[OWW-Discuss] Front page. It needs more than it has.Anysuggestions?

Reshma Shetty rshetty at MIT.EDU
Tue Apr 15 16:27:42 EDT 2008 

I'm divided on whether dewikifying the main page is a good idea or not ...

However, it may be worth considering converting the openwetware.org
page to a static html page.  It could be modeled on Wikipedia: an OWW
logo surrounded by links to Protocols, Blogs, Labs, Resources,
Materials, etc. plus a prominent search box and Join OWW link centered
below.  Clicking on any link takes them to the "real" wiki.  The wiki
"main page" could continue to be our current main page akin to how
Wikipedia does it.

Thoughts?

-Reshma

On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:53 PM, Jason Kelly <jasonk at mit.edu> wrote:
> I agree with this strongly, steve.
>
>  I would point out that http://wikipedia.org/ points to a "non-wiki"
>  welcome page.  I think if we did this for OWW we would need to make
>  sure we kept links to the core stuff prominent on the main page. (e.g.
>  we would still have a search box, it would just be front and center,
>  rather then on the side).  Also links to labs, protocols, etc, would
>  stay.
>
>  You right that tracking wikimedia is an excellent way to save on
>  resources / get free "buzz" and new community members who already
>  trained by wikipedia to understand our wiki engine.  So i agree we
>  should keep the connection strong, might be more explicit about saying
>  that OWW is a wiki on the mainpage. (the word wiki isn't on there
>  right now).
>
>  thanks,
>  jason
>
>
>
>  On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 12:09 PM, Steven J. Koch <sjkoch at unm.edu> wrote:
>  > Looks like I'm in the minority opinion, but I feel strongly that main page
>  >  should not be dewikified.  First, there may be unintended consequences.  It
>  >  always seems like there won't be, but there always are.  For example,
>  >  sometimes (rarely) I'll type in the address on my cell phone and then use
>  >  the search box (which won't be there).  Second, it may have the consequence
>  >  of confusing people who ARE specifically looking for a lab wiki.  This was
>  >  me a little over a year ago--I was very happy to find something that looked
>  >  like Wikipedia.  I may not have joined if I found a main page that wasn't
>  >  obviously a wiki.  Of course, there may be more people unlike me, who have
>  >  been turned away, this in unknown.  But as time goes on, I would think the
>  >  general scientific community will become more acquainted with Wikipedia and
>  >  therefore wikis.
>  >
>  >  Another thought in regards to my second point.  Google decided to wipe
>  >  "wiki" from their vocabulary.  Maybe I'm in the minority opinion here too,
>  >  but I find that a poor decision.  Back when I joined OWW, I also signed up
>  >  to be notified when jotspot was accepting customers again.  A year later, I
>  >  finally was notified and I was not at all attracted to Google Sites as an
>  >  application for my lab wiki.  Whether or not Google made the right decision,
>  >  it does seem that their interface is geared towards people who don't want to
>  >  see wiki code.  There's no way we can compete with Google as far as general
>  >  technical features go.  But we can compete in terms of the community focused
>  >  on open science and smart technical features like Lab Notebook 2.0.  OWW's
>  >  mission is in the same vein as Wikipedia's mission and they share the same
>  >  wiki engine.  So, I think a general guiding principle should be to emulate
>  >  what Wikimedia does.  This should save a ton on workload and I think also
>  >  make sense to the majority of the OWW community and potential new members.
>  >
>  >  --Steve
>  >
>  >
>  >  -----Original Message-----
>  >  From: oww-discuss-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:oww-discuss-bounces at mit.edu] On
>  >
>  >
>  > Behalf Of Barry Canton
>  >  Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 7:46 AM
>  >  To: julius.lucks
>  >  Cc: discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  Subject: Re: [OWW-Discuss] Front page. It needs more than it
>  >  has.Anysuggestions?
>  >
>  >  I'm also in favor of getting rid of most of the the wikiness from the main
>  >  page.
>  >
>  >  On 4/15/08, julius.lucks <julius.lucks at gmail.com> wrote:
>  >  > I agree with Jason's points - Julius
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >  -----------
>  >  >  http://www.openwetware.org/wiki/User:Julius_B._Lucks
>  >  >
>  >  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >  ------------
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  >
>  >  > On Apr 14, 2008, at 8:52 PM, Jason Kelly wrote:
>  >  >
>  >  >  > agree with steve that we should keep it simple.  Also, I think the
>  >  >  > main page is mostly used by new users,  I assume most regular users
>  >  >  > never go there, so we could gear the page even more to new users then
>  >  >  > it already is.
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  > e.g. a prominent getting started button / prominent join button (not
>  >  >  > just a link buried in text), a search box in the middle somewhere,
>  >  >  > etc.
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  > might even o with a totally "non-wiki" main page (e.g. lose the side
>  >  >  > bar and the top bar) as well.
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  > thanks,
>  >  >  > jason
>  >  >  >
>  >  >  > On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 11:42 PM, Ilya Sytchev <ilyas at mit.edu> wrote:
>  >  >  >> Also, I've removed the heading "Main Page" from the Main Page.  I
>  >  >  >> think
>  >  >  >> it looks cleaner this way but if you disgree I can revert this change
>  >  >  >> very easily.
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  >> Ilya
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  >> Reshma Shetty wrote:
>  >  >  >>> Great work!  Looks much better.
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> Two minor comments...
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> 1) I'd get rid of the blog name on the RSS feed (if that's
>  >  >  >>> possible).
>  >  >  >>> I think it is redundant for the feed on the main page.  The time of
>  >  >  >>> the post is likely also unnecessary (but keep the date).  But if
>  >  >  >>> this
>  >  >  >>> requires additional recoding of the extension, then skip it.
>  >  >  >>> 2) I am seeing some faint blue lines around each feed element ...
>  >  >  >>> not
>  >  >  >>> sure why ... perhaps some CSS oddity?
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> I agree with Steve re the main page.  I prefer a streamlined main
>  >  >  >>> page
>  >  >  >>> ... especially if it helps with load time (which  was quite slow ...
>  >  >  >>> due at least in part to an unnecessarily large main page image ...
>  >  >  >>> not
>  >  >  >>> sure about now?)
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> team is the email list for the OWW board + full-time OWWers ...
>  >  >  >>> Bill,
>  >  >  >>> Lorrie and Ricardo.  All folks on team are also on discuss.
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> -Reshma
>  >  >  >>>
>  >  >  >>> On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 10:59 PM, Steve Koch
>  >  >  >>> <koch.steve at kochlab.org> wrote:
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>> I can come up with ideas, but my opinion is that it looks pretty
>  >  >  >>>> good right
>  >  >  >>>> now and more stuff may dilute effectiveness of stuff that is
>  >  >  >>>> there.  That's
>  >  >  >>>> just my opinion, but brings up another question.  What kind of
>  >  >  >>>> metric would
>  >  >  >>>> show how effective the main page is?  Maybe this has been figured
>  >  >  >>>> out
>  >  >  >>>> already?
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>> What's "team at openwetware.org?"
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>> From: oww-discuss-bounces at mit.edu
>  >  [mailto:oww-discuss-bounces at mit.edu
>  >  >  >>>> ] On
>  >  >  >>>> Behalf Of Bill F
>  >  >  >>>> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 8:50 PM
>  >  >  >>>> To: discuss at openwetware.org; team at openwetware.org
>  >  >  >>>> Subject: [OWW-Discuss] Front page. It needs more than it has.
>  >  >  >>>> Anysuggestions?
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>> We've pared it down to the point that it's getting pretty
>  >  >  >>>> 'minimalistic'.
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>> Any ideas on what to do to start bulking it up a bit?
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>>>
>  >  >  >>> _______________________________________________
>  >  >  >>> OpenWetWare Discussion Mailing List
>  >  >  >>> discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  >  >>> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/oww-discuss
>  >  >  >> _______________________________________________
>  >  >  >> OpenWetWare Discussion Mailing List
>  >  >  >> discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  >  >> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/oww-discuss
>  >  >  >>
>  >  >  > _______________________________________________
>  >  >  > OpenWetWare Discussion Mailing List
>  >  >  > discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  >  > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/oww-discuss
>  >  >
>  >  >  _______________________________________________
>  >  >  OpenWetWare Discussion Mailing List
>  >  >  discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  >  http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/oww-discuss
>  >  >
>  >
>  >
>  >  --
>  >  Barry Canton
>  >  Endy Lab
>  >  Biological Engineering Division
>  >  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>  >
>  >  Tel.:(617) 401-7320 (Grand Central)
>  >  Email1: bcanton at mit.edu
>  >  Email2: bcanton at gmail.com
>  >  _______________________________________________
>  >  OpenWetWare Discussion Mailing List
>  >  discuss at openwetware.org
>  >  http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/oww-discuss
>  >
>  >
>

More information about the Oww-discuss mailing list