Ok, I now understand what you meant more clearly.
We are suggesting that a home page customized for mobile viewing is perhaps more suitable, but I also understand the point you are making and will take that into consideration.
One issue with desktop customized home pages is that some formatting will not render properly, such as some tables and columns. Some of these problems will be fixed over time, but also it is worth considering a new layout for mobile viewing.
We currently have some data regarding navigation to the overall portal page of Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), and it seems that in all countries for which we have data, the number of users going directly to the home page is in the minority. However, in some countries, such as India, it seems that mobile users will be more prone to navigate directly to the portal page, though that number is still in the minority. Possibly this has something to do with the cost of data connectivity, and the various means by which users access the mobile site.
Thanks for your comments.
Phil
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 10:30 AM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
It just seems like a weird design choice - In the case where the main page has not been customized (Which is easy to detect programmatically) we show something like http://pt.m.wikinews.org instead of something like http://pt.m.wikinews.org/wiki/Utilizador:Bawolff/testMain_Page [that's just pt wikinews's main page copied to my user space] . (Obviously the second choice is not exactly ideal for a mobile site, but it seems to be the better alternative to displaying just a search bar).
Well it's certainly true that people will only see the home page if they directly go there - I'd imagine that's where most people go.
Thanks, -bawolff
On Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 2:09 PM, Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi bawolff,
Please understand that automatic re-direction to the mobile site will not "break" the intended site.
Most content of the site will render in a way that is more appealing on mobile devices. The only potential issue is the overall home page for the site, which will only appear when a user enters that URL and goes there directly.
In the case of the home page, if no content has been selected by the administrator, the search bar will appear by itself. And of course the
user
is free to select the desktop view at any time.
We are considering a scheme in the future whereby the home page will be country-specific, so this exercise is a good first step in that
direction.
There will be separate communication and discussion about this.
I hope that clears up any misunderstanding. Please ask further questions
if
you like.
Best regards, Phil
On Tue, Nov 22, 2011 at 12:28 PM, bawolff bawolff+wn@gmail.com wrote:
Message: 2 Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:48:48 +0900 From: Philip Chang pchang@wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikitech-l] Final mobile switch-over To: wikipedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, wiktionary-l@lists.wikimedia.org
,
wikiquote-l@lists.wikimedia.org, textbook-l@lists.wikimedia.org,
wikisource-l@lists.wikimedia.org,wikinews-l@lists.wikimedia.org,
wikiversity-l@lists.wikimedia.org,wikispecies-l@lists.wikimedia.org, wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org, commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org, incubator@lists.wikimedia.org Message-ID:
CAE1jH8LD=drV79wNb4iJMGm9_XYxCh7b5rPFEpKyhfY+gmuuiQ@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
TO: All Wikimedia Project Administrators
As a follow-up to this original blog post about the new mobile site:
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/14/new-mobile-site-launched-on-wikipedia-s...
Please note that the conversion to the new Mobile Frontend extension will be completed in the week of November 28.
This means that by default any user of a mobile device will see the mobile interface rather then the desktop version. Users will no longer have
to
add the extra .m by hand.
This also means any home pages not yet designed for mobile viewing
will
appear with a search bar only - unless you create a home page in the next three weeks, which is very easy to do!
Instructions for creating a home page are here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Projects/Mobile_Gateway#Mobile_homepag...
Please forward this email as necessary.
As always, the mobile-l and mobile-feedback-l mailing lists are available. There will be many more announcements in the coming months on
mobile-l,
and always feel free to send comments to mobile-feedback-l.
Thank you.
Phil
-- Phil Inje Chang Product Manager, Mobile Wikimedia Foundation 415-812-0854 m 415-882-7982 x 6810
Surely it would make more sense for the mobile frontend to detect that no ids match the looked for pattern and treat the main page as a normal page in that case instead of totally and utterly breaking if the admin didn't customize the front page properly?
-bawolff
-- Phil Inje Chang Product Manager, Mobile Wikimedia Foundation 415-812-0854 m 415-882-7982 x 6810