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.

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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

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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.

---GazChap

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Ah - much better. Thanks, GazChap!!!

Ops, why not we make a page to discuss issues. For example, I am seeing that links to the new document types are not quite working right and wonder if anyone can help. And/or the new page could be a place to propose redesigns, etc. Or maybe we should just do it here?

---MikeTheRed 00:24, 10 December 2005 (PST)

Minor main page update

All these shiny new buttons and functions... oooh.

I've re-organised the main UFO listing ever so slightly, and made the supplement section into a table, just as an effort to find a more logical way of grouping the primary articles together.

I was thinking of creating a section for support units, a section primarily for tanks and terror units so that all misc articles relating to terror units and large units can be moved here. Additionally, a section devoted entirely to built-in turret weapons where all the tank turrets can be grouped, along with turret weapons used by alien units could come in handy.

Pardon my choice of dull, boring, muted greys (grays?) for the table theme colours (here and for the recent update of the tank stats). I chose them because they wouldn't look too out of place with the Wiki's standard greyish backdrop. I'm sure we'll come up with some appropriate theme colours later on.

By the by, one link on the main page has been bothering me. Luckily, not to the point of losing sleep or a nervous breakdown - yet. X-Com Crafts. For some reason the plural "Crafts" just doesn't sound right. Should the the "s" be dropped? Any thoughts?

- NKF

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The Main page is looking good, NKF. I like that little Supplementary table. Our front page could use a little eye candy to make it look more "professional"!

Thanks for taking a whack at re-organizing... it's all so overlapping to me, I find it hard to know where to begin. Anyway, my preference for the Soldiers and Aliens would've been something more like:

• Ground Combat Units (no link)
  • X-COM (no link here either)
    • Soldiers
    • Heavy Weapons Platforms
  • Aliens

Just like that. See, in my mind, Terror units are so closely allied to their master race that it seems a bit artificial to separate them out. Anyway, it's just a thought... as with so many things on this wiki, my attitude is "either way works, so if somebody takes the time to make it the other way, that's cool".

Gray is fine. Maybe somebody can come up with something cooler. But it's better to be careful than garish, hehe. Just as long as it's well positioned is what really matters, and those templates are! And again, they make the pages look more "professional".

I vote for "Craft" without the "s". AFAIK, having an s is recognized English, but it's certainly far less common that not having s, at least in the U.S. (We're talking about the plural, of course.) I figured it was a British thing, shrug.

Any thoughts about a page for wiki administration? Maybe down under Community? We need a place to discuss issues, suggest changes and/or fixes, etc. Where's Danial these days? He always had an eye for organization.

---MikeTheRed 11:13, 10 December 2005 (PST)

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I de-linked "Support Units" in the table of contents into just text. The two components of that section, HWP's and Terror Units, don't share very much in common, and it doesn't seem like there's much meaningful to say about the two sets as a group.

NKF, regarding your question: in my experience reading military websites, the plural of "Craft" is indeed "Craft" when used in the sense of vehicle. If you're talking about alien arts and crafts (i.e., a plasma cosy, or a decorative cavity probe), that's a different story. Need to decide whether we want to rename the pages, though, or just the link text.

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A simple move should suffice. It doesn't contain very much at the moment, and most articles that need to refer to X-Com aircraft link to the actual ships themselves.

I'm still eager to drop the suffix (UFO Defense) from most of the UFO pages, or at the very least shorten it to (UFO). Mainly for the sake of expediency. Hah.

I'll rename the craft page, but leave the suffix as is for now.

- NKF

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FWIW, I just found that saying something like [[Soldiers (UFO Defense)|]] causes the link to be Soldiers (look closely on Edit). Still, there's every reason to take all the (UFO Defense) away from the core articles, and let the rest add their difference. My two cents ---MikeTheRed

Main Page Table Proposal

Just as an effort to polish up the main page a bit, any thoughts or improvements on the following?

Proposed UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown General Information Base Facilities Base Defense Measures UFO Detection X-COM Craft Craft Armaments Equipment Weapons Ground Combat Units X-Com Soldiers Heavy Weapons Platforms Aliens Overviews of Aliens Terror Units Research Alien Research Alien Artefacts Unidentified Flying Objects UFO Components Missions Economics Scoring

Proposed minus styling UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown General Information Base Facilities Base Defense Measures UFO Detection X-COM Craft Craft Armaments Equipment Weapons Ground Combat Units X-Com Soldiers Heavy Weapons Platforms Aliens Overviews of Aliens Terror Units Research Alien Research Alien Artefacts Unidentified Flying Objects UFO Components Missions Economics Scoring

Original UFO Defense General Information Base Facilities Base Defense Measures UFO Detection X-COM Craft Craft Armaments Equipment Weapons Ground Combat Units X-Com Soldiers Aliens Overviews of Aliens Support Units Heavy Weapons Platforms Terror Units Research Alien Research Alien Artefacts Unidentified Flying Objects UFO Components Missions Economics Scoring

The horrid choice of colours should be blamed on a brief bit of inspiration from the game's main menu. But that's not the point. The main table style, the heading and the cell separators (well, dotted top border) will be turned into UFO-article-specific templates for easy fiddling with later on. so the look I chose for this example shouldn't matter.

The support units sub heading has been removed.

One other proposed look would be to make the text one unit smaller, like so:

UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown

General Information

Base Facilities Base Defense Measures UFO Detection

X-COM Craft Craft Armaments Equipment and blah blah blah...

Any thoughts?

By the way, I'm going to delete this post and its replies once this has been sorted out. It's too chunky!

- NKF

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For what it's worth, I prefer the "Proposed Minus Styling" (or at least minus borders) option. Three of those border sets right next to each other might get very heavy on the eyes.

Also, my starter guide-- Starting Your Shadowy Paramilitary Organization is, not done perhaps, but ready for public viewing. Where should it be linked in? --Papa Legba 11:08, 13 December 2005 (PST)

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The table design can be fudged a bit so that it's less harmful to the eyes, certainly.

As for your guide, perhaps a new section on Strategy Guides can be implemented. No suffix. Toss it in the supplementary section for now until we can hammer it into place. It could be used as a base for describing other strategies, from the simple, like the grenade relay, to things like various base construction types, like the one-module chokepoint base or two-module choke point base or ye basic random base setup for those that yen for a challenge.

- NKF