User talk:RichardF/Main Page proposal

Transcluded discussion

 * Note. This is a transcluded, three-way conference call. And no, I don't know Kelvin Sampson! ;-)

Quiddity and jc37,

I'm just thinking out loud here. Are you all interested in trying to put together a serious Main Page redesign proposal that actually has a snowball's chance of getting implemented? My current proposals are deliberately out there in a concept car sort of way - just to look at some possibilities. Obviously, this proposal would have to be very conservative with just a tweak here and there, and not breaking any of David Levy's rules. It's just a thought. Let me know what you think. RichardF (talk) 15:26, 14 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd love to help, but I'm very busy this week. Will try to keep an eye on anything and give any feedback I can. Will have more time a week Tuesday. -- Quiddity (talk) 18:37, 14 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I'll be happy to help. The question is, where do we start? : )
 * For me, I think we should list the various components which would be deemed "wanted", and work from there, paring down, and figuring out layout.
 * But I'm open to most any kind of discussion format : ) - jc37 20:27, 14 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The 2 tweaks I've liked so far, are the dates added to "In the news" (e.g.) and the brief intro paragraph (e.g.). -- Quiddity (talk) 19:40, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I really shouldn't do much on this until the weekend either ;-) I noticed some talk about getting consensus, but I doubt there really is any. The closest thing the redesign probably should pay close attention to is David Levy's post I linked above. I'll start a "RichardF3" we can tear up with a to-do list on the talk page. RichardF (talk) 00:44, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I was about to suggest the portals browse section should include all the sections on Portal:Contents/Types TOC, until I noticed that Carlaude singlehandedly refactored the classification system to eliminate "Philosophy and thinking," create "Religion and Philosophy" and put thinking under "People and self," at least sometimes. I'm tired of this kind of crap, so I'm not sure how much energy I'll put into this activity. So far we have two concrete suggestions from Quiddity. I think the new Types TOC diminishes the Contents pages, but I won't put any any energy into disputing it. You all decide what you want to do. RichardF (talk) 23:40, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I've reverted the user, asking them to discuss the edits, per WP:BRD.
 * That aside, to continue this discussion : )
 * Anyway, I still think we can come up with a list of "userful links", as a start.
 * The main page seems to best work when it has a concise introduction; a few links for navigating the encyclopedia; a few links for navigating the community; a few examples of exemplary material (WP:FC); showing the "usefulness" of the content (news, and DYK); and links to sister projects.
 * So from here, it's mostly a question of what the specific links (and FC) should be, and the "layout" of the page. - jc37 00:36, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I appreciate the sentiment jc37, but check out all the changes Carlaude made. They affect the layout template and all the related sections on all the Contents subpages. It wasn't a simple change.
 * I added do's & don'ts on User talk:RichardF/Main Page3 for layout, content & palette. Do you want to add anything specific to that? RichardF (talk) 00:52, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you, I had missed the other edits. I've reverted, and left a note on their talk page. I would welcome a suggestion as to an appropriate venue for further discussion regarding those changes.
 * And as for page3, I'm "mired" again, but I will look them over later. : ) - jc37 03:38, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Quiddity, The Transhumanist and I probably had the lion's share of the involvement in the current design. Most of the discussions are at Portal talk:Contents. The Transhumanist moved some related discussions to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Contents. As I already mentioned, I'm just not into another go-around with a Contents TOC redesign. Besides this latest editor, who appears to have a Christianity agenda, I don't know who is. RichardF (talk) 11:43, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Anyway, my proposal to use a complete twelve-item set of portal links is at this diff. RichardF (talk) 12:42, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Even in terms of "twelve portal links," I can debate with myself what "the twelfth link" should be. Eleven links would be the same, with one spot up for grabs. My personal preference, based on defunct WikiCharts usage reports I've seen, is what's listed above, Sports. The purist version of using the established Contents TOC would be Reference. Going with the current main page, it would be All portals. RichardF (talk) 14:32, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Okay, here are some stats from http://stats.grok.se for May/June (#X is overall page rank in Feb, if in top 1,000).

Of course, already being on the Main Page is a big advantage! :-) RichardF (talk) 19:24, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Okay, okay, the "All portals" version probably makes the most sense for a 12 portal layout! :-) RichardF (talk) 03:11, 18 July 2008 (UTC)