Talk:Main Page

Hello Everyone:

We're off and running in porting all the great work that you all have created to our very own wiki site. Thanks to all those who have contributed and continue to contribute to this very valuable resource for both the Bogleheads/Diehards community and for other investors as well.

Thanks for your hard work, and best regards to all.

Mel Lindauer

Mel et al:
Thanks Mel:

Once the Wiki goes "live" we will probably have to draft a few pages describing:


 * 1. Defining a wiki; writing and editing, etc.
 * 2. What is expected from a wiki writer/editor (neutrality- allowing both positive and negative sides to issues-preferably cited; debating positions is the role of the forum); comportment and etiquette, etc;
 * 3. How to join the wiki;
 * 4. A help page describing wiki markup and syntax;

I have used Wikimedia links for three of these topics. How to join is specific to the wiki, and could be combined with wiki specific rules of etiquette.

Substantial Edit
I'm embarking on a brash rewrite of the Main Page and the Help article in the navigation sidebar. I'll provide more explanation after the fact, but my goals are to improve organization and to reduce the intimidation factor associated with signing up for the wiki. Ken Schwartz 10:54, 26 May 2008 (EDT)
 * Here are the main things I did:


 * 1) Eliminated the Table of Contents. It was annoying to click on a link in the TOC, only to be sent to the topic list on the same page.
 * 2) Consolidated all help information on the Help page in the navigation sidebar. I also expanded it a little bit in the area of content policies.
 * 3) Tried to make the sign-up process less scary. Replaced words like writer and editor with user and contributor. In terms of asking for access, I employed request instead of apply. Ken Schwartz 12:06, 26 May 2008 (EDT)

Appearance
The Main Page looks rather bland. If anyone has appropriate photos or other ideas for enlivening the page, improvements would be very welcome. Ken Schwartz 01:14, 31 May 2008 (EDT)


 * Here's an attempt to improve the Main page. I know the colors need updating. Comments? - Simba 12:57, 1 June 2008 (EDT)

Simba, thanks for your page. I edited it some, so you can take a look at what I've done. I'm not at all satisfied with the result. I really like your basic idea that we can enliven the page with simple background colors. We need to come up with a scheme that doesn't require left-right scrolling if a reader views the page zoomed, i.e., at a bigger text size. Fixed pixel width tables seem to cause a problem in this regard (at least in Firefox).

Another big consideration is that we need an approach which is very easy to maintain as the topic list is modified. I.e., it shouldn't be dependent on the specific topics and description lengths which are there now.

I wish I were better with HTML. Ken Schwartz 15:46, 1 June 2008 (EDT)


 * Two other comments:


 * 1) See my suggestion below regarding use of categories to replace the topic index. Spending a lot of time formatting the topic index may not be worthwhile, though I probably will anyway.
 * 2) Simba, I noticed that in the test page, you've written "A simple PM is all it takes to request editor (or user - a MediaWiki term) status." My avoidance of the term editor was very intentional. It sounds too official, and it probably scares people away from joining. Ken Schwartz 16:38, 1 June 2008 (EDT)

Topic Index vs. Categories (and Possibly Search)
At some point soon we might consider replacing the Topic Index with a link to something like Category:Financial Planning. Categories can provide the structure needed for easy site navigation, and they're easier to maintain than an explicit page hierarchy.

We also might think about what we need to do in order to make the search functionality in the left navigation bar more useful. If the wiki gets very large (OK, I'm dreaming), traversing the category structure will itself become painful, and searches will become very important. Ken Schwartz 01:07, 1 June 2008 (EDT)