User talk:Fetchcomms

edit this template Welcome to the Wikimedia Foundation website.

Thanks for being here! This wiki does not exactly follow the same rules as the other Wikimedia projects, since it is not open to all for editing, and in case of disagreement, the organ of decision will be the Board. A rule of thumb however is that if we gave you access, that means we trust you. So please, do not be shy in editing this site. There is ample work for everyone :-)

• Please create your userpage with a short biography and other introductory information about yourself and the work you do. (Feel free to look at other user pages for examples.)
• All organizational pages may be found in the special category.
• For those willing to help with translation, please see m:Translation requests, especially its subpages /WMF, /WMFNews and sometimes /quick translation.
• Please watch for feedback on Meta-Wiki and start discussions there.
• More about this wiki...

Fetchcomms 20:33, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Responsive Web design

Thought you might find this interesting: <http://www.cloudfour.com/css-media-query-for-mobile-is-fools-gold/>.

I was thinking that responsive Web design might be nice for pages such as User:Monomium/Main Page Sandbox, but now I'm not so sure. --MZMcBride 01:12, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

A well-rounded solution will likely have to include JavaScript as well as media queries, though I understand the author's viewpoint in that article. But device support has increased since 2010, as has the variety of device sizes, and I think media queries might work well for sites as simple as this one—MediaWiki-generated pages are consistent, at least, so there shouldn't be too much unpredictable elements to deal with. I've looked at projects like the new Boston Globe design, which has worked charmingly but is a bit more complex, and I'm still trying to figure out whether Vector was based on an existing grid template or just from scratch. I probably should work on re-gridding the design a bit.

Monomium's changes are pretty readable on an iPad, although the captions have got to go and I'm still wondering whether adding Google Web Fonts code for consistency on Macs (most don't have Franklin Gothic Medium, it seems) is worth the slight speed trade off. I think it is, but IDK if there's a policy for adding those sorts of things.

Still working on that benefactors page, too, just a little busy. Any feedback from the foundation, though?

Fetchcomms 02:29, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You can't load code from remote sources. That gives away browser info, causes load issues, etc. Not sure what Google Web Fonts code requires, so I can't really say much more than that right now. It'd also have to presumably be under a free license, I guess?

More importantly, re: feedback, I think everyone liked the Thank You redesign. They certainly implemented it quickly. And some of the code you brought in was used recently at Template:SOPABlogShare. So you can see how easy it is to influence things around here. :-)

I think communications got buried with everyone else during this SOPA thing. That's winding down now. Ping Jay on Monday via e-mail? Or you can probably just e-mail him now. I'm not really sure what next steps are here. There's a proposed redesign that needs tweaks/adjustments, presumably with Jay's input? Is that where we are, roughly? --MZMcBride 03:42, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Hm, pity then - all the fonts there are freely licensed, too. (It's done via javascript or CSS @import, sadly.)

Yeah, I'll wait a couple of days until SOPA buzz dies down and see what we have and how much still needs to be done. You're probably correct about where we're at now, though.

Fetchcomms 04:53, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the special needs of Wikimedia mobile development (low-cost considerations for use in developing countries) means that responsive design is a little fruitless. At the time that Vector was designed, it was not built on any sort of grid; basically floated and positioned CSS on top of the classic theme (try turning CSS off). To be really honest, MediaWiki needs a new skin, while retaining the usability lessons learned with that initiative. The article you mentioned does have a good point - responsive fluid design works well for approaching different sized desktops and tablets. The page already uses percentage widths, which allows for some variation in screen size.

I happen to have all the fonts necessary for viewing the page properly, but it is an issue for people using open source software (all my fonts were bundled with Pages, Word, or Adobe programs, legally) which does not include them. If the web fonts are freely licensed, we could host them on Wikimedia servers and call them from there, I suppose. From what I can tell, Jay is a busy person and wants to update the site a bit...I was asked to help out a bit with the job pages. The captions are silly experimentations with Foundation-based copy and should go. I do recall Philippe mentioning he liked the designs as far as Foundation feedback goes. I'll mention it to Jay next time I get a chance.

Monomium 15:32, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

The problem with full-width skins is that if the content inside does not adequately adapt to the screen space, then it's going to look ugly at either extreme: small mobile and large widescreen. Full-width skins work well with encyclopedic content, especially ones with large tables, panoramic images, or an excessive amount of text, but this site is used for a different purpose so repurposing what does not fit it best is ... odd.

I've had some trouble coming up with a good layout for Benefactors (content flow and all that) but I think Job openings would benefit from a two-column layout like this (listings on a sidebar, descriptions in a main content area).

Fetchcomms 04:41, 21 January 2012 (UTC)