Wikivoyage talk:Main Page Old/Travel news

Travel news

How about adding a logbook-style "Travel news" section to the Main Page? The tsunamis that just flattened large parts of Sri Lanka, Phuket and the Maldives would be one example of possible content... (WT-en) Jpatokal 05:04, 27 Dec 2004 (EST)

I think that this is a great idea.... Probably just a summary on the Main Page, leading to a more detailed page or pages.... (WT-en) Pjamescowie 09:30, 27 Dec 2004 (EST)

So, inspired by events in south-east and south Asia, I just kicked off the Travel news page(s), linking directly from the Main Page. I realise that this is quite an audacious move, given the lack of discussion, but I hope everyone will bear with me and get behind this.... I have created only one article so far, with the beginning of a headline and date(s) structure, but the formatting and organisation of the News page(s) are, of course, completely open to discussion and experiment..... Let's make it happen!(WT-en) Pjamescowie 15:13, 28 Dec 2004 (EST)

At first glance I thought this would be a pretty good idea, but as I thought more about it, I liked it less and less. It seems to fall outside our goals of creating a travel guide, and more than that, it seems like at most it would be almost entirely made up of compilation from other news sources. If there actually is someone on the ground who wants to play reporter, there are more appropriate outlets like blogs or the independant media.

Mention of recent disasters is appropriate in the context of the destination guide, especially as it relates to health and staying safe, as well as finding out what tourist services are still operational, but news stories in general aren't so much appropriate for a travel guide.

--(WT-en) Neil 15:46, 31 Dec 2004 (EST)

I quite like the idea, mainly because it could be used for linking. For example, Aceh, Sumatra, Ko Phi Phi, Phuket and many other destinations could use a warning box now suggesting that travellers confirm local conditions before visiting after the tsunami which links to a little bit more news from the travel news section. (WT-en) Hypatia 23:33, 1 Jan 2005 (EST)

Use Today's log for it maybe. -- 212.202.50.86 15:24, 3 Jan 2005 (EST)

Not sure if this was a good idea or not, but I added another row to the table to handle travel news. If you don't like it, then I think that we should change it so that each news story has an article, so that there is something we can put underneath the header.

-(WT-en) Neil 05:37, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

Me like. Takes up quite a lot of space though, a more space-efficient format might be nice. Do we really need the "Wikivoyage Guide" etc headings, complete with honking big HRs? (WT-en) Jpatokal 06:17, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

Yep, I like it as well. As (WT-en) Jpatokal observed, perhaps a more space-efficient format could be devised - this is something with which we can experiment! (WT-en) Pjamescowie 09:13, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

I think it looks good, but I really think we need to split up the page into three new pages -- Main Page, Project:Logbook for news, and Project:Main Page (or something similar) for the project info. --(WT-en) Evan 13:12, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

I'm not sure about that. I kind of like having all the information on one page (especially having project links on the same page as the main guide...I think it helps make it seem more open and welcoming... I'm not very good at page design though, and if someone has suggestions on how to have all three while still slimming down the page it would be great.

Overall, though, I think that by having several tables, it creates sufficient division between the sections that the page itself doesn't seem too cluttered. --(WT-en) Neil 15:14, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

Don't know if you will like it, but I made some attempts to compact space used, with the same amount of information. See it here: User:(WT-en) JanSlupski/Projects/Main_Page. Or, as I'm still changing it better look at: ver3, ver2, ver1, initial. -- (WT-en) JanSlupski 18:14, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

These I don't like so much — the guide is the by far the most important thing on WT and should be much more prominent. Also, use of so different many colors looks unprofessional.

I think the three-box format (guide, news, site) is basically OK, and it would be enough to just squeeze out the empty space. I don't like Evan's three-page suggestion, since the front page should be a portal to all of the rest of site. Nobody is going to seek out the travel news, at least the headlines should be visible on the front page. (WT-en) Jpatokal 20:41, 6 Feb 2005 (EST)

Bad News

Hi all... I'm starting to wonder if we should maybe suspend the travel news section of the Main Page for a while, until somebody really really wants it back. It was a great idea, but sadly we just don't seem to have the resources to keep it current. As it is most of the stuff we're publishing as travel news is widely available from other sources. What do you all think? -- (WT-en) Mark 04:02, 14 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Mm. I'd like to see more emphasis on travel news that don't make the headlines: new airports and airlines, major festivals and events starting or ending, that sort of thing. This is still useful and not all that time-critical (eg. if there's a new airport open, it'll probably stay open). (WT-en) Jpatokal 23:22, 14 Aug 2005 (EDT)

Yes! That would be terrific! I'm afraid though that it looks like we don't have enough up-to-the-minute info gatherers to keep the news up-to-date at least for now. Again, I still think it's a great idea but it just doesn't seem to be working out for now. -- (WT-en) Mark 01:22, 15 Aug 2005 (EDT)