I definitely agree with the concern - i.e. looking at some random page (say <a href="http://openwetware.org/wiki/Bone_Marrow_Macrophages">http://openwetware.org/wiki/Bone_Marrow_Macrophages</a>), it is difficult to determine who is responsible for the content, and I get no branding association to OWW.<br>
<br>The one-time pop sounds like a good way to address this. Does it occlude the content the user is looking for, or is it in-line text (say, above the article/talk/edit/history tabs, or between these and the H1)? Occluding or blocking or significantly pushing down the desired content could be quite irritating for a user, but a subtle approach would likely address the issue while not keeping users from their desired content. Also, be careful that spiders do not receive this pop, as that might hurt indexing.<br>
<br>It might also help to put "OpenWetWare" and a tagline on the upper-left wiki badge image, much like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/images/wiki-en.png">http://en.wikipedia.org/images/wiki-en.png</a> (and Julius' suggested "Join OWW" button right next to or under this?)<br>
<br>Jason<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 4:54 PM, Austin Che <<a href="mailto:austin@csail.mit.edu">austin@csail.mit.edu</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> Once they click on the link to go to OWW, Barry pointed out that when they<br>
> land on one of our pages other than Main_Page or one of a dozen or fewer<br>
> other pages, there's nothing on the top of the page or in the sidebar to<br>
> identify the site. We become anonymous. The viewer has to scroll to the<br>
> bottom of the page to find a small link for "about <a href="http://openwetware.org" target="_blank">openwetware.org</a>".<br>
<br>
</div> I think people are familiar enough with looking at the url in<br>
their browser to know what site they're on. Also, the title of<br>
every page clearly includes OpenWetWare. Every browser I know<br>
includes this as part of the browser window title.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> Our first attempt to address the problem will go online soon. We're adding a<br>
> one-time display of the text from the OWW main page telling users who we are<br>
> and inviting them to join. Once they have a cookie from our site, they will<br>
> never see it again. If they visit once and see a link that's not relevant to<br>
> them, the nxt time they visit and get wowed by our info, they may not<br>
> connect the fact they found value at OWW and thus fail to look around on the<br>
> site.<br>
<br>
</div> This seems like a nice idea to try.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> Does anyone have any thoughts about other ways to address this? Even in UMS,<br>
> every page has a banner identifying the site as OWW.<br>
<br>
</div> I don't think this is a problem.<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br>
> We can add a banner to the skin over the white area of the page. This banner<br>
> would not ever be displayed on hosted lab's sites since the dewikify app<br>
> doesn't export the skins. I'm no artists. If anyone has a simple and clear<br>
> way to express who we are to visitors in an unobtrusive but clear way, I'd<br>
> love to hear about it.<br>
<br>
</div> I don't think we should waste screen space for banners advertising<br>
who we are. Anyone who cares (i.e. if there's useful content and<br>
they're looking for more) will have no problem finding the main<br>
page.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Austin Che <<a href="mailto:austin@csail.mit.edu">austin@csail.mit.edu</a>> (617)253-5899<br>
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</font></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Jason Morrison<br><a href="mailto:jason.p.morrison@gmail.com">jason.p.morrison@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://jayunit.net">http://jayunit.net</a><br>(585) 216-5657