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Difference between revisions of "Dwarf Fortress Wiki:Versions"

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(updated with what is currently happening)
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[[category:Wikiprojects]]
 
[[category:Wikiprojects]]
This is a proposal for a new method of organizing information on the wiki in light of the upcoming release of [[DF2010|Dwarf Fortress 2010]]. It is completely up for discussion and all input is welcome.  Feel free to make changes to this directly if you think you have a great idea.  If you have a suggestion you think might be questionable or if you disagree with a portion of the proposal that has already been suggested, please bring it up on the [[Dwarf Fortress Wiki Talk:Versions|talk page]] to get the input of every editor until we can hopefully reach a consensus on the best way of approaching the recent change, and all future upkeep of the wiki to avoid obsolete information.
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This is an in-progress proposal for a new method of organizing information on the wiki in light of the upcoming release of [[DF2010|Dwarf Fortress 2010]]. Although a lot of this project is already in motion, please feel free to make suggestions on the [[Dwarf Fortress Wiki Talk:Versions|talk page]].  
  
 
== Goal ==
 
== Goal ==
  
The goal of this effort is to effectively yet subtely mark articles according to how up-to-date they currently are.  Ultimately there are two goals:
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The goal of this effort is to effectively mark articles according to the version they are about.  Ultimately there are two goals:
  
*Allow users to know an article is up to date
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*Allow users to know what major version (23a, 40d, etc...) an article pertains to.  
*If an article isn't up to date, allow a user to know exactly how out of date it currently is.
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*Allow editors to easily find topics for which a current version article is not complete.
*Allow editors to easily find articles which are out of date and improve them.
 
  
 
'''This is not intended to''':
 
'''This is not intended to''':
*Remove all information about older versions. These items can be moved to the end of the articles and labeled with the [[Template:version|Version template]] or something similar.
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*Remove all information about older versions. These articles have been moved to appropriate namespaces (ex. 40d:, 23a:), and the {{tl|ArticleVersion}} template (which should be added to every version specific page) links between the various versions, noting clearly (through color and message) whether it is the current version.
  
:Comment: In the past, 100% of legacy info was deleted as undesirable.  No comments about "in past verions", no "until recently it worked like this..." - if it wasn't up-to-date, it was confusing, and dumped.  If we go with another wiki - regardless if we use this engine or another one - we can leave this here for as a "mostly(?) complete" d40 manual and move forward with DF2010 separately, copy/pasting if appropriate, but without losing any of this. (Otoh, if d40 is going the way of the 2-Dimensional version etc, maybe this will all be pointless to save, or save for very long.)--[[User:Albedo|Albedo]] 09:42, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
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== In-Progress Approach ==
:Comment: Would it be possible to have a link to a pdf of the d40 manual?  Would it even make sense?--[[User:Kwieland|Kwieland]] 17:31, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
 
 
 
== Proposed Approach ==
 
  
 
=== Per topic ===
 
=== Per topic ===
Each feature or idea that has an article will feature the "up to date" version and "old" versions
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Each feature or idea that has an article will feature the "up to date" version and "old" versions: (note, if an article is version independent these points do not apply)
  
*The main article, which will contain information about the new version, and will contain a box with a link to the previous version information. If the topic is no longer relevant to the current version then the article will simply redirect to the old version article
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*The mainspace article will never contain anything but a redirect to the cv: alias.
*A version of the article referring to a version of the game based on a different "namespaces", ex. [[40d:Weapons]]
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*There will be namespaces for every major version: DF2010: (though the naming will likely be different), 40d:, and 23a:.
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*The cv: alias will redirect to the current version. So right now, that's "40d", after the release it'll be changed to "DF2010".
  
 
=== Version articles ===
 
=== Version articles ===
We could utilize an approach based off of creative use of templates and categories.  We can have a template that we place on all relevant version articles which marks how up to date the article is, for example:
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There is a template that should be placed on all version-specific pages. It looks like this (though it looks different on actual articles):
 +
{{av}}
  
<pre>
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An example of this template on a real page can be seen at [[40d:milk]].
{{Version}}
 
Article information
 
</pre>
 
  
This will place a small box in the top-right corner of the article which will give information to the user that this article is either up to date, or how out of date it currently is.
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This template is added by placing either {{tl|av}} or {{tl|ArticleVersion}} at the top of an article.
  
The template will read in the namespace of the article and use that to determine if this article is the most up to date version.  If it's in the "main" namespace then it is the most up to date.
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The template will read in the namespace of the article and use that to determine if the article pertains to the current version or not.
  
It will also place an article into a category based off of how obsolete or not the information currently is.
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It will also place an article into a category based on whether or not it pertains to the current version.
  
 
One version will be considered "current", and articles in that namespace with the version template will be placed into a category marking it as such, all other articles will be put into a category marking them as Obsolete, and also placing them into a category based off of their version (from the article namespace).
 
One version will be considered "current", and articles in that namespace with the version template will be placed into a category marking it as such, all other articles will be put into a category marking them as Obsolete, and also placing them into a category based off of their version (from the article namespace).
  
In this way when a new version comes out, a small change can be made to the template which will mark many articles "obsolete", and will provide in them a link to the location of the most up to date version. Editors can comb through these articles over time and fill in the new articles with relevant information.
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With very little effort (read the [[template:av|documentation]]) every page's version template can be automatically updated when a new version arrives. This process automatically changes what namespace shows up as current on each page and what categories pages are put into. This makes it wonderfully easy the next time a new version comes around.
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=== Redirects ===
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Please, please, please make sure you follow this rule about redirects.
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Mainspace article pages should never redirect to anything but the cv: alias. For example, page Foo should only redirect to page cv:Foo. It should not redirect to cv:Foos. Don't worry about double redirects, they work just fine on this wiki, and actually save us a lot of trouble. Here's a good real-wiki example:
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Article [[cheese]] used to redirect to article [[cv:cheese maker]]. This may not seem like that much of a problem, but it actually is. 40d articles that used to link to [[cheese]] that have had their links automatically updated to add the 40d: prefix are in trouble because <nowiki>[[40d:cheese]]</nowiki> never actually existed. This is the first reason you should follow this rule.
  
This ensures that random articles don't lay dormant without being updated for many versions, and also that this can be done with minimal effort.
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The second reason is that if cheese ever gets it's own article all the links to cheese would have to be changed.
  
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Basically it boils down to this: any mainspace article that has a redirect must redirect to the cv: alias. If it does not, it will just cause headaches down the road.
 
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----
  
It is likely that the above description will require some tweaking over time so feel free to make any changes you think might be useful or bring up any comments on the [[Dwarf Fortress Wiki Talk:Versions|talk page]].
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Although a lot of this is already underway, you should still feel free to make suggestions or bring up any comments on the [[Dwarf Fortress Wiki Talk:Versions|talk page]].

Revision as of 06:08, 26 March 2010

This is an in-progress proposal for a new method of organizing information on the wiki in light of the upcoming release of Dwarf Fortress 2010. Although a lot of this project is already in motion, please feel free to make suggestions on the talk page.

Goal

The goal of this effort is to effectively mark articles according to the version they are about. Ultimately there are two goals:

  • Allow users to know what major version (23a, 40d, etc...) an article pertains to.
  • Allow editors to easily find topics for which a current version article is not complete.

This is not intended to:

  • Remove all information about older versions. These articles have been moved to appropriate namespaces (ex. 40d:, 23a:), and the {{ArticleVersion}} template (which should be added to every version specific page) links between the various versions, noting clearly (through color and message) whether it is the current version.

In-Progress Approach

Per topic

Each feature or idea that has an article will feature the "up to date" version and "old" versions: (note, if an article is version independent these points do not apply)

  • The mainspace article will never contain anything but a redirect to the cv: alias.
  • There will be namespaces for every major version: DF2010: (though the naming will likely be different), 40d:, and 23a:.
  • The cv: alias will redirect to the current version. So right now, that's "40d", after the release it'll be changed to "DF2010".

Version articles

There is a template that should be placed on all version-specific pages. It looks like this (though it looks different on actual articles):

This article is in the DF wiki namespace.

An example of this template on a real page can be seen at 40d:milk.

This template is added by placing either {{av}} or {{ArticleVersion}} at the top of an article.

The template will read in the namespace of the article and use that to determine if the article pertains to the current version or not.

It will also place an article into a category based on whether or not it pertains to the current version.

One version will be considered "current", and articles in that namespace with the version template will be placed into a category marking it as such, all other articles will be put into a category marking them as Obsolete, and also placing them into a category based off of their version (from the article namespace).

With very little effort (read the documentation) every page's version template can be automatically updated when a new version arrives. This process automatically changes what namespace shows up as current on each page and what categories pages are put into. This makes it wonderfully easy the next time a new version comes around.

Redirects

Please, please, please make sure you follow this rule about redirects.

Mainspace article pages should never redirect to anything but the cv: alias. For example, page Foo should only redirect to page cv:Foo. It should not redirect to cv:Foos. Don't worry about double redirects, they work just fine on this wiki, and actually save us a lot of trouble. Here's a good real-wiki example:

Article cheese used to redirect to article cv:cheese maker. This may not seem like that much of a problem, but it actually is. 40d articles that used to link to cheese that have had their links automatically updated to add the 40d: prefix are in trouble because [[40d:cheese]] never actually existed. This is the first reason you should follow this rule.

The second reason is that if cheese ever gets it's own article all the links to cheese would have to be changed.

Basically it boils down to this: any mainspace article that has a redirect must redirect to the cv: alias. If it does not, it will just cause headaches down the road.


Although a lot of this is already underway, you should still feel free to make suggestions or bring up any comments on the talk page.