User talk:Hannibal/draft/u3

Feedback

This is excellent! The only improvement that comes to my mind: I found the arrows confusing. Try it without. The overall design looks very good. --Frank Schulenburg (talk) 00:34, 12 May 2011 (UTC)

Feedback from Some zh Users

First I'd like to say that I like this design so much that I have actually adopted this design for my zhwiki user page, which also enabled me to ask some Wikipedians for comments. Of course, many praised this design. However, some others expressed their concerns and suggestions.

1. Browser Compatibility: Shadow and round corner are not supported by IE 8- (I don't know whether IE 9 supports). The appearance is not good in IE. I know many scripts in Wikipedia do not support IE either, but user page is different... New users are going to see this page soon after they create their accounts. Maybe placing a note to encourage new users switch to Cr, Fx or Safari if they are using IE is a good idea.
2. Complexity of HTML code: Although users don't have to modify the code, users have to modify the text. If a new user see the text is wrapped with sooooooo many lines of code, it's possible that he/she feel a bit scared... and run away from Wikipedia. So I think turning the components of the page (nav bar, the 3 white sections, etc. ) into templates might be good.
3. Content: Currently the initial content of the page features Start editing and Personalize Wikipedia. Some Wikipedians believe that these two sections should be included in the welcome message/email, not here.

Keep up the good work. --Tommyang (talk) 07:21, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments. Cool that you use this template on your user page.

Compability questions I usually leave to more competent people, such as User:Fetchcomms. I'll ask about this problem.

What we've done in the tests is put as much in templates as possible, but I guess that if and when this is rolled out permanently, that would have to be adressed. Good point.

It's a difficult balance having just enough info near the user page and not too much. And it's the same with the welcome email - which some don't get because they don't add their adress. Do you have any suggestions about that?

I will get back to you more, likely in the next couple of days to hear more about your experiences.//Hannibal (talk) 14:56, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

About the welcome email: I personally prefer welcome talk message. The reasons are: 1. As you said, some don't get email because they don't add their address. 2. Welcome message can be more in person. 3. It's much easier to get back to the talk page again than searching for that welcome email in the inbox.

I really like the w:Wikipedia:Welcoming committee idea, so I have made my own welcome template in both English and Chinese. Check them out and make a comment if you like. --Tommyang (talk) 13:26, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

IE9 does support box shadows, but IE8, the latest version for Windows XP does not. IE8 is considered the most used browser and unfortunately has lousy support for just about everything; IE9 is not available for XP. Compatibility issues are unavoidable if you wish to use those sorts of pretty styles. May I suggest Browse Happy? Mono (talk) 00:53, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

I think everything has been addressed above; 1) IE 8 just plain sucks and I'm not sure how to make a design more compatible without compromising the appeal; 2) it was designed for being used in templates, so the amount of code that users actually see should be minimal; 3) I don't really have an opinion here, but as not all users add an email address, it seems at least more effective if it's presented on the user page rather than sent via email to only some users. Fetchcomms (talk) 17:40, 30 July 2011 (UTC)