Forum:Main Page- Revamping Help

Okay, I think it's about time for our main page to be revamped. The featured article and link box are great starts, but I feel we could have some more. Unfortunately, I can't code for tables/boxes/much else even if my life depended on it, so I'm going to need some help '''*pleads*. '''

Here are some ideas for things we could add, that have been tossed around before, or are "borrowed" from other wikis:


 * Update the orange "We need you!" box... I think it looks kinda sad.
 * Navigation box w/ text or icons. Wikimon has a similar idea, and we do have stuff on the sidebar, so I'm not sure how necessary this is.
 * Newest articles box (I know this can be coded for and left alone, no updating needed)
 * News box: maybe import something from Anime News Network/AniDB, or a user updated list (I'd be willing to do this)
 * Community section: quick links to forums, wiki discussion page, admins, MoS, etc.
 * Quotes
 * Did you know?: section of interesting/little known facts
 * Icons: we could add small animated sprites to boxes, as in what Bulbapedia has done.
 * On this day: Events that happened on the current day.
 * Tasks that are being worked on around the wiki: like episode summaries, music pages, etc.
 * "This article needs your love!!": A parody of a certain scene from the eng dub of Digimon Adventure, this box could feature article(s) that desperately need attention (esp. bad stubs, etc.). Include the crest of love pic and Garudamon's exact quote. Could be one featured article w/ a list of others, changed weekly/monthly, etc. Could be partially automated with stub, articles needing attention categories.

I, ahem, "borrowed" some of these ideas from various wikis, like Wookieepedia, Bulbapedia and Aselia. Rad140  "RAWR?  NO UPDATES!?"   23:57, 28 August 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree as well. But as for the overworld sprites from Dawn/Dusk, I could probably do them. I did a gif image for Black Ace once, just for the fun of it, and it turned out pretty good. Takes about one hour or so only. Still, I need to know which ones to make, for one hour per image is a very long time. - Digi9346 - Your destruction is inevitable... 01:22, September 2, 2009 (UTC)

We can probably steal FFwiki's coding for their Quotes section. And Digi? If you can teach me how to do gifs, I can help out, though, y'know, with school starting and all it'll take a bit of time. Lanate (talk) 05:04, September 2, 2009 (UTC)


 * Should we input more code into Common.css and Common.js? It will give us more room to do fancier things. Only dead fish go with the flow. 04:43, September 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, it's relatively simple enough. I just got a freeware of the Microsoft Gif Animator. It's a very old version, but it serves the purpose of creating gifs. Then, you need to take shots of the image you want, a few with different animations. The next part is the one that takes an hour. You need to then selectively crop the image until all the images for the gif are aligned such that the animation will be smooth. Then, start up the Animator and create the gif. That's about it really. - Digi9346 - Your destruction is inevitable... 08:01, September 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * I was thinking of using game sprites, like Bulbapedia, one in the corner of each box on the main page, but I guess we could make gifs too. Don't ask me for help though; I dont know the first thing about image editing.  I can barely use photoshop.-- Rad140  "I replaced Jyou and Gomamon with a bucket."   16:24, September 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * Alright guys, I have 'borrowed' some coding from the Megaman Wiki and implemented it into the Main Page. I also want to do something like the Megaman Wiki as well, putting a random Digimon much like how the Megaman Wiki does its characters. Thoughts?

Would it be possible to have it draw a random image from a category instead of pulling it from a physical list? Or would that be too limited for linking? Lanate (talk) 17:56, September 8, 2009 (UTC)


 * I wish it were so simple, but I doubt that is possible. That is due to the fact that the coding I borrowed is able to link the image to an article, but even if drawing a random image like that was possible, we would still have to physically link the images to the articles ourselves, which makes it a moot point. 18:02, September 8, 2009 (UTC)

Quick comment: I know I'm being nitpicky, but do the English episodes have openings we can screenshot instead, as we're an English-first wiki? Lanate (talk) 02:36, September 9, 2009 (UTC)
 * I think there might be, I'd have to rewatch dub episodes; I'll get them after Orientation week; I have no free time as of now. I saw some of the changes being made and I'm impressed so far.
 * Which do we want to implement first: the news box or the this article needs your love/clean up box first? Rad140 "I replaced Jyou and Gomamon with a bucket."   16:08, September 9, 2009 (UTC)


 * Actually, I chose the japanese versions instead because they were far more distinctive. The dub ones were simply recolours of the original Digimon logo. This is thus better in my opinion as they would make a much greater impact. Still, if you guys prefer the dub ones, it's fine by me. - 16:27, September 9, 2009 (UTC)

No, distinctiveness wins over dub-faithfulness.

Uh, possibly the clean-up box? Lanate (talk) 21:12, September 9, 2009 (UTC)
 * Okay, we need to set-up a schedule for this stuff. I'm mostly free tomorrow, so how about we spend at least two hours tomorrow working on the MoS, and then next weekend we'll do something else. Glorious  CHAOS!  03:55, November 14, 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't know if anyone's still reading this discussion, but I've just designed a new mainpage here if anyone's interested. Main differences include the way the anime logos are displayed, and the addition of some possible boxes on the right-hand side. Information in the boxes has just been typed in, but for the real thing, I guess there would be some templates instead. What do you think? THB  → Talk ← 02:14, December 30, 2009 (UTC)


 * I like it a lot. It's nice to read and has a lot of stuff that are good; templates for the stuff on the side would make things complete.  Is it possible to lower the title images a bit so they aren't flush against the "create a new article" box? Lanate (talk) 04:35, December 30, 2009 (UTC)


 * This is excellent. This probably what I would've have done had I more free time and more technical knowledge.  Very well done.  I say we vote on it as soon as possible to put up as the new main page. Rad140 Message 16:06, December 31, 2009 (UTC)


 * The only thing I would suggest is switching random quote and random digimon, since random digimon is used sort of like a hook, and the ads are going to push it too far down. Glorious  CHAOS!  16:21, December 31, 2009 (UTC)


 * I've just finished making a template for random quotes (here). I also added some possible quotes to start things off, though I think they're a bit random. By the way, I was wondering what would be a sensible number of facts to display at one time for the "Did you know" box. THB  → Talk ← 02:31, January 2, 2010 (UTC)


 * Just finished the rest of the templates for the main page, so they're pretty much ready to put up now, or at least after a few changes. So, would everyone be okay with me putting up the new display as it is? I think the clean-up box can wait, since we still need to decide what should go there (the current article is just an example). THB  → Talk ← 03:09, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * I still think it would be funny if you could change the cleanup box title to "This Article Needs Your Love", and use pink colours, with the Crest of Love somewhere in it. It's a reference to the english dub line by Garudamon ("Sora, I can FEEL your love."), originally thought of by Kryten, and added to by myself.  Thought it would make a more interesting box.  Everything else is great; 3 facts is a good number for the "Did you know" box. Rad140 Message 16:54, January 7, 2010 (UTC)


 * Done. By the way, concerning the "Did you know" box, I thought it would be best to have just one fact until there are more to choose from (right now, there are just five). Otherwise, I think three is good. THB  → Talk ← 22:30, January 7, 2010 (UTC)

I thought I should update people on the statuses of the possible main page features: Any chance I could put a few of these up? This discussion's been going on for a while. THB  → Talk ← 02:24, March 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * Anime Series - Finished, though I'm not sure if it's needed anymore with the navigation bar.
 * Digimon Wiki News - The basic box is there - it's meant to take news from a main news page, though I'll leave the specifics to other people. Rad140 said he would be willing to take care of news.
 * On this day - Pretty much complete and it runs by itself - I've still got to fill in dates for November-December, but there's no hurry to get them finished.
 * Random Quote - May need a few more quotes added before it's put up, otherwise it's finished.
 * Featured Image - Still lots to sort out with this - first thing being how the image gets chosen. Also, I've been thinking that it might better to have a featured screenshot instead, or maybe even a random screenshot to save any hassle.
 * "This article needs your love" - I think this is out of my hands now, though I was never really sure what to do with it anyway, so I'm fine with that.
 * Did you know... - I've just split the list of options into three categories: 'species', 'anime' and 'other'. The feature is still lacking trivia, though we can easily pick things out of articles that would make good random trivia.