Talk:Main Page

This page is for discussing elements and layout of the Main Page. For discussion relating to Team Fortress Wiki in general, please see the TF Wiki discussion page.

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The second fact

...that the liquid splash when equipping Bonk! uses the same effect as the acid splatters emitted by the antlion workers in Half Life 2: Episode Two?

should be changed to

...that the liquid splash when equipping Bonk! Atomic Punch uses the same effect as the acid splatters emitted by the antlion workers in Half Life 2: Episode Two?

This should be edited so you can tell if the liquid effect is reffering to the Bonk! Atomic Punch or the Bonk! Crit-a-Cola liquid splash effect.

Coconut 05:06, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

You are welcome to fix it. -- Pilk _(talk) 05:07, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

It is on the main page, which i do not have permission to edit. Coconut 05:12, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

All that you need to edit is the Template which the page refers too. You can access this template by opening the source and checking the templates used at the bottom of the edit window. -Firestorm 05:53, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Case in point, I've done it already. Vi3trice 05:58, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, i was wondering how to do that. Coconut 06:01, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Don't they have the same particle effect? Thus the use of Bonk! is correct? Meter1060 06:45, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm assuming the change is just to specify that it's the Atomic Punch, because just "Bonk!" could mean different things (like the kill taunt). Granted, in context of the sentence, it's clear what was meant, but now the link will go to the specific page as opposed to a "Bonk!" disambiguation page. TaargusTaargus 21:10, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Crit-a-Cola actually has a different particle effect than Bonk! now, the liquid is purple instead of green. Should the fact be changed again? Steviestar3 03:10, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

The eighth fact

...that Team Fortress 2 has a popular fan-made podcast, called the Control Point podcast?

should be changed to

...that Team Fortress 2 has three popular fan-made podcasts: Control Point, KritzKast and Friendly Fire Podcast? --The preceding unsigned comment was added by Madsser (talk) • contribs)

Yep, go ahead and add it, you don't need to ask permission for everything. We'll revert/change anything incorrect or useless. DO ask permission for any major changes you make though. Thanks! -Firestorm 17:11, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

How do i edit the main page when its locked? -Madsser

What do you want to change? Vi3trice 19:15, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

The eighth fact so it say ...that Team Fortress 2 has three popular fan-made podcasts: Control Point, KritzKast and Friendly Fire Podcast? and not ...that Team Fortress 2 has a popular fan-made podcast, called the Control Point podcast? -Madsser

I went ahead and added them, thanks. By the way, sign your comments with four tildes. WindPower 21:23, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Fact Change

...that the Demoman, Medic, Sniper and the Scout are the only classes to have known living family members?

You can now include the Engineer. As of the new TF2 web comic Loose Canon.

I'm not sure if Radigan Gonagher is still alive... Vi3trice 18:44, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

WAY dead, his corpse was looted, remember? Also, sign your name on talk pages with "~~~~" The Neotank 18:46, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Not so sure. The blueprints do say that three life-extending machines were built, maybe he built one for himself and put a dummy corpse in his grave or something. Well, that might be far-fetched, but at least he's not known to be alive so the fact should stay — WindPower 02:12, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

So how are we able to know if the Demoman, Medic, Sniper and the Scout have 'living' (may have since died) family members, maybe it should be changed to known family members as we can never be certain. - A possible idea for a new fact, or you could change the current one to accommodate this difference. Aaronbloom 18:04, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

As far as I know, the Spy wouldn't kill his Petite Choufleur for no reason. So at the very least, the Scout's mother is alive. Or that engraving on his Ambassador is just a very creepy way of remembering a late loving one... Vi3trice 01:53, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Stroke?

Looks terrible on that title text Nineaxis 16:28, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I think it looks bad in general. -- Pilk _(talk) 16:31, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Either way someone needs to remove it Nineaxis 16:34, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Gone. -- Pilk _(talk) 16:36, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Right as I upload a new version of the image without stroke! Nineaxis 16:39, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

The Main Topics

Time to take a good look at the Main Page.

First thing's first: I'm replacing the Pickups link with Mechanics or Game Mechanics, an article I'm currently writing up (which will include basics and links to topics like damage mechanics, game modes, networking basics, user settings and customization, map features and pickups, etc. If there's anything specific on that you want me to consider ahead of time, you can just comment here or on my talk page. Also if you have a preference between Mechanics and Game Mechanics, or some other name entirely, let me know.

Second thing: I'd like to change the Meet the Team link with a more general Media & Merchandise link, which will include introductions and links to things like meet the team, official comics, trading cards, videos, concept art, etc.

Those first two things I'm pretty set on, and I talked to En Ex and he likes the ideas. The following are just thoughts/ideas to be considered/discussed:

Ordering: Currently, the big topics on the main page are

Achievements, Crafting, Hats, Maps, Meet the Team

Miscellaneous Items, Patches, Pickups, Strategy, Weapons.

They're in alphabetical order according to English letters. There are two things I'd like considered about this: 1) it's language-specific, and so isn't a consistent scheme between the language spaces, and 2) it's not necessary for the small size and clear visibility of the topics panels. My suggestion would be to structure it more according to general topics, something along the lines of

Mechanics, Weapons, Maps, Strategy, Patches

Achievements, Crafting, Hats, Miscellaneous Items, Media & Merchandise

The ordering of the two rows is arbitrary and could be swapped. The point is that topics like Mechanics, Weapons, Maps, and Strategy--things that are about gameplay--aught to be grouped, and things like Achievements, Crafting, Hats, and Miscellaneous Items--things related to the item system and user progress--should be grouped together as well. (I put Patches with the gameplay stuff and Media with the items stuff because Patches affect the former and Media does not.)

This scheme would make for a more logical and streamlined experience, especially on foreign-language spaces.

Reconsidering Miscellaneous Items: This is mostly a minor consideration. The "Miscellaneous Items" name seems kinda lame to me. It's long, nondescript, and kinda sounds like the link for "Miscellaneous stuff that didn't fit in the other topics". I realize that they describe items that occupy the Misc slot, but I still feel like a name more along the lines of "Accessories" would be nicer. While we're at it, I wouldn't mind moving it in with Hats to form something like "Hats & Accessories"--cause they're both just cosmetic items to be crafted/found--and giving some other topic (like customization/options, community content, or competitive play) the extra slot. Just throwing this out there.

So yeah, taking suggestions for Mechanics and Media & Merchandise, asking for discussion on "Ordering" and "Misc Items". Cheers. ~G-Mang (T|C) 01:24, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Definitely some good ideas here. Miscellaneous Items should probably stay as it is, as that's what it's identified as in-game. I do like the idea of creating a navbar for the Media and Merchandise, though. Which reminds me, we need a Poster article. -- En Ex 02:35, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Engineer update button

Like? -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 22:14, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Is nice! --Firestorm 22:15, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

That'll make the page skyrocket in the wiki stats. And then when I'll be a grandpa I'll be able to tell my grandsons "Hey look buddies, I was the one who created that page. I saw it when its view count was in the dozens. OK, it was just a redirect page, screw you damn kids, get off my lawn!" — WindPower 22:18, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

I meant the idea, the visuals can change, but we know that's what people are here for. -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 22:21, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

I think it's fine, easy to see and cool looking, without obstructing anything, really. All that could be added would be a header or title of some sort, explaining that it is a "Current Event" or "New Update" --Firestorm 22:23, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Clearer text? --TerminalGear 22:31, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, very nice. Upload that version over top of the existing one. --Firestorm 22:31, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Aw, before I read this, I was making another one. I uploaded it anyway here; I'm not Photoshop expert but I took it from the blog post, photochopped out the rounded wrench counter, and trimmed the edge (poorly). — WindPower 23:10, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

That looks great to me. Upload it and see how well it fits into the page. Unless of course, you already did! --Firestorm 23:14, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Meh. I'm not a fan of that logo. You could add it to Engineer Update though. Do what I did with Fancy vs. Nasty with the TOC thing. Engineer Update seriously needs a rewrite. And an intro paragraph. You up for it WindPower? I would, but my phone fails. -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 23:16, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Very well, please hold off editing that page until I'm done (and how can you possibly be on a phone (implying: not on a computer playing TF2) during the engineer update?) — WindPower 23:41, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

I heard that he has a life, sounds boring. --Firestorm 23:42, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

No, I have a bedtime. THAT'S boring. -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 23:45, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Rewrite complete, Master. On a side note, don't you think it would be better to remove the engineer update button and make the article be the Featured article instead? It'd be a bit more wiki-ish and it would change the featured article which hasn't changed in... an eternity. However, if featured articles need to be "reliable", not often edited articles, then nevermind this suggestion — WindPower 01:48, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Also, here's another button, that uses the Blackoak font with a white/darker white gradient, to be consistent with other upgrade titles. As this is the front page, I'm a bit hesitant to edit it directly, so I'm just going to leave this link here, put it up if you want to — WindPower 02:38, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Valve Wiki Network

Do we need both the sidebar links AND the bottom of the page links, or just one set? -- En Ex 02:35, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Nevermind. -- En Ex 13:07, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Typo

"as well as a community-created wrench (and there's at least on more melee item to follow)." Surely that should be "...at least one more..."? Benjamuffin 11:07, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

The Comics

Any chance someone could add the comics to the Game Info -> Background part of the main page? Seems odd that it isn't there yet. SystemPatch 14:53, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Done, thanks for the idea. -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 15:55, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Regarding Convoy's article

I was about to port ctf_convoy's article over here from the old TF2 Wiki, but when I was about to put it here, there was a deletion log that said Nineaxis deleted a previous Convoy article. Was it because it wasn't informative enough, or did Nineaxis not like the map? --Dinoman96 15:50, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

Well we decided to only have important, well known custom maps. If you can justify its being here, then it can stay. Also, you should really discuss this at Talk:Convoy. -- Smashman... _{(t • s)} 15:56, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

As above we had a big clear out however id say talk about on the Talk:Custom Maps page ??? , --Markd 15:59, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

I believe we're quite aware of the Engineer update.

Yeah, so I'm thinking we don't need the Engineer update section on the Main page anymore. ANormalUsername 23:31, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree. Perhaps it's also time to change the "Featured article" as well? — Wind 05:06, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

If you want a new featured article, Nominate one --Firestorm   05:07, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

We're going to replace it with a logo for the Polycount update when that comes out. -- En Ex _(talk) 05:12, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

I nominated an article. I'm hoping for the best --ANormalUsername 10:45, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Maps to Game modes

Since Game modes was formally called Maps, and Maps is just a list of maps, should the link to Maps be changed to Game modes on the front page? --Org 05:30, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Or in general just rearrange those 10 boxes? Possibly eject Meet the team for Game modes, and put Miscellaneous items next to Hats? --Org 05:34, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Pickups seems less significant to me than Meet the Team. -- Vi3trice _(talk) 05:41, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like YOU want to take part in Talk:Main Page#The Main Topics :D ~G-Mang (T|C) 06:13, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Naw I just wanted to get my 'fails at reading comprehension' merit badge :( --Org 06:19, 15 July 2010 (UTC)