Wikipedia talk:Design overhaul, 2006

message: Good idea pzfun, as we were discussing on IRC, this revamp should aim to attract more people, with a wider range of demographics.  Some of my fellow peers seem to think that Wikipedia is "geeky", so this new style should appeal to all sorts.  We should try to keep it simple, for new users as well. Steve-o 08:47, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Attracting a range of demographics would be great.  Making it easier to find the beautiful and amazing parts of the site, likewise.  I have to send out a list of links to help people find the most beautiful spaces; they tend to be more than 3 links from the main page via normal routes [if you know to visit 'recentchanges' and maneuver through the links at the top there, you can get almost anywhere in 3 links].  +sj + 22:09, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: From IRC

message: As I understand it, designers usually meet with the execs and get a feel for the company's strategy.  But with wikipedia, the company's a community -- maybe we should collectively draft a very broad set of guidelines to help the board choose a firm or designer (and to give the designer something to work with).  Not design by comittee, but writing by comittee (which we're good at).
A preliminary version, off the top of my head:
1. The purpose of wikipedia is to provide a free (libre) compendium of the world's knowledge. [Insert lots of background about how the encyclopedia works, on social and technical levels. danah boyd could be helpful here.  It's vital that the designer(s) understand how everything works; they'll probably want to do research on their own.]
2. The goals of the redesign/branding are to further this purpose by attracting productive new editors (and new people in general).
3.  Wikipedia possesses several traits that the design should convey:
: * It's useful.
: * It's collective.
: * It's fluid.
: * It's exciting.
: * It's easy to edit.
: * It's cool, not geeky (?)
: * It's international/global.
4. Initially, the design should be opt-in for logged-in users.
Tlogmer ( talk / contributions ) 21:24, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  A "Design Constitution"? 

message: The look of varoius custom skins that already exist can be found here.Geni 15:18, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: A gallery of custom skins

message: ===Design by User:Ctrl build===
No idea where to put this but:
*Design 184kb
*User:Ctrl_build/monobook.css
*User:Ctrl_build/monobook.js
*header image
::Since this proposal looks like it might go in a different direction, you'll probably want to put your designs up at m:Gallery of user styles as well. Tlogmer ( talk / contributions ) 20:23, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The problem I see with this design is that the article related tabs (edit, discussion, history) get lost in the general navigation. Some elements are missing: Personal links, interwiki... --Elian Talk 20:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The main page doesn't have any interlang links. I assume they would go the same place they would go in monobook. The top right search box appears in the classic skin and appears to work ok.Geni 21:50, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Designs

message: No idea where to put this but:
*Design 184kb
*User:Ctrl_build/monobook.css
*User:Ctrl_build/monobook.js
*header image
::Since this proposal looks like it might go in a different direction, you'll probably want to put your designs up at m:Gallery of user styles as well. Tlogmer ( talk / contributions ) 20:23, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Design by [[User:Ctrl build]]

message: * second design proposal 697 KB
* content is king
* so the navi moves to the top and is hideable (if hided the search and the wiki-logo moves into the black container)
* second design proposal: edit this page 430 KB
* new edit-icons from famfamfam that are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. 
* Maybe the special characters schould be arranged like in the  German version with a dropdown menu that will show only chosen characters.
==== Design by Justin Garrity ====
 
* Big Idea = Content Accessability - Let the content come forward and move the search into the standard top right corner
* Used the existing XHTML (only changing the logo by reducing the size)
* Improve font readability by changing font sizes, font colors, linking colors where appropriate, and character spacing
:The problem I see with this design is that the article related tabs (edit, discussion, history) get lost in the general navigation. Some elements are missing: Personal links, interwiki... --Elian Talk 20:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The main page doesn't have any interlang links. I assume they would go the same place they would go in monobook. The top right search box appears in the classic skin and appears to work ok.Geni 21:50, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Second design by [[User:Christoph Knoth]] 

message: * Big Idea = Content Accessability - Let the content come forward and move the search into the standard top right corner
* Used the existing XHTML (only changing the logo by reducing the size)
* Improve font readability by changing font sizes, font colors, linking colors where appropriate, and character spacing
:The problem I see with this design is that the article related tabs (edit, discussion, history) get lost in the general navigation. Some elements are missing: Personal links, interwiki... --Elian Talk 20:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The main page doesn't have any interlang links. I assume they would go the same place they would go in monobook. The top right search box appears in the classic skin and appears to work ok.Geni 21:50, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Design by [[Justin Garrity]]