 00:49, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


 * So if I add the style to my wiki's MediaWiki:Monaco.css, then is that all I need to do? Help:Customizing Monaco is not clear to me.


 * I have a lot more to learn about CSS. Do I just paste one style line into MediaWiki:Monaco.css?


 * I have Firebug installed. I haven't really started to use it though. --Timeshifter 04:40, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The bit of code given by Najevi is not CSS but HTML.
 * In the CSS file, you need a rule like the following if you want to change how the link looks like :

some style some style ... }
 * 1) a-menu-item_1 {
 * — TulipVorlax 07:34, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Here's what you do: add this for red: See Help:Color for color names you can use and a link to the "color wheel". -- ◄mendel► 09:02, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * 1) a-menu-item_1 { color:red; }


 * Thanks, TulipVorlax and mendel. I recognize the HTML stuff. I am vaguely beginning to understand the CSS stuff. I tried adding the following to my wiki's MediaWiki:Monaco.css.


 *  #a-menu-item_1 { color:red; } 


 * Colored text did not show up in the sidebar. I also did a hard refresh of Firefox. Still nothing.


 * I then changed to "Monaco custom" in my preferences (skin tab) in the admins option section. I did another hard refresh of Firefox, and still no colored text in the sidebar.


 * I then experimented further in my personal CSS page at my wiki: User:Timeshifter/monaco.css


 * After a couple hours of experimentation, reading, and Firebug analysis I found out that this works:


 *  #menu-item_1 a { color:red; } 


 * If you go to the main page on my wiki, and do a hard refresh, then you will see that the main page link in the navigation sidebar is now red. I got some of my best ideas from Forum:Sidebar color problem. --Timeshifter 16:30, 27 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Now that is really weird: either the IDs have changed recently, or the rule with ID only wasn't specific enough. CSS selects on what rules to apply based on criteria that aren't always simple to understand. -- ◄mendel► 09:51, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

SITENAME
How does one change what pulls up? It currently pulls up the name "WeedWiki"

I removed it from several places and substituted "Cannabis Wiki" since that is a more internationally understood name.

See: Help:Wiki configuration --Timeshifter 18:07, 27 July 2009 (UTC)