[Wikipedia-l] Re: Demo front page

[Daniel Mayer]

On Friday 25 October 2002 12:53 pm, wikipedia-l-request at wikipedia.org wrote:
> I merged my little script with the fine layout from the other page.
> Please try again
>     http://mitglied.lycos.de/manske/wiki/test.php    (Sorry for the
> banner, I can't help it)
>
> I included the English and German intro, as well as the localized search
> function. The word "Search" and the intro will appear in English for all
> other browser settings, as English is the default for languages that
> don't have an intro text of their own.
>
> Known problems:
> * Neutral or localized logo is needed
> * Maybe an unobstrusive link in or close to the intro to the English
> wikipedia, as an anchor for anyone who is stuck on a foreign PC ("This
> page in English")
> * Works only for Phase III wikipedias (.org)
>
> Magnus

Looks like a good mock-up and I assume it is possible to automatically update 
article and language counts even without a combinded database. However it is 
still a static page and since we are a Wiki then this should be on a wiki 
page, no? But then, which wiki do we choose? 

We might be part of the same project but we ain't all on one database yet. 

Without its own Recent Changes, random page function, article search etc that 
queries /all/ languages and a unified log-in for /all/ languages at 
www.wikipedia.org I don't think this page will be that useful -- even for 
first time visitors. 

Having one intro page for the whole project seems to indicate that Wikipedia 
is one single product on one unified wiki - we aren't there yet (we're not 
even all on the same software version yet!). And until we are one wiki  I 
don't think a pointer page will be that useful in and of itself. NOTE: If a 
fork is threatened over there not being a language neutral page at 
www.wikipedia.org then it /would/ be useful to put up the static page. But 
IMO this really should be done right to begin with and not half now and half 
later. 

In the meantime I do think it would be a good idea to go ahead and implement 
the language sniffer idea so that somebody with a localized browser will be 
directed to the same language as the browser is set (however, I don't think 
we should redirect people to stub wikis - that makes us look bad). This would 
require more tweaks to each of the different language's Main Pages (such as 
placing even more emphasis on en.wiki's Main Page that there are in fact 
other languages and for non-English wiki's to do the same). We can then work 
towards having a multilingual Phase IV with a combined database. IMO, when 
Phase IV goes live, then and only then would a unified Main Page really make 
sense and be truly useful.

Implementing the sniffer idea does logically require the English Wikipedia to 
move to en.wikipedia.org - otherwise there would be no obviously reinforced 
way for somebody with a German localized browser to go directly to the the 
English Wikipedia's Main Page by typing in the URL.  

--Daniel Mayer (aka mav)