Talk:Main Page
Note: This page is only for discussing the text on, and layout of the wiki Main Page itself. For main discussion venue for the wiki itself see Talk:Wiki. It is not the right place to discuss broader issues or ideas about how to improve the wiki (for that see WikiProject Cleanup) or to ask general questions (try other Contact channels).
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Rendering on mobile device / smartphone
Currently the main page is not really readable on a mobile device because the tables ("Use Openstreetmap" / "Contribute free map data" / "Software Development") and ("Image of the week" / "Event Calendar") are too broad. Would it be possible to rearrange the layout on smaller screens? For example, the "Contribute free map data" could be below "Use Openstreetmap" etc. --Westnordost (talk) 15:04, 9 February 2020 (UTC)
- Agree it's pretty bad at the moment. I believe it should be possible by replacing the tables with more responsive custom CSS. --Tordanik 11:13, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
- @Westnordost: Would you mind creating a draft of an improved version? You could use Main Page/test. --Tigerfell
(Let's talk) 22:07, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
- Oh sorry, I missed your message, @Tigerfell:. Sorry, probably not. I am not experienced in wiki editing. Even if it was HTML, I wouldn't know exactly how to CSS it to be responsive. So I can probably not help there --Westnordost (talk) 23:50, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
- @Westnordost: Would you mind creating a draft of an improved version? You could use Main Page/test. --Tigerfell
Changelog
How about adding a link to Changelog somewhere? maro21 19:40, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
- Looks like nobody objected. Should I add this to "Contribute free map data" like "Browse the map feature documentation and the changelog"? --Tigerfell (Let's talk) 18:18, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
- Anywhere, but I think News section would be better (at the top or bottom) :] maro21 23:14, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
- Well, it does not really fit to "elsewhere" and I think the link should be a bit more descriptive. I would not know what "changelog" means in an OSM context. That's why I did not edit anything yet. @Maro21: You can just edit the news section via Template:News. It is not protected. --Tigerfell (Let's talk) 10:14, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- Yea, I've already discovered that I can edit News template. This is how I did on the Polish version: the link to Changelog I linked as "Recently voted/approved tags". Hmm, can we change "Elsewhere" to "See also" and add a link [[Changelog|Recently approved tags]] there? maro21 20:44, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- Sounds good. --Tigerfell (Let's talk) 22:38, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- Uh, it's not so easy. "Elsewhere" has translations in many languages, so I can't simply change it to "see also". But in my opinion these strings in other languages should be removed because News template has its own versions in other languages and the rest of languages are inactive on this Wiki. maro21 20:02, 30 May 2021 (UTC)
- Sounds good. --Tigerfell
- Yea, I've already discovered that I can edit News template. This is how I did on the Polish version: the link to Changelog I linked as "Recently voted/approved tags". Hmm, can we change "Elsewhere" to "See also" and add a link [[Changelog|Recently approved tags]] there? maro21 20:44, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
- Well, it does not really fit to "elsewhere" and I think the link should be a bit more descriptive. I would not know what "changelog" means in an OSM context. That's why I did not edit anything yet. @Maro21: You can just edit the news section via Template:News. It is not protected. --Tigerfell
- Anywhere, but I think News section would be better (at the top or bottom) :] maro21 23:14, 19 April 2021 (UTC)
Resolved: Done. maro21 16:00, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
Make links to Wiki guidelines more prominent
I think that https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Wiki is important but hard to find. The shortest routes by links are 1. via Wiki discussion in the left columns and then going from the discussion to the page. 2. via the tiny link on the bottom of the page. Maybe a box "Improve the Documentation" (like Use OpenStreetMap, Contribute free map data and Software development) on the Main page could link there. --Lkw (talk) 07:07, 7 September 2022 (UTC)
Info box on current proposals
What do you think about adding an additional information box on the main page that automatically displays news regarding tagging proposals, as a brief overview? So, for example, current votes and recently discontinued or changed proposals?
My suggestion would be to add the following box below "News":
--Chris2map (talk) 15:25, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
- Looks good! I'd be fine with adding. Lectrician1 (talk) 17:38, 1 December 2023 (UTC)
- We can add a box about proposals, but this long horizontal scroll bar doesn't look aesthetically pleasing... maro21 12:49, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
- @Maro21: Thanks for feedback! On which browser and platform do you display this page? There's no scroll bar to me with Firefox on Windows and Android, Edge, or Chrome on Android. --Chris2map (talk) 16:01, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
- https://i.postimg.cc/GdssMhjk/Wiki.png
- If you don't see a scroll bar, how all those links fit on your screen? maro21 20:38, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
- https://i.postimg.cc/NMBpX1LJ/Screenshot-2023-12-02-214414.jpg - That's what it looks to me and how it should look. The rest is clipped and hidden, like intended. --Chris2map (talk) 20:53, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
- Template:News_about_proposals shows me all the content of the category. How is it possible that in your case it doesn't show all the elements? Is it possible to set how many elements to show in the category tree? maro21 16:35, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
- I think it is a browser issue regarding the support of the CSS style commands for clipping the display. I use the Wiki function "categorytree" for the list. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found an option to limit the output directly to a number so that I don't have to fall back to clipping the display. --Chris2map (talk) 23:43, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
- That's why it would be useful to have the DynamicPageList extension, which is just for this purpose. I don't know why adding it is blocked. maro21 23:33, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
- I think it is a browser issue regarding the support of the CSS style commands for clipping the display. I use the Wiki function "categorytree" for the list. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found an option to limit the output directly to a number so that I don't have to fall back to clipping the display. --Chris2map (talk) 23:43, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
- Template:News_about_proposals shows me all the content of the category. How is it possible that in your case it doesn't show all the elements? Is it possible to set how many elements to show in the category tree? maro21 16:35, 11 December 2023 (UTC)
- https://i.postimg.cc/NMBpX1LJ/Screenshot-2023-12-02-214414.jpg - That's what it looks to me and how it should look. The rest is clipped and hidden, like intended. --Chris2map (talk) 20:53, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
- @Maro21: Thanks for feedback! On which browser and platform do you display this page? There's no scroll bar to me with Firefox on Windows and Android, Edge, or Chrome on Android. --Chris2map (talk) 16:01, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
Celebrating 20th birthday
Resolved August 9 is OSM's 20th birthday. I would like to add this image to the main page File:Happy_Birthday_OpenStreetMap_20.png.
But as the page is protected and I can't edit it and it says that any change should be discussed here, so I'm writing.
I would like this banner to be temporary, such as from August 5 to 15 (but it can be longer).
Please either unblock this page temporarily so I can add it, or have an admin add it. @Minh Nguyen and Lyx:
My suggestion is to add the code in place of {Languages}
[[File:Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap 20.png|800px|center|link=https://birthday20.openstreetmap.org]]]
and give {Languages} to the bottom of the page temporarily. See preview here. maro21 23:25, 29 July 2024 (UTC)
@Maro21: Great idea. We can't replace the language bar, but we can place something celebratory in a prominent position on the map. How about right above the Use/Contribute/Development boxes? The code you suggested applies a fixed width, which will cause horizontal scrolling on some screens, but the following gallery automatically adapts to the available width. Since the image requires attribution, we need to give it a caption, which is apparently incompatible with the syntax for an external link. However, we can link to OpenStreetMap 20th Anniversary Birthday party:
– Minh Nguyễn 💬 02:16, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
- > We can't replace the language bar
- Why? It's not replacing, just moving to the bottom. During birthday this is important information and it's only temporary change.
- Thanks, I couldn't find code for automatic width.
- > However, we can link to OpenStreetMap 20th Anniversary Birthday party
- The link to this page is already in the News. I wanted to link to https://birthday20.openstreetmap.org because there is more information there and the link is not on the main page. maro21 21:18, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
- @Maro21: People currently rely on the language bar at the top to access the homepage in their language. It is unwieldy, but I don’t think abruptly moving it to the bottom of the page, even temporarily, will be a good tradeoff. The banner is big and bold enough that people will certainly see it even if it’s a few pixels lower on the page. (Long-term, I would like to replace the language bar with MediaWiki’s built-in menu, but there are a couple technical hurdles to overcome before we can do that.) I wonder if you’re actually thinking of something like a site notice, which appears at the very top of every page, above the title. We could implement that instead by editing MediaWiki:Sitenotice, though it would be rather intrusive. Wikimedia wikis have an extension, CentralNotice, that allows the user to dismiss such a notice, but we don’t have that extension. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 05:44, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
- @Minh Nguyen: Ok. We have August 5 today, can we add the banner? maro21 20:49, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
- @Maro21: People currently rely on the language bar at the top to access the homepage in their language. It is unwieldy, but I don’t think abruptly moving it to the bottom of the page, even temporarily, will be a good tradeoff. The banner is big and bold enough that people will certainly see it even if it’s a few pixels lower on the page. (Long-term, I would like to replace the language bar with MediaWiki’s built-in menu, but there are a couple technical hurdles to overcome before we can do that.) I wonder if you’re actually thinking of something like a site notice, which appears at the very top of every page, above the title. We could implement that instead by editing MediaWiki:Sitenotice, though it would be rather intrusive. Wikimedia wikis have an extension, CentralNotice, that allows the user to dismiss such a notice, but we don’t have that extension. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 05:44, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
It's a screenshot of https://birthday20.openstreetmap.org/ – Geonick did the screenshot, but isn't author (creator) of the original work, see User_talk:Geonick#File:Happy_Birthday_OpenStreetMap_20. – Does anyone know anything about the creator of the source? --Chris2map (talk) 19:32, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
- @Chris2map: Ah, thanks, I didn’t notice the similarity. The birthday site is built using WordPress; I don’t think it’s open-source. But the website is owned by the OSMF, so I guess it would be reasonable to assume we have permission to use it even without attribution. That’ll simplify things so that we can link directly to the birthday site. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 05:50, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
The external link with "https:" doesn't work with the "gallery" syntax. You'll have to omit the "https:", so code could be
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="440">
Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap 20.png|alt=The OpenStreetMap logo with a banner reading, "Celebrating 20 Years", over a photograph of a birthday cake depicting a world map in blue and brown icing and decorated with 20 birthday candles. The caption reads, "Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap!"|link=//birthday20.openstreetmap.org|<p style="display: none;">Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap!</p><p style="float: right; font-size: 80%; font-weight: normal;">([[:File:Happy Birthday OpenStreetMap 20.png|Image]] courtesy of [[Foundation|OpenStreetMap Foundation]])</p>
</gallery>
--Chris2map (talk) 17:09, 6 August 2024 (UTC)
- @Chris2map: Clever, thanks! I added it to the page. Thanks again for the suggestion, Maro21! – Minh Nguyễn 💬 04:16, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
"More about OpenStreetMap" links to wrong page
Resolved The "More about OpenStreetMap" link in line 12 links to 'About' instead of 'About_OpenStreetMap". Can someone with access to the page fix the link? Thank you! --Map per wiki (talk) 06:27, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
- @Map per wiki: Fixed. Thanks for reporting the issue! – Minh Nguyễn 💬 11:42, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- Thank you! --Map per wiki (talk) 12:11, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
Adjust colors for dark mode
Resolved This page has the background color #eeeeee specified thrice, I suggest changing that to #7772 to work in both color schemes. --HLFan (talk) 17:15, 27 April 2025 (UTC)
- Done. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 21:09, 29 April 2025 (UTC)
HTTPs
Resolved Could somebody please update these two links to HTTPs from the Main Page?
http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright http://osm.org
Thanks you very much :) I have not enough permissions --Valeriobozz (talk) 15:00, 12 September 2025 (UTC)
"Upcoming events" section too long
The section is taking up too much space in the page, and includes past (i.e. not upcoming) events that don't need to be displayed in the mainpage. Considering the section header already contains a link to a page with all events, wouldn't it be better to shorten the amount of displayed items and show only upcoming events? --Metapod (talk) 19:29, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
- You can scroll down the events list but you don't need to. And there are no past events, only today's events. What are your reasons or the benefit if we'd shorten it? We could limit it to e.g. 100 entries (at least that would be fine to me, but should we)? --Chris2map (talk) 20:16, 3 January 2026 (UTC)
- Oh okay this is for the whole year, my bad I thought it was chronologically reversed for some reason (I'm dumb). Still the issue remains (Section too long). I don't know exactly what is happening here but, there's not scrollable menu for me. It just goes down until the end of the year. Here's a screenshot from my phone but it shows the same on PC. https://files.catbox.moe/7e3p3n.jpg I use both english and portuguese language on the wiki and I just noticed in some other languages there is indeed a scrollable section... -- Metapod (talk) 07:34, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
- With "scroll down" I meant simply scroll down the screen if you want to read all, no extra scrolling in the events box. You can scroll down to the end on your mobile if you want to but there is nothing else at the end, so you don't need to. On desktop screens an extra scrolling in the box (like on ES:Página principal) might be fine, but on mobile screens it would get even worse with "double" scrolling, I think. --Chris2map (talk) 10:14, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
- I admit it's not terribly important or urgent, but this makes the website 4 times longer than it should be for the amount of info it contains. It makes the mainpage look awkward/amateurish, aesthetically unpleasing, and not very practical, and personally I think that matters. This is the main mainpage, it should look neat and to the point, even if the whole wiki is as awkward as it is. Why do we need a list for events for the whole year for the whole world in the first page everyone sees? Just three months or so would be what "upcoming" implies. Not to mention it is pratically impossible to use on mobile as it is (this was incidentally the first time I accessed the mobile-not-mobile version on my phone), so that double scrolling situation shouldn't really be taken in consideration. I'm not necessarily claiming having a scrolling menu is the best solution... I'm just saying it doesn't need to be taking so much space. I'm sure I'm not the first one to find it a little bit weird.
Now regarding what you say about "there's nothing at the bottom"-- Of course there is! All websites usually have a privacy policy and the licencing at the bottom. No exception with wikis. Also anyone that is familiarized with wikis knows you can see when the page was last edited at the bottom. That's something easily forgotten but is a subtle indication of health (read: activity) of a wiki page. -- Metapod (talk) 16:42, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
- I admit it's not terribly important or urgent, but this makes the website 4 times longer than it should be for the amount of info it contains. It makes the mainpage look awkward/amateurish, aesthetically unpleasing, and not very practical, and personally I think that matters. This is the main mainpage, it should look neat and to the point, even if the whole wiki is as awkward as it is. Why do we need a list for events for the whole year for the whole world in the first page everyone sees? Just three months or so would be what "upcoming" implies. Not to mention it is pratically impossible to use on mobile as it is (this was incidentally the first time I accessed the mobile-not-mobile version on my phone), so that double scrolling situation shouldn't really be taken in consideration. I'm not necessarily claiming having a scrolling menu is the best solution... I'm just saying it doesn't need to be taking so much space. I'm sure I'm not the first one to find it a little bit weird.
- With "scroll down" I meant simply scroll down the screen if you want to read all, no extra scrolling in the events box. You can scroll down to the end on your mobile if you want to but there is nothing else at the end, so you don't need to. On desktop screens an extra scrolling in the box (like on ES:Página principal) might be fine, but on mobile screens it would get even worse with "double" scrolling, I think. --Chris2map (talk) 10:14, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
- Oh okay this is for the whole year, my bad I thought it was chronologically reversed for some reason (I'm dumb). Still the issue remains (Section too long). I don't know exactly what is happening here but, there's not scrollable menu for me. It just goes down until the end of the year. Here's a screenshot from my phone but it shows the same on PC. https://files.catbox.moe/7e3p3n.jpg I use both english and portuguese language on the wiki and I just noticed in some other languages there is indeed a scrollable section... -- Metapod (talk) 07:34, 4 January 2026 (UTC)
