Talk:Main Page
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Redesign
The current Main Page is still optimized for Wikia. If we redesign, I suggest we:
- keep the deep links to monsters, items, etc. that make the page useful for experienced players and search engine optimization,
- keep it visually similar to the old one (brand identity),
- add a box aimed at people stumbling into the wiki that explains what Nethack actually is, and points them to a good place to get started. --Tjr 21:12, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
- Good ideas there. I'm not sure our current main page has much of an identity, though: the generic pastel box design is pretty common across Wikia and Wikimedia wikis (I think it goes back to an old Wikipedia main page design), and our isn't even a particularly nice-looking one. About the only really distinctive elements on our current main page are the greeting and the monster box. I do think we should keep both of those. Other ideas:
- Regularly updating content is good, it keeps readers interested and entices them to look deeper. Besides the featured article, we could have a DYK-style rolling list of trivia. Could also consider something like a "monster of the day" box etc..
- We have a huge number of links on our main page now. Many of them do serve as handy shortcuts, but some are simply useless clutter. Some even lead to outdated information, making them worse than useless. We even still have some redlinks in the monster box (though I'm working on those). Go through each link and decide which ones to keep and which to toss.
- Images. I realize NetHack is mainly a text-based game, but still, images are important. There's a reason Wikipedia's main page always has an image in each of the main sections.
- Related to the above, I'd suggest incorporating {{Moon phase}} into the design. It's kind of a silly gimmick, but it provides eye candy and a sense of timeliness.
- --Ilmari Karonen 23:12, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
- Images: Many things can be best explained with graphs. Prime example: the web of possible alchemy recipes. Somebody needs to create such graphs.
- I believe the main page should continue to double as site map in order to be search-engine friendly.
- Regularily updating content is a good idea SEO-wise.
- Moon phase: If it fits onto the same pages as all those links and a newbie-friendly explanation what NetHack is, all the better.
- Timeline: In 1-2 weeks, Sannse will take down the notice we moved out. Then I'll have to buy Google ads. It would be good to have the new Main Page in place. --Tjr 00:16, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- I agree that having our main page serve as a site map is both user and search engine friendly. I do think most of the links to actual content pages are fine, even if I'm sure some improvements would be possible. It's the community links in the right column that I'm more concerned about (and part of the problem is that much of that part of the wiki seems neglected in general). We should try to reorganize those to offer actual useful ways for users to help, communicate and learn about the community, instead of random links to dead-end pages nobody reads or edits. --Ilmari Karonen 01:18, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- I think there's way too much stuff on the front page. We could remove the Meta, Community and Wiki -boxes (possibly moving one or two most useful links in them into the sidebar and move the rest to their own pages, or link to those pages from the sidebar). That would add some space for the moon phase, at least. Some new css styles for the page would be nice too (rounded corners, better colors, mousehover, ...) --paxed 07:11, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- Agreed, excellent suggestions. Tjr 14:38, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- I think there's way too much stuff on the front page. We could remove the Meta, Community and Wiki -boxes (possibly moving one or two most useful links in them into the sidebar and move the rest to their own pages, or link to those pages from the sidebar). That would add some space for the moon phase, at least. Some new css styles for the page would be nice too (rounded corners, better colors, mousehover, ...) --paxed 07:11, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- I agree that having our main page serve as a site map is both user and search engine friendly. I do think most of the links to actual content pages are fine, even if I'm sure some improvements would be possible. It's the community links in the right column that I'm more concerned about (and part of the problem is that much of that part of the wiki seems neglected in general). We should try to reorganize those to offer actual useful ways for users to help, communicate and learn about the community, instead of random links to dead-end pages nobody reads or edits. --Ilmari Karonen 01:18, 15 November 2010 (UTC)
- See how how search engines see us. It's quite a surprise. We need to make clear the site is about NetHack. --Tjr 18:59, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
- I'm not really a fan of the new "Screenshot" design of the main page. The links are clever but it's not very useful for navigation purposes. The previous design was a lot clearer. --The Cheshire Cat 12:59, 16 March 2011 (UTC)
- On my work computer at 1024 pixels the Screenshot won't fit on the screen so the header and screenshot content is shoved below the news side bar. The in-screenshot links are cool but not particulary useful.--PeterGFin 11:48, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
rumor + moon make welcome box too full
The black box that previously contained only "Welcome to NetHackWiki" now also has a random rumor (which may stretch over 2 lines) and the moon phase. That's way too much IMO. Our own name should stand out prominently. --Tjr 13:55, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
- Perhaps someone could have the moon phase (when it is relevant) replace the rumor instead? We don't need a rumor every day, and that will make the box less cluttered. -Ion frigate 15:31, 21 November 2010 (UTC)
- Done, thanks for the suggestion. Alternatively, we could also just get rid of the moon phase thingy and just show rumors all the time. --Ilmari Karonen 05:20, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
Community link
Right now the Community link on the right links to NetHackWiki:About. I think it should point to NetHackWiki:Community_Portal. --99.239.146.253 20:07, 27 December 2010 (UTC)
- Changed the link. --99.239.146.253 21:14, 27 December 2010 (UTC)
Semi-protection
Does anyone object to semi-protecting the main page? This wiki doesn't generally have spam problems, but I don't see any harm in protecting against the occasional drive-by IP edit. The CAPNTHLA should mean that few if any spammers will succeed in making active accounts. -Ion frigate 20:49, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- In general, I find that protecting the main page tends to not really be massively important even in wikis with heavy spambot attacks (Esolang, which I also admin, is heavily targeted by spambots but they mostly don't care about the Main Page; and in general, helpful mainpage anon edits are more common than drive-by vandalism). I don't have a strong opinion about it either way, though. Ais523 20:53, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- "Object to" is a strong word, but in case of a tie I vote against protecting it until some spam attack takes longer than 10 hours to get reverted. --Tjr 20:55, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- Ok, seems people in general want it to stay as is. That's fine by me; trying to deal with the excessive spam at CrawlWiki (where no one had admin powers) made me kind of jumpy about it. -Ion frigate 23:14, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
- "Object to" is a strong word, but in case of a tie I vote against protecting it until some spam attack takes longer than 10 hours to get reverted. --Tjr 20:55, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
