The Sims Wiki/Main Page Development

This is a special sub-page of the Main Page. It is meant to serve as a place for people editing the Main Page or its templates to notify others as to changes they have made. Due to the unique design of the Main Page over other articles on this wiki, many changes made to the function of the page are not necessarily visible simply by editing the page itself. Therefore, it's beneficial that some main 'log' of major changes be kept. These major changes could include:
 * Creating new main page templates
 * Changing the theme of the main page (color scheme, logos, etc)
 * Re-arranging the 'modules'
 * Making significant changes to the flow or use of the page

Not all changes to the main page need to be recorded. These non-major changes include updates to Featured Content templates, updates to the 'Slider' images, rewording of the 'modules', or other minor changes which would not likely be confusing to other users.

In short, this page simply exists as a courtesy to your fellow editors, letting them know either that you've made a significant change or that you plan to do so. Please note that this page is not for discussion of changes (that place would still be Talk:The Sims Wiki or, alternatively, The Sims Wiki talk:Community Portal), but simply a place to note that changes have occurred and, if necessary, to seek assistance in handling any issues those changes present.

Please leave a message below, in the appropriate section.

Recent Changes
I redid Random Quote so that, on days that a historical event in the series occurred, a small statement marking that event will appear instead. The new template is set up such that the page, when loading checks the present date and then checks the template to see if that date occurs on the list - if it does, it displays that message. If it does not, it defaults to Random Quote. Note that additions or changes to the Random Quotes must still be done on that template page, not on HistoryOrQuote. Also note that there is a specific format for additional historical entries, in order to allow the #ifexist command to function properly. Details on that are available in the template documentation. --  LostInRiverview talk · blog 06:05, May 7, 2012 (UTC)
 * Change Random Quote to HistoryOrQuote

I've noticed that many main page templates have redundant categories or are categorized incorrectly. I plan on somehow redoing those categories, so that all templates used on the main page will fall under only one category. This will make it easier for people editing the main page templates to be able to find the template they need to edit. -  LostInRiverview talk · blog 06:05, May 7, 2012 (UTC)
 * Re-categorization of Main Page and Featured Templates
 * Update: I proceeded with re-categorization, except for the templates used for the Today's Events feature, as I plan on working on those when I have more time. Please be sure to include any templates you use on the main page in Category:Main page templates from now on. This category is directly linked to the main page, making it very simple to edit the mainpage templates. -  LostInRiverview talk · blog 18:14, May 7, 2012 (UTC)

I do not plan on getting rid of Today's Events, but rather in simplifying how they work. This simplification would be similar to how HistoryOrQuote works, and would eliminate the need to create a separate event page (such as The Sims Wiki:Event/) for every day that a wiki event takes place. Check back here for updates on this project. -  LostInRiverview talk · blog 06:05, May 7, 2012 (UTC)
 * Reworking of the 'Today's Events' feature
 * Update: I created a new template, Event, as well as 'secondary templates' to use on it. The design of the main Event template is similar to HistoryOrQuote, meaning that we no longer need to create individual event pages for each event. I'll be keeping an eye on the templates to ensure they work as intended, but I don't anticipate any bugs.--  LiR speak ~ read 00:49, May 10, 2012 (UTC)

Presently, we have a main page that runs off of both Templates and code written onto the page itself. I think this is a headache, especially for those who are not completely familiar with whether a particular item is found on the Main Page itself or in a template. Even I am sometimes tripped up trying to find how and where to edit things that appear on the main page. To that end, I will, when I am able, be transferring over nearly all code and data onto new templates. These templates will correspond to each visual 'Module' on the mainpage (so that the featured article 'module' corresponds to the Featured Article template, and so on) so that a person wishing to edit, say, the Main Page slider need only go to a template called 'MainPageSlider' or something of the sort. I won't transition the page over to all templates until I've completed all the templates I'll need. Check here for updates. --  LiR speak ~ read 00:49, May 10, 2012 (UTC)
 * Transition to "Module Mainpage"
 * In short, you're trying to make the main page a "template placeholder", while all the contents are separated by templates? I think that's a good idea after all.  Nikel  Talk  07:37, May 10, 2012 (UTC)
 * Pretty much. The move would have positives and negatives, but I think the positives would outweigh the only negative I can think of, which is that a user who wants to edit a mainpage item would have to know what template it was in. But that could be easily fixed by making the templates have the same name as the content on the mainpage itself. This requires me to rename a couple of the templates on the mainpage, though.
 * To update, I will be beginning to create new templates for the features that do not yet have templates. I won't be changing the main page until all the templates are complete. --  LiR speak ~ read 13:32, May 10, 2012 (UTC)
 * Update: This project is mostly completed, save for some of the templates on the right side of the mainpage - the templates themselves are there, but the visual coding is still on the mainpage. Once that is moved over, we'll be complete. -  LiR speak ~ read 01:56, May 12, 2012 (UTC)

Planned Changes
Long long ago (like, last year) we had a very active Facebook page and a good following on Twitter. However, somehow the Facebook page died/was closed/was shut down, and subsequently the Facebook like box (which previously appeared, around where the Fanon Wiki about box appears now) was removed. I would like to re-implement these features. I've started by recreating the Facebook page, but because of the redesign of our mainpage, finding a good place to put the Facebook like box and the Twitter feed will be interesting. I'm thinking that I will put the Twitter feed in Wiki News, along with the new Chat template, and put the Facebook like box below About Us on the righthand side. Expect more developments on this in a day or two. --  LiR speak ~ read 01:56, May 12, 2012 (UTC)
 * Re-implementation of Facebook and Twitter