Talk:Main Page/2011
UK Redux
The nice bit of text about this not being the Ukrainian wikimedia / wikipedia is all very nice, but not a lot of use if you don't read English (which is highly likely for those who are). Might I suggest it is replaced by
- Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
so that its target readers may understand it. --AlisonW 17:56, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
Done Rock drum (talk • contribs) 18:57, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
- Good point, but I don't think that replacing it is the best approach, as that will confuse anyone that doesn't speak Ukrainian (e.g. most people in the UK). Having both the English and Ukrainian text there might be best. Mike Peel 18:59, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
Interwiki shortcuts
Hey guys, interwiki shortcuts on this wiki are weired. Look at this User:Juan de Vojníkov.--Juan de Vojníkov 19:50, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
- Only long form interwiki links would work here; fixed. Mentifisto 20:48, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
Changes
I think we need to make some changes to the main page. Specifically, my thoughts are:
- This main page should be about communicating who we are, what we do, and how people can get involved.
- Currently much of our prime territory on the site doesn't do that very well. For instance, most of the text under "About Wikimedia UK" is in fact a list of things Wikimedia UK is not: "Wikimedia UK is a separate organization from the Wikimedia Foundation, and has no control over the contents of Wikipedia or any other projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org". To most people looking at the site (journalists, potential partners, people thinking of getting involved) this material is irrelevant and I suspect for some it is actively offputting. We ought to put this material into a footnote.
- Information on what we have recently done and what is coming up is very high-value information for people reading the site;
- The board has taken a policy decision to put info on what we're up to primarily on the blog. We are aiming to update the blog on the whole once a fortnight. It would be really useful to have a "Recent news from our blog" section on the main page.
- It would also be really useful in my view if the info on "Upcoming Events" currently towards the bottom of the left-hand sidebar were given a prominent place on the mainpage. At present the main way anyone can get involved with Wikimedia UK is to come to our events so this is important.
- The other key things in my view are a) membership and b) contacting us (specifically; wikimediauk-l, Twitter, and the contact details page).
- What would this mean removing?
- There probably wouldn't be space for the "donate" info - which I think is fine given where we are now as virtually no income comes via this site (and a donate link will still be present in the left-hand sidebar).
- Also it would probably mean removing (or de-prioritising) "What would you like to see the Chapter do and support? Do you have an idea for an initiative that you'd like to see happen? Are you able to volunteer your time to help with an initiative? Submit a proposal for an activity, or share your ideas with us!" and the links in it. I can see why that was out there ,but the pages it links to are fairly dead, so their omission from the main page will probably not be missed. If someone really wants to submit an idea they can email board members and/or WMUK-L - both of which are probably easier things for most people to do than to edit inactive wiki pages.
- Finally, there is probably no need to link to the WMUK Facebook account as it's basically unused (and likely to remain so)
This is a bit of a brain dump, but the main page has been irking me for a little while. Anyone have any comments? The Land 18:30, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
- Very much support these proposals, except that the Ukraine stuff needs to be a hatnote rather then a footnote. Just as on a Wikipedia article, people who have come to the wrong page need to be made aware as quickly as possible. Changing from bold to normal weight would de-emphasise it. The space under the first paragraph could be used for spelling out more examples of the sorts of thing we do. MartinPoulter 12:32, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks! I wonder if we have any site statistics or analytics that might show us how many people come to this page by mistake when they're really looking for something Ukrainian.I suspect the number is not large (nto least becasue search engines will never point people here, whereas search will send people to the 'wrong' Wikipedia article)... The Land 22:08, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
- Main Page/Sandbox2 - needs some more header images created but basically there... views please! The Land 18:53, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
Edit request
Can somebody implement the changes I just made to the sandbox? It's just tidying up links with <span class="plainlinks"></span>. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:06, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
- Done. Thanks for suggesting the changes! :-) Mike Peel 21:23, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
Typo on the Main Page!
recruiting our furst permanent staff? ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:14, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
- Fixed. :-) Mike Peel 17:39, 7 September 2011 (UTC)
PR in Wiki Fundraising 'Initiatives'
This is something of which I think designers should be aware: how the general public - that's everyone who is not designing the website - sees Wikipedia. Most of the time there is a fundraising appeal banner over every page - fine. What designers should realise is that this banner needs to be much more 'appealing' in manner and content, much more engaging and less off-putting. As it has been for the past few years, it is just a lot of photos of Wikipedia founders etc looking rather glum and irritable; no one is smiling and giving a sense of confidence or enthusiasm in the project. Wikipedia should be an exciting thing over which everyone can be passionate and a part of by donating. It should not be a website that implores people to give their hard-earned money by making them feel guilty that these people are sitting up there somewhere at the server in a bad mood because their intended audience is actually using their product! Come on, you can do better than this! Wikipedia deserves better than this! (86.162.20.26 10:49, 13 December 2011 (UTC))
- Thanks for your input. The latest batch of banners seem to have a range of expressions, so things might be moving in the direction you suggest. There's a risk that if Jimmy were beaming at the top of the page all the time, there's a risk people would interpret that as smugness. A great deal of testing is done to assess the effectiveness of banners. The main discussion about fundraising banners is taking place on meta-wiki, and I recommend you take part in that. I think we all share your feeling that Wikipedia is worth being passionate about. Cheers, MartinPoulter 13:18, 20 December 2011 (UTC)
border-radius
Just wondering if it would be good to support rounded borders in browsers other than Firefox. I've updated the code in the following sandboxes to use the {{border-radius}} template.
If you do copy the changes over, probably want to also protect Template:Border-radius. Thanks. -- WOSlinker 20:44, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
- Done. Thanks a lot. MartinPoulter 12:01, 20 December 2011 (UTC)