PortlandWiki:GUI

PortlandWiki needs a new user interface! Help us build it. This page is a central dumping ground for ideas, wireframes, graphics, color schemes, and anything else related to improving our "look-and-feel"!

Competitive Assessment

Part of thinking about a new design is to see if we can look at other wikis out there. To see how other sites have evolved, and to deduce why they reached to that conclusion. Unless someone among us were part of the design, I can only analyze based on the conclusion. Sometimes this is called heuristics. We methodically look at other sites with similar purposes or similar technologies. We methodically note what we like.

Site	Screenshot
WikiHow Wikihow is a question and answers style Wiki. This wiki does a pretty good job feeling warm and friendly and yet still reserved enough to not feel bloggy The top nav is great, though I would still contend taht the search block is more important than the Articles, Community & Profile items. The 'Three-Step' is great looking. Lear, Write, Wiki -- Gorgeous!	WikiHow
Beer Wiki (Wikia) This is a fun colorful wiki. Though it follows the Wikia template, which means the top navigation is actually a meta navigation between other wikis. The google ads are lame, and create a confusing cloud of noise just above the brand. What I like most about Beer Wiki is the fun graphic content. That's what I would want to bring to Piki are templates for placing images in a way that is fun and interesting.	Wikia's Beer Wiki cwrap
Diary of a Wimpy Kid(Wikia) This is a fun colorful wiki. Though it follows the Wikia template, which means the top navigation is actually a meta navigation between other wikis. The google ads are lame, and create a confusing cloud of noise just above the brand. What I like most about Beer Wiki is the fun graphic content. That's what I would want to bring to Piki are templates for placing images in a way that is fun and interesting.	Wikia's Diary of a Wimpy Kid Wiki
Fashion Wiki(Wikia) A part from looking like a consumer clothing retailer, Wikifashion is very very nice. Spacious and appealing. Though the layout is a bit complicated, I like the over all tone of the wiki. It uses subtle colors that make it feel warm and inviting.	Wikia's Fashion Wiki
Wetpaint From what I've deduced about Wetpaint's history. I think their goal was to show the range of what the Wetpaint Wiki Platform can do. To that end, they've sort of pushed the templates aggressively. Though interesting, it doesn't say 'wiki' or 'knowledge' to me. That could simply be the content they happen to be showing. Shows a wide range of formatting, which I think is valid for areas of Piki (Portland Wiki), that we want to show lifestyle & event topics (most commonly presented on the homepage) As discussed in Monday's meetup, there's a need to have content 'fed' in through rss. Wetpaint looks like they are tapping into cross-channel content, from Facebook and Youtube, which I think adds weight. For us, I think it would be worth looking into, at the very least, to take the burden off the front-page content update death march.	Wetpaint Wiki
AOL Portal I worked on the AOL portal when I was in New York City. I was fairly impressed by the size of their editorial team. About 15 full-time editors, and 20 or so full-time writers and a billion freelancers. They have a HUGE team which can provide daily content, and a team of graphic designers whose soul purpose is to create splashy graphics. For the record, I have no illusions about trying to mimic their exhaustive speed. However, there are some consistent area I think we can learn from BIG Search field, front and center -- dig that No side nav -- Full screen content Image/content text blocks great for small-to-large articles. Key product tie-ins (mail, aim, xmradio)	AOL Portal
MSN Likes, dislikes? Comments?	MSN Portal
Meetup.com Likes, dislikes? Comments?	Meetup Portal

Top Navigation & 'C' wrap

Sometimes called the 'wrapper' it is the part of the site that presents brand and top level navigation as well as development related tasks and actions. The current 2010 design has fairly large amount of screen real estate devoted to top navigation.

Screenshot of page. Red highlights the current cwrap

Screenshot of a standard page, Green highlights the key elements. Logo, Search, Account info

New wireframe for the top part of the cwrap

Design for the top part of the cwrap

Piki (portlandwiki) has a layout similar to Wikipedia and countless other wikis that use Wikimedia's software. That's not to say that this is a good or necessarily bad. It is important to think about priorities. What we see in the red below, is also the most important part of the screen. And what do we fill it with? Besides the main and events, we have publishing and editing related items.

By placing these items in the most valuable area, we are saying that publishing knowledge is more important than gaining knowledge. I contend the opposite. That the gaining and use of the knowledge is the most important. It is the learners and readers I think the UI has to cater more to.

The creators (or writers) are 'power' participants. Visit a lot, and they have an understanding of how wiki's work. Some of them even know how to code html. I don't have to worry about them. What ever limitation exists for the UI, they will over come them.

There are a couple items in the wrapper that deserve attention.

1. the logo
2. the search
3. account related links

The tricky part will be to highlight these areas while streamlining the other areas of the cwrapper

With this particular design all the c-wrap elements have been put at the top, items that are in the side nav now could be in a pull-down (not shown)

Add three drop downs for main content and tools.

• 

  Screenshot of page. Red highlights the current cwrap

• 

  Screenshot of a standard page, Green highlights the key elements. Logo, Search, Account info

• 

  New wireframe for the top part of the cwrap

• 

  Design for the top part of the cwrap

• 

  Add three drop downs for main content and tools.