News placement on the front page[]
Is there a way we can reorganize the front page so that the news section is more visible? --LauraCC (talk) 22:30, 22 October 2023 (UTC)
This again, now that our news section has been revamped. --LauraCC (talk) 23:19, 30 April 2024 (UTC)
- I already said this below, but putting it here for convenience: I think the best thing to do is move the news panel one space up, so right above the "New series" panel. 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 00:22, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
Is there a way they can occupy side by side positions, with people able to choose which one they want to open? --LauraCC (talk) 00:28, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
Deaths and other news[]
What would everybody think about putting death announcements in a separate box from other Trek news? This would allow them to stay posted for longer when many other things are happening/being announced. --LauraCC (talk) 18:23, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
- I support the reasoning behind this, but the main page is somewhat crowded as it is, and this could wind up as a source of unwanted clutter. That said, if others think this is a good idea, I'd certainly support it. As is, I'm fairly neutral. Does anyone else have an opinion on this? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:29, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
If it's clutter you're worried about, we could put it all in the same box, but have tabs that you could click on so it would take up the same amount of space - so clicking on "news" would show all non-death news, clicking on "deaths" would show death news, etc. --LauraCC (talk) 20:36, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
- Yeah, that could work. 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:47, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
I would also add that if all the deaths are listed under "deaths", you don't have to keep repeating "____ has died/passed away at the age of", just list the name, age, and roles. --LauraCC (talk) 23:07, 25 April 2024 (UTC)
- I would definitely support the idea of a seperate tab for deaths. TrekFan1984 Ends (talk) 02:49, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
"Deaths", "Events" (things like the finding of the Enterprise model, etc), and maybe one for "Upcoming productions"? --LauraCC (talk) 02:54, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
- When you say "tabs", are you talking about something like this, or something like this, or something else? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 23:22, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
The second one, but with a tab look to it, like the tabs on an internet browser, or paper file folders. Similar to this [1] --LauraCC (talk) 23:24, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
- OK. The only issue with that option is that, on mobile devices, the contents of each tab display one after another and there are no tabs, so mobile users would get three times as much text at once. This, combined with the smaller screens of mobile devices, would create a very lengthy section of the page, which might not be desirable.
- An alternative I just thought of would be to use something like this, but that also has some drawbacks. First and foremost, Fandom plans to *eventually* disable the extension that this solution uses. Also, on mobile devices, instead of tabs, you would get a list of links, each one going to a page with the contents of that tab.
- With all this in mind, I'm leaning towards the first option I suggested, which balances a good design for desktop users with a workable UI on mobile, not to mention is a sound design code-wise. Which option do you think is the best? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 23:37, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
I didn't realize how it would look on phones, or even think about it. Okay, the one you suggested looks all right. Is there a way to give it a newsy feel to make it stand out from the other boxes on the page? --LauraCC (talk) 23:41, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
Alternately, we could have widgets from other Trek news sites....--LauraCC (talk) 23:44, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
- Potentially, but I think it's better to rout people from the main page onto other MA pages, not off-site.
- To your question about making it look more newsy, we could change up the styling in a variety of ways. I'll implement a potential interface and you can give feedback. 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 23:47, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
Yeah. Although news links do send people offsite, we do include links to our own pages (the actor in question, of course, in deaths). -LauraCC (talk) 23:49, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
- Question – did you mean something like "recent productions", or did you really mean "upcoming productions"? If you meant the latter, doesn't the section right above suffice (it gives the next episode in the show currently airing)? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 00:15, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
More with an eye towards future upcoming seasons/series/films that are announced. --LauraCC (talk) 00:41, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- OK 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 00:42, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- OK, I just saved my first pass. What do you think? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 01:58, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
So far so good. Could use a border around the tabs, perhaps. Is there a way we can make it so in the deaths section, the top photo on the actor in question's page (if there is one) appears next to their death announcement? --LauraCC (talk) 02:00, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Also, change "recent deaths" to either "deaths" or "obituaries".
In the formatting instruction page for the news banner, tell people not to say "has died" or "has passed", as their inclusion in that tab makes it obvious they're dead. Example: "Joe Schmo, 98, known for the role of Captain Doofus in the I AM ERROR episode TOS: "The Whatchamacallit", after a long battle with redundancy." --LauraCC (talk) 02:05, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Just looking at the front page, I was wondering, if we switch the news with the "last/current/next new episode" box, and made the "Memory Alpha is a collaborative project..." note a pop-up off to the side like the "notifications" list, we could move everything up that much on the page. (LOL is it too much?)-LauraCC (talk) 02:16, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- "Could use a border around the tabs, perhaps." I see a border when viewing the page (on Chrome on a Chromebook and an iPad). What device/browser are you using where the border isn't displaying?
- "Is there a way we can make it so in the deaths section, the top photo on the actor in question's page [. . .] appears next to their death announcement?" Not automatically, no. Images can, however, be added manually.
- "[C]hange 'recent deaths' to either 'deaths' or 'obituaries'." I've changed it to "deaths".
- "In the formatting instruction page for the news banner [. . .]" What page are you referring to?
- "[. . .] [W]e could move everything up that much on the [main] page." I agree that the main page could be organized better, but I think it makes sense to leave the intro paragraph in the main column. Perhaps we could just move the news section above the spoiler-y "current stuff" panel? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 04:55, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
"In the formatting instruction page for the news banner [. . .]" What page are you referring to?
One which doesn't exist yet. Memory Alpha:News, which would tell people how to format any news headlines they add to the front page.
"Could use a border around the tabs, perhaps."
That was for an earlier edit (when the words "deaths", etc were in the middle of the tabs, not left justified. --LauraCC (talk) 05:00, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- OK.
- I don't think we need an entire instruction page for how to use this page (although if we did, it would be "MA Help:News", not "Memory Alpha:News"). I think a simple comment (i.e. <!-- ... -->) on the page itself would suffice. Thanks for the suggestion, though – I wouldn't have thought of adding a note otherwise :) 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 05:05, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Can we have something more interesting than the yellow "Latest news" title just above it? --LauraCC (talk) 05:13, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- Define "interesting" :D 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 05:16, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Mmmm...like a banner: "Memory Alpha News" or something like that (okay, it's not news about us) or "Trek News" - something like the "Mirror universe"/"visions"/"alternate reality" banner, etc, with and the lettering style of the tabs, and an image from a show. Say, the reporters clamoring around Kirk in Generations, or the power wall news broadcasts from Into Darkness. --LauraCC (talk) 11:44, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Also, what would you think of "awards" being its own separate tab? If we ever add the images of the physical awards to Star Trek's awards and honors (or at least the award logos, which might be better), we can put them next to the headlines in this tab, along with the logo of the series that won the award (one on the right, one on the left, maybe) -LauraCC (talk) 11:51, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Can you fix the "stair steps" of the death announcements so they all line up? I made Barrier's image bigger that Baldavin's (70 vs 50 px) so they look closer in size, dimensionwise. -LauraCC (talk) 15:32, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Can we make it auto-add a frame around the images? --LauraCC (talk) 16:55, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- I've created a more interesting-looking banner and put it below. To view it properly, add the following CSS to your personal CSS page:
#trek-news{
padding:1em;
font-size:3em;
font-family:'Times New Roman';
text-transform:uppercase;
color:#ffd942;
text-shadow:4px 7px 3px #660000;
border-radius:1em 1em 0 0;
border:2px solid #666666;
background:#000000 url('/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Federation news service.jpg') 0 70%/cover no-repeat;
}
Recent events[]
  |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Upcoming productions[]
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Awards[]
  |
|
|
|
|
Memory Alpha news[]
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Deaths[]
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
- Feedback is welcome :)
- "Can we make it auto-add a frame around the images?" You mean like an image thumbnail? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 19:08, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
I...guess? What's that look like?
The banner is too much chin. :D Tweak the positioning, or maybe we can go with another image. --LauraCC (talk) 19:13, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- I've changed the image. Replace your current CSS with the following:
#trek-news{
border-radius:1em 1em 0 0;
border:2px solid #666666;
background:#000000 url('/wiki/w:c:memory-alpha:Special:Redirect/file/News_banner.png') center/cover no-repeat;
height:13em;
}
- Better?
- And thumbnail images are just like the normal images shown in articles, like the one I put off to the right here. ("thumb" stands for "thumbnail"). 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:18, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Can you make the border darker, to stand out against the red? --LauraCC (talk) 20:23, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- The border of the image or the borders of the tabs/banner? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:37, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
The image. --LauraCC (talk) 20:42, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- Add this to the bottom of your CSS:
#news-box img{
border:5px outset #222222;
}
- That should give all the images an off-black border. What do you think? 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:55, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Makes the pictures look like buttons. --LauraCC (talk) 20:57, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- Would it be better with a thinner border? If so, try changing the 5px to 1px in the new CSS. 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 20:59, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
That's good. The other one made the image look funny. -LauraCC (talk) 21:00, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
- Awesome!
- Now we just have to wait for an admin to add the styles to the wiki's main CSS file. For convenience, here is all the CSS that should be added to the main file:
/* Main page history section styles */
#trek-news{
border-radius:1em 1em 0 0;
border:2px solid #666666;
background:#000000 url('/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/News_banner.png') center/cover no-repeat;
height:13em;
}
#news-box img{
border:1px outset #222222;
}
#news-box{
background:linear-gradient(#000000, #660000, #000000);
border:2px solid #666666;
border-radius:0 0 1em 1em;
color:#ffffff;
}
- Thanks for all the input, LauraCC :) 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 21:07, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
It's fun to think of all this. --LauraCC (talk) 21:09, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
Oops. I broke it. --LauraCC (talk) 22:06, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
- I fixed it, and turned it into a template to avoid future mishaps. Hope this helps :) 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 23:42, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
Thanks. At some point, we'll have to turn this thread into an archive page - it's getting so long! --LauraCC (talk) 23:47, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
- Laura, to see what mobile users see, add "?useskin=fandommobile" to the end of a wiki URL, like https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Portal_talk:Main/Panels/News?useskin=fandommobile. That (temporarily) applies the mobile CSS to the page rather than the desktop CSS.
- Also, the change to Times New Roman on the new News widget is rather jarring. We need to stick to one font family, in particular sans-serif. -- Renegade54 (talk) 21:07, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
Would it be a good idea to have the top tab (Recent events) be open by default to catch the eye of page viewers? Or have a "new" icon - something to alert page viewers that there's new news added not too long ago? -LauraCC (talk) 21:25, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
- I fixed the font and set the first tab to be open by default. 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 22:41, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
What about making each tab a different color? (Red, yellow, blue, green/silver, in whichever order you like) - division colors. -LauraCC (talk) 22:44, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
And possibly having a tab for MA-related news? --LauraCC (talk) 03:06, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
Regrading a comment made at Forum:Centuries banners, how about having a down arrow on the news tabs so people can see that they can be opened? -LauraCC (talk) 15:49, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
- I've implemented the CSS and added the banner. I might add a tab for MA-related news later, but for now, I'm going to archive this super-long talk page :P 🖖 Mr. Starfleet Command (talk • contribs) 00:08, 28 May 2024 (UTC)