Wikidata talk:Portal Redesign/draft

Looks great

I think the design looks great. Would "Discover" contain only tools or also things like "query of the day", or "Did you know?" type of stuff? -Tobias1984 (talk) 09:16, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Can you use the 3 colors of wikidata for the header of the section? (red green e blue) --ValterVB (talk) 19:10, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

The new draft looks great and more lively. I would like to suggest a few more things to it:

• The links to social media profiles could be made a bit more highlighted, perhaps by assisting them with corresponding logos (as in sister projects' list) or a relocation on the page
• The total number of items created (which is as for now, mentioned in a sentence below the title 'Wikidata') could be displayed with more emphasis in perhaps a small rectangular label on top-right corner of the page
• The dimensions of the image could be reduced for a better look and structure of the page
• The content in 'Welcome' section could be more concise, linking to the introduction page for a detailed description
• The language links could be in a drop-down section 'Language Links' to make it look more spacious
• 'Start contributing' sub-section could also include 'Edit a prospective Showcase item'

-anjali (talk) 17:23, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Feedback

The organization of information is improved considerably although the graphic in the "Learn about data" section and the contents of the "Welcome!" could still be improved. For example, focus on users that do no know about Wikimedia or any of its projects (except Wikipedia). What does "linked database" mean, why are "machines" emphasized, ... ?
There is no graphical step forward. The basic layout remains the same. While it very easy to scan, it is also plain, static and not appealing to new users. On the other side, the page more or less exclusively focuses on new users although, in my opinion, the main page should be a hub for all kinds of users. I would love to see up-to-date news about the project. Sure, the current "news" do not really deserve the name. It would be great if, for example, task forces would drop in news from time to time about what they achieved, what they started working on - showing the project is alive. Another idea to call for action would be something like a "Can you help?" section listing random constraint violations. Just some ideas... Random knowledge donator (talk) 10:27, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Better than before

I would make the image bigger, just like in Wikivoyage design (or this one for international audiences). And the animation could show showcase items.--Micru (talk) 10:51, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

@Thepwnco: I have added a search box (at the expense of some links that nobody clicks), but ideally it should have autosuggest... And that black looks really black, do you think some gradient to dark blue would fit better?--Micru (talk) 22:43, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

@Micru: my you work fast! Thanks for the search box! As for the banner - it is just one option I've been playing with; there are others here that have or could have different colours. Thepwnco (talk) 22:51, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikispecies

I do not think we should provide any links to Wikispecies mainly due to its monolingualism and unusability, see de:User:Gnom/Wikispecies for a more detailed explanation. Regards, Vogone (talk) 23:24, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

I think Wikidata (and Wikipedia) will over time replace Wikispecies, but as long as it exists we might as well link to it. SPQRobin (talk) 22:52, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

More feedback

I got asked for some feedback, so here it is. Please note that this is my personal opinion. I'm not speaking for other Wikidata team members.

• I find the colored backgrounds not helpful. They are not necessary. They make the page "noisy" without adding much clarity. Please stick to the white background from my original proposal.
• It's not obvious to me which box uses which color. The current main page makes very good use of the colors: Introduction is green, becoming active is blue and stuff to read is read. The current colors in the redesign seem random, unrelated to the content of the box.
• Moving the translations way down is a problem for obvious reasons ("below the fold"). I see why you did it. But most visitors will miss the fact that they can have a translated version of the page. A possible solution is a big link (possibly in the black box) that points down to the language selection. Maybe show something like "Deutsch • English • Français • More languages …" to make it more obvious there is a language selection?
• The floating texts in the black box are a big problem. Please bake the texts into the image (you can use SVG to have an image that can be translated) or just avoid them.
• The big image should be in an overflow: hidden container so it shrinks on smaller screens.
• There are some smaller CSS issues, e.g. the white "Welcome" does have a blue underline if your "always underline links" setting is enabled.
• Some margins and paddings need balancing.
• "Featured tool" is the only element with that font size. Try to stick to the same font size for all headings.
• "Discover" does not really explain the content of the box. Currently the content is only about tools, right?
• "Browse the FAQs" should simply be "Frequently asked questions".
• I find "Join a WikiProject" a bit out of place on the main page. Only insiders know what a "WikiProject" is. Please try to find a more general wording, e.g. "Join a task force".

All these are just hints and suggestions. Feel free to use them or not if you disagree. :-) --Thiemo Mättig (WMDE) 12:58, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Top box proposal

I played around with the CSS of the top box. This is what I ended with. Feel free to pick what you like. --Thiemo Mättig (WMDE) 13:51, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Hi Thiemo, I think this heading is way too dark. I'd like a lighter design. -- Bene* ^t_a^l_k 18:11, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

It's a strong contrast, sure, but I think it works well. --Thiemo Mättig (WMDE) 19:06, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikidata,
the free knowledge base with 109,977,241 data items that anyone can edit

Enter what would you like to know more about

Final feedback can be left here

As per the announcement left on Project Chat. Cheers. -Thepwnco (talk) 22:21, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Banner way too dark for me. Feels completly detached from… anything :) As usual with this kind of things, just my opinion. I'd make the background white, lines more bold and less of them. Lazowik (talk) 19:06, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Centralized

Looks nice in general. One nitpick: I'd not put "centralized" as a feature keyword in there. This is not something that is unambiguously good. In fact, I personally would prefer thing being decentralized, and see the centralization as something we have to live with due to technical reasons. --Jeroen De Dauw (talk) 22:47, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Feedback

• maybe I am minority of opinion, but I think the heading is too dark and out of place with the rest of the design. Curious how would it look if the colors were inverted (e.g. white background, instead of black)?
• also, I there is too much scrolling to get past the banner to the content. Can the banner be made a bit shorter (less scrolling) perhaps?
• the "anyone can edit" should be linked, as it is now.
• somewhere prominent the link for the sandbox: "If you'd like to test out the Wikidata software, please use the sandbox.".
• the placement of the "news" box seems out of place (too low), though don't have a better suggestion.
• the various sections / boxes of the redesign generally look very nice. :)

Aude (talk) 22:57, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Also, please make each box it's own subpage or page entirely that can be transcluded, like done for the English Wikipedia main page ('did you know', 'in the news'...). That way, each part is easily reusable elsewhere (e.g. maybe someone wants in on their user page or other project page). Aude (talk) 23:01, 21 August 2014 (UTC)

Darth Vader would love the first part

Good initiative! Some feedback, hope it helps:

• I agree on making the languages less prominent, but now it's tucked way and I doubt any new user can find it. Look at how Commons: fixed this (log out)
• The black is just too big. On my (small) laptop it takes over half of the screen.
• The words seems to be lost, if I click them I end up in the image viewer with the image.
• Too much text on the page
• Why did you keep the header bars from the old mainpage?
• What about mobile?
• What is your intended audience? Readers or editors or a combination of both?

Multichill (talk) 14:10, 23 August 2014 (UTC)

Dear User:Thepwnco, what is the point of asking for feedback if you're not going to respond to it anyway? Multichill (talk) 20:56, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

And also, what happened to the search box? On Thiemo's version it was there... and then gone.--Micru (talk) 21:00, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikidata Wikimedia Projects

Why don't Wikidata Wikimedia Projects have their own box (like in the present main page for example)? Thanks. --FRacco (talk) 21:14, 26 August 2014 (UTC)

Something like User:Stryn/Sandbox would be better (this is just an old draft from 2012). --Stryn (talk) 18:45, 27 August 2014 (UTC)