h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh to a limited extent yes, but have you looked at the Front Page in Barlesque at the moment? You have to scroll down just to see the three Entries on the Front Page, let alone anything else.

*suddenly remembers she's still running IE6 at work*

It could be my browser problem, of course. Apologies if that's not the case in any decent browser.

I think you and I might have had this conversation before - was it you that finds the FP overloaded with community stuff and not enough EG stuff? Whereas I find it the other way round?

I do like the FP layout of barlesque way better than /dna.

Technically, and usability wise, the front page oughta be uncluttered, if nothing else it makes it easier if you are accessing the site from something which isn't a PC/computer.... the BBC main homepage is a very good example of how not to design a hompage... too* many links, by a huge degree, too many very specific links to individual articles etc...
The FP needs, IMO, to have some nice introductory text, "welcome to h2g2, the intergalactic nuthouse... etc..." (well you knwo what I mean...)
Links to the edited guide, including the latest few entrys plus perahps links to waht currently is unedited stuff, (thinking unified guide theory, having space for 'traditional edited entrys', and the 'new fiction edited entrys', err if that makes sense...

then some community links, perhaps the most active conversation thinggy, the five most recently created conversations (but try limit that to public forums, so you don't get journals springing up in it etc...).

Plus a link to the members of the core teams, E.G., the communit eds homepage, the artists homepage, the editors homepage etc... or something... I think my brain is about to explode.

No, I think the balance is about right, actually. I just dislike the actual layout - all the boxes are far too big. You only get to see one and a half Entries before you have to scroll down the screen to see the rest.

My resolution is 1280x1024, which is pretty standard.

I really need to get home and look at it in Firefox though before I make too many more judgements.

with Vip.

The FP in barlesque, using a 15" laptop and mac Safari looks really good. There's only one EGE showing right now, which doens't seem right, but you don't have to scroll at all to see it.

We'll be freeing up all that space at the top of the page taken up by the bbc clutter.

My resolution is 1280 x 854

>> I think my brain is about to explode.

So why not use the FP as a portal to the EG main page and Community central.

The FP could have the general intro to the site, with some lovely DNA stuff on it like we have currently in barlesque. Then the current Unified Guide entries and the Infinite Improbabilty Guide, and whatever is considered important about the community. Then obvious links to the EG or CC, where you can branch off into whichever part of the site you want to go to. And links to a Help page.

All the stuff that clogs up the FP at the moment (alot of the community stuff) could be on the CC page, so long as there was adequate space on the FP to keep the community visible.

Exactly... and loosing the BBC stuff at the top will clear some space... (though I must admit I hardly ever visit the front page... perhaps a comment itself on how useful... or not it can currently seem to be... or not to be...).

My resolution is 0 X 0... (I do have a monitor but don't turn it on... ) actually I think the resolution on my graphics/video card is set to 800 X something, just because that works best for my recording software and doesn't seem to make any differnce to anything else most the time

>> We'll be freeing up all that space at the top of the page taken up by the bbc clutter.

Only to replace it with a commercial banner

Just having a reread of this thread. I think the what goes on the FP thing does need to be discussed. If we don't know what's on the FP how can we decide what to put in CC? The EG peeps are looking at the FP from the EG perspective. I find their ideas (understandably) very EG heavy. My concern is that the community will be sidelined to some extent as a result. I'm not sure where to go with this but think I'll just open it up to the wider community on Ask. I'm also having a squizz at the Stockholm thread, where the CC idea was first brought up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F19585?thread=8029882&skip=0&show=200 And Tav's summary of that thread: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A80922431

I've collated all the CC discussion from the Stockholm thread here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A85886969

If anyone wants to write that up as bullet points, go for it.


I'll do the same re the FP discussion too when I get the time. Were there other discussions elsewhere?

I've also half drafted a thread for Ask.

Good work.

Mmm... I've just counted 107 different links on the current Brunel FP, and that's not counting the standard side bar, search, and bottom-of-the-page disclaimer and policies stuff. For a newbie, that'd be be more than a little daunting, I suspect. I'd say there's a fair bit of stuff that could be redistributed to both a Community Central page and an 'EG Hub' equivalent.

The FP could be limited to the latest entries, Improbability Drive button, maybe a selected topical entry and links to the the community forums (Ask, Misc Chat, etc) but not to individual threads. The Post could just have a single prominent link. I wouldn't mind seeing the Quote/Question of the week promoted to near the top of the page as an attention-grabber!

In the Community page there could be (dynamic, eventually!) lists of the most popular threads in each of the community forums, a talking point, Post headlines, links to selected clubs, meets and so on. Similarly the Guide Hub would include a longer listing of recent entries, links to updated entries, a list of items newly submitted to PR, and links to writing workshops, flea market and the like.

Of course there's no reason why, with volunteer teams involved rather than one or two overworked italics, all three pages couldn't be far more flexible than the current rigidly-templated front page.

Something perhaps for the tech-folks, for all to ponder.

Newbies (I really dislike that word) may well post to anything and anywhere they see. Is there maybe a simple option for the posts of all 'new' folks postings to go to a common pool?

ACEs, Eds, and loads of well meaning people could subscribe, hold a hand if needed, guide the new folks to where they seem to want to be.

If a 'newbie' was precluded from posting anywhere (including PS, etc) directly for a counted number of hours from subscribing? 7 calendar days, as an example. If someone encourages a friend to join, just advise a waiting time. I'm not explaining this well, but the idea is a place for every new person to post and wonder, wander, and be carried along until they find their own footing

Yeah, I can see your point, and it sounds like something to think about, but I registered because I was reading a thread on an Entry and just had to put my in. If there'd been a waiting period, I would've read a bit more, maybe, and gone on down the list of sites I'd bookmarked to look at while bored at work.

We also can't assume that all newbies don't know their way around, or need such help. I think having the registration process and PS set up, along with the ACEs, point to where they can go if they need it might work better.

That's a nice outline parrferris

107 links

Just found this on my desktop but don't know where it's come from. It's a PDF called Site Structure that looks at layouts for noohootoo (is this Tav's work?).

Here's the bit on Community Central:

>>A new Community Central page would take over some of the functions of the old Front Page and also have new features.

To alert everybody of new changes and information important Announcements should have a prominent place on the Community Central page. Important campaigns like h2g2c2 can also get their space here.

A whole new feature of h2g2 could be surveys. If important things have to be decided they are a good way of getting the community’s opinion faster and easier than in a thread.

The busiest conversations that can be found on the Front Page today should be moved to
the new Community Central to give them a more adequate place. Links to all Forums of h2g2 should be provided to advertise all the interesting conversations of the h2g2 community.
And for people who want to get even more engaged in the h2g2 community the Community Central page should feature a list of active clubs and societies.

The Community Central page should also be a place to go when you want to find out about how things work on NooHootoo. Links to all help pages and volunteer pages should be provided.
<<


I still think there is an issue with the FP being taken over by the EG. But this is a good starting point for CC.

Any thoughts?

I think Community Central really needs someone to take ownership of it at this stage, collate everything we've got at push it forward. In the absence of anyone coming forward so far this thread. I've got just the 'volunteer' in mind - and she hasn't run away screaming just yet so watch this space....

I don't believe that their are any plans at this stage being discussed for a major redesign of the front page. But I do think that we could get community central going in the mean time. We can link to it off the front page.

(I should add a public service announcement that asking us 'Is there anything I can do to help?' is likely to result in a lot of work, and loss of your social life).