User talk:Trevor MacInnis/MainPage

Hey, I like this a lot - much friendlier. There are little tweaks all over the place (like overlapping boxes, and links i would change) but, overall, I like it. Cormaggio 15:06, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it involves some knowlege of CSS, and mine is very limited, but I'll try to clean a few things up. Any suggestions on what to put where? What should have its own box and what should go in the sidebar? - Trevor MacInnis 15:12, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure anything here should go in the sidebar - I'd keep everything in place (maybe change a few links here and there, but that's rather trivial). The main thing is the right hand side boxes are overlapping with the top and left hand side boxes - this needs to be fixed. And for what it's worth, I'm told that the top-right of a page is where the eye goes first - so maybe there needs to be something here about the content of Wikiversity? Like in Wikipedia, for example, where you can find a link to the various subject portals, perhaps? Thanks for working on this, though :-). Cormaggio 15:36, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
 * 'k, think I've fixed the overlapping (just a note, I'm not sure if its part of what you meant but the right side should overlap the orange header) - Trevor MacInnis 15:48, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

upper right overlap
The two different colors still overlap when I browse with FireFox on my Mac. --JWSchmidt 23:05, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Same problem with Safari browser. --JWSchmidt 23:07, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Sorry, but just to clarify, the blue column on the right is intended to overlap the orange headerbox. The small area where the two intersect forms a separate area for information, in this case I've put some main categories (Category:Engineering and Technology, etc), but pretty much anything can go there (originally I had a second search box and article count there). - Trevor MacInnis 23:17, 21 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I suppose most people viewing the page will be young and have good eyesight. Personally, I need all the help I can get. I prefer the highest contrast possible for text. Personal preference: stick with something like Main Page. If there is large amounts of text on a colored background, do something like make the text bold so that it shows up. --JWSchmidt 00:19, 22 August 2006 (UTC)


 * I've used more muted colors, is that any better? - Trevor MacInnis 15:09, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I didn't know the right hand box was meant to overlap with the top one - I don't really like that design, personally. Also the right-hand side box overlaps with the globe icon (in my browser - Safari). On a positive note, I like the move of the sister projects to the bottom of the page - that's better. Cormaggio 10:05, 23 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah the globe icon was altered to do that too, see:[[Image:Browser.jpg]]. There are a bunch of them you can see in use at the Italian Wikipedia Main Page. - Trevor MacInnis 14:03, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

I've been an outspoken critic of the Italian Wikipedia's new main page design (which I did convince them to improve slightly), and I'm not a fan of this design either (no offense). The current version is rather plain, but it's entirely usable. In this proposed design, the layout and content are virtually identical, but everything is jarringly over-styled. To me, it makes the page seem less inviting and more difficult to read. Also, as explained in this discussion, displaying the date and time on a relatively static page (one that isn't edited often) doesn't work well (due to caching). &mdash;David Levy 01:59, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Possible design adjustments
In context of the above criticism by David Levy: I think this design can be more friendly than the current bland front page. Trevor, while I do find this design rather busy in first version and just a little busy now, your responsiveness to comments and skill makes me trust that it is ready to go to the front page and develop nicely.

While keeping the design elements similar as they are now, here a couple of possibilities for improvement (and you might want to try this is in a second sandbox page):
 * change the center column green color to the same tan color on the sides.
 * eliminate the extra layer of blue background that "shadows" the middle column boxes
 * make all box lines thinner and perhaps as thin as on the main page to go with the side bar thin lines
 * make some of the text just a little less bold
 * the date time could go -- a little graphic could go there as holder for some neat future function (unless one is thought up).
 * just for looksee, if you do a second page, you could try reintroducing a little bit of curve at the main box corners, but only as much as on the left sidebar - a hint. I realized earlier that it was not the presence of rounding but the larger amount of it in previous design that seemed to be off.

The edits I made recently were in attempt to eliminate minor problems and help the page go through community review. If you don't like them, please revert. Reswik 02:41, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!
- Thanks for the great design, hope it gets implemented soon. Keep up the good work! Rayshan 14:32, 24 August 2006 (UTC)