Forum:New main page design?

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Version 1

Aaron from WikiaNY has been working on a new Main Page design. The key idea is to make it less confusing for new visitors and to help get them to stay and explore Wikia. So the design is simplified, with clearer links to categories and less choices overall. So here it is so far.... <drumroll>... what do you think?

Not bad, but where do the wikizines and the collabo of the month go? --LordTBT ^Talk! 22:00, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

What about the WikiaHighlights, tabs, and sidebar? By stripping down the mainpage like that you remove all the things like the Wikia box, The other parts of the Help area, the recentchanges link, the edit, history, move, and watch. Not to mention that the removal of the tab bar and sidebar will remove the Searchswitch and Tabmenus such as the Wikiswitch which I setup to help other users around. That's more like making a new skin. ~Dantman^(talk) tricks Mar 27, 2007 _@ 04:52 ^(UTC)

My thought on this (when asked by the main page re-designers) was to have this type of new main page load when you go to www.wikia.com (as a sort of portal rather that an actual wiki "Main Page" page, like when you go to www.wikipedia.org), in which case Wikia would not be affected as the main community page for central. This then would be the default for any link to www.wikia.com or www.wikia.com/wiki/, but any links to www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia (or to anything that happens that normally goes to MediaWiki:Mainpage, such as logging in, or clicking the logo) would go to the existing page. However, this is just my opinion. Not sure if it is feasable. --Splarka (talk) 05:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Dantman, but are all those things needed on the main page? So many links, so many options, it's hard for new people to see where they should go first. My idea for this is similar to Splarka's, I too think we need a "Community Main page" and a "casual browser main page". The latter should be in the most obvious place for new people to land on the site, but I'm not sure where that would be. But all those things missing from this version (recent changes, Wikia box etc.) would just be one extra click away. I think it would work -- Sannse 11:25, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

It makes sense. It's missing that link to the current central wikia's main page though.--Rataube 15:16, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

It's good for a portal, like Wikimedia's portal, but as the main page of Central Wikia...I'd say no. But as that's a portal design, it's good. :) --Jack Phoenix _(Contact) 16:09, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I like Splarka's idea. I think it's possible to do that but MediaWiki:Mainpage would probably have to be something like portalpage:. That would be a redirected interwiki link to the portal page. Then the link to the Main Page in the sidebar could be changed to link to Wikia and the image link could go to Wikia too. I think that a page could be created at http://www.wikia.com/portal/index.php or something and that will transclude http://www.wikia.com/index.php?title=Wikia:Portal&action=render or wherever it could be edited. Then proper (X)HTML code could be placed around it to make it (X)HTML valid. Of course, the PHP of http://www.wikia.com/skins/MonoBook.php and the other skins will have to be changed for the link to go to http://www.wikia.com/portal/index.php. --Leon:2323 | SMARTSIG | Contribs 01:55, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

…and the portal page would be able to be edited via wiki markup at Wikia:Portal. --Leon:2323 | SMARTSIG | Contribs 01:57, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

My idea needs none of that. Look at what Wikimedia does: They have templates on meta, like m:Www.wikipedia.org_template, that simply supply the HTML for the root domains, such as http://www.wikipedia.org/ (compare to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/ which redirects to en.wikipedia.org's MediaWiki:Mainpage). So, simply, Wikia would (could) be split into a non-wiki globally oriented page at www.wikia.com (which is currently a redirect) and a central community type page, somewhere like Wikia:Community Portal (defined in MediaWiki:Mainpage). Also, the portal would most likely be hosted on wikia-inc.com so no non-staff could accidentally edit it if there were a protection failure. --Splarka (talk) 03:41, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I like both of the first two versions. :) Jeb 03:29, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Version 2

Here's one I've been working on. -- BillK (talk) 06:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Splarka: The problem with that is that http://www.wikia.com/wiki/ doesn't actually exist, it's just an alias for http://www.wikia.com/index.php which is the default page for the root directory. Therefore, if someone accesses http://www.wikia.com/, they will go to http://www.wikia.com/index.php (their browser however, thinks that it's at http://www.wikia.com/wiki) and goes straight to the wiki. So MediaWiki:Mainpage has to contain the new main page. --Leon:2323 | SMARTSIG | Contribs 12:55, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and I like the mockup that BillK made. --Leon:2323 | SMARTSIG | Contribs 12:56, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

If you put that whole right column (search, mailing list, explore, etc) on the left side, I'd like it better. --LordTBT ^Talk! 22:50, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I really like this one. But, I think the Collaboration of the Month should be mentioned on the main page. What is the point of having a COM if no one knows what it is? People shouldn't have to through pages just to find out what it is. I think this is the best one yet. Swannie^{talk to me} 13:25, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Version 3

Hi All - With this version, we've updated the look of the homepage and tried to incorporate your feedback and comments. We continue to focus on capturing the attention of newbies/visitors to get them to search, join or explore content and communities. Compared to the current homepage, choices are much reduced while still leaving the page dynamic and with lots to click on. Many community related activities are represented via the "Right now people are..." and "Other people have been searching for..." boxes. The featured wiki remains and the search box is highlighted in yellow. Also presented for the first time are hubs, which are specialized content portals (category pages just aren't very friendly for newbies). Examples of the first two content portals are gaming and health. More to follow. The logo is also new (but not final) and the picture is a placeholder for now. Ultimately we'd like to have pictures of actual community members in this spot -- but that's a bit harder to do. Thanks, -- BillK (Wikia Staff) (talk) 23:14, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

General

These are going in the right direction and more inviting. I think I lean toward No. 2 or 3. I like the picture of people in No. 3 and the "right now." In No. 2, I like the big buttons.

But I'd also suggest midlevel introduction for people who know little or nothing about wikis or Wikia. I think they need more than a paragraph but less than a tutorial -- so maybe a length somewhere between three paragraphs and one page. Maurreen 09:28, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Tweaked above comments. Maurreen 09:33, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I really like Version 2. I like the big buttons as well as the sections. I agree with Maurreen about having an introduction, and I agree that it should be more than one paragraph. Swannie^{talk to me} 13:19, 31 July 2007 (UTC)