HRWiki:Main page redesign/Votes
From Homestar Runner Wiki
A redesign of the main page has been in the works since early 2017, but has been delayed for years due to a lack of participation. This page provides a simple way for everyone to give their input.
To cast your vote, go to the section you want to vote on and add #~~~ under {{stuffaccept}} if you support the change, or {{stuffdecline}} if you don't. If you'd like to make additional comments or explain your reasoning, go to the section you'd like to discuss, and add your comment below {{stuffendvotes}} as you would on a talk page.
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[edit] New sections
[edit] Featured articles
An automated "Featured article" section has been added to the page, automatically drawing from the featured article archive once a day.
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Featured articles were a fun and informative part of the main page, and in this redesign, it no longer even requires a selection process. 
Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- Agreed! Currently the left half of the main page feels very blank, this helps fills the space. Plus it helps that the articles are already set up. -- Bleu Ninja
17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
- I'm with you guys on this. This sounds interesting --Cy4nIsN0tB1u3
01:11, 4 September 2022 (UTC)
- I'm with you guys on this. This sounds interesting --Cy4nIsN0tB1u3
[edit] Did you know?
A "Did you know?" section has been added to the page (similar to that of Wikipedia and other wikis), selecting facts from a randomized list.
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I'm a bit conflicted on this one. There's no clear demographic for these facts, so they might be obvious to a longtime fan, and make no sense to someone new. Also, there's not that many facts to draw from, so eventually most users will have seen all of the facts. It also takes up a bit of space. But on the other hand, I don't think those reasons are enough to warrant its removal. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- I'm conflicted as well. I will say that I think the section should be moved below "On this day..." -- Bleu Ninja 17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
- I agree. "On this day" is a much more fleshed-out, complete section with more support behind it, while "Did you know?" has a number of aforementioned flaws, so it makes sense for the former to be more prominent. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:30, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
- This could be a fun addition. - --HoveringSombrero (talk)
- This could be a fun addition. - --HoveringSombrero (talk)
- I agree. "On this day" is a much more fleshed-out, complete section with more support behind it, while "Did you know?" has a number of aforementioned flaws, so it makes sense for the former to be more prominent.
[edit] On this day...
An "On this day..." section has been added to the page, listing the anniversaries of Homestar Runner updates.
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I'm certainly biased because I put a ton of work into this, but I absolutely support this addition. It's a fun way to look back and reflect on some old updates, and there's over 1000 things listed (as opposed to {{didyouknow}}'s mere 100). Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- I think it would be an amazing addition to this site. Thank you to Gfdgsgxgzgdrc for putting in all the work.
Minecraft lover147 21:19, 22 July 2021 (UTC)
- Agreed, this is a great addition! My only concern would be if certain days (i.e. sbemail Mondays, holidays) have dramatically more updates than others it could mess up the layout, but that's a minor quibble. -- Bleu Ninja 17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
- I just reduced the height of the longer entries by putting them in vertically scrolling boxes (since collapsible text isn't supported yet). This solution is subject to change; even the longest entries don't take up too much space, so it's not much of a problem. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:30, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
- I know I'm a little late to the party, but this could be fun. It could be sorta similar to what the They Might Be Giants wiki's got going on. - HoveringSombrero (talk)
- I know I'm a little late to the party, but this could be fun. It could be sorta similar to what the They Might Be Giants wiki's got going on. - HoveringSombrero (talk)
- I just reduced the height of the longer entries by putting them in vertically scrolling boxes (since collapsible text isn't supported yet). This solution is subject to change; even the longest entries don't take up too much space, so it's not much of a problem.
- Agreed, this is a great addition! My only concern would be if certain days (i.e. sbemail Mondays, holidays) have dramatically more updates than others it could mess up the layout, but that's a minor quibble. -- Bleu Ninja
[edit] Recent social media posts
A "Recent social media posts" section has been added to the page, listing recent posts from the @StrongBadActual Twitter and Instagram accounts.
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This will require constant maintenance, but I think it's worth it because of how important social media has become for the body of work. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- This would definitely benefit from a tweet-bot but we currently don't have someone with the time and expertise and the time to work on this yet. --Stux 14:44, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
- I like this idea, but the Twitter page seems to be largely image-based -- by that I mean, Strong Bad sharing an image or replying to someone's post. So the feed reads like "Check this out!" or "Imagine if this was real", which isn't very engaging to read without context and doesn't really entice me to click through. I see that replies are filtered out, maybe cutting out quote-tweets as well could alleviate this. (also, it looks like tweets are incorrectly linking to the HRWiki Instagram article) -- Bleu Ninja 17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
- Fixed the Instagram issue. Regarding the lack of context for certain posts, that issue is much more difficult to fix. Perhaps we could scrap the template entirely and use an embedded Twitter timeline like the one on the index page. If I'm not mistaken, this can be achieved through a widget or a MediaWiki extension. While this would give context to each Tweet and save us the trouble of updating it manually, it would unfortunately leave out Instagram posts, but that's rarely updated anyway. Aside from that, the best solution I can think of is leaving it as is; while visually uninteresting and devoid of context, it at least includes links to the missing content for those interested. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:30, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
- Personally I favor an embedded timeline, like the index page or fanstuff wiki. I don't know if the widget can be made taller, but I think the scrollability and automatic embedding of images helps. Personally I'm fine with excluding Instagram; Twitter has multiple posts a week and over 900 media posts, while Instagram has less than 100 posts and is closing on a year without posts. Not to imply that the account is now irrelevant or abandoned, but just that I don't think having an updated Instagram feed on the main page should be a priority. -- Bleu Ninja 17:08, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
- Personally I favor an embedded timeline, like the index page or fanstuff wiki. I don't know if the widget can be made taller, but I think the scrollability and automatic embedding of images helps. Personally I'm fine with excluding Instagram; Twitter has multiple posts a week and over 900 media posts, while Instagram has less than 100 posts and is closing on a year without posts. Not to imply that the account is now irrelevant or abandoned, but just that I don't think having an updated Instagram feed on the main page should be a priority. -- Bleu Ninja
- Fixed the Instagram issue. Regarding the lack of context for certain posts, that issue is much more difficult to fix. Perhaps we could scrap the template entirely and use an embedded Twitter timeline like the one on the index page. If I'm not mistaken, this can be achieved through a widget or a MediaWiki extension. While this would give context to each Tweet and save us the trouble of updating it manually, it would unfortunately leave out Instagram posts, but that's rarely updated anyway. Aside from that, the best solution I can think of is leaving it as is; while visually uninteresting and devoid of context, it at least includes links to the missing content for those interested.
- I like this idea, but the Twitter page seems to be largely image-based -- by that I mean, Strong Bad sharing an image or replying to someone's post. So the feed reads like "Check this out!" or "Imagine if this was real", which isn't very engaging to read without context and doesn't really entice me to click through. I see that replies are filtered out, maybe cutting out quote-tweets as well could alleviate this. (also, it looks like tweets are incorrectly linking to the HRWiki Instagram article) -- Bleu Ninja
[edit] Removals
[edit] Main Menu
A "Website" section has been added to {{browse}}. The "Main Menu" section above (which contains links to various website pages) may be removed in favor of this new section.
- If the Main Menu is removed, the "Website" section would be moved to the top of {{browse}}, above "Features".
- If the Main Menu is kept, the "Main Menu:" text may be removed, as well as links to Index Page, Legal, and Museum (which are linked under "Website").
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This is another thing I'm kind of conflicted on. The toons, games, characters, etc. pages are very important, so I can see why they should be in a prominent location... but at the same time, I feel like they'd fit in with the rest of the links in "Browse the knowledge base". Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- I don't mind having a little bit of redundancy when it comes to important links on the main page. --Stux 14:44, 18 March 2021 (UTC)
- To avoid the redundancy issue, perhaps instead of the {{browse}} "Website" section linking to Toons, Games, etc., it can link to their respective menus. That said, I feel like the issue here is less about redundancy, and more about whether those links are important enough to separate from {{browse}}. I don't feel too strongly either way, but I think it makes sense to group all the links together. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:09, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- I really like how straightforward the links are (mirroring the classic structure of the website). There is a lot of content in the "Browse the knowledge base" subsection, so I think a little redundancy is okay to keep quick, clear access to these important points. The redesign's shorter text is fine, though. -- Bleu Ninja 17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
- Changing my vote to "disagree". I never really felt that strongly one way or the other, so why go against the majority? These links are important enough to be in a more prominent location. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 05:30, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
- This will make things harder to navigate, I say nay. --Cy4nIsN0tB1u3 01:13, 4 September 2022 (UTC)
- This will make things harder to navigate, I say nay. --Cy4nIsN0tB1u3
- Changing my vote to "disagree". I never really felt that strongly one way or the other, so why go against the majority? These links are important enough to be in a more prominent location.
- I really like how straightforward the links are (mirroring the classic structure of the website). There is a lot of content in the "Browse the knowledge base" subsection, so I think a little redundancy is okay to keep quick, clear access to these important points. The redesign's shorter text is fine, though. -- Bleu Ninja
- To avoid the redundancy issue, perhaps instead of the {{browse}} "Website" section linking to Toons, Games, etc., it can link to their respective menus. That said, I feel like the issue here is less about redundancy, and more about whether those links are important enough to separate from {{browse}}. I don't feel too strongly either way, but I think it makes sense to group all the links together.
[edit] Featured content of the day (or whenever)
The rarely-updated "Featured content of the day (or whenever)" section may be removed.
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I was never crazy about this section, and with the potential addition of multiple sections featuring content (such as {{dailyarticle}} and {{onthisday}}), this will be completely unnecessary. Gfdgsgxgzgdrc 22:51, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
- Agree, I think it's nice when it changes for holidays (h'ween, d'ween, trogday) but 90% of the time it's just taking up space. -- Bleu Ninja 17:29, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
[edit] Minor changes
These are small changes that don't necessarily need to be voted on. If you disagree with any of these, feel free to create a voting section above.
- "Recent updates to the Homestar Runner site" has been changed to "Recent updates to Homestar Runner", because updates aren't exclusive to the site.
- Likewise, "More h*r.com updates" has been changed to "More updates".
- The RSS feed and updates links below "What's new" have been aligned to the right, like they were prior to 2013, because it looks kinda nice.
- Ellipses have been removed from "More updates..." and "More featured articles...", because they don't need to be there.
[edit] See also
To discuss specific templates used on the Main Page, see:
