Hi Jesse, Go to Wikipedia and login with your Wikipedia account. Set your preferences to the new Vector skin --- WMF are doing amazing work on usability, I really like the new skin :-) We may want to specify the new skin as a default for new accounts in WE once the testing is finished. Be keen to hear what you think.
I like the suggestion of logo candidtates suggesting a colour scheme - good thinking. Once we have a few logo candidates and colour schemes on the table -- I'm keen to encourage feedback from the professional graphic designers in our community. We will also be implementing a Rich Text Editing (wysiwyg) editor as a preference option --- with thanks to funding support from the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Jesse -- sounds like a good plan to me :-) Cheers Wayne 2009/9/6 Jesse Groppi <[email protected]> > Wayne, > > I'm definitely agreeing with you on all that about re-skinning. It's > really good news to hear that WMF is looking at doing that with the default > install. I shall go check it out! > > I would like to suggest that logo ideas or candidates include a colour > scheme of about 2-5 colours, so that we can get an idea of how the logo is > meant to fit into the visual image of the site as a whole. The submitter > would state which colour is meant to be a primary, secondary, or accent > colour. Later on, as you suggest, we could take those colour suggestions, > and determine where best to apply them. How does that sound? > > Jesse Groppi > > > On 05/09/2009 19:12, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: > > Hi Jesse, > > Speaking personally, I don't think that re-skinning the WE site is > advisable at this stage and I agree with you -- we would definitely need a > very good reason to change the skin and the funding to do it. We also need > to be very sure that we are not creating unnecessary upstream maintenance > dependencies with regards to future releases of MW. Also WMF have been doing > amazing work on the usability project, progressively developing a new skin > based on real research, testing and feedback. Its pretty impressive if you > haven't had a chance to look at this yet. > > While - Wikia have implemented a number of useful features -- there are > aspects of the Wikia skin which, in my view, look as if they've been cobbled > together and don't seem to form a coherent solution. > > My personal thoughts on the re-skinning question is: if it ain't broke > don't fix it. > > That said, I think it would be worth the effort to analyse and think about > the layout of our landing page. I frequently get feedback from new users > that they find the home page confusing --- but that may be anecdotal. This > in itself is not a trivial exercise and would need thorough investigation, > straw dogs etc. However, I think this may be a more doable project. > > Anyway -- first things first. The logo. > > The WikiEducator community did not have any input into the design and > development of the logo :-( and now that we're a large wiki project, I think > that its important for community involvement and reflection on the logo -- > it represents who we are. Who knows -- the community may be quite happy > with the visual we currenlty use. Its worth exploring the pros, cons and > looking at draft ideas for the future so we can take a collective decision. > > Cheers > Wayne > > > > > > > 2009/9/6 Jesse Groppi <[email protected]> > >> Wayne, >> >> Well, engineering WE's visual identity could be as involved as completely >> rearranging all the elements of a page, in a complete separation from WMF's >> monobook skin. This is usually referred to as "re-skinning" the wiki. >> Wikia did this, I would imagine, in order to incorporate user interactions >> that didn't fit in with monobook. Re-skinning is not something one can do >> without having a separate copy of WE's version of MediaWiki to test. To me, >> it seems so much of a hassle that one would need to have a very good reason >> to change it. >> >> Do you think there will be a necessity for this sort of thing? >> >> Jesse >> >> On 05/09/2009 17:33, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: >> >> Hi Jesse, >> >> Good question. The purpose of this discussion is restricted to the logo >> and favicon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon ) largely to gauge >> interest in the community and number of candidate submissions we receive. At >> this point we'll need to think about constituting a workgroup to take the >> design and decision of our logo forward. >> >> You're right -- visual identity is much more than just the logo - and >> included all the other things you refer to, i.e. colour scheme, design of >> the landing page, structure of the page, its relationship with usability, >> conversion rates, and its relationship with style guidelines etc. >> >> WikiEducator will need to reflect and focus on its visual identity as a >> package some time in the future -- but I suspect that this task is more >> comprehensive and would need a separate work group for this purpose? >> >> Cheers >> Wayne >> >> >> 2009/9/6 Jesse Groppi <[email protected]> >> >>> I just want to clarify some things about the "visual identity" of the >>> wiki. I'm definitely no expert, but I think that in web design terms this >>> usually includes the logo, colour scheme, structure of the page, and can >>> also include the methods in which a user interacts with the page. Is it >>> this entire group of things that you're talking about? >>> >>> Jesse >>> >>> On 04/09/2009 21:54, Wayne Mackintosh wrote: >>> >>> Hi Everyone, >>> >>> As an independent project -- WikiEducator needs to develop a visual >>> identity and new logo. As an open collaborative initiative we invite all >>> WikiEducators around the world to join us in developing a new logo for >>> WikiEducator. >>> >>> *History of the current logo* >>> >>> I did not put much thought or energy into the design of the logo >>> currently used on the WikiEducator site. Back in April 2006, when >>> WikiEducator was relocated to a hosted server funded by the Commonwealth of >>> Learning, I had to supply a logo for the website. In the rush to get the >>> server operational, we simply tweaked the visual identity of COL's 2003-2006 >>> three-year plan (see: >>> http://www.col.org/progServ/3YR/Pages/2003-2006-3YR.aspx ). This was >>> back in the days when we had 12 registered accounts on WikiEducator -- now >>> with over 10,000 users we have more minds to come up with a better idea >>> ;-). >>> >>> We have come a long way since then. The strap line of "free eLearning >>> content" does not even begin to describe the breadth and depth of the >>> WikiEducator comunity or its projects. WE are also now far larger than the >>> Commonwealth and a truly global project. The time has come to design and >>> implement a new visual identity for WikiEducator! >>> >>> *Progress and plan to develop a new logo for WE* >>> >>> Back in June 2008 there was some discussion and thought about developing >>> a new logo and our first candidate for a new logo has already been submitted >>> by one of our community members, see: >>> >>> http://www.col.org/progServ/3YR/Pages/2003-2006-3YR.aspx >>> >>> 1) We invite all WikiEducator to table a candidate for our new visual >>> identity by 30 September 2009. Just add your visual idea to the list of >>> candidates on this page: >>> >>> http://wikieducator.org/WE-Logo , listing candidate 2, candidate 3 etc. >>> >>> 2) If you have no artistic ability like myself, please post your ideas >>> and thoughts on the corresponding talk page: >>> >>> http://wikieducator.org/Talk:WE-Logo >>> >>> 3) We will invite feedback from professional graphic designers and post >>> these to the site by 15 October 2009 >>> >>> 4) We will then ask the community to vote on their preferred logo >>> candidate closing votes by 30 October 2009. >>> >>> 5) The OER Foundation will commission a professional graphic design >>> artist to develop our new visual identity. >>> >>> Get your creative juices going -- and we look forward to reviewing >>> candidates for the new Wikieducator logo. >>> >>> Cheers >>> Wayne >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. >>> Director, >>> International Centre for Open Education, >>> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. >>> Board of Directors, OER Foundation. >>> Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org >>> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 >>> Skype: WGMNZ1 >>> Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. >> Director, >> International Centre for Open Education, >> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. >> Board of Directors, OER Foundation. >> Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org >> Mobile +64 21 2436 380 >> Skype: WGMNZ1 >> Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg >> >> >> >> >> > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > Director, > International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Board of Directors, OER Foundation. > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > > > > > -- Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. 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