[WikiEN-l] Fwd: [Foundation-l] Do you want to write pages that thousands of people see every day?

[FT2]

I like the video, Sage.  Good text, crisp clear delivery, decent video
appearance.

One thing I'd change is, watch again the bit around 1:25 - 1:37 covering
"stuff you might want to know about before editing". A new user hearing that
long list could well go "oh my god" and be discouraged. A link to a long
text page like "ABOUT" has become, is also not easy for most newcomers
(users here are not typical of newcomers).

Overall it's *crucial* to keep  the "list of stuff to learn" easy and
light.  I think MediaWiki needs a built-in generic popup-and-dismiss
function, so that information pages can have icons and text where more
information appears only if needed (with a "close" icon), allowing lower
text density.

This could be a useful resource too:- I wrote [[Wikipedia:Expectations and
norms of the Wikipedia
community<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Expectations_and_norms_of_the_Wikipedia_community>]]
as a quick attempt to explain the basis of how we work, and our norms *as a
community* in concise form, in a style specifically to make sense to
newcomers.

It covers almost all usual expectations and the rational foundation of the
community, in a reasonable space. If it could be made even easier (less
text? graphical? popups for detail?) then it could be useful material for
this discussion.

FT2




On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 8:19 PM, Sage Ross <ragesoss+wikipedia at gmail.com>wrote:

> Since it's a WMF holiday and I can do whatever I want with my time, I
> made one too.  ;)
>
>
> http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Account_Creation_Improvement_Project/Testing_content/Landing_page/Video_walkthrough
>
> Like FT2, I welcome  any edits to make it look better.  And feedback
> about the content is of course welcome too.  I can always do more
> takes with revised scripts.
>
> -Sage
>
> On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 9:16 AM, Lennart Guldbrandsson
> <wikihannibal at gmail.com> wrote:
> > This is good. I'll make sure we'll test this as well.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Lennart
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 2011/2/21 FT2 <ft2.wiki at gmail.com>
> >
> >> I'm not usually one for graphic design, so this could probably do with
> >> improving and relevant links adding.
> >>
> >> I've added a version that could be helpful at
> >>
> >>
> http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Account_Creation_Improvement_Project/Testing_content/Landing_page/mod2
> >>
> >> What I'm hoping to address are:
> >>
> >>   1. Layouts "original version" and "redesign" are too close to "wall of
> >>   text" for many newcomers. Even though they are simple short bullet
> lists
> >>   with icons, I'm concerned they'll skip it. A better layout and a few
> >> brief
> >>   bullets may do better and also be more informative.
> >>
> >>   2. The audience is people who want to get involved, so an overview
> they
> >>   can come back to might be helpful. I have assumed this page is linked
> >> from
> >>   the toolkit so they can always find it.
> >>
> >>   3. It might be better to have a link for "editing", and save the
> mention
> >>   of policies there. At the start a user needs to know the basics, that
> >> some
> >>   stuff will be ok and some won't, and "click here to find out which".
> Then
> >>   they are reading it *by choice* and it'll probably be more "sticky" as
> a
> >>   result.
> >>
> >>   Words like "policies" may tend to overwhelm or frighten many of those
> we
> >>   want to engage.
> >>
> >>   4. The section for "readers" also includes* "Reading, or want to make
> >>   improvements and corrections?" *The *unstated thought *is that a
> reader
> >>   will also be someone who might want to make a small correction. Gut
> feel
> >>   says that a major route is readers who are then tempted to make their
> >> first
> >>   correction, or who need to know they *can *think of it. I'd like to
> see
> >>   the effect of including "making a small improvement or correction" *as
> >>   part of info for end-users*, not just keeping it separate.
> >>
> >>   Not technically accurate but may be effective this way, as "editing"
> >>   could be felt as overwhelming (initially) where "make a small
> correction"
> >>   may be perceived as empowering.  Many people may think "someone should
> >> fix
> >>   that" and despite all our pages, not fully realize the "someone" is
> >> allowed
> >>   to be *them*.
> >>
> >>   5. *I have not put links in yet.* I would not make individual words,
> >>   lines, or sentences a link. Link proliferation is a distraction, we
> found
> >>   that out in the record 2010 fundraiser. Make each section (except the
> >> last)
> >>   to be *one* link clickable anywhere. Unfortunately (bug
> >> 18640<https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18460>)
> >>   the <a href...> html tag can't be used yet in markup, otherwise I'd
> make
> >> the
> >>   entirety of each cell a single link to some (short) relevant subpage.
> >>
> >>   I'd actually like it done via a popup, that appears when you click a
> cell
> >>   for information. That's more classy and suited to the richer interface
> of
> >>   other modern websites, but outside my skills. Anyone else know where I
> >> can
> >>   find a basic "click this and get a dismissible popup" DIV class? :)
> >>
> >>   6. Should contain something interesting and engaging too :)
> >>
> >>
> >> Feedback and any design-related questions welcomed!
> >> Not sure where to link this from/to though.
> >>
> >> FT2
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Lennart Guldbrandsson, Fellow of the Wikimedia Foundation and chair of
> > Wikimedia Sverige // Wikimedia Foundation-stipendiat och ordförande för
> > Wikimedia Sverige
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>