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Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:35 am**

After reading through the suggestions for "skeletons" of our new wiki, I noticed the bulk of the focus was on placing all of our content. That's definitely important of course, but the "main page" needs just as much focus as the overall design.

The main page is the first thing anyone will see when asking about Allegiance. It'll be the first point of contact for:What is Allegiance?It doesn't work. How do I fix it?Where do I get the sourcecode? How can I help dev?How do I get this stinking server working?What is @BS and why is it so awesome?(bias added in for flavour)

The main page should allow easy access to the most asked questions, and also provide a way to get to the less-frequently-sought information.

I'm looking for input from anyone who cares about our community's docs. Which do you prefer?

-- A small page of links that point to smaller pages that cover the "main" topics?
-- or... A long page with content and links to more specific pages?

Post your preference, and more importantly the reasons why you prefer it.

Also, give any feedback you have that would impact the main/front page from an "organizational" standpoint. Remember - this 1 page will be the most frequently viewed page, and will be the first thing ANYONE sees who is looking for ANYTHING. We need to make it simple and easy.

How would YOU do it?

--TE

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:41 am**

I prefer a small page with lots of links cause I feel like it makes for easier browsing, it could even be one of those things that like you click FAQ and it just brings you half way down the page. The more links with helpful descriptions of what they are for, like FAQ, CDT, Squads, the easier browsing will be

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:18 am**

Small page with lots of links. In my skeleton I have 6 main topic areas. The points directly under that, typically 4-5 I intended to be navigational links on the main page, and some of the most important topics one level further down also benefit being on the main page

So basically I had something like this in mind for the front page:

Code: Select all

Welcome message here

Allegiance Wiki                               Zones
--  About                                     --  Purpose
--  Policy                                    --  About Each Zone
--  Wiki Mods                                 --  Who do I contact for [insert issue here]?
--  Whats New                                 --  Zone Profiles
    --  last 3-4 updates here                     --  Links to each Zone here
    --  link to a longer list                     --  possibly with 1 sentence description of each

About the Game                                Squads
--  Overview                                  --  Overview
--  Screenshots                               --  Joining
--  Awards                                    --  Starting
--  History                                   --  Squad Profiles
                                                  --  Links to each squad's wiki page (on a single line)
 
Getting Started                               Misc
--  Begin Playing                             --  Teamspeak
--  Technical Support                         --  Informational Tools
--  Community                                 --  Modding Allegiance
--  FAQ                                       --  Running a Server
                                              --  Links
                                                  --  Few of the most important links with
                                                  --  brief description, Link to page of links

One sentence or less descriptions could be placed to the right or under each link as appropriate.

See http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page , the Guild Wars Wiki for ideas. It came together pretty well.

EDIT: Moved Welcome message to the top. Doesn't make any sense really to have a Welcome section that has to be clicked on. Changed format of links in Misc
EDIT2: Moved Teamspeak back to Misc. Not sure where it is best. Maybe just a mention of it in Getting Started somewhere that links to the TS section in Misc? Added Running a Server to Misc

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:15 am**

AEM has it pretty much perfect.

You don't need the wiki to be any kind of community hub as we have the news page for that. It should simply be a hallway with doors leading off into various parts of the wiki.

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:54 pm**

i'm thinking of arranging AEM's idea differently - aiming it at new players, so what they want to know is higher up

Code: Select all

Welcome message

About the Game    Getting Started

Zones             Squads

Allegiance Wiki   Misc

(same sub sections)

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 2:09 pm**

I have to lean towards AEM's.

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:05 pm**

Be careful not to put too many links on the front page. Spiders like Google will decide your page is link spam, and down rate you for it. SEO is a black art, and I'm not all that up on it anymore, does anyone have a good link to some guidelines? If the wiki has lots of good content in it, then it will also serve as some advertising for allegiance as well.

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:20 pm**

There is a formal submission process for Google where you can have them "bot" your site on a regular basis. I have done it with the Academy and have had no issues.

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 4:37 pm**

I am just itching to start writing... Maybe a shower will help.

Posted: **Tue Aug 28, 2007 5:20 pm**

AEM's layout looks very nice. Two thumbs up /mrgreen.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="mrgreen.gif" />

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