User:Conor Kenny/Thoughts on wiki design
Contents
Features
Meta tagging on wikis
- w:Template:under construction - using an "under construction" tag is tricky on a wiki when all articles are always evolving, but here's how it's done on Wikipedia.
Portals
I think I really like the new way Wikipedia is doing their portals with tabs. See, for example, the Science portal
A "create a new article" function
- I'd really like to see this implemented on SourceWatch so editors don't have to use the overly complicated or indirect methods of creating a page.
Things you can do
Wikipedia seems to have a very complex-under-the-hood but simple-on-top method of organizing the "things you can do." I like their system in part because it gives each portal a separate list while unifying them all together, the way I'd like to see the different parts of SourceWatch unified.
Part of the system is the Wikipedia Template:OpenTasks. See my discussion with User:Beland on my Wikipedia talk page.
Sister projects
I'd like to see a more in-depth description on each portal of how it fits in with larger projects and then within SourceWatch as a whole. On Congresspedia pages I'd like to see discussion of related Sunlight Foundation-funded and run projects. See the bottom of the Wikipedia main page for an example.
Other wikis
These are other wikis, which are useful for comparison:
- Wikipedia, of course. Some elements of this wiki are very polished.
- Wikia wikis - Jimbo Wales tries the for-profit model:
- Politics.Wikia, a wiki on politics. More focused on individual user opinions than collaborative encyclopedia articles. Very polished.
- Campaigns.Wikia, a wiki on political campaigns. Less polished, but another way of doing politics on wikis and thus worth studying every once and a while.
Earlier design issues and thoughts
- September 2007 redesign
- An early conceptualization of the Congresspedia front page by the Sunlight Foundation's Kerry Mitchel prior to the September 2007 redesign.
- Feedback from the on the draft for the September 2007 redesign of SourceWatch.
- Various other files and designs built by Kerry.
Font sizes
This is an h2 font size
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This is with big
This a non-main heading
| Current style (test site) | Conor proposal | Conor proposal II | Conor proposal III |
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Article title 188
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Article title 160
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Article title 188
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Article title 190
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Second level 160
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Second level 160
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Second level 160
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Second level 185
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Third level 132 (b)
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Third level 145
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Third level 150
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Third level 178
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Fourth level 116
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Fourth level 125
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Fourth level 145
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Fourth level 165
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Fifth level 100
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Fifth level 115
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Fifth level 125
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Fifth level 150
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Sixth level 80
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Sixth level 110
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Sixth level 115
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Sixth level 130
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| Bold text | Bold text | Bold text | Bold text |
| Plain text | Plain text | Plain text | Plain text |
Comparison of my proposed h1 text in a long-titled article.
