Talk:Portal:Main Page Development

Portal Development - Main Page
This is the top-level page for implementing the Main page as a Portal. It's composed of this Main Page, a box template format, and as many sub-pages as needed.

I'm following Wikipedia's tutorial for building a Portal: LadyGeek 04:17, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Suggested Category Listing

 * First draft of current category/subcategory distribution to 3 main portal-llke categories (alphabetized a la wiki); assuming this structure requires tagged categories. For simplicity, all current listed entries would be subcategories of the portal root, and pages would (initially) include both parent and subcategory tags to insure maximum display of pages. The existing Retirement Plan category would become the "portal" link. Current categories with subcategories are indicated by -->:

Financial Planning
 * Asset Allocation -->
 * Charitable Giving-->
 * College Savings-->
 * Estate Planning
 * Personal Finance-->
 * Tax Considerations-->

Investing
 * Asset Classes-->
 * FAQ
 * Indexing
 * International Domiciles-->
 * Mutual Funds-->
 * Portfolios
 * Resources and Links-->
 * Vanguard-->

Retirement Planning
 * Annuities
 * Employer Provided Plans
 * IRAs
 * Social Security (added by LadyGeek 02:12, 1 March 2009 (UTC))
 * Withdrawal Strategies

Financial Theory
 * Academics

Blbarnitz 00:20, 22 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Sue, I have yet to see a portal that has an automated categories list. All of them have been manual lists, so I added a manual list prototype. Since I copied it and modified the topics, you may want to fine tune the markup. Blbarnitz 11:56, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Mobile interface
A mobile main page can be developed within the same (desktop) content. The instructions are here: Mobile Gateway/Mobile homepage formatting - MediaWiki

I propose:


 * Remove from header: New to investing? Click here:, leave just Icon Bogleheads 16x16.png Getting started
 * Remove from header: Search this site, not needed. The mobile UI has a prominent real-time search box at the top of the page.
 * Remove from header: About the Bogleheads, not needed. The mobile UI sidebar points to "About".
 * Add to header: Forum

FYI - The mobile UI sidebar also has the site disclaimer (same as the footer).

I also propose removal of the Vanguard News portal. Having two blogs takes more space and I prefer to keep the member-contributed blogs (vs. a company blog). Does anyone have a preference (keep Vanguard, keep Bogleheads author blog, keep both)? If both blogs remain, they will need to be in vertical sequence instead of side-by-side.

--LadyGeek 03:46, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

While mobile content can be inserted into the main page, it can only be viewed from a mobile URL. The extension will create the URL, such as http://en.m.boglgheads.org/wiki, but it does not work with the https:// (secure) protocol - the page content cannot be found. This approach won't work and development is stopped.

There are some possible improvements:


 * Align the links in the header (position) to fit a mobile device better.
 * Make the two blogs realign top-to-bottom when a mobile device is used. Otherwise, they get very narrow and difficult to read.

--LadyGeek 04:25, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

I am now proposing a revision that will accommodate both the desktop and mobile interfaces.


 * The blogs have been realigned to be top-to-bottom instead of side-to-side
 * The News portal contained links which were not relevant to the blog and have been relocated to the header (main menu).
 * The header's links have been formatted to remove the link symbols (use of Plain link), as well as adding a link to the site's home page.

The mobile extension does not manage table formatting properly, as it is not possible to set the header's table width to 100%. There are some additional formatting concerns, but I believe it is "good enough" to use and is an overall improvement.

Comments are solicited. --LadyGeek 00:42, 22 November 2015 (UTC)
 * The RSS feeds are OK. The navigation bar still looks compressed/jumbled on an iPhone.


 * --Peculiar Investor 16:17, 22 November 2015 (UTC)


 * The navigation bar content has been moved to the table of contents, along with some adjustment of the spacing between the tables.


 * An Android interprets the page differently than the iPhone. There is tearing at the bottom of the header, which is due to wrap-around. The welcome text wraps around the test image differently than an iPhone.


 * Screenshot 2015-11-22-13-26-42.png


 * We may be at a point where further development will require customization related to Apple vs. Android differences. What we have so far is probably good enough.


 * --LadyGeek 18:58, 22 November 2015 (UTC)