Talk:Main Page/WideSandbox3

Introduction

I set up this sandbox to work on improving the layout of the main page:

• Two widths are provided via the size icons in the upper left of the page navigation bar, to allow our readers to adjust the site layout for the display size they are using. In the Small version the width is fixed to a narrower dimension, while in the larger version, an additional side bar is added, plus the lead and "More news" sections are allowed to dynamically resize themselves. We could expand upon this idea by adding a third icon for a "jumbo" size, for our readers in the technical and creative fields who tend to have 1600x1200 display settings.
• Section headers appear at the top, to make it easier to navigate to other areas of the site. The "More news" and "Developing news" links takes the reader to an embedded anchor where news from each category is summarized (lower on the main page).
• The "lead" story is right up top, as it is on all other major news outlets. One important departure from Wikipedia is the use of a large photograph from the lead story. This is important to grab the reader's attention and helps the main page to visually communicate that Wikinews is a news site. One issue that different editors have already disagreed on is whether the lead headline goes above or below the photo. There is no firm precedent for us to follow in the established media, as I could show you examples of both styles - some sites even have the lead headline to the right of the lead photo - so we will have to subjectively choose. However almost all newspapers always have the lead headline at the very top, as do the majority of the news sites that I visit.
• The "intro/welcome" text is placed in a box in a sidebar, so it is still highly visible, but doesn't push important content down on the page.
• Other small changes are made to improve the overall fit and finish.
• Special note to Admins - there is a new version of the site-wide banner that saves a few lines of space above the main page. Please consider using that change immediately, as the current version pushes the news down by a noticeable amount.

Please let me know what you think. We can try out more designs, but there is some urgency to do something about the main page site design, as it is not at all inviting to the casual readership which we need to build for Wikinews.

There is more discussion on the talk page for the small version. — DV 14:20, 3 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Look and Feel

I like this version a lot. I suggest the following changes:

• Move the central headline under the image, left-align it within the central area.
  • I recommend this because the eye darts to the image first, skipping the headline, then continues down; moving the headline beneath the image would increase its saliency.
• Remove "more headlines" and "developing stories" links.
  • It's been shown that people do scroll below the fold; I think that those links kind of distract from the subject based links.
• Add more headlines to the central area.
  • We might want to lead with more than one story. Perhaps one could be the main story (related to the image), and there could be one or two sub-head stories. I attempted to do this in Main Page/Sandbox4, and think it could work in this design as well.

Thoughts? -- IlyaHaykinson 11:33, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Please check out what I did with the lead headline just now. I think the main headline has to be centered, to balance the interior white space.

As for additional stories, maybe when you last looked I hadn't added them below the lead story yet? Are the other stories in a good position now?

I'm not so sure about removing the links to the anchors further down on the page, but I see your point about them being a bit distracting. I'm not too attached to them however, so if that's what it takes to get a consensus to make these changes live, I'll go with that change.

By the way, I linked the wide page with the monitor switcher icons in the upper-left hand corner to a narrower version at Main_Page/Sandbox3. This feature allows our readers with big or small monitors to customize their viewing experience.

At the top, I also showed how to save a couple of lines by reducing the size of the site banner. Hopefully we can convince an Admin to make that change.

Anyways, please check out the latest version, starting from the small- or large-sized view, and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

— DV 15:41, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

OK, I see your point on the main headline being centered (thanks for moving it down). Though please do be aware that on screens with large resolutions (i.e. I run at 1600x1200), the image and headline are still very awkwardly stick out in the middle. Perhaps we can live with that.

As for additional stories, I meant effectively additional "lead" type stories: not just the contents of the Latest News template, but separate headlining stories. The analogy here is that newspapers carry two or three main headlines, not just one — there's a big image with an accompanying headline, and then one or two other big stories in sidebars or below. Check out this site with lots of newspapers' front pages as images. We're not a newspaper of course, but their presentation of content is likely informed by decades of experimentation on what people like.

Overall, I really like the approach you've taken, including the double versions and the layouts of both. -- IlyaHaykinson 22:09, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

New Site-Wide Banner

I like this, I like this a lot. I'll see what I can do about adding it into the main site, if it hasn't already been done, when I get home from work. Lankiveil 05:39, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC).

Web site design

Yes ... the design is clearly needed to be changed :) The dark green color would fit perfectly xD