After some prelimary feedback and testing I've rolled in a new front page to the wiki.
Quoted from the talk page:
New front page
The old front page had a number of advantages:
- You could access almost any page within one click
- We looked like a very mature wiki
- Project intro for new-comers
It also had some problems:
Maintainability
** Changes of various pages around the wiki required us to change the headings and links on the front. (double-editing)
** No-one has front-page permissions other than the admins (to avoid defacing)
** The [[Special:MostRevisions|most edited page on the wiki]] is the front-page.Choosing what to go on the front was a constant trade-off:
** Too much or too little description for links
** "Have I just broken the table and div model?" after every changeOrganisation
** Hard to find what you are after
** Categorised by roles (Coder, artist, etc). Roles overlap! Artists and normal players were discouraged from even reading the links in the 'Programmers' section.
** What pages should be linked on the front? Who uses what? When is it useful?I think this new design is a much better idea:
- Front page (rarely changed, except for the gallery)
- 6 category pages (constantly changed, links to all other pages)
Front-page categories
The category boxes on the front page are floating so they work at all screen resolutions. If we need to add or remove categories it's a cinch (and we don't ruin the formatting of the whole page). Backend-wise the code is much cleaner: just a set of CSS'ed divs.
Each box has a description of what that category is about, but not links to it's exact contents. That way we don't have to change links on the front-page (double-editing) all the time to keep up with other changes in the wiki.
Anyone can edit the category pages. It will be 1000% better if we can keep it this way, we'll have to see.
Purposes of the wiki
If we recruit new modellers etc we can still send them somewhere relevant: the Making & Modding page (which also has the artist guidelines linked). It's also much more attractive for people to contribute to: they don't think the wiki is as complex nor messy. I'm constantly being asked by people if it's OK to edit the wiki or add a page, and most of all "where should I put it?". This should be self-documenting, not centrally controlled by me.
There is no point having the intro to the game on the wiki. Yes it was well written, but the main site does a better job in three different places:
- https://www.unvanquished.net/
- https://www.unvanquished.net/about
- https://www.unvanquished.net/contribute
IMHO the wiki is just a place to share information. When there are better ways than using the wiki, we should use those instead: eg we don't use the wiki as a pastebin, we use stikked for that. The main site is prettier and more controllable 'intro to the project' that is also the first thing people see when they google us. It's rare to end up on the wiki ''before'' the rest of the site, and if someone does there are links in the sidebar.
Why I've decided to roll this change in
I think this is the best way for everyone to try it and and give fair feedback:
- Long-termers are not going to like change. "The old one wasn't broken" and "I knew where everything was" etc (I'm talking about ''you!'' :D)
- If I just ask for comments for a separate page, I won't ever get a definitive 'yes' or 'no'
- If everyone is subjected to the new design (we can always go back) for a week or so, their opinions will be more thorough and balanced.
I honestly think this new page is in both the interests of you and the project. All discussion is encouraged, and since it's a new design flaws are likely to crop-up.
