Talk:Main Page

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Archives

Archive 1: March 2006-July 2006

Archive 2: August 2006-May 2, 2007

Contents 1 Quick Links 2 Gravewit's Edits 3 Nav Bar 4 What's New Section 5 Uesp wiki 6 main page changes 7 Wikia Gaming footer 8 Fallout wiki

[edit] Quick Links

theSpectator and I were thinking of making a "Quick Links" box to be put on the top of the main page, where the bug notice is currently located. I started the box at User:Hellhound43/testpage, if anyone wants to play around with it feel free. I'm thinking something along the line of:

"Spells - Quests - Locations - Lore - Mods "

What links should we add there? \*\ Hellhound43 13:44, 14 May 2007 (CDT)

Hmm, I think the order should be something like: Main Quest - Other quests - Locations - Spells - Lore - Mods.

Do you think people search for merchants? I was going to put in armor and weapons, but those are fairly easy to access on the front page. --theSpectator talk 12:54, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

That's a good idea too, I'm sure there are people who do look for that, it is a bit hard to find. I would almost say that we could link to the category, but it isn't even close to being complete anyway. So including that, we have:

Main Quest - Other quests - Locations - Merchants - Spells - Lore - Mods

How about including Bestiary, or Ingredients? Perhaps we should include the Starter guide here too? I think we should include Maps and Bugs as well. Including all that, we would have:

Main Quest - Other quests - Locations - Maps - Ingredients - Merchants - Spells - Bestiary - Lore - Mods - Bugs - Starter guide

On a side note, shouldn't we put armor and weapons under Item in The World box, since they are items technically? \*\ Hellhound43 13:19, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Ingredients and maps would be good, though I don't think we need bugs, since most people aren't looking for bugs at OblivioWiki, and many have been fixed. I think the same could apply to bestiary, as that is also fairly easy to find on the front page. I wouldn't want the quick access links to be too long so that it takes up more than one line. But, if we need to, two lines would be okay. Here's a rough draft of the box. Feel free to edit the colors, the sizing, the borders, etc.

Main Quest - Other quests - Locations - Maps - Ingredients - Merchants - Spells - Lore - Mods - Starter guide

Do you think it should be "Other quests" or just "Quests", assuming that people know it is other quests than the Main quest?

Lastly, I didn't put armor and weapons under "item" in the World box because although they are technically items, it seems more understandable that they are part of your character. Plus, putting them in the World box would disrupt the even-ness of the boxes ;-). --theSpectator talk 15:29, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Ok, I've added the link set to my test page (see link in first post), feel free to play around with it. What do you think? Should we add a link for the Shivering Isles Main Quest too? \*\ Hellhound43 18:36, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Heh, I didn't see your testpage in your first post, lol, before I made mine. Anyway, I made it so that "Quick Links" is all in one line; there isn't a need for a "Quick Links" header. Also, I think the color should be changed to something else instead of red. You're the color expert, so feel free to try out something else. --theSpectator talk 20:08, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

I frequently check the wiki for trainers - maybe that should go on there. andy 21:06, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Done, thanks for the suggestion. \*\ Hellhound43 22:35, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

I like the box a lot. If mods and maps are taken off, the box becomes a single line again (at least in my browser). Aesthetically and for reference purposes, I like that a lot. I think the box should be as simple as possible. My arguments for taking those two categories off are: maps is already on the front page, and many of the maps are external links anyway; and the mods article is fairly basic, not a reference source like ingredients or lore. Mods are also an unusual category as they are limited to a single platform (PC) (ignoring offical d/l's like Frostcrag Spire), which seperates it somewhat from the rest of this wiki, which is egalitarian amongst platforms.

There, how's that? \*\ Hellhound43 23:00, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Looks excellent to me - I dub thee Hero of Kvatch. Actually, I don't dub anybody anything - I get overly-effusive whilst drinking. Surry 'boot tha'. andy 23:06, 19 May 2007 (CDT)

Hey dudes, I have a suggestion: WHy not change the featured article every day??? When I used to play Guild Wars, the GuildWiki had a different featured article for every day and I often was tempted to click on tha instead of whatever I was looking for. Also, I think that there should be pics of every item and enemy in their respective pages. I will start helping with that. Oh, and thx for letting me become a new member!!! - Teh_Doctor

The thing is, there aren't that many articles that are good enough quality to be featured, hence the 'every-couple-of-months' FA type thing. --theSpectator talk 08:17, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gravewit's Edits

Although I do like the way the GuildWiki main page looks, part of the reason we designed it our way was to be at least somewhat different from the other gamewikis sites. If it wasn't for the logos, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between HammerWiki and NeverWiki just by looking at their main pages! I also like the titles the way we have them, though they could arguably be a bit darker. I'm also very partial to the rounded corners that Spec engineered.

I disagree with moving the "quick links" section to the side bar, as I believe it is more visible there on the main page with everything else. If we were to move it to the sidebar, then it should probably be expanded to include some other links as well that also appear on the main page or are popular/important references for players.

In short: I like the main page the way it is, but I'm willing to compromise. \*\ Hellhound43 11:05, 1 June 2007 (CDT)

I checked out those wiki main pages, and I like this one better. I should say that I have a custom skin for this wiki and not the others, but I don't think that affects the main page much. This one is distinctive, and I don't see any compelling reason NOT to be distinctive - we are still equally accessible as part of the same wiki community, regardless of how our front page looks. I feel the rounded edges are much better, and I've been using the quick links a lot - I would miss them if they were removed. My vote is for the status quo. andy 15:08, 1 June 2007 (CDT)

I agree that the current main page definitely distinguishes it from not only GuildWiki, but other wikis in general. The part I do like about the proposed one is the thinner borders; in my opinion, the current borders of the main page are a bit too thick (currently at 2 px). I think making them 1 px (or 1.5 px) allows the focus more on the content, than the thick borders ;-). I agree that the main page should in general stay the way it is, but I'm flexible to tweaks and refinements. --theSpectator talk 15:17, 1 June 2007 (CDT)

Keep in mind, most users do NOT come in through the main page, they come in via search engines. This is why I propose adding some stuff to the sidebar.

Personally, the lego-colored boxes are kind of an eyesore. Maybe if they were lightened up a bit. The headers are okay, but I really it looks nicer with the thinner borders. 66.189.184.113 00:56, 2 June 2007 (CDT)

When you say "sidebar" do you mean the quick links at the top of the page? The thing I like about the proposed quick links is that there is lots of room for more links. I'm not sure I follow the logic that says we need to add stuff to the sidebar because people come in through search engines, however. andy 01:14, 2 June 2007 (CDT) Nevermind - I just reread the whole conversation and answered my own questions. My opinion is that I like the new header because it offers room for more links, and I like the thinner borders, but I miss the rounded corners. The colors I have no opinion on. As far as quick links on the sidebar, it may get a bit cluttered, but it's an intriguing idea. I think it would need to be a very limited number of categories (maybe big, catch-all type articles?) but I wouldn't rule it out. andy 01:23, 2 June 2007 (CDT)

I like the newer version of the quick links. I don't mind having the links also on the sidebar, but in addition to the ones up top. Sure it'll be double for the main page, but for those users who do come on the main page, they'll be able to see 'em immediately.

I made a test page here as an example of both the rounded corners and thinner lines, while maintaining the original format. I think the thinner borders make the table borders less evident. Color-wise, it doesn't matter with me; I haven't tried out lighter colors, so it'd be interesting to see. Feel free to play around with the test page. --theSpectator talk 01:39, 2 June 2007 (CDT)

I agree with Spec, and I can live without my nice thick borders. I've brightened the colors on his test page from 232 to 240 luminosity, is it bright enough now? \*\ Hellhound43 03:13, 2 June 2007 (CDT)

Hey - what's the PC console thing page? Is there a page for that? I'm on a 360, but I imagine that if I was on a PC I would be looking for that a lot and maybe that/those link/s could go on the new header. andy 03:30, 2 June 2007 (CDT)

Looks good, in my opinion. The page you're looking for, Andy, is Console commands. As for putting it in the quick links, it doesn't matter with me. --theSpectator talk 00:24, 3 June 2007 (CDT)

I can live with that layout. As for sidebar links, we'd want to keep them limited. Armor, Weapons, Quests. That seems to be what most people come looking for. What am I missing ? 66.189.184.113

Ingredients, trainers, merchants? And I'd want to consolidate weapons and armor. andy 01:46, 3 June 2007 (CDT)

Locations! andy 01:57, 3 June 2007 (CDT)

Alright, Weapons & Armor would need a portal page or something like that, then, eh? I think what is *necessary* to have in the side bar would be links to: Quests, Weapons and Armor, Spells, and Locations. Gravewit 03:40, 3 June 2007 (CDT)

Did anyone else notice the tables aren't perfectly aligned down the middle? Not sure why though... \*\ Hellhound43 20:17, 3 June 2007 (CDT)

Curved the corners of the editcopy. I just took a ruler to the screen and the boxes measured up the same in width. Possibly the left sidebar gives the illusion that the boxes aren't perfectly aligned.

Quick links looks good; if we combine weapons and armor, we'd have to decide what specifically would go in it (would it just be weapons and armor and that's it?). --theSpectator talk 02:16, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

I'm not sure you understood which part of the tables I was talking about. The space between "The Character" and "The World" boxes doesn't align horizontally (in the middle of the page) with the spaces that are roughly in alignment between the "What's New" and FA/Collab above and "The Arts" and "Game Mechanics" below. Hold your mouse cursor over the gap between the rounded corners and you should notice it's a few pixels off at least (about 4-6 pixels @ 1280x1024 resolution) The misalignment isn't as noticeable with the thicker borders. Heh, maybe I'm just picky :P.

For the weapons and armor, I would think it would have to include all worn or wielded items, including clothing and jewelry. In hindsight, I also think adding Ingredients and Trainers to the quick links would be good without crowing it too much. I don't tend to think that merchants is necessary though, unless we specify spell merchants. \*\ Hellhound43 03:01, 4 June 2007 (CDT)

[edit] Nav Bar

I like the new nav bar, but did anyone notice the main page looking screwed up near the top when logged out? It appears correctly now that I've logged in though. \*\ Hellhound43 20:20, 12 July 2007 (CDT)

Yeah, I'm not sure what the problem is with that. Gravewit 16:13, 14 July 2007 (CDT)

If that happens again, just append ?action=purge to the URL. For some reason it was still using the old version in the cache. 66.189.189.127 16:14, 14 July 2007 (CDT)

[edit] What's New Section

This really needs something else in it. Kinda looks odd being that big and 3/4 empty, don't you think? Maybe a "Featured Stubs" or something like that. Put articles that need expanding front and center. Gravewit 16:46, 14 July 2007 (CDT)

Good idea, thanks. \*\ Hellhound43 17:52, 14 July 2007 (CDT)

I agree; sounds good to me. --theSpectator talk 16:35, 16 July 2007 (CDT)

And btw, I think we can remove the SI bug note now too. --theSpectator talk 16:35, 16 July 2007 (CDT)

Ok, I started the Featured Stubs section on the editcopy and got rid of that bug notice. Any thoughts? What other stubs should we feature? \*\ Hellhound43 17:14, 16 July 2007 (CDT)

How 'bout the more important articles for now: Mythic Dawn, Imperial City (not sure what else to include there, since each district has its own article), Bravil, Leyawiin, Oblivion, some of the main quest articles (e.g. Bruma Gate), When the Vow Breaks, Dawnfang/Duskfang, among others. --theSpectator talk 09:27, 17 July 2007 (CDT)

Ok, I've added all of those. Anything else? If not, feel free to move it. \*\ Hellhound43 10:43, 17 July 2007 (CDT)

I like it.

[edit] Uesp wiki

Could this wiki form a partnership with the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages? The scope is slighty differnt, even though they are both wikis, one covers Oblivion while one covers the entire series. 76.84.12.144 02:06, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

An Oblivion Wiki wouldn't be complete without reference to UESP, which already has a complete Oblivion Wiki. This seems somehow obsolete a decade before Oblivion was even released, since that is how long UESP has been around. 97.81.111.27 21:34, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Merging the two wikis was discussed many months ago, but it never happened and probably never will, especially now that we are part of the Wikia community while UESP isn't. \*\ Hellhound43 22:21, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] main page changes

I've been working on a new main page layout today. Hopefully you have read about the skin and ad changes at Wikia's New Style on Central Wikia. If not, I hope you'll have a look.

One of the changes is a block of two ads on each main page. It's possible that they won't always show up, but to ensure your main page continues to work properly when they do, you need to update your main page column formatting code with new column tags. From today, these are the only two ads that logged in users will see.

I have drafted a main page using the new tags on Main Page/editcopy which I hope you can take a look at. The main change to the layout is the fixed width of the right column. This still allows a lot of customisation - for example see these main pages - w:c:muppet, w:c:wowwiki, w:c:ffxi.

If you encounter any problems with the new tags, please let me know. -- Sannse 18:19, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to switch this tomorrow, unless anyone wants to make some last-minute changes? -- Sannse 19:35, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, oddly, I'm on a widescreen monitor and the second column (What's new?, Game Mechanics, etc) are squished on the right side with the ad, while the first column is long and extended to take up the space. I haven't looked at the new column tags (I'm about to leave for work in a few), but I'm assuming this is with those new tags (as stated). Is there a way to adjust this? Well, now that I've looked at WoWwiki and the Final Fantasy one, I see that that is what's intended. I guess we'll need to rearrange the contents in the column to suit the new formatting.

Also, we've been having issues with certain images, and uploading images is a problem. Uploading the actual picture works, and there is a picture, but the picture doesn't actually load. Then it says "404 - Not found" when you click to try to view the enlarged picture. See this recent upload I tried as a test.--theSpectator talk 00:43, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

EDIT ADD: We had messaged Tor/Torr about it a while a go at Wikia but haven't had a response. We're not sure who else to ask about the image uploading problem. --theSpectator talk 00:45, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Images first... I've fixed the problem, you should be able to upload images now. I'll fix the 16 broken ones in a moment. You are generally best contacting the Community Team for problems, these techy types get distracted ;)

On the main page, the key change is the 300px column on the right. Having that there means that the 300px wide ad will fall into that column, without pushing anything else down. On wide screens I guess that is going to look narrow. You may want to look at what's in that column and pick out better choices. I basically kept as close to the current design as I could, so it can probably do with tweaking. But I think that can be done over time, and while it's live - it's a wiki after all ;) -- Sannse 10:54, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Oops, forgot to do the switch :) it's done now, and live. Of course it can still be changed, just see the help page if you need to know more about the tags -- Sannse 15:38, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

I just updated the layout with a couple of little tweaks: left column now comes first, reduced the gutter between columns for consistency, and added comments to help people find their way around. Kirkburn 17:36, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Wikia Gaming footer

Could you please add this to the bottom of the main page as part of cooperation with Wikia's gaming wikis?

Other gaming wikis from Wikia Fallout • Guild Wars • BioShock • The Witcher • Mass Effect • Ultima • World of Warcraft • More... Wikia Gaming IRC channel

Ausir 14:48, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fallout wiki

Just so you know, if you're also interested in Fallout 3, I encourage everyone here to edit The Vault, a Fallout wiki, also hosted at Wikia. Ausir ^(talk) 17:33, 1 November 2008 (UTC)