Wikimedia.org/2012 proposal
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Just brainstorming. More on the talk page. |
Wikimedia.org is currently a portal with logos to our projects.
This page is a brainstorming proposal for the following idea:
- Change meta's name to www.wikimedia.org
- Merge various cross-project content into www.wikimedia.org
- Use namespaces to create semantic structure
- Spend UI/UX resources to make simple design changes across the board to improve usability / discoverability of information
Why
[edit]- Current wikimedia.org is arguably ineffective use of central brand portal
- Simple, memorable address
- Opportunity to create clean design and information architecture
- Opportunity to sensibly merge various wikis into a single multi-purpose wiki. Benefits of the sensible merge are:
- In day-to-day use, it's easier to search one wiki for a document, than two. For instance, many outreach materials live on Meta, in addition to those on Outreach.
- …
Why not
[edit]Check out the talk page for discussion about possible negative consequences. Nutshell:
- Need to protect Meta as its own unique space with distinct culture, content & community
Wikis to supersede
[edit]- meta.wikimedia.org (renamed)
- strategy.wikimedia.org
- outreach.wikimedia.org
- Perhaps: Subsets of various other wikis
Namespaces
[edit]- Research: for research projects
- Proposal: for proposals/ideas
- Grant: for grantmaking
- Outreach: for outreach hub and planning pages
- Bookshelf: for outreach resources (outreach:Bookshelf type stuff)
- Report: for reports
- Archive: for documents kept for historical interest only
Perhaps:
- Event: for events
- Wikimania: for Wikimanias
- Tech: for technical pages spread across mediawiki.org/wikitech.wikimedia.org/labsconsole.wikimedia.org which aren't strictly related to MediaWiki development and documentation.
- Journal: for a peer-reviewed Journal
Process
[edit]- Rename meta.wikimedia.org to www.wikimedia.org (meta URLs should redirect) -- see considerations in bugzilla:19986 and check which ones would apply here
- Start copying content from merged wikis using cross-wiki import
- Any extensions used on wikis need to be supported on the new wiki; i.e., Strategy has DPL enabled.
- Liquid Threads content will either have to be flattened, or Liquid Threads enabled on a per-page basis
- At point of no return, mark merged wikis as read-only and add prominent "we've moved" message
- Key pages (or all pages) should have cross-wiki automatic redirect enabled. Brochures, external sites, etc. advise newbies to go to certain key pages; upon their first arrival, they should not have to contend with a UI problem. For instance, outreach:GLAM/Newsletter (and redirects that point there) are linked in many places on the web, in private email messages, etc. GLAM personnel seeking the newsletter should not have to deal with a soft redirect when they first enter the site.
- Identify key entry points (main page, namespace indexes, etc.) and iteratively implement redesigns