Wikinews:Main page redesign poll

This poll is closed.

This poll closed on 1 March 2006. At that time the vote stood 2-2-1, and did not carry.

Regarding:

There is debate about the redesigning and reformatting of the main page. Currently, several versions have been created by users.

Those supporting a main page redesign believe that the main page is in need of a long overdue redesign and can increase functionality and usability of the site.

Those opposing a main page redesign believe that the main page is already the best it can be and say that we do not need to concern ourselves with trivial matters.

Those neutral would not oppose a change to the main page.

The Rules:

This is a consensus based poll. If no clear consensus emerges, the results will not hold.


 * Must be logged onto Wikinews


 * One vote per person


 * Votes must be signed


 * Anything more than a short statement should be placed on the talk page.
 * Closing date of 00:00, Wednesday March 1st, 2006, UTC.
 * Is it just me, or are these rules pointless for the form of poll this is? Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 06:29, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Pointless - The poll is still open, despite the closing date rule. Karen 01:17, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Yes

 * I think there is a hodge-podge factor present on the Main Page. A crisp presentation wouldn't stop people who pursue the nooks and crannies from finding what they want. -Edbrown05 07:05, 14 February 2006 (UTC)Karen


 * Yes - it could do with a new look and feel to help try and convey more that this is a news website and to add some functionality/features. Frankie Roberto 21:18, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, The design at the moment is cluttered and not set out in an easy to follow format. nzgabriel 09:07, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

No

 * Should we stop talking about redesigning things? YES! (sorry to sound mean, but somebody always trys to redesign the main page about once every month, No one agress and we just keep talking about it.)nothing personal. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 00:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I like the current design of the Wikinews homepage, functional with some style. --Bdude 01:36, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Neutral
Why not encourage interested users maintain a gallery of possible main pages (ideally functioning), but warn them that we don't want to vote on changes, and that any main page should live in the gallery for a month before people will seriously consider changing it. We can change if a main page clearly rises to the top of the gallery someday. In the mean time, users could use their prefered main page if they really liked it. Nyarlathotep 01:41, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats more in line with what I was meaning to say. Its great that peoople are trying new ideas, I'm just a little sick of all this: New version, Vote NOW!. Of intreast also is Category:Sandbox (Which I really need to get to updateing the template listing. Thoose templates havn't been used in more then a year and contains none of the new ones... Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 06:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

What should be on the main page

 * Well Latest news, and leads at the bare minimun. sort of like the text version of the main page.
 * Important (bot not critical) would be developing stories, or possibly split into develop and disputed. and mission statement, Basic nav links (help with braking news)
 * Nice things would be the phone template, And multilinual stuff, Wikinews media (print, audio, and eventually Video.
 * Cool things would be sisterprojects, historical stories, Origional reporting, donation plea, weather, lotto, stock if thoose are ever restarted. Start a new article, portal list

Bawolff ☺☻ 07:00, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Change the upper right hand corner from regions to categories. While regions are important some stories would be more appropriatley sorted by topic than by region. Yorktown1776 05:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * We tried that a bit ago, but the box was too big: see Template:FrontPageSubjectMenu. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 06:25, 19 February 2006 (UTC)


 * The main stories - the most important thing to have on the front page is some headlines, copy and images of the main stories of the day. Currently we have space for a main headline story, a secondary story and a 'featured' story, which is good, but I think we could expand on this. How about having three secondary stories instead of one, slightly reducing the amount of copy instead. Frankie Roberto 21:31, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * A picture-led story - the current homepage is often light in pictures, mostly because it can be difficult to get them for articles. To increase the number of pictures show, we could consider adding a space for a picture-led story, which isn't neccessarily our biggest story, but is one that we have a good picture/graphic for. Frankie Roberto 21:31, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Categories - I agree with the people who suggest that we should put some of the main categories on the homepage. Rather than simply list some categories though, we should include the most recent story in that category too. Frankie Roberto 21:31, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

What shouldn't be on the main page

 * I find the top right corner of the Main Page, a very valuable piece of real estate, totally useless. Maybe it's just me. I'm interested in topics, not so much regions, as headlines describe well enough the geography of the story. Which is why I believe the 'Latest news' section should be sub-divided with top-level topic headers for each news day. -Edbrown05 07:14, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I think the start a new article box should be moved down. People are probaly only going to do that after they read a bit, and as you said, that area is valuble real-estate, first thing people see. On the other hand, this shows the nature of wikinews. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 06:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Agree - it should definitley remain on the homepage, but not be so prominant.


 * Although regions are now listed on the sidebar. Bawolff ☺☻[[image:smile.png]] 21:21, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Stories in development - I don't see why these should be on the homepage. I understand that we might want people to help develop them, but as our main audience will just be interested in reading, we shouldn't promote articles in development until they're ready to be 'published' (otherwise the whole development/published distinction becomes a bit of a waste of time). Frankie Roberto 22:17, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Disputed stories - again, it might be useful to promote these to try and get disputes resolved, but I'm not sure how valuable the homepage traffic is for this purpose, and most of the articles seem to stay on the list for ages - far longer than the decent articles which get listed in the main section. Frankie Roberto 22:17, 30 April 2006 (UTC)


 * This day last year - would be good to reduce this section to one or two articles if [technically] possible, in my opinion. Frankie Roberto 22:17, 30 April 2006 (UTC)