English Wikipedia @ Freddythechick:Articles for deletion/Home screen

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. (Non-administrator closure) NorthAmerica¹⁰⁰⁰ 01:00, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

Home screen

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No indication that this term has both the meaning and the scope that the author claims. Possibly fails WP:NOR. Ringbang (talk) 22:01, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Computing-related deletion discussions. Jinkinson talk to me 22:03, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Keep—I'm assuming notability is the issue. There is a lot more out there; the cites below come from a handful of google searches.

Ritchie, Rene (May 1, 2012). "iOS 6: Is it time for Apple to revamp the Home screen?". iMore.
Webster, Scott (June 4, 2013). "Customize your Android home screen experience". CNet.
Henry, Alan (March 30, 2014). "Five Best Android Home Screen Replacements". Lifehacker.
Fingas, Jon (August 2014). "Aviate's ever-changing Android home screen is now available to everyone". Engadget.
Verge Staff (September 16, 2013). "iOS: A visual history". The Verge.
Ruddock, David (October 21, 2011). "3 Years Of Android: A Look At Android's Home Screens - From Cupcake To Ice Cream Sandwich". AndroidPolice.

Lesser Cartographies (talk) 04:47, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Comment Although notability is not a problem in this case, thanks for taking the time to compile a list of articles and blog entries. (I moved your signature to make it clear where your post ends and my reply begins.) I looked through all the pages linked. This seems like a good time to mention WP:NEO:

"An editor's personal observations and research (e.g. finding blogs, books, and articles that use the term rather than are about the term) are insufficient to support articles on neologisms because this may require analysis and synthesis of primary source material to advance a position, which is explicitly prohibited by the original research policy.... Neologisms that are in wide use but for which there are no treatments in secondary sources are not yet ready for use and coverage in Wikipedia."

A future article that defines the necessary and sufficient conditions of a home screen (with references to good sources) would enable the reader to answer these questions:

Which UI elements constitute a home screen? Is the notification bar part of it, or just adjacent to it? Is that a platform-specific distinction?
What is the relationship to, or difference between, a home screen and an application launcher? (Cf. List of Android launchers)
Is the term home screen specific to certain UIs or computing platforms?
1. Is the GUI of a J2ME-based feature phone a "home screen"? Why or why not?
2. Is Microsoft's start screen an example of a home screen, or is it a different UI that is only similar to a home screen? The start screen in Windows Phone and Windows 8 function differently, and Windows 8 has a distinct shell. Is it still a "home screen" in Windows 8?

Ringbang (talk) 19:11, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Definitions of the topic are not difficult to come by. They are not precise (and they need not be), but they are easily found and sufficient to the purpose. Here is a selection from google books, limiting myself to those that have preview available. I have intentionally restricted myself to the first few years after each OS was introduced, as that's when the newbie books will be printed; those will have a higher likelihood of containing basic descriptions and definitions. For iOS:

Everything starts on the home screen. As you can see in Figure 3.2, the home screen provides access to major functions via the buttons along the bottom of the screen—Phone, Mail, Web, and iPod. Subsidiary functions are accessed via buttons in the middle of the screen—Text, Calendar, Photos, Camera and the like. Miller, Michael (2007). iPodpedia: The Ultimate iPod and iTunes Resource. QUE. ISBN 978-0-7897-3674-1.
The iPhone's Home screen allows you to launch any applications with a single tap. The Home screen, whose unofficial name is SpringBoard, provides application-launching abilities. Sadun, Erica (2008). Taking Your iPhone to the Max. Apress. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-59059-926-6.
On the Home screen, you find all your Touchable icons, divided into two distinct groups. On the top part of the screen, you have all your Internet and personal-information applications, including the Safari Web browser, the Mail program, a shortcut to YouTube, a calendar program, an address book, clock, calculator and the App Store. Biersdorfer, J. D.; Pogue, David (2009). iPod: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0-596-52212-4.
The iPhone's home screen runs as an application, called Springboard, which is similar to the Finder on a Mac desktop. Zdziarski, Jonathan. iPhone SDK Application Development: Building Applications for the AppStore. O'Reilly. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-596-15405-9.

And here's a similar list for android.

The Android home screen (Figure 2.14) is like your desk: It's where you use and organize your applications in a way that's most effective for you. O'Grady, Jason D. (2009). The Google Phone Pocket Guide. Peachpit Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-321-62059-0.
Figure 2-3 shows the default Home screen for Android 2.1. This is where you can store your favorite apps or display your favorite wallpaper. Your phone actually has between three and seven pages of Home screen. Karch, Marziah. Android for Work: Productivity for Professionals. Apress. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-4302-3000-7.

The meat of the article, following what we have available in WP:RS, will be what is done with the home screen: the modifications, the design controversies, history, reviews, etc. While a definition is important, I don't think it will take up more than a couple of sentences. Lesser Cartographies (talk) 22:30, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Creator comment - I created this article with the intention to spin it off from home page, which is now an article about the home page of a website. I should have sandboxed it, but thought I'd get round to it in a few days if nobody else did. James^x12345 21:52, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Natg 19 (talk) 18:06, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Keep per Lesser Cartographies' source finds. The topic is clearly notable (sometimes spelled homescreen in the sources) and there is plenty of information in secondary sources like LC found to describe the concept, its importance in GUI design, and the differing approaches to home screens in different OSes and OS versions. While the article is the barest stub, there is potential for expansion and good sourcing. A notable topic and an article with WP:POTENTIAL suggest keeping the article. --Mark viking (talk) 19:26, 11 September 2014 (UTC)
Assuming the sources are added to the stub, Keep per Lesser and Mark viking. Bearian (talk) 22:37, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.