Wikipedia:2008 main page redesign proposal/Morrismaciver

Customisation

Unfortunately, this will be a boring text proposal, but I think I have interesting things to say...

I think there should be two versions of the entry page; one that you come to normally, and a customisable version you can come to if you are logged in. Customisable content is pretty much the standard around the web these days and I know it would be very useful here.

All of the proposals (or almost all) I've looked at so far are decent enough, but customisation is lacking everywhere.

For example, there can be four content areas - header, footer, main column left, main column right. The various modules (featured article, did you know, recent events, featured media - not just images, on this day) could be moved about in a similar way to iGoogle or My Yahoo so that each user who actually bothered to log-in would have content suited to their needs - this may even encourage those who tend to browse anonymously and vandalise to log-in to edit?

I wouldn't stop the customisation at just positioning the elements, I would include various other factors - eg how many items in the Did You Know, general featured article or always pulled from one or more portals or projects, any media or just pictures.

I would like to add the possibility of modules directly related to specific projects where either new articles or articles of interest could be highlighted.

I would suggest a suggestions module - this would be a little more complex but would be similar to the "other people who bought X also bought Y" feature on several commercial websites, but sourcing it's suggestions from your watched articles and suggesting those from others who have watched similar articles.

I think general appearance should be altered minimally, with more working skins made available for logged-in users.