Template talk:Main page header

Selective secure access link

{{editprotected}} I suggest that the recently added "secure access" link be wrapped in code that will suppress it when the page is already being viewed from the secure server. The wrapping code would be

{{#ifeq:{{SERVERNAME}}|secure.wikimedia.org|| ... }}

so that — including a tricky no-break space — the code of that entire line of the template would look like

<div class="header_left_text">{{#ifeq:{{SERVERNAME}}|secure.wikimedia.org||<span class=plainlinks"><small>'''[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikinews/en/wiki/Main_Page SECURE ACCESS]'''</small></span> &bull;&nbsp;}}{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}, {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}, {{CURRENTTIME}} ([[w:Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]])</div>

which would look like

SECURE ACCESS • Thursday, December 26, 2024, 06:25 (UTC)

--Pi zero (talk) 20:52, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

• Done. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 22:08, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

This looks like as good a place as any to bring this up: correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like this "secure access" link is now unnecessary, since I believe that Wikimedia has made all sites secure. It also goes right back to the same main page. --Cromwellt|talk|contribs 06:53, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

Print edition

{{editprotected}} Perhaps, Print Edition can be added in place of the removed Wikinews Audio? I have been trying to keep it regular, ecept during times of computer trouble. --Mikemoral♪♫ 01:41, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

looks like someone already did it. Bawolff ☺☻ 13:48, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

That was me. I noticed Tempo tried, but reverted and then I fixed it myself. --Mikemoral♪♫ 01:10, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

{{editprotected}} May we grant the same privelege to Audio Wikinews now? Benny the mascot (talk) 00:16, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Done already. Benny the mascot (talk) 16:03, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Pumpkin in the main page

Wrong place, we're supposed to be a serious news site, and imo, that just doesn't fit. Also, half way through halloween is too late to do that, it should have been put there earlier if it's going there at all. Put it somewhere a little less prominent next time please. BarkingFish (talk) 21:17, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Note this isn't the first time we've done. Shakataganai did this for several other holidays last year. Bawolff ☺☻ 22:15, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Doesn't fit in with the objectives and aims of the site in my opinion, and it was put there halfway through the damn day. It needs to go up so its there all day, or not at all (and preferably, the last one should apply.) BarkingFish (talk) 22:39, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

new time code

Hi could you replace

{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}, {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}, {{#time:Hi|{{CURRENTTIME}}}} ([[w:Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]])</div> with <div style="margin-top: .5em; font-size: 90%;">{{CURRENTDAYNAME}}, {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}, {{CURRENTTIME}} ([[w:Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]])</div></div>

Please

46.4.62.16 (talk) 21:24, 14 March 2013 (UTC)

Print edition and Audio Wikinews (2017)

Wikinews:Print edition is revived this year. Therefore, it should be seen in the main page. I don't know what to do with Audio Wikinews. It's no longer active at the moment since 2013. If it can't be replaced, so be it. Meanwhile, the Print Edition should be shown. --George Ho (talk) 02:02, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

Ah... found the diff of the removal. --George Ho (talk) 02:03, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

And also found old discussion. --George Ho (talk) 02:13, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: THough print edition is revived, only three were published till now. I think we should not hurry to add the link. Besides, there is no uniformity in the design. I forgot to justify the text alignment in the first two. I would really appreciate feedback by other editors about it. Till then, we should not hurry. Last year, I started making quiz, but it did not work in the long run.
Agastya Chandrakant ⚽️ 🏆 🎾 🎬 🎤 📰 04:41, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

Removed the request banner for now. --George Ho (talk) 04:46, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

Modernizing the header

{{edit protected}} The layout of the header has not been changed since 2009, even with link changes. It looks more like 2009, if not 2005. The header needs to be more visible and more attractive for desktop users. --George Ho (talk) 17:26, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

The header is supposed to be small; to take up little space. It's neat and simple and takes up little space, though it looks fairly prominent to me. Making it "more visible" sounds undesirable, but it's hard to be sure because it's not clear what you mean. You haven't made any specific suggestion for how to change it, so there is no edit to make and also no way to form a definite opinion on whether what you want to do would be a good idea. --Pi zero (talk) 20:09, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

All right, Pi zero. I'll be more specific. The horizontal outlook of the right side looks unorganized and almost passable. How about vertical layout and dividing the links into columns? Also, when at the Wikinews Main Page, the left side is bolded, while the template at the template page is mostly un-bolded. Also, the background looks... bland(?) or dull, though the right side of the background looks cool. How about trimming out the left side of the background and make the left side white or grey or something? --George Ho (talk) 23:28, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: Well, it looks as if the background is done with CSS, so that would be somewhere else. We could work on figuring out where. Experimenting with changing the size of my browser window, the background appears to be an image (is that part of the Wikinews logo?) that takes up less than the entire width of my laptop screen, and is right-justified. As I reduce the window width, the background pattern moves left, shrinking the uniform space on the left, until the left side of the actual background image hits the left margin, then the image stops shifting left and, making the window still narrower, the right side of the image starts to disappear. Using the Wikinews logo for that, if I'm right that it's doing so, seems kind of clever and I wonder if some small tweak in how it's done might have a good effect. We'd need to start by finding the right CSS; it can probably be located by a string search for the appropriate labels in MediaWiki: space.

Since this header needs to take up as little horizontal space as possible, I don't really picture what you have in mind when you speak of columns. Can you provide some sort of mock-up to illustrate it (ASCII art, maybe?) --Pi zero (talk) 01:59, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Hmm... can you extend the height, Pi zero? That makes the banner taller. As for columns, here you go:

Example 1 Example 2 Example 3

Example 4 Example 5 Example 6

Example 7 Example 8 Example 9

{|
|-
|
* Example 1
* Example 2
* Example 3
|
* Example 4
* Example 5
* Example 6
|
* Example 7
* Example 8
* Example 9
|}

Thoughts? --George Ho (talk) 03:03, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: What I'm wondering is, just what information goes where.

It seems to me the header needs to be as short, vertically, as can be arranged; the actual content is the important thing above the fold on the main page, and the header provides just a few things without keeping us from getting very quickly to the substance. As it is, there are three lines of text on the right; the first is the date and time, the second has five items separated by bullets, the third has four items separated by bullets. Tbh, I like the compactness, hence my difficulty. If something hasn't changed in years, that may be partly because it's hard to improve on. Which doesn't mean there mightn't be a way, of course; but, just saying, no surprise if it's not easy.

Just brainstorming, on my laptop screen there would be room to put the time and date in the middle of the header, leaving three lines over at the right. It might feel crowded, whereas the existing header is, now that I think of it, possibly deliberately designed to have open space. --Pi zero (talk) 04:14, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Here's my proposal, though it's a working draft:

Newsroom Mission statement Report breaking news Donate

Best of Wikinews Copy us Social networking Chat

I have decided to eliminate the third column by eliminating Audio Wikinews because it's inactive since 2013. Unsure about "social networking" and "chat". Are they essentials? --George Ho (talk) 04:23, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Compare this to that of Wikiversity and Wikibooks. --George Ho (talk) 04:27, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

┌─────────────────────────────────┘
A) we should not remove Audio Wikinews, b) we can use FOSS like MaryTTS if recording your own voice is not possible C) if we have to redesign the Main Page, first, we need to see how it looks like.I wanted to modify the design, but I did not want to do that in hurry. If you have any idea, use the sandbox, and show us.

Besides, I think we should have at least two designs, one which shows articles in the form of "pins" on Pinterest (something similar to Wikidata) when many articles are published on Wikinews (~ > 2 each day, perhaps) and other when output is less.
acagastya 08:31, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

It is not a compulsion to change the design just because it was not updates for a cery long time. By the way, that comment was for entire main page redesign. And, we should work on make the main page load faster. (And about the header, I think Spanish Wikinews' header is pretty good.)
acagastya 09:00, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

I made the comment at Talk:Main Page. --George Ho (talk) 12:55, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

I guess the header is not the only item that needs redesigning. To make the header more efficient, the Wikinews Main Page must be first redesigned. Let's do the header later after redesigning the Main Page, i.e. the Main Page the more important priority and the header secondary. --George Ho (talk) 13:15, 13 May 2017 (UTC); see below. 18:36, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: For perspective, I mention that, every few years, one or another Wikinewsie has gotten interested in redesigning the main page. However, during my time here none of these have gotten all the way to the stage of being implemented. I don't mean to suggest that things can't be improved, but there isn't a major problem and one must suspect the existing arrangement may have some advantages that could be easily overlooked, so it makes sense one would proceed cautiously. --Pi zero (talk) 13:43, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

I must say, mobile site looks good. But at times when many articles are published, we can slightly improve it. But it is really good at the moment.
acagastya 13:52, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Redesigning the Main Page is harder than I thought, especially when the mobile version would be affected. Therefore, we can revisit it later. Let's get back to the header instead. If the background is not to be changed, maybe we can revisit it later. However, the horizontal alignments look... Well, I didn't notice "Newsroom" at the banner. Rather I ignored the banner very much and went to the left panel instead. I often go to "Newsroom" to see drafts, including ones ready for review. If we can't do the vertical or column, how about rearranging the links from most important to least important instead? Like this:

Newsroom • Best of Wikinews • Mission statement • Report breaking news

Donate • Copy us • Social networking • Chat • Audio Wikinews

I decided to retain the Audio Wikinews for now if it can't be removed. If doing columns is still possible, here is another set of my proposed columns:

Newsroom Best of Wikinews Report breaking news

Mission statement Donate Copy us

Social networking Chat Audio Wikinews

--George Ho (talk) 18:36, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

@George Ho: These are interesting thoughts. I hope to try my hand at a mock-up of some such thing (perhaps later today? we'll see).

You're quite right that the Newsroom is meant to be one of the central pages of the project; one of the pages that one might plausibly use as a default page for Wikinews activity, though I generally use Special:RecentChanges for that purpose. (The overhaul of the Archives splash page is meant to make that suitable as another central page, so that once deployed one might well want to add it too to the header.) --Pi zero (talk) 19:38, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Edit

Please add closing punctuation in the "Copy us" and "Mission" {{plink}}s, and temporarily comment out the mention of Facebook in the "Social media" one. Heavy Water (talk) 23:37, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Oh, and "Support" is misspelled "Suport" in the "Donate" {{plink}}. Heavy Water (talk) 23:39, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Done. Tyrol5 (talk) 00:54, 15 August 2023 (UTC)