Thread:Talk:Events/FOSDEM/2013 - DevRoom - Qgil/We need a template/reply (8)

Thank you! Since we have to deal with holidays and timezones, let's focus stubbornly on the template first until we are happy about it. Once there is a template it will be easier to build the rest. Let's try to build


 * the opening slide.
 * a regular secondary slide with title and image.
 * the same slide adding a text block.

I believe we can nail most of the problems focusing only in these 2.5 slides.

Your first designs look good... but my first thought was that they didn't look very MediaWiki / Wikimedia to me. I kept thinking until being able to explain why (which took me a while). :)


 * The spirit is about minimalism, informative style, probably white / light background, rectangles, thin lines...
 * One reference is the look & feel of the Wikipedia mobile app.
 * Another one is the WMF annual report.
 * And perhaps also The Impact of Wikipedia video testimonials, also with white background and a treatment for subtitles that maybe we could look at.


 * About colors, we don't have a clear palette but you have seen in the example above the role of whites for background, black / dark grays for text and that yellow. Then we have the MediaWiki logo (also with yellow, that blue and the brown that might or might not be useful for our exercise - no idea yet). And just in case, the Wikimedia logo (with the characteristic red, blue, green). These are the possible ingredients and we need to make the hard choices.


 * Font: yes, let's go to for a Sans Serif but let's default ourselves to a free font already. It needs to be one well supported in multiple scripts. I have no preference (neither much knowledge), but I suspect there is not much to choose from anyway.


 * Icons: they look good. What icon set is the one you have used?


 * Images: yes, everybody does rectangles ;)  but this is also the easiest to get and crop. I'm not convinced about the circles... As you see the report makes extensive use of squares. I'm not that convinced about that either, but maybe you find something. Otherwise I think classical rectangles can do well.


 * Text blocks: I think it is better that they don't land on top of the content of the "previous" slide. Those slides without text blocks should have always a region without much going on, giving space for breathing and also for landing of the text block. Such block could use some transparency, making it more of a floating layer.
 * Maybe those subtitles of the Wikipedia videos also give us a clue. I kind of like the dark strips with light text inside. It's an original treatment for text in slides.
 * Don't be shy defining a physical limit for these strings. We don't want to explain the Bible there.
 * If we want to have a longer quote in a very specific slide then we can simply go for a different treatment e.g. using a Serif font for title and description, Wikipedia mobile style.

PS: sorry for long post. And there is another one coming. :)