User:Conor Kenny/Thoughts on wiki design

Meta tagging on wikis

 * w:Template:under construction - using an "under construction" tag is tricky on a wiki when all articles are always evolving, but here's how it's done on Wikipedia.

Portals
I think I really like the new way Wikipedia is doing their portals with tabs. See, for example, the Science portal

A "create a new article" function

 * I'd really like to see this implemented on SourceWatch so editors don't have to use the overly complicated or indirect methods of creating a page.


 * Example: http://campaigns.wikia.com/wiki/Campaigns_Wikia

Things you can do
Wikipedia seems to have a very complex-under-the-hood but simple-on-top method of organizing the "things you can do." I like their system in part because it gives each portal a separate list while unifying them all together, the way I'd like to see the different parts of SourceWatch unified.

Part of the system is the Wikipedia Template:OpenTasks. See my discussion with User:Beland on my Wikipedia talk page.

Sister projects
I'd like to see a more in-depth description on each portal of how it fits in with larger projects and then within SourceWatch as a whole. On Congresspedia pages I'd like to see discussion of related Sunlight Foundation-funded and run projects. See the bottom of the Wikipedia main page for an example.

Other wikis
These are other wikis, which are useful for comparison:
 * Wikipedia, of course. Some elements of this wiki are very polished.
 * Wikia wikis - Jimbo Wales tries the for-profit model:
 * Politics.Wikia, a wiki on politics. More focused on individual user opinions than collaborative encyclopedia articles. Very polished.
 * Campaigns.Wikia, a wiki on political campaigns. Less polished, but another way of doing politics on wikis and thus worth studying every once and a while.

Earlier design issues and thoughts

 * September 2007 redesign
 * An early conceptualization of the Congresspedia front page by the Sunlight Foundation's Kerry Mitchel prior to the September 2007 redesign.
 * Feedback from the on the draft for the September 2007 redesign of SourceWatch.
 * Various other files and designs built by Kerry.

Font sizes
This is an h2 font size This is another h2

This is an h3 font size This is another h3

This is with big This is at 150

This a non-main heading

Comparison of my proposed h1 text in a long-titled article.