Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
----------
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
Florence Devouard wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
I think if you mosey over to Special:Preferences and choose the Skin Classic, your problems are much eased.
A completely different question is why it is only Classic that places the box in that convenient location...
Yours;
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
I think if you mosey over to Special:Preferences and choose the Skin Classic, your problems are much eased.
A completely different question is why it is only Classic that places the box in that convenient location...
Yours;
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi
Note that I enjoy a large laptop which does not create this problem.
It was reported to me by a head of web companies (whose name I will not give) and who use a smaller laptop. Most users/readers of wikipedia have NO idea there are different skins, and that they might have access to a different interface if they were loggued-in.
Ant
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
I think if you mosey over to Special:Preferences and choose the Skin Classic, your problems are much eased.
A completely different question is why it is only Classic that places the box in that convenient location...
Yours;
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi
Note that I enjoy a large laptop which does not create this problem.
It was reported to me by a head of web companies (whose name I will not give) and who use a smaller laptop. Most users/readers of wikipedia have NO idea there are different skins, and that they might have access to a different interface if they were loggued-in.
Ant
Interesting. Reminds me of when we originally moved to "monobook". There was a real but brief episode where somebody using the nick "bgates" came into the channel #wikipedia on Internet Relay Chat, and very swiftly exited, after getting an answer that appeared to all present to be a sincerely technical one...
I confess I have ever since wondered was that the "real" "bgates" or just somebody with a sense of humour, who nevertheless was discomfited by our move to monobook.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
I think if you mosey over to Special:Preferences and choose the Skin Classic, your problems are much eased.
A completely different question is why it is only Classic that places the box in that convenient location...
Yours;
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi
Note that I enjoy a large laptop which does not create this problem.
It was reported to me by a head of web companies (whose name I will not give) and who use a smaller laptop. Most users/readers of wikipedia have NO idea there are different skins, and that they might have access to a different interface if they were loggued-in.
Ant
Interesting. Reminds me of when we originally moved to "monobook". There was a real but brief episode where somebody using the nick "bgates" came into the channel #wikipedia on Internet Relay Chat, and very swiftly exited, after getting an answer that appeared to all present to be a sincerely technical one...
I confess I have ever since wondered was that the "real" "bgates" or just somebody with a sense of humour, who nevertheless was discomfited by our move to monobook.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Eh :-)
Well, in this case, the guy was real :-) I met him at http://assisesdunumerique.fr/actualites/
Nice opportunity by the way, to mention that last week, I met with various important people (at French scale), in the name of our prime minister (Fillon), the minister of education and research (Pecresse) and the secretary in charge of Innovation, digital economy and etc ... (Eric Besson).
I had the very "blushing-experience" of being both cited by Fillon (once) and Besson (twice) in a public event. I actually met Besson 3 times in two days, including a 7 members-2 hours breakfast at the minister, around digital economy considerations.
One of the top (hot) topic is that Besson has been asked by the prime minister to come with a series of propositions by end of july, regarding digital economy in France. I must point out that the very-short delay for this plan is 1) because our government was restructed recently (and for the first time, digital economy was given to a specific minister, rather than being nicely divided between minister of culture, of education, of industry etc..., and 2) because France will become president of Europe this summer, so obviously want to be a leading force of proposition in various areas, including internet considerations.
Anyway, the Assises du Numerique are usually an opportunity for *important* people (that is... politicians, industrial leaders, public services) to discuss of the future of our country and come up with propositions. Access is restricted.
This year, they decided to have unrestricted access to the Assises, the expand them to a collection of local Assises all accross the country, to let completely open the number of propositions which can be done, AND to open a wiki to either comment or tweak the current propositions, or to make NEW propositions. Is not that amazing ?
THe wiki was opened yesterday: http://wiki.assisesdunumerique.fr/xwiki/bin/view/Assises/
Poeple must log in to access the wiki, but creation of account is totally opened. I tested it yesterday during the Assises. License is cc-by 1.0.
I hope the french editors will take direct action and be a force of proposition. Otherwise, it would really mean that we should not complain in the future if the laws and activity of the government does not please us. We should only complain if they refuse our propositions ;-)
More to come later on the topic. Just wanted to mention it was the first time that my government was actually OPENING a place for us to work on action points together.
THIS is also thanks to us guys...
Ant
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Interesting. Reminds me of when we originally moved to "monobook". There was a real but brief episode where somebody using the nick "bgates" came into the channel #wikipedia on Internet Relay Chat, and very swiftly exited, after getting an answer that appeared to all present to be a sincerely technical one...
I confess I have ever since wondered was that the "real" "bgates" or just somebody with a sense of humour, who nevertheless was discomfited by our move to monobook.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Eh :-)
Well, in this case, the guy was real :-) I met him at http://assisesdunumerique.fr/actualites/
Nice opportunity by the way, to mention that last week, I met with various important people (at French scale), in the name of our prime minister (Fillon), the minister of education and research (Pecresse) and the secretary in charge of Innovation, digital economy and etc ... (Eric Besson).
I had the very "blushing-experience" of being both cited by Fillon (once) and Besson (twice) in a public event. I actually met Besson 3 times in two days, including a 7 members-2 hours breakfast at the minister, around digital economy considerations.
One of the top (hot) topic is that Besson has been asked by the prime minister to come with a series of propositions by end of july, regarding digital economy in France. I must point out that the very-short delay for this plan is
- because our government was restructed recently (and for the first
time, digital economy was given to a specific minister, rather than being nicely divided between minister of culture, of education, of industry etc..., and 2) because France will become president of Europe this summer, so obviously want to be a leading force of proposition in various areas, including internet considerations.
Anyway, the Assises du Numerique are usually an opportunity for *important* people (that is... politicians, industrial leaders, public services) to discuss of the future of our country and come up with propositions. Access is restricted.
This year, they decided to have unrestricted access to the Assises, the expand them to a collection of local Assises all accross the country, to let completely open the number of propositions which can be done, AND to open a wiki to either comment or tweak the current propositions, or to make NEW propositions. Is not that amazing ?
THe wiki was opened yesterday: http://wiki.assisesdunumerique.fr/xwiki/bin/view/Assises/
Poeple must log in to access the wiki, but creation of account is totally opened. I tested it yesterday during the Assises. License is cc-by 1.0.
I hope the french editors will take direct action and be a force of proposition. Otherwise, it would really mean that we should not complain in the future if the laws and activity of the government does not please us. We should only complain if they refuse our propositions ;-)
More to come later on the topic. Just wanted to mention it was the first time that my government was actually OPENING a place for us to work on action points together.
THIS is also thanks to us guys...
Ant
Very cool indeed. Just to continue on the theme of namedropping...
Bessons opposite number in Finnish government ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyrki_J._J._Kasvi ) is a very old friend of mine - when I say old, I mean "when people used to wear bell-bottoms" old.
Though Kasvi isn't currently so well known for his technology & future related endevours, but as one of the prime movers in the scandal that is currently shaking the whole Finnish political system to its core, in regard to transparency of political funding.
Though it is cool to add that my old friend has been very active in updating all the articles on Finnish Parliamentarians on The wikipedia.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Interesting. Reminds me of when we originally moved to "monobook". There was a real but brief episode where somebody using the nick "bgates" came into the channel #wikipedia on Internet Relay Chat, and very swiftly exited, after getting an answer that appeared to all present to be a sincerely technical one...
I confess I have ever since wondered was that the "real" "bgates" or just somebody with a sense of humour, who nevertheless was discomfited by our move to monobook.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Eh :-)
Well, in this case, the guy was real :-) I met him at http://assisesdunumerique.fr/actualites/
Nice opportunity by the way, to mention that last week, I met with various important people (at French scale), in the name of our prime minister (Fillon), the minister of education and research (Pecresse) and the secretary in charge of Innovation, digital economy and etc ... (Eric Besson).
I had the very "blushing-experience" of being both cited by Fillon (once) and Besson (twice) in a public event. I actually met Besson 3 times in two days, including a 7 members-2 hours breakfast at the minister, around digital economy considerations.
One of the top (hot) topic is that Besson has been asked by the prime minister to come with a series of propositions by end of july, regarding digital economy in France. I must point out that the very-short delay for this plan is
- because our government was restructed recently (and for the first
time, digital economy was given to a specific minister, rather than being nicely divided between minister of culture, of education, of industry etc..., and 2) because France will become president of Europe this summer, so obviously want to be a leading force of proposition in various areas, including internet considerations.
Anyway, the Assises du Numerique are usually an opportunity for *important* people (that is... politicians, industrial leaders, public services) to discuss of the future of our country and come up with propositions. Access is restricted.
This year, they decided to have unrestricted access to the Assises, the expand them to a collection of local Assises all accross the country, to let completely open the number of propositions which can be done, AND to open a wiki to either comment or tweak the current propositions, or to make NEW propositions. Is not that amazing ?
THe wiki was opened yesterday: http://wiki.assisesdunumerique.fr/xwiki/bin/view/Assises/
Poeple must log in to access the wiki, but creation of account is totally opened. I tested it yesterday during the Assises. License is cc-by 1.0.
I hope the french editors will take direct action and be a force of proposition. Otherwise, it would really mean that we should not complain in the future if the laws and activity of the government does not please us. We should only complain if they refuse our propositions ;-)
More to come later on the topic. Just wanted to mention it was the first time that my government was actually OPENING a place for us to work on action points together.
THIS is also thanks to us guys...
Ant
Very cool indeed. Just to continue on the theme of namedropping...
Bessons opposite number in Finnish government ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyrki_J._J._Kasvi ) is a very old friend of mine - when I say old, I mean "when people used to wear bell-bottoms" old.
Can you clarify the meaning of that delicate old-saying ?
Though Kasvi isn't currently so well known for his technology & future related endevours, but as one of the prime movers in the scandal that is currently shaking the whole Finnish political system to its core, in regard to transparency of political funding.
What is this scandal about ? :-)
Ant
Though it is cool to add that my old friend has been very active in updating all the articles on Finnish Parliamentarians on The wikipedia.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Florence Devouard wrote:
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen wrote:
Interesting. Reminds me of when we originally moved to "monobook". There was a real but brief episode where somebody using the nick "bgates" came into the channel #wikipedia on Internet Relay Chat, and very swiftly exited, after getting an answer that appeared to all present to be a sincerely technical one...
I confess I have ever since wondered was that the "real" "bgates" or just somebody with a sense of humour, who nevertheless was discomfited by our move to monobook.
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
Eh :-)
Well, in this case, the guy was real :-) I met him at http://assisesdunumerique.fr/actualites/
Nice opportunity by the way, to mention that last week, I met with various important people (at French scale), in the name of our prime minister (Fillon), the minister of education and research (Pecresse) and the secretary in charge of Innovation, digital economy and etc ... (Eric Besson).
I had the very "blushing-experience" of being both cited by Fillon (once) and Besson (twice) in a public event. I actually met Besson 3 times in two days, including a 7 members-2 hours breakfast at the minister, around digital economy considerations.
One of the top (hot) topic is that Besson has been asked by the prime minister to come with a series of propositions by end of july, regarding digital economy in France. I must point out that the very-short delay for this plan is
- because our government was restructed recently (and for the first
time, digital economy was given to a specific minister, rather than being nicely divided between minister of culture, of education, of industry etc..., and 2) because France will become president of Europe this summer, so obviously want to be a leading force of proposition in various areas, including internet considerations.
Anyway, the Assises du Numerique are usually an opportunity for *important* people (that is... politicians, industrial leaders, public services) to discuss of the future of our country and come up with propositions. Access is restricted.
This year, they decided to have unrestricted access to the Assises, the expand them to a collection of local Assises all accross the country, to let completely open the number of propositions which can be done, AND to open a wiki to either comment or tweak the current propositions, or to make NEW propositions. Is not that amazing ?
THe wiki was opened yesterday: http://wiki.assisesdunumerique.fr/xwiki/bin/view/Assises/
Poeple must log in to access the wiki, but creation of account is totally opened. I tested it yesterday during the Assises. License is cc-by 1.0.
I hope the french editors will take direct action and be a force of proposition. Otherwise, it would really mean that we should not complain in the future if the laws and activity of the government does not please us. We should only complain if they refuse our propositions ;-)
More to come later on the topic. Just wanted to mention it was the first time that my government was actually OPENING a place for us to work on action points together.
THIS is also thanks to us guys...
Ant
Very cool indeed. Just to continue on the theme of namedropping...
Bessons opposite number in Finnish government ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyrki_J._J._Kasvi ) is a very old friend of mine - when I say old, I mean "when people used to wear bell-bottoms" old.
Can you clarify the meaning of that delicate old-saying ?
In practical terms, I first met him at a science fiction convention in Sweden, in the 1980's (85 - 87 or thereabouts. He is a genuinely good guy who has made the international press through having his election campaign web pages include a klingon language version.
Though Kasvi isn't currently so well known for his technology & future related endevours, but as one of the prime movers in the scandal that is currently shaking the whole Finnish political system to its core, in regard to transparency of political funding.
What is this scandal about ? :-)
It seems there was an "accepted practise" whereby politicians would "finesse" a law they had themselves passed about publicity of conflict of interests, through disclosing only innocently named "shell associations" as their campaign financers, so as to avoid having to disclose the businessmens identity who were the real force behind those associations which had no other function than to be a nice name to disclose.
This would have continued with very lax scrutiny, but for one politician refusing to name even the shell companys name, because he had assurances that though illegal, such non-disclosure would carry no punishment.
The poor chap had entirely forgot the court of public opinion.
:D
As my friend J. J. Kasvi asked some very pointed questions about these kind of acts from a person who is supposed to pass the laws, the press have had a field day, exposing the money-men behind the curtains.
Though it is cool to add that my old friend has been very active in updating all the articles on Finnish Parliamentarians on The wikipedia.
yours
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 4:29 AM, Florence Devouard Anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l
There's actually a discussion going on currently about this very issue/proposal at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29#Move_the...
or, if that link's too long for your email reader try:
Cheers!
Elias Friedman wrote:
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 4:29 AM, Florence Devouard Anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l
There's actually a discussion going on currently about this very issue/proposal at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29#Move_the...
or, if that link's too long for your email reader try:
Cheers!
Neat ! I added my general support
Ant
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Florence Devouard Anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
Wikipedia-l mailing list Wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l
A lot of the links on the side bar are quite useless. A good number of them can be removed or moved. I do not like the example skins though.
I really like the suggestion where the links are placed on top like so (with no side bar):
-------------- general links (to main page and etc) -------------- article spesific links (article link, talk page link, history link, move link and etc) -------------- article content -------------- footer (copyright notice, disclaimer notice etc) --------------
Florence Devouard wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
Monobook is rather horrible on cellphones (at least on mine) which are increasing dramatically in use. I'm sure there must be a way to redirect people who use these types of screens (stylesheet=mobile or handheld or soem such) in order to allow for better accessibility.
2008/6/2 Cary Bass cbass@wikimedia.org:
Monobook is rather horrible on cellphones (at least on mine) which are increasing dramatically in use. I'm sure there must be a way to redirect people who use these types of screens (stylesheet=mobile or handheld or soem such) in order to allow for better accessibility.
There's the wap interface... en.wap.wikipedia.org (and presumably other prefixes for other languages, but I've only tried enwp)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Andrew Gray wrote: | 2008/6/2 Cary Bass cbass@wikimedia.org: | |> Monobook is rather horrible on cellphones (at least on mine) which are |> increasing dramatically in use. I'm sure there must be a way to |> redirect people who use these types of screens (stylesheet=mobile or |> handheld or soem such) in order to allow for better accessibility. | | There's the wap interface... en.wap.wikipedia.org (and presumably | other prefixes for other languages, but I've only tried enwp) |
That's all well and good, but search engines on mobile devices still route users directly to the regular site. :)
- -- Cary Bass Volunteer Coordinator
Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running! Support the Wikimedia Foundation today: http://donate.wikimedia.org Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Phone: 415.839.6885 x 601 Fax: 415.882.0495
E-Mail: cary@wikimedia.org
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 1:29 AM, Florence Devouard Anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
We all strongly wanted the search box between the "Navigation" and "Interaction" boxes. It was in almost all the sidebar-redesign drafts, including the final consensus proposal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Sid... Rob Church even said he would suspend his development break to help out: [[Wikipedia talk:Village pump (proposals)/Sidebar redesign/Archive 02#If you actually ask...]]
The last mention I can find now, is this: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7493#c45 "Brion Vibber 2008-03-18 23:34:59 UTC ------- I'm going to come out and say we're not going to support customizing the location of the search box within the side bar; in part because it probably shouldn't be in the side bar. Long term we'll probably be moving it to a more consistent location."
So, that's where it currently stands.
(links above kept to a minimum for simplicity, but there are many related tangents and requests, in the sidebar-redesign archives, and at [[mediawiki talk:sidebar]])
User:Quiddity
(possibly related, http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proceedings:GP1 covered "a redesign of the default website interface", does anyone know anything more about this proposal? is it in active development?)
quiddity wrote:
On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 1:29 AM, Florence Devouard Anthere9@yahoo.com wrote:
Hello,
The menu on the left hand side lists, in this order
Navigation Main Page Contents Featured content Current events Random article interaction About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help search search box
Problem: on small screens, the search box is not visible and readers must scroll each time they get to a new page to find it. Whether we are happy with this, or would prefer that people navigate three featured content or indexes or random article, does not change the fact that most poeple actually use search system on internet.
What about changing the search box place ? Perhaps under the logo. Or below the Navigation block. Or fully at the top of the page ?
Ant
We all strongly wanted the search box between the "Navigation" and "Interaction" boxes. It was in almost all the sidebar-redesign drafts, including the final consensus proposal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Sid... Rob Church even said he would suspend his development break to help out: [[Wikipedia talk:Village pump (proposals)/Sidebar redesign/Archive 02#If you actually ask...]]
The last mention I can find now, is this: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7493#c45 "Brion Vibber 2008-03-18 23:34:59 UTC ------- I'm going to come out and say we're not going to support customizing the location of the search box within the side bar; in part because it probably shouldn't be in the side bar. Long term we'll probably be moving it to a more consistent location."
So, that's where it currently stands.
unfortunate...
(links above kept to a minimum for simplicity, but there are many related tangents and requests, in the sidebar-redesign archives, and at [[mediawiki talk:sidebar]])
User:Quiddity
(possibly related, http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proceedings:GP1 covered "a redesign of the default website interface", does anyone know anything more about this proposal? is it in active development?)
I think it went nowhere. Much to my regret.
Last year at Wikimania, we had both a workshop session where we discussed useability (this proceeding) and the session handled by Andrew, where we discussed again the rather poor useability of the website and poor welcome of newbies in some communities.
If my memory is good, many agreed (for example) that templates are a disaster ;-) But it seems very little has been done in the past year to improve the situation. I think the special page has been improved though (it was very messy, now nicely reorganized). Anythink else ?
Also, the unfriendlyness toward newbies (and cyberstalking issues) have generally increased (at least on the english wikipedia) over the past year.
Ant
My 2 agorot:
I don't know about the sidebar, but i think that Florence has a good point.
I've always been bothered by the fact that the main page doesn't have a big search box in the middle of it, Yahoo-style. Yahoo is not my cup of tea at all, but if you want to help newbies, that's the first thing i'd do.
Florence Devouard wrote:
quiddity wrote:
The last mention I can find now, is this: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7493#c45
...
So, that's where it currently stands.
unfortunate...
I should note that I was never involved in reminding/bugging either of them about helping with this particular issue, and that bugzilla thread looked quite confusing for everyone involved - so - possibly a dev just needs to be re-convinced (by someone they respect) that this would be a useful fix to devote energy to?
(possibly related, http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proceedings:GP1 covered "a redesign of the default website interface", does anyone know anything more about this proposal? is it in active development?)
I think it went nowhere. Much to my regret.
Last year at Wikimania, we had both a workshop session where we discussed useability (this proceeding) and the session handled by Andrew, where we discussed again the rather poor useability of the website and poor welcome of newbies in some communities.
If my memory is good, many agreed (for example) that templates are a disaster ;-) But it seems very little has been done in the past year to improve the situation. I think the special page has been improved though (it was very messy, now nicely reorganized). Anythink else ?
The Modern skin is fairly recent. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&useskin=modern The only thing I could find out about it, is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28technica...
but it has no Wikipedia globe logo, which I've grown quite attached to. :(
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What we need, is a short note printed on napkins, and pinned on the corkboards at Google, whispering that we need a new skin designed for our site. They must have a /few/ people that understand clean UI and knowledge structures, and have 20%time to fill... ^_^
Quiddity
Amir E. Aharoni wrote:
I've always been bothered by the fact that the main page doesn't have a big search box in the middle of it
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Usability/Main_Page/... for the last time it was seriously considered. There are a few [[Wikipedia:Main Page alternatives]] that you can set to be your own default mainpage, some of which include search boxes.
Quiddity
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