User:Miropolitan/Proposal for portal system

Created by Miropolitan (talk) 03:51, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Proposal - parallel navigation systems - portal and category
Alongside the category navigation system there should be a portal navigation system. With each portal having a corresponding category page (but some categories without a corresponding portal page). And with interportal links that preserve (but needn't duplicate) the linkage structure of the category system. Reason: Let the portal system take on the task of topic description and clean topic linkage, and let the category system remain messy but simple.

Why not just a category navigation system?
Question: Why have two parallel navigation systems - a portal system and a category system? Why not just have a single navigation system - the category system? Why not just take all the features you might want to put in a portal and add them to the corresponding category page, and not have the portal? Reply: Having two parallel systems, each focusing on its main purpose, allows for less cluttered pages, and a clearer logic.

Different purposes
The main purpose of a portal is to be a topic page - briefly describe a topic, list news articles that come under that topic, and provide easy navigation to related topics (parent, child or sibling). The main purpose of category pages is to allow users to more easily see the structure of the system - which topics come under which other topics - and to modify that structure.

Different conventions
As separate systems, each can develop its own page conventions. The viewer, arriving at a portal page can expect portal-type features. Opening a category page, they can expect it to look like a category page. The category page be mostly automatically generated, hence consistent in its layout, and therefore useful as a backup navigation for viewers who find the corresponding portal too confusing. This allows portals to vary be minimal or rich as users see fit and as appropriate to the topic, albeit with (I suggest) the consistency of having portal up and down navigation bars at the top the page, to allow users to quickly move around the system.

Different navigation conventions
As separate systems, each can have its own navigation conventions. The structure of the category system, created ad-hoc, tends to be a bit messy and illogical. For example, the category Computing has among its subcategories Internet (as you would expect), but also COMPUTEX Taipei (a computer trade show). Portals, with their more top-down design, can take a more logical, less messy approach to topic relatedness, listing under Computing general topics such as Internet, Computer hardware, Computer software, Computer trade shows, Computer science. It might also have a section for each of these, showing each topic's subtopics (plus short news lists to provide flavour). All this would give (on one page) a clearer overview of Computing as a news topic.

Let categories be messy (but simple); let portals have logical linkage
Why not just clean up the category system? For example, so that COMPUTEX Taipei appeared under Computer trade show, not directly under Computing. Reply: Let the category system be a bit messy, viewers will accept that as part of its character, and an effect of its ad hoc creation. And if categories are left simple, as mostly subcatgory and page lists, then they will still be easy to read. Let the portal system be more logical (and explain its logic as it goes along - the logic might be vary according to topic).

Example
For example: Create a category Computer trade show. Put the category Computer trade show in the category Computing; put the category COMPUTEX Taipei in the category Computer trade shows. But you needn't remove the category COMPUTEX Taipei from the category Computing; let it remain messy. Create a portal Computer trade show. Link it to portal Computing above, and COMPUTEX Taipei below. Don't link portal Computing directly to portal COMPUTEX Taipei. Meanwhile, why even create a portal for COMPUTEX Taipei? Let the portal Computer trade shows link directly to the portal 2007 COMPUTEX Taipei, with COMPUTEX Taipei as an implied intermediary topic. Let the Computing portal set do lean navigation. Let the Computing category set remain messy. Now add content to portal Computer trade shows - a description; some wikimedia links. But keep the interportal links at the top of the page and easy to pick out, so that users can navigate through the page without scrolling or even reading down.

Demonstration project
Refer Portal: User en and its subportals for a demonstration of how portal system with top-of-page interportal links might look. Refer also: Portal talk: User en for the User en portal set creation notes.