Talk:Community Center

Moved old Community Portal Content
The old community portal content needs to be sorted and put on appropriate pages. Until that is completed. the content has been moved to "Old Community Portal Content." I hope this doesn't cause problems for anyone! Kara aka CK Whipple 04:35, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Moved discussion from the old Community Portal page
When the Community Portal page was moved to the new Community Center page, the discussion page content was not automatically moved. To preserve the content of the discussion page, I have copied the content here:

Redesign Community Page
Anyone interested in helping redesign the community page? Lots of suggestions have been gather from feedback. This is an opportunity to help create the heart and soul of the wiki - a Community Center for genealogists to connect with each other as we research and contribute to the genealogy community. What will it take to make the Community Center an example of a welcoming place that is clear, simple and attractive? Kara aka CK Whipple 15:42, 24 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I remember reading some of the feedback and a lot of the design comments were about a lack of color. I think the use of appropriate pictures/graphics would improve the look and feel of the Community Portal/Center and other pages/articles. The wiki is currently dominated by text. The majority of the web, that people are used to seeing these days, is more media rich. --Steve 17:24, 8 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you Steve. I agree but don't know a work around. The problem with graphics etc is that something is broken that used to allow images to contain links therefore I was told I have to use text. If you know a work around I would sure like to polish up the Community Center and make it warm and inviting - the heart and soul of the wiki! Users also indicated a desire for a very simple format - not paragraphs. I created "Community Center" where I'm working on ideas and would appreciate your input. I am going to move the portal page and put the chart I created at the top of the old community portal page. Kara aka CK Whipple 20:19, 8 December 2009 (UTC)


 * If something is broken, then I think all the click-able image maps in the Wiki would not be working. As far as I know, the clickable-maps are still working. I'm not aware of anything that is broken. If something is broken, we need to get it reported asap. Fran 06:11, 11 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I found that the general images of maps are OK, you can click and view the larger image. However, what may be broken is the map where you can click on a smaller locality in the larger map (British Isles, see the User Group archives back in December 2008 for some more details) JamesAnderson 17:20, 12 December 2009 (UTC)
 * James, I did a quite check of the Dec2008 archives and did not find it. I also tried finding the British Isles, but did not see where you were talking about. However, I went to England where a clickable map exists and it is working fine for me. Is it not working for you or is some other page not working? Thomas Lerman 17:35, 12 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Count me in. I have not heard about problems with images either. I can help you resolve problems if you are having them. Thomas Lerman 06:33, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! I checked with Anne and Mollie and the problem I had heard about weeks ago has been taken care of. Kara aka CK Whipple 07:01, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Thomas, the clickable map for England works OK, so the issue appears to be moot unless there's an isolated problem with a couple that I'm not aware of. Thanks Thomas for the information. JamesAnderson 18:46, 12 December 2009 (UTC)


 * That is good to know. I could be wrong, but it sounds like you do not know of a broken example at this time. Thomas Lerman 19:47, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Comments on Design
I just saw the new look of the "Community Center." As a user and wiki contributer, I thank you! I find the main page welcoming and easy to use. Charlene Genguide 08:20, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

I have made two minor changes to the Communtiy Center icon's, would like to make many more. The two changes are on the "new user" icon and "tool box" icon I took I away the word "genealogy" on both icon's and put in Family History since the page says we love Family history.

I would like to put into "Community Center" 'Community help Center' because that would help direct contributors. Community Center to someone new means nothing, please tell me what you think. Dawne

FAQs
Based on previous feedback, it would be nice to have an FAQ page for this Wiki that is linked from the main page of the Community Center. --Fran 04:44, 12 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I believe it is part of this sprint! :) Kara aka CK Whipple 04:48, 12 December 2009 (UTC)


 * FYI: The Welcoming Committee page already has a link to the FAQ page, although no content exists on the page right now. I created a page for the FAQ technical questions and added it to the Welcoming Committee links. The FAQ technical question page will be incorporated with the Technical Discussion page (not yet created). --Fran 08:20, 12 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I have created a navigational template for the FAQ pages FamilySearch Wiki FAQ and made a start on the main FamilySearch Wiki:FAQ for the most common questions. Future disussion about FAQ related issues should now be carried out in their associated talk pages. --Steve 10:46, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Link to Projects
I think we need an easy link for the Research Wiki contributors to be able to get to current projects quickly. The old page had that kind of a link. Jimmy B. Parker 01:16, 27 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Please check out the link on "Join a Project" under the buttons on the new Community Center and the same page has been added to the Contributor's Corner page. Are these links sufficient for your team's needs? Kara aka CK Whipple 04:03, 30 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Kara. Looks good! Jimmy B. Parker 23:10, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Ideas from Wikipedia

 * Wikipedia's Community portal yields ideas that can help this page evolve. This page was easy to find and made it easy for me, an outsider, to find major projects, page collaborations, and maintenance tasks I could do there. RitcheyMT 02:26, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia:WikiProject is a nice, simple way to list many projects. RitcheyMT 02:26, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Love the new pictures!
The new pictures are great, more expressive of the meanings of the various links. What do you think the next step is for this page? What do you think about grouping into different areas like this? Or maybe even a 2x2 table? Taking a page out of RitcheyMT's notes, what do you think about these areas? We aren't ready for all of the areas he mentioned, but the following sections make sense:


 * Give back - Learn to edit wiki pages. Then find writing projects and support projects that need help. [Add top-requested areas link.] [Image: hands holding seedling?]
 * Meet &amp; Talk - Ask questions, give advice, and discuss ideas via meetings and forums (probably want to have separate links for Research forums and Wiki forums). [Image: hands shaking, people talking, ?.]
 * See what's new - Read the latest at the Community News Stand or see a summary of current discussions. [Image: newspaper?]
 * Ask for help - Ask another community member for assistance here or here. [Image: question mark?]

The above were suggested images, but many of the images already on this page will acutally work quite well as well.

-- janellv 13:57, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I like all the suggestions and the new pictures. I also think it would be helpful to create an archive page for this talk page and move the old development discussion to the archives. -Fran 16:45, 2 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Ok, here's a new suggested version of this page. What do you think? -- janellv 20:29, 14 September 2011 (UTC)  [edit - I linked to the wrong page there earlier, it's now to the correct page.]

Design ideas
Back in March 2011, I created a sandbox with some ideas for redesigning this page. I just realized that although I linked the sandbox from a forum post and the contributors' meeting, I didn't link it from here. RitcheyMT 13:25, 12 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I came across that once, can't remember how I found it. The suggestions I made above were based off of your ideas there, thanks... -- janellv 20:52, 12 October 2011 (UTC)


 * And I just clicked on my link above, and I had linked to the very wrong version of the page. Yikes! Please see this link instead..... Community Center Suggestion -- janellv 20:57, 12 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Ok, the new version was put in! (Technically 2 days ago.) It is still missing a couple of the good ideas that were mentioned on the above page - Thank Others, Share Successes, and Community Leaders. I didn't have any specific ideas of how to do that off the top of my head, so that will still be something that anyone is welcome to work on... -- janellv 15:11, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Having only a few categories on this page works very well for me. However, there is so much white space that only two show at the top of the page. On some computers, the ones at the bottom show at least a little. On others, the "fold" conceals them. Can three be at the top, rather than two? Perhaps they would be a little smaller, permitting the second row to show. This would also allow for another category (Misc?, Other?) when desirable, without having to again redesign the page.AdkinsWH 16:31, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

New rather than news
The page is really coming. Thank you so much!

I really do miss the pictures on "New to genealogy" and "New wiki users" they pulled me right in.

It seems to have a lot of empty space, I would like to see more info before the fold.. Also I would like to have "Whats New" not "Whats News" Dawne 22:19, 26 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree that the pictures on the current page are probably not quite the right ones on the page. Do you think Joy would be willing to take a look and maybe switch some of the pictures out?


 * I also agree about the empty space - I worked on it some yesterday but couldn't figure out how to get rid of some of it. I may play with a different format of the page a little later.


 * I am neutral on the "What's New" vs. "What's News" title. Someone suggested it and I thought it sounded clever, so I put it in. Anyone else have any thoughts on what they like better? Thanks for reviewing the page! -- janellv 15:11, 28 October 2011 (UTC)