[wiki] Wiki homepage content

Destry · 2010-12-11 14:04:21

I’ve been revisiting the idea of how to use the main content area of the wiki homepage.

While the current link lists are direct to particular topic pages, the sections themselves are redundant with the sections you access via the main nav in the left column. Indeed, the link list outputs in the two locations are done via wiki templates, which in itself is a good thing if you’re going to be redundant like that. Yet one could still argue it’s not the best use of the main page. We could let the individual section pages (e.g., Orientation), stand on their own — accessible via the left nav — and use the main content area of the homepage for other things that benefit Txp and the wiki as much as they do documentation users.

What other things? Good question. And that’s why I’m bringing it up. Whatever the content is, it must be relatively easy to maintain once it’s there (so no “News” type things), but it should not be totally automated (so no feed streams). I’m guessing some content items might be relatively static, others a little less so.

Some ideas I’ve been kicking around are:

Highlights on areas in the wiki that need editorial attention (e.g., FAQs: objectives, how to help, etc). — temporal item
A highlight on wiki localisation; something that makes that ability/need/opportunity more visible. (Something more than the “?” link at right of the “Translations” header in right column.) — permanent item
A block to emphasize the jewel in the crown — Tag References
A dedicated block to any published Txp literature outside the wiki (i.e., the only book so far). – permanent item that would include new books (etc) when published
A block to highlight other docs-related sites, like TXP Tips. (If we did this, I would argue to not use a “More” dropdown in the Txp bar in that case, keeping the Txp bar free of more complicated code.)

Once we figured out what content might be good to put there, if at all, then we can think of a snappier way of presenting it. Something magazine-ish or newspaper layout-ish. I.e., text/image content in a custom grid of some sort but white space being the rule (not boxes with borders).

Another place to advertise the Textpattern book, might be in the footer, replacing the “Hand tooled” graphic which isn’t really communicating anything relevant.

That’s the general idea. Any other thoughts on content at this point?

Bloke · 2010-12-11 14:28:09

That’s a great idea. I like all your suggestions so far. That’d make a big difference to the overall first impression and the general experience. I always visit the front page first: bookmarks? who needs ‘em!

The ‘bits that need attention’ idea is a fab way of advertising what needs editorial help and, I’m willing to wager, will garner more assistance than something over-the-top like that awful, self-smug, in-yer-face banner “A personal appeal from Jimmy Wales” on the Wikipedia site *shudder*

One other thing that might be a nice alteration: currently the register / new account link is on the front page, but as you browse around it’s lost. Could that be moved up to the ‘Please Log In’ bar and shown only to those people who aren’t logged in as a permanent reminder that editorial stardom is only a click (and a small wait!) away? Not sure how to do that or I’d consider making the change myself. EDIT: except I see that when you click the ‘Please Log In’ link, you see a line on the next screen that says “if you don’t have an account then register for one” so maybe this isn’t necessary after all.

Can’t think of any other content offhand that would be good to showcase but I’ll keep this ticking away in the back of my mind and see if anything pops forward.

Last edited by Bloke (2010-12-11 14:31:17)

jsoo · 2010-12-11 14:49:10

I’m in complete agreement. The current use of the main content tries to do too much, and as a result fails to do much of anything. You should not have to scroll on a home page. Off the top of my head, organize it into three blocks:

For new users
For experienced users
For contributors

Destry · 2010-12-11 14:53:22

Bloke wrote:

…currently the register / new account link is on the front page, but as you browse around it’s lost. Could that be moved up to the ‘Please Log In’ bar and shown only to those people who aren’t logged in as a permanent reminder that editorial stardom is only a click (and a small wait!) away? Not sure how to do that or I’d consider making the change myself.

Actually, I had originally thought about putting that very link on the “help document it” part of the tagline at top, and make that part of the tagline a slight darker shade to emphasize it a bit…maybe put some CSS3 shadowing on it for a hover or something.

But when I tried, the link wouldn’t show up. Maybe that’s because you can’t use a link in a blockquote (though there’s no p element there either, so that could be the difference, but that would still be strange).

As for making it disappear for folks logged in. I wouldn’t know how to mess about with that, but if it was in the tagline, maybe that’s not an issue anyway.

On a related note, I noticed that the WordPress Plugins site has done something kind of clever…they put the login form into the identity bar as part of the log in / log out functions, thereby doing away with the extra click to an actual login page. That’s kind of cool, and if the New Accounts page were linked to from the tagline as described (always there), we could feasibly do something like that, maybe?

Bloke · 2010-12-11 15:13:41

Destry wrote:

put the login form into the identity bar as part of the log in / log out functions

Funny you should mention that. I was toying with that idea for txp.org the other day. Got sidetracked by something else but I intend to do it that way now we have space in the header for it. If you can squeeze it into the layout then I don’t see why we can’t save a click on the wiki too.

Last edited by Bloke (2010-12-11 15:15:04)

Destry · 2010-12-11 15:13:57

Bloke, Jsoo,

Thanks…I’m in favor of the change too.

jsoo wrote:

You should not have to scroll on a home page. Off the top of my head, organize it into three [audience type] blocks…

I’m not concerned about scrolling (page height). That’s putting design considerations before content needs. If we get the content right and the result is a page that scrolls a bit, that’s okay with me.

Organizing the content by audience is a valid consideration, but I don’t really see where there would be a “new users” in the content items I listed so far. I think by it’s nature a docs wiki is geared for new users first and foremost…it goes without saying. All user docs should be edited with that baseline user in mind, unless where it’s specifically for community use or whatever.

Maybe a better way is to just prioritize the position of individual content items by their immediate importance. For example, we need help with something in the wiki, it gets a higher position on the page. The book ad is a book ad no matter what…it goes lower. That sort of thing.

els · 2010-12-11 20:05:49

Bloke wrote:

That’s a great idea. I like all your suggestions so far. That’d make a big difference to the overall first impression and the general experience.

Just echoing, nothing to add :)

EDIT: except I see that when you click the ‘Please Log In’ link, you see a line on the next screen that says “if you don’t have an account then register for one”

Maybe just change the link text to “Log in or register”?

jsoo · 2010-12-11 21:26:02

Destry wrote:

I’m not concerned about scrolling (page height). That’s putting design considerations before content needs.

Arguable. The home page really has no content needs per se. It is essentially a navigation element, wherein information design and user-experience design are paramount.

Destry · 2010-12-13 19:18:31

Truthfully, I’m baffled by your entire response there, Jeff, but maybe we better leave it at that since we both seem to think a change, regardless, is a step in the right direction. :)

jsoo · 2010-12-13 19:50:56

Destry wrote:

maybe we better leave it at that

Obviously I was unclear so I’d rather not leave it at that. :)

I’m using content in a restricted sense, what I see as the usual meaning of that term when discussing web pages. In that sense, the current TextBook home page contains no content at all. I think this is about right, although it is carried too far — it’s not at all clear that TextBook is a documentation site for Txp. It appears to be about a product called TextBook.

Anyway, the main purpose of the home page is to direct users toward the content they need. I think the best way to do this is to present just enough information to allow users to quickly see what’s available and to help them narrow the search, by directing them to the appropriate sub-indexes. I think the current approach tries to do too much. I think it would be better to have a brief blurb describing the purpose of the site, then simply list links to the major site sections with short descriptions of each section.

Destry · 2010-12-15 00:13:59

Thanks, Jeff. I think I see your position a little better.

jsoo wrote:

the main purpose of the home page is to direct users toward the content they need

No argument there.

I’m using content in a restricted sense, what I see as the usual meaning of that term when discussing web pages.

My view of content is a little different. Even a single word, like a link label in a navigation system, is content. Information architecture aims to, among other things, zero in on choosing the best vocabulary (i.e., taxonomies) to communicate meaning to targeted audiences, so navigation is very much content too. Also, blurbs, taglines, and teasers are content, and common on homepages, as well as any thumbnail images that might accompany them. Point is, anything that is not just aesthetics is content, and a lot of thought should go into crafting it.

— it’s not at all clear that TextBook is a documentation site for Txp. It appears to be about a product called TextBook.

This is a good observation. While it’s hard to imagine that nobody could figure it out after looking at the clues for a few moments, a few moments might be too long for some people before they decide to split.

Maybe it’s time to stop calling the wiki “TextBook”, which, admittedly, is a very confusing name (even though it seemed clever back in the day).

I would have no problems replacing “TextBook” in the identity bar with “Documentation”, as well make any other needed changes to start training Google accordingly.

I think the current approach tries to do too much.

For the record, there was really no conscious “approach” to the homepage content so far. What you see is a result that came about in the process of cleaning up deeper wiki content and architecture a while back (e.g., when we rebuilt the Tag Reference). It was helpful at the time, to see what pages were valid, being retitled more effectively, etc. Once that work was more or less finished, other ambitions like the homepage got put on the back burner. It’s only now that we’re looking at the homepage critically since the architecture improvements.

I think the best way to [edit the homepage mca content]… have a brief blurb describing the purpose of the site, then simply list links to the major site sections with short descriptions of each section.

That’s one approach, but I’m not sure that would be an improvement if we just mimicked the navigation and added descriptive blurbs. I don’t think the left navigation is so enigmatic that those section links don’t already convey what kinds of content is underneath them. Orientation, Installation, Tutorials, etc… those are not difficult concepts to undertand. We could review those labels to make sure they’re clear—e.g., we could change “Admin-side” to “Administration”, which does seem more straight forward, and “Extending” and “FAQs translation” might need some rethinking—but by and large the sections represented in the side nav should not be problematic for web designers (Txp’s primary audience) or even the average website tinkerer.

I would like to go in a different direction altogether, which brings me back to my original post where I ask about other content ideas that will benefit Txp and the wiki as much as it will benefit documentation users. Remember, we need editorial interest as much as new Txp users want good documentation. It’s not a one way street. The wiki needs help to be helpful, and there’s nothing wrong with making that clear on the homepage (the tagline panders to that already). I think the five ideas I listed there so far are not bad, and we can add your idea of a wiki summary if people think that would really clarify what the site is for.

Destry · 2010-12-15 00:20:06

Here’s an article I think does a pretty decent job of covering the important aspects of homepage content with respect to new and returning visitors. The author lists a reasonable set of tasks all home pages should accomplish, and I’ve checked-off the ones I think are covered now (✔), or will be (✘) once the mca changes are made:

Establish an identity (hmm… “TextBook” versus “Documentation” in the identity bar)✔ ✘
Make a good first impression (we’ve partly done this with the recent presentation updates) ✔✘
Provide visual and verbal clues to reveal the site’s underlying content and encourage deeper browsing, like teasers, featured items, popular content… (this is essentially like the content ideas I’ve listed so far) ✘
Provide a clear navigation ✔
A place for site-wide search ✔
Fresh content to attract return visitors
Supply both new and return visitors with desired content (by combining some of the others in this list, we get closer to achieving this one) ✘
Provide multiple entry points (same as previous note) ✘

The 6th item relies on actual fresh wiki content. To address this one easier, maybe we do need to pull the wiki’s recent pages/changes feed a bit, in a modifed/simplified/shorter way, otherwise there’s no easy way to address this one.

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#1 2010-12-11 14:04:21

[wiki] Wiki homepage content

#2 2010-12-11 14:28:09

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#3 2010-12-11 14:49:10

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#4 2010-12-11 14:53:22

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#5 2010-12-11 15:13:41

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#6 2010-12-11 15:13:57

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#7 2010-12-11 20:05:49

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#8 2010-12-11 21:26:02

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#9 2010-12-13 19:18:31

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#10 2010-12-13 19:50:56

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#11 2010-12-15 00:13:59

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

#12 2010-12-15 00:20:06

Re: [wiki] Wiki homepage content

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