User:Hannibal/draft/u2

Tabs

Fetchcomms' version

Source: this page

User page

User talk page

Sandbox

Get help

Hannibal's version

Source: this page

My user page

Help

Find a project to work on

Get a mentor

Comments

Four or five tabs is probably as many as we could go with. Since we have so much information that we want people to find, let's say that we go with five. Then the quesion becomes "which five links should we include in the tabs?".

Those that have been suggested before are:

• the user page - this is mainly to show people that they are dealing with a tab system. Since we haven't this tab on other pages (but we maybe could try to get it included on those pages we link it to), that link is mainly for show
• the talk page - many users have trouble finding the talk page and do not respond to messages
• link to personal sandbox - perhaps we should preload it as they do with Help:Userspace_draft. We can even use the same preload (this text).
• get help --> Help:contents - many newcomers need this link prominently displayed.
• join a WikiProject - to try to get the new users to start editing in articles that need help
• get a mentor --> WP:Adopt-a-user - to make the new user a part of the communiiy

Which of these are most important? Is there some other we should think about?

One tab I suggest we add to this is: How to get started, or something like that. We can base it on the things Fetchcomms did, but have it on a separate page. The reason for that is that we don't want to clutter up the user page too much with Wikipedia related stuff. We want to know more about the Wikipedian and inspire him or her to tell us more about him/herself.

Add your comments

• I think the most important four links are user talk page ("my messages"?), sandbox ("test wiki code" or something that's more clear than "sandbox"), and get help. Adopt-a-user is good but often backlogged, and given that most new users won't really keep up with regular adoption activities and such, directing them to an overall help page that then can lead them to adopt-a-user if they want makes more sense to me. Also, I think the WikiProject stuff is not key for a new user (not that they need to learn a WikiProject's guidelines and such to start editing a specific topic area) and can be added later on in the page. A "how to get started" page definitely sounds good; maybe a prettier, simpler version of w:en:WP:INTRO (or just use that existing page)? Fetchcomms (talk) 18:04, 10 May 2011 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the input. You make valid points, so let me make another try with these suggestions: 1) How about "your test area" instead of sandbox? 2) Maybe we should have some sort of "your next steps" with three alternatives - continue building your user page, start editing and continue reading articles. We could have three fairly big arrows with very little info on the user page.//Hannibal (talk) 15:06, 11 May 2011 (UTC)
• ...

Page

Hannibal's version of Fetchcomms' version top part

Source: same as above.

Welcome to Wikipedia.

Thanks for creating a Wikipedia account, Hannibal/draft. Now you're a part of the world's largest encyclopedia. Happy editing!

About me   Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus nec est orci. Curabitur fermentum eros blandit urna blandit a malesuada arcu aliquet. Maecenas et magna ut ligula porttitor accumsan. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Etiam at egestas libero.

About this page   This page is your "user page," which currently contains some valuable resources to help you get started. You are free to change this page however you want or simply leave it alone. To edit a page, click the "edit" button at the top.

A picture is worth a thousand words   It's not mandatory to have a picture of yourself, but you may find that it is easier for you to be accepted into the Wikipedia community. Click the image to learn how to add an image to this page.

Comments

The boxes with the information need to be longer, for all text to fit them. That includes the Wikipedia logo part.

Add your own comments here:

• Will need to tweak the table code and use css background-image for the globe instead of overflow:hidden. Fetchcomms (talk) 18:14, 10 May 2011 (UTC)
• ...

Hannibal's version of Fetchcomms' version bottom part

Source: as above.

The part about starting to edit goes on another page that we link to. Instead we ask the user to give further information about him/herself that he or she can add whenever it suits the new user.

'This area is your own area. Add any information that you think is important about your background, interests and goals. Many people add Wikipedia:User boxes to their user page. This is a quick way to tell others, for instance, if you speak any foreign language.