Talk:Main Page

--Spacefractal 01:54, 13 July 2006 (EDT)We should probably reduce the amount of subnavigation on the main page. There's something to be said for immediate drilling down, but the more junk there is on the first page, the more overwhelming it will be to newbies... who this will be most useful for. --mahuti 13:20, 27 February 2006 (EST)

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I moved the full table of contents to its own page and listed the main sections here. It's still just as confusing for noobs though, it really needs a friendly introductory paragraph with a couple of links to get people started. --JoyMonkey 13:56, 27 February 2006 (EST)

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Seems the Miscellaneous link is misaligned to "Miscellaneous_.28for_now.3F.29". Changing so it links to "Miscellaneous" on the contents page. CoachMcGuirk 16:24, 2 March 2006 (EST)

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Oh yeah, I changed the Misc link on the Contents page but forgot to change the link on the Main Page. D'oh! --JoyMonkey 16:27, 2 March 2006 (EST)

Look on the [Jukebox Page]. This should go this way, wich is going being nicely.

--Spacefractal 10:20, 19 March 2006 (EST)

I would like to reorganize the look of the main page - into a main introductory paragraph with two columns underneath. That would let most users see all the links on one screen. Also I strongly recommend adding the __NOTOC__ tag to the top of the page to get rid of the silly contents box. Perhaps use a template to format the title. I'd be happy to do it, but I don't want to jump in and upset anyone.

Also, it would be best if the main page led into major portals (i.e. major subjects) each with their own page and category (does anyone use categories??) rather than just leading to one huge page with every link on it. This would require some rework, but not really that much once we have some major portal headings and categories defined. -- thoughts?? -- Doc- 22:28, 4 July 2006 (EDT) (aka Doc- on the forum)

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I say go for it, I don't like the look of the main page very much anyway. I use the search function when trying to locate a specific page becuase the main page is unwieldy.

--Buddabing 10:20, 5 July 2006 (EDT)

Go for it!

--Spacefractal 18:15, 5 July 2006 (EDT)

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I'm thinking of something along the lines of my homebrew wiki here - http://www.brewwiki.com -- I won't have time to do the bulk edits until next week, but I'm thinking of the following main portals:

• Getting Started
• Designing & Building (includes Tools)
• Control Panels (includes controls)
• Video
• Finishing (includes artwork, lighting, misc)
• Software (includes Emulators)
• Examples (includes most of the "link" type pages)
• Community (people, the BYOC community, etc)
• Suppliers (& vendors)
• Help Portal - contains info about, copyrights, info on Wiki editing, etc...

I think each should have a category assigned to it, plus one more category for the Glossary (the current glossary could be more easily done with a category) and another for Help. More thoughts?? Doc- 19:43, 5 July 2006 (EDT)

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What about the Contents Page (wich should been the frontpage)?

All MainPage does now it links to the content page, wich is not allways fine. if someone update the content page, they also forgot to update the mainpage as well.

I think the content page is fine, but the mainpage does require a rework. Either it would been fine with me, if these pages(s) can been tweeked, and the user easier can navigate around.

--Spacefractal 11:31, 6 July 2006 (EDT)

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I guess that is a good question. The problem is that the index has become quite large, which is why I think it might be better as several pages focused on different topics. You could create an index or Glossary that automatically lists major pages using categories instead (i.e. Category:Index or Category:Glossary). I'm not saying we need to rid ourselves of the index, but perhaps there is a way to make it easier to maintain.

Just some thoughts - I may have a few minutes to start on the main page this week. I won't alter the index. I may start on the portals, but I won't link the main page into them unti lwe sort this out. -- Doc- 22:53, 9 July 2006 (EDT)

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In my options, it most on the "General sections of this wiki" in mainpage, that is very ugly. It the same page as a content, but only contain shortcuts. The Content page is for me fine, it large, but it was setup like a table, and splittede software and hardware. It a good breif index of all aviable pages (like you would in a book in the beginning).

The mainpage could maybe directy take into a subpages of a category (like examples), rather than linking to the content page?

I guess these pages should been seperated, so they dosen't share links, so it need to update both page?

Let see, what you doing on the mainpage.....

--Spacefractal 12:49, 10 July 2006 (EDT)

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Reformatted the main page - this is just a start because I still need to establish portals to organize the main entry points on the website. At this point I did not change any content - just reformatted. Doc- 23:29, 11 July 2006 (EDT)

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--Spacefractal 12:49, 10 July 2006 (EDT)

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Reformatted the main page - this is just a start because I still need to establish portals to organize the main entry points on the website. At this point I did not change any content - just reformatted. Doc- 23:29, 11 July 2006 (EDT)

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The Category should been used on all subpages, since the index look very good. Im tried with the examples. Whaow, what a diffecent! You are complety right. These portal should use thier own category.

I have also changed the software section in the mainpage. It is that would you was looking for (this section called the software portal, Category:Software])?

This is a lots easier to navigate around. Later Im going to put the tag on all software pages.

--Spacefractal 18:04, 12 July 2006 (EDT)

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Spacefractal - see this page for a description of how I use portals together with categories to make it much easier on my Brewing site:

• BrewWiki Portal

About half way down the page you will see a table showing that each portal has its own category, and all the pages in that portal are members of that category. In addition I have a "super category" called "Glossary" that all of the main terms belong to so I can autogenerate the Glossary or index. The main entrance point into each major topic is a portal, and each portal has a category for easier navigation. It does eliminate the need for an index page, since the overall glossary/index serves that purpose.

 I just created a new Portal named "Software" - do a search for that page and see what you think.  Doc- 19:26, 12 July 2006 (EDT)

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I like that.

Found it from the recent changes page. Now there are 2 pages about software (Software and Software_Overview, that last one would been redirected to the new one). On the main page, I guess you simply add a link into the software page on the mainpage? The Portals should been created before changed the main page. And then all subartcles would been added the missing category tag. I would going to add "Software" category on all software pages (only links, that is really software, not the list).

Content/Index may need to been totally changed, but wait with this before the main page is finished. And until portals is finished, I should revert the main_page back to the changed design (before I changed the software)?

--Spacefractal 01:25, 13 July 2006 (EDT)

You may use Template:Main_Page for testing, when portals being working. (like i did for testing examples).

--Spacefractal 01:29, 13 July 2006 (EDT)

Looked on your page: Glossary are allready used here, BUT "Contents/Index" could been redirected to when it totally finished instead. This page would been more automatic, so we only need to change the main page or adding links. The Contents/Index should even been renmaned to index. I guess we can get Saint/Sirwoogie to doing that. Yes, it a lots easier to mainstream that way.

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I agree all of the major portals should have their own category - so pages under software should belong to "Category:Software". Once we have all the portals set up we can alter the main page to point to them. I don't think we should alter the main page until all of the portals are done. If we are going to redirect the index, we will need to get someone with SysOp privaleges. I think the sidebar is protected. I should have time this weekend to do some of the heavy lifting.

Doc- Doc- 23:47, 13 July 2006 (EDT)

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Yep, you are totally correct. IM add a WorkofProgress tag in this mainpage, so other users can see, these pages going to changed into portals.

You can just use a #REDIRECT tag on the contenct/Index page, when it finished (until Contenct/Index going changed by a admidstrator). The mainpage stay as it as until then.

The Software part is finished.

Only few only software page should add to the Index, wich Im have did (Like Hiding Windows, Index to Game Consoles an so on).

--Spacefractal 06:45, 14 July 2006 (EDT)

I let you doing the rest portals. Later I going to workout some issues in the Examples and software page (wich is nothing with due to portal). I Think each article from Content, simply have thier own portal (copy&Paste the text)!

• The Basic
• Examples

And so on, but I let you do the rest. When all portals are created, The Content/Index is no longer needed. I redirect the page instead (using #REDIRECT). It should somply been changed to Category:Index, when finished.

--Spacefractal 07:25, 14 July 2006 (EDT)

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OK - I just finished a massive restructure of the main page and set up portals for major topics. I tried very hard not to drop anything but if I did, I apologize. I also moved to a category based index (though the old contents page is still linked on the sidebar and also in the welcome block). The new structure for the site is significantly streamlined. Details for the new structure are on the Community Portal. Each portal has a corresponding category to provide better organization and navigation. There is some method to the madness, but the new structure does expose some areas that need significant work - particularly the Design and Building and Finishing portals need some more meat.

The new automatic Index is far from complete, but you can add any page to the index by just using the code [[Category:Index]] at the bottom of a given page. Eventually we may want to phase out the current Contents page. Also the Glossary should eventually be converted to a category as well in my opinion, but that was too large a project to take on at the moment.

I'm not sure if anyone will like the new format - but several of us think it is far superior to the old links that took you to sections of the index...I guess if you don't like it you can always revert it. Doc- 01:45, 15 July 2006 (EDT)

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2 Tumps Up :-). Very great work!

I have worked some issues (in vendors pages), and add a missing vendpor page (By MYX).

I think the Glossary work fine, and have a fine link in the sidebar. It should leave as it are. I have no problemo with that!

Otherwice I ask admin to get "Contents/Index" changed to "Category:Index". I also ask him to state you as a wikimaster. It a very streamlined pages we now have!

--Spacefractal 06:21, 15 July 2006 (EDT)

Doc: Outstanding! Your reformatting makes it much easier to find a specific topic!

--Buddabing 21:50, 15 July 2006 (EDT)