Hi everyone
As part of attempting to improve the usability of the meta pages related to the Foundation I made some quite major alterations to [[m:Template:Wikimedia]]:
*Old version: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Wikimedia&oldid=195...
*New version: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Wikimedia&oldid=195...
The intention is very simple: Think like a newbie then design the template around that. What do people want to know? Who the board is, what the budget is, how the site runs, plus make it easier for any journalists who pass by.
Second point: There's only links to the major sections in my design, not to every last page (many of which have been abandoned). Do you see Google or Yahoo or anyone else linking to every other page on their sites on every single page? No, of course not, because it's a nightmare to navigate. This is what my change reflects.
I'd like some comments. Can people put them on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Wikimedia please?
Dan
On 21/08/05, Dan Grey dangrey@gmail.com wrote:
Hi everyone...
Just a quick rider: if the current template "works", why do people complain that information is hard to find?
Remember: simpler is better. People grasp and understand simple things easily; complexity confuses, and obscures what is important.
Dan
Dan Grey wrote:
On 21/08/05, Dan Grey dangrey@gmail.com wrote:
Hi everyone...
Just a quick rider: if the current template "works", why do people complain that information is hard to find?
Remember: simpler is better. People grasp and understand simple things easily; complexity confuses, and obscures what is important.
Dan
I think the template for navigation is not really the problem. The problem is that the content of the pages is either non complete, or outdated, or just plain missing. I suggest we improve the content before any big modification of the template itself.
Ant
On 21/08/05, Anthere anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
I think the template for navigation is not really the problem. The problem is that the content of the pages is either non complete, or outdated, or just plain missing. I suggest we improve the content before any big modification of the template itself.
I disagree - in setting this up I read every page on meta related to the Foundation. With the exception of the meta budget page (redundant with the WMF wiki page - something that patently must not be edited), everything people ever desire to know is on meta. It's just buried under all the other (mostly abandoned) pages.
Think about what people want to know:
*Who runs the Foundation - the Board *Where the money gets spent - the Budget *Who does what - the Departments *How does the place work (nerd pages) - the Servers *Anything local to me? - the Chapters *I'm a journalist - Press
Have I missed anything there?
Put it another way: visit, say, http://www.volvocars.co.uk/ . Do they list links to the descriptions, prices, specs etc to every model from their front page? Of course not. Yet we do.
Why?
Dan
Dan Grey wrote:
I disagree - in setting this up I read every page on meta related to the Foundation. With the exception of the meta budget page (redundant with the WMF wiki page - something that patently must not be edited), everything people ever desire to know is on meta. It's just buried under all the other (mostly abandoned) pages.
Think about what people want to know:
*Who runs the Foundation - the Board *Where the money gets spent - the Budget *Who does what - the Departments *How does the place work (nerd pages) - the Servers *Anything local to me? - the Chapters *I'm a journalist - Press
As a journalist, you shouldn't be on Meta. Meta is the place for the community, to work at wikimedia level. Not for public representation. That's what http://wikimediafoundation.org is for.
greetings, elian
Elisabeth Bauer wrote:
Dan Grey wrote:
I disagree - in setting this up I read every page on meta related to the Foundation. With the exception of the meta budget page (redundant with the WMF wiki page - something that patently must not be edited), everything people ever desire to know is on meta. It's just buried under all the other (mostly abandoned) pages.
Think about what people want to know:
*Who runs the Foundation - the Board *Where the money gets spent - the Budget *Who does what - the Departments *How does the place work (nerd pages) - the Servers *Anything local to me? - the Chapters *I'm a journalist - Press
As a journalist, you shouldn't be on Meta. Meta is the place for the community, to work at wikimedia level. Not for public representation. That's what http://wikimediafoundation.org is for.
greetings, elian
possibly, but community must also know how to join the press team or where things should be handled. So a press page on meta can make sense, WITH a huge mention on top telling journalists where to go.
This said, one of the pages I most often indicated to journalists on meta, is the logo page, where they can download the high resolution logos.
Ant
Dan Grey wrote:
On 21/08/05, Anthere anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
I think the template for navigation is not really the problem. The problem is that the content of the pages is either non complete, or outdated, or just plain missing. I suggest we improve the content before any big modification of the template itself.
I disagree - in setting this up I read every page on meta related to the Foundation. With the exception of the meta budget page (redundant with the WMF wiki page - something that patently must not be edited), everything people ever desire to know is on meta. It's just buried under all the other (mostly abandoned) pages.
Think about what people want to know:
*Who runs the Foundation - the Board *Where the money gets spent - the Budget *Who does what - the Departments *How does the place work (nerd pages) - the Servers *Anything local to me? - the Chapters *I'm a journalist - Press
Have I missed anything there?
Put it another way: visit, say, http://www.volvocars.co.uk/ . Do they list links to the descriptions, prices, specs etc to every model from their front page? Of course not. Yet we do.
Why?
Dan
Not convinced, but if we must really shorten the list, I think a few ones should absolutely be kept. Amongst those, I think that * the meetings * and the agenda
are two importants starts to know what is going on, and how editors can interact with them. In your shorten list, there is no hint of how people can talk with us.
Secondly, it is a bit bothering there is no more link to pages such as * trademarks * domain names * logos
These are issues where people keep asking information. I see not from which pages we could list them so that readers could all by themselves find the information. If I need information on trademarks... should I go to "the servers", or to "the board" ? Since the "budget" is now linking to foundation, we can not put links there.
I think your shortened list may be interesting... but is a bit reducing. By reading it, I feel like the ONLY things we are doing are * gathering money (the budget) * spending it on servers * answering to the press
Errr, I think it goes a little bit further.
However, I agree some other links could be removed. Elections can be put in board. Chapters could be limited to one general link to all chapters, where we can also generally explain relationship, mailing list etc...
On 21/08/05, Anthere anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
However, I agree some other links could be removed. Elections can be put in board. Chapters could be limited to one general link to all chapters, where we can also generally explain relationship, mailing list etc...
All true. Except the template was locked.
Nice.
Dan
Dan Grey wrote:
On 21/08/05, Anthere anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
However, I agree some other links could be removed. Elections can be put in board. Chapters could be limited to one general link to all chapters, where we can also generally explain relationship, mailing list etc...
All true. Except the template was locked.
Nice.
Dan
I guess Datrio locked it when you started an edit war with Aphaia.
Well, most of us have pretty strong opinions generally :-) Best to discuss this in talk page first. I'll unlock it soon if no one does it.
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