User:Samuel Wiki/2008 main page redesign proposal walkthrough

Pros

 *  A more user friendly interface 
 * Bigger search bar – I never search Wikipedia via the search bar but now that I look at it I don't know how people use it. It's so small and hidden. I've created a bigger, easier to find search bar. The magnifying glass icon also doubles as a link to Special:Search (a link which isn't anywhere to be found on the current navigation bar or Main Page) for a more advanced search.
 * Colours – I don't understand the colours on the current Main Page. The only meaning for the colours I can work out is cyan for left, blue for right and purple for bottom. Huh?? My colours are more logical. Green for "go" in the search bar, blue for encyclopedia and yellow for the project. I've also gone for more softer pastel shades as I think the current colours are too distracting.
 * Icons – Wikipedia has a certain look and I think it is important for the Main Page to be consistent with that look. Unlike some other proposals which overkill on icons, I've opted for a minimal use of icons. Icons clutter the page, are merely decorative, increase the download size of the page and may have some accessibility issues. But really I just don't like icons – they are gimmicky and unprofessional. The only icons I have are in the right Explore section because the text alone looked to intimidating (see old revision) and there wasn't any images in that corner of the page, making the page look unbalanced. The only other icon is in the search bar because the bar looks too odd and bare without it, plus the icon links to Special:Search.
 * Encyclopedia and Project side by side – The current Main Page has the portals up the top (encyclopedia), followed by some Wikipedia help and article index links (project and encyclopedia), followed by the Featured article, Did you know, etc. (encyclopedia) and finally right at the bottom the Wikipedia, languages and sister projects links. I think this mixing of project and encyclopedia content makes the Main Page look disorganized. And the idea of dumping all of the project stuff at the bottom of the page and without the same style as the other content is depreciating the project a bit. I've opted for a side-by-side layout which brings the project into greater focus.
 * Support for low and high resolutions – Even lower than what the current Main Page supports. My testing indicates that in the default layout my proposal supports a horizontal resolution of ~680px and in the No sidebar layout a horizontal resolution of ~580px.
 *  Higher level of customizability 
 * Hide or close individual elements – Don't want to see a particular box (eg. Did you know?, Sister projects, etc.). You can choose to either hide it or close it completely (closing is not yet implemented). With the help of cookies, the next time you visit the Main Page (on the same computer) it will remember your preferences (not implemented yet). The default layout can be restored with the "reset" button at the bottom right of the page.
 * Several choices of layouts – With the use of javascript, layouts can be switched to seamlessly without loading a different page (not yet implemented). The chosen layout is remembered with cookies. A number of layout combinations can be achieved with the following options:
 * Dual column – Splits the Encylopedia section into two columns. Not recommended for low resolutions, unless used with...
 * No sidebar – For those that don't care about the project at all. :(
 * Advanced sidebar – For experienced editors. Provides the day's motto, the tip of the day and a whole bunch of helpful links to common procedures, policies, guidelines, community portal etc.
 *  Friendlier to newcomers 
 * Gives newcomers an introduction to what Wikipedia is all about – The current Main Page doesn't give any explanation of what Wikipedia is about except for "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit." I'm sure quite a few people who visit Wikipedia don't know really understand how it all works or what Wikipedia is at all. I've chosen two concise yet informative sentences to introduce newcomers to the project.
 * Encourages users to participate – I've added the line "Want to help out? Get started with our Introduction." Uses the power of suggestion to encourage readers to participate. They may not all become hardcore Wikipedians but with the basic knowledge they learnt in the tutorial they can contribute to.I believe the Introduction should be the only starting point for newbies which is why I haven't included links to the tutorial, cheatsheet, MoS or policies/guidelines like some other proposals. Don't want to overwhelm users or let the skip steps which would detrimental to their learning experience.
 *  Gives users a 'new' way to explore Wikipedia 
 * Portals – Portals (which I've only taken notice of since creating this proposal) provide an alternative to searching by allowing users to browse Wikipedia by topic. They are like mini-Main Pages with featured articles, media, news, etc. on the chosen topic. They're pretty awesome and deserve more attention than they are currently getting (I was never once compelled to clicked one of the portal links in the current Main Page). I believe I have added the main topics of interest, but the selection of portals can be finalized later.

Cons

 * Requires Javascript and Cookies turned on to fully work – Well, if you don't have Javascript you'll only miss out on the ability to customize your Layout. You'd be stuck with the default Main Page and there's nothing with that. If you don't have cookies turned on, you won't be able save your customisations.

Features yet to be implemented (I won't be able to implement these because I'm a noob)

 * Cookies – To allow user customizations to be remembered and restored the next time the user visits the Main Page. See it in action with the hide/show changes at Le French Wikipedia
 * Javascripting – When the javascript is coded, when you click any of the Layout links (dual column, hide sidebar, advanced mode) the layout change will happen straight away without any page loading (it will be like the [hide] link – the change is instant).
 * Add suggestion feature to new search bar – The Google Suggest-like feature that is found in the current search bar should also be added to the new search bar.
 * Close links – On the right of the [hide] link should be a Close link which allows users to totally vanish that box including the header.

Minor fixes

 * Hide and close link formatting – The hide and close links should be smaller and preferably without the square brackets. To match the Layout links, I would change them to look like this: hide · close
 * Article count – The article would be added to space in the Search bar to the right of "Search Wikipedia", on the right-hand side of the box. It would look similar to this.
 * Welcome to Wikipedia banner – On lower resolutions, the text should automatically move on top of the Search bar instead of the bottom like it is currently doing.
 * Final slimlining – The final part of the process would be to template-ize to bring the file size down and increase load times.