Template talk:Mainpage-leftcolumn

The statements and opinions on this page are solely those of its authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of CouchSurfing International.

What is the purpose of the main page?

It is an intro page which has 2 major sections: left column: intro to contents of wiki. right column: intro to wiki itself

If needed we can make three columns on the main page.

What is the purpose of the left column?

It's like a table of contents for the wiki. it has two major sections (couchsurfing guide and couchsurfing documents) with descriptions of those sections. Other sections may come later.

We should start thinking about what these major sections are. Does "tips" belong in the guide along with the location guides, or does it deserve to be a section? Is "documents" to broad of a section? Probably. For instance, media reports is not really a document.

Also, this left column should show some of the contents of each section, to entice the visitor to investigate and explore. A current example are the specific locations in the guide. How do we keep the main page current as new locations or new documents are added? Probably, there should be templates for each section such as the currently used "tips" template. --Mattthew 18:36, 29 September 2006 (EST)

It's hard to categorize. I just did what I thought was right. I didn't know what better term to use than Documents. That's why I hadn't created CouchSurfing Documents yet :) But it's good that you did. I will create a Document template as well.

Maybe investigating and exploring can be encouraged by highlights, like an article in the wiki spotlight (please give me a better name)? This article should contain some stuff, in a way that fits well with the rest of the feel of this wiki, but where people are easily tempted to actually improve. Guaka ^Talk ^CS 21:46, 29 September 2006 (EST)

About the CouchSurfing Guide stuff on the main page: as soon as there are enough articles I don't want any red links there, and keep it limited to the "best" and most used articles. The same can be done for CouchSurfing Documents.

The good thing is that we don't have to be extremely strict about things. We can try out stuff, and if you (and, in fact, anyone with a positive attitude) is welcome to do that.

Guaka ^Talk ^CS 22:06, 29 September 2006 (EST)

article history edit