Talk:Main Page

Main Page Organization

just a thought. there seems to be a 'lets jump straight in' sorta attitutde with the main page, there is/are no clicky links to info pages for each of these games which would help some new ppl who are looking for info, find that we don't have nOOb info, so they they just wonder off. If we are gonna keep these game recycled thru the ages... then we'd better have some sort of noob info happening, as:

• Different Versions
• Hardware Specs
• How to get working in Windoze
• What this game is about
• Screenshots (which show the game well, not just "sick-ass" screenies)
• WHat ppl liked about the game
• Who made this game (like a bit of back ground info)

I noticed that there is no "info" heading at the start of game sections....

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There's no stopping anyone from starting such pages. In fact, there's so much more that can be entered - it's not funny! I'd like to see Starter guides myself - for veterans who've been on a hiatus and for absolute beginners alike.

As it is, the articles are only created and maintained at the fancy and whim of the authors that contribute to them. Or the excuse I like to use - we just haven't gotten round to it yet. Heh.

The front page needs a major overhaul - but before that happens: what's missing? Or rather, what else do we need that's left off?

- NKF

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New issue: I wish there was a more obvious place for the pages "Damage", "Explosions", and a new one I'm about to make, "Experience Training". To me, Damage and Explosions in particular seem a bit too good to be buried down under layers. But they don't really fit anywhere near the top of menus neatly. It's not just Weapons, it's not just Soldiers. Anyone else have ideas? ---MikeTheRed 19:07, 2 Dec 2005 (PST)

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Hmm. I realise the main ufopaedia entries, which was the framework we've been building off, is rather restricted strictly to... well, the ufopaedia entries.

That was fine when we started, but as you've brought to our attention, we've got a whole mess of interesting articles that need somewhere to fit into.

Field Weapon Mechanics? A section devoted to everything about how offense and defence works in the battlescape?

It sounds like coming up with a whole new table of contents (for the main page) would be the solution. Alas, what should it include? How should it be structured? At the moment the main page is, well, a mess. We're squeezing too much in.

Perhaps the main page should be a simple portal that lets you choose between the first two games (combined as they share so much in common), Apocalypse, the three spinoffs (Interceptor, eMail X-Com, Enforcer), the Would-Have-Beens, and a general information page for the really generally stuff, like the links. Basically remove all the specific ufopaedia entries and actually give the individual games (with the exception of the first two, and the would-have-beens) their own personal section, then siphon all the related ar.

Bah, I'm not good at this organisational stuff. I, like the next person, hate breaking the site up into even further subsections, but if it allows for better organisation of the articles, then I'm all for it. Just as long as the information is easy to locate and not 10 clicks deep, eh?.

Let's brainstorm a bit and see what turns up.

- NKF

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Also, a brief explanation for those scouring the recent changes list:

I've been messing with file transclution (I'm using the term they use on Wikimedia) because it allows you to insert entire files into other files, and when you edit the first file, all documents that include that document will automatically be updated. This is useful for applying uniform style changes to entire sets of documents by simply changing a single template file.

(For programming buffs it's like the #include statement used in C/C++ and similar languages)

It's not just for text formatting, but that is just one of its applications. When you think about it, if used well, it can be rather a neat little time saving trick.

This is also an attempt at understanding how Wiki formatting works a bit more so that I can start adding a bit of spit and polish to some of the articles if I ever decide to get round to it.

- NKF

How to contact wiki owner?

Ok, I just sent a letter to GazChap, as follows:

Greetings!

As always, thanks for making the wiki and providing for it!

A few weeks ago, you thought you might could look into adding some file extensions to what is allowed on the wiki (ZIP, RAR, XLS, DOC, PDF, and DAT). A number of us hope you can find some time to revise the wiki for these. I know I have several things I'd like to post that are fairly complex, like a user-modifiable spreadsheet of profitable manufacturing items. It's a touch frustrating to be sitting on stuff that took a long time to make.

But another issue has arisen in the meantime. Someone keeps spamming the site with taglines for viagra, etc. It's about 30 lines that they keep inserting on random pages, sometimes twice a day. We dedicated wiki folks keep removing it, but wonder if a login requirement plsu perhaps new-account email confirmation could be required to edit the wiki. These won't stop a serious spammer, but they do little harm to "real" people, and the hassle may stop the spammer. I personally would like a required login anyway - it's a real DOH! when you've been editing the wiki a while, and then find you forgot to log in (sometimes my login cookie fails for reasons unknown).

One final point, which may take care of the above...

Would you be willing to consider giving admin rights to a few highly dedicated wiki folks? I'm thinking Danial, Hobbes, NKF, and Zombie. If you know them, you know they've been into XCOM for years (on StrategyCore, XCOMUFO, and the wiki), and are of course entirely responsible. I don't particularly ask for it, for myself... heavy hangs the crown, and all that rot. :)

If you would be willing to do allow rights, then these admins could take care of larger issues that arise, such as the two above. (Including figuring out how to accomplish the changes - if I recall, that may have been the sticking point for you relative to the new file types.) Of course, you are entirely welcome to ask that they consult you before doing anything "big". We all gather you're a busy man, so perhaps there could be a requirement like "notify me of any big proposed changes, and if I don't respond in a week, go ahead".

Anyway. Just throwing out ideas. We hope you can address some or all of the above.

And thanks, as always, for providing us the wiki space!!

Mike / MikeTheRed on the wiki, StrategyCore, and XCOMUFO

P.S. If you would like to see our discussion in this regard, check out http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Talk:Main_Page

So, I hope he responds soon.

NKF, I'm not sure the the whole Main Page needs an overhaul. But that too is fine, as long as it works. Like you, I'm not sure just what might be best... but I too wish things were different, somehow. Perhaps in the meantime, I'll put a link for Damage, Explosions and Experience Training under the Main Page topic "Missions".

Also, NKF: Right, this Talk page could be cleaned up. Anybody is welcome to take a whack. I've been busy lately, but might find some time, soon.

Transclusion looks cool... thanks for experimenting; maybe it'll payoff big.

---MikeTheRed 15:02, 8 Dec 2005 (PST)

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Hi all. Just to let you all know that I'm gonna have a crack at sorting out the issues with filetype uploads, spammers, restrictions for unregistered users, and adding new administrators. I'll start tomorrow night, now that I have my broadband back and I've just about settled in to my new place, I should be able to find more time for this stuff :)

Keep up the good work guys, the wiki has expanded far further than I imagined it would :)

I've now upgraded MediaWiki to the latest stable version. This seems to include more features for restricting editing, which I will enable ASAP.

In the mean time, users should now be able to upload files with the following extensions: PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, ZIP, DOC, XLS, RAR, DAT and PDF.