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RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia?

 
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RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 2:02:49 AM   
jpwrunyan


Posts: 558
Joined: 12/3/2011
From: Uranus
Status: offline 		Now we have permission to pester them with questions about game mechanics. Specifically, i want to know the function for calculating max colony population.

(in reply to bryanhbell)
Post #: 31
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 2:24:43 AM   
Pipewrench


Posts: 453
Joined: 1/5/2010
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Sure, go ahead.


Here, I made everyone happy but Matrix is exiled to an asteroid for now.






Attachment (1)

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Post #: 32
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 5:36:50 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Thx Eric!
Much appreciated!

Nice image pipe, actually, nice images throughout the wiki indeed! Makes it more alive.


Reg. Wiki structure - guys, how should we approach the Galactopedia replication?
I would like to get oppinions on this before too much text would be involved...

1. as a more-or-less direct copy under its own page and subpages (as Bryan is currently doing it)
or
2. as a transfer of the content into appropriate pages in the current Wiki structure?


Let me make an example - the Empire Navigation Tool is currently under Game Interface, but does not have much info yet. The Galactopedia entry has some more text and some pictures and this could for instance be merged into the Game Interface entry...

If 2. would be the option, we would avoid duplicating entries for subjects already present in the Wiki currently (and in the future) and basically do an expansion on Galactopedia without necessarily maintaining its structure to the core...

Also, making links and trackbacks to parent pages is important - pipewrench does it well in his Resource pages and we should maintain doing it with new and existing entries. And also merge it with the "Related topics" as per the Galactopedia, because in such a massive game you might want to read more on a subject than just the current entry.

< Message edited by joeyeti -- 8/30/2012 5:37:46 AM >

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Post #: 33
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 6:00:29 AM   
bryanhbell

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 8/24/2012
From: Issaquah, WA USA
Status: offline 		Yes, I noticed as I entered data from the Galactopedia that there was duplication of content elsewhere in the wiki. I actually really appreciate all the extra info that has been added in, say, the Races and Resources pages.

So, I was thinking that maybe there could be some use in maintaining a facsimile of the Galactopedia in one section of the wiki (the one I've been working on) while at the same time having more in-depth (and perhaps differently organized) content in the rest of the wiki. If there's overlap in the info between these, so what? I can just append "(Galactopedia)" to the end of each of the pages in the facsimile so we can use the same page titles (if desired) for content in the rest of the wiki.

As we build the wiki, we can copy info from the facsimile pages as needed to expand the other sections. Maybe we could eventually delete the facsimile or maybe people will find it useful as an out-of-game reference to the in-game Galactopedia contents.

But I'm not married to this idea of keeping both. If we want to take approach 2 only, I'm ok with it.

As far as the links and trackbacks to the parent pages, I completely agree we should have those. I just haven't gotten around to adding them to the pages I made yet.

< Message edited by bryanhbell -- 8/30/2012 6:01:23 AM >

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Bryan H. Bell

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Post #: 34
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 6:23:59 AM   
bryanhbell

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 8/24/2012
From: Issaquah, WA USA
Status: offline 		I added trackback links to all the pages I'd added. I used the following format:

["Front Page"] > ["Galactopedia"] > ["Finding Your Way Around"] > Empire Navigation Tool

I think this is a nice simple navigation format and suggest we use the same on all pages in the wiki for easy, consistent navigation.

I added these navigation links to the top and bottom of each page. It looks a little redundant on the short pages, but on the long ones, it's nice to have the nav links in both locations.

What do you think?

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Bryan H. Bell

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Post #: 35
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 7:06:07 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Good ideas, Bryan.

I have no problem with copying the Galactopedia and initially making duplicates. As you say, it can be gradually incorporated into the main Wiki entries and eventually also deleted - at least the content will be there to copy, so later editors do not need to open the MHT files to copy the text and already have the basic formatting in also.

Also the trackback format is good, this way you also see the info depth level :)

EDIT: In the near future I will be adding the info from the Research trees - the details for each project. Just so that there is no duplicate work :p

< Message edited by joeyeti -- 8/30/2012 7:08:01 AM >

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Post #: 36
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 1:38:57 PM   
Pipewrench


Posts: 453
Joined: 1/5/2010
Status: offline
quote:

joeyeti


Added a contruction page and link so we all can post what we are working on.

Regards.

< Message edited by pipewrench -- 8/30/2012 1:39:14 PM >

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 37
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/30/2012 1:45:34 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: pipewrench

Added a contruction page and link so we all can post what we are working on.

Regards.


Hmmm, perhaps to make it more visible I will move it up to the Wiki Rules section...

(in reply to Pipewrench)
Post #: 38
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/31/2012 8:09:09 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		I found a good way of coping with images surrounded by text. so that no BR tags are needed or the like...

You basically have to make a table with the image spawning across all of the rows in the first column and the text being spread across the second column (especially if you have more separate lines of text instead of a single description).

The formatting is something like this: 

||<rowspan="5"> [[Image(ExplorerPipewrench3.gif)]] || '''Area One''' ||
|| We have scrolled out to view the two systems that we own. ||
|| Clicking on the outer edge of our home system will show us general information about the system. If it has a colony a colored ring will surround the solar system to show what empire has ownership. Notice the blue in between the red selector graphic which matches our flag. ||
|| Take note of the star (capital) and the blue ball (fuel source)  to the right of the circle. ||
||<^> We can see individual mines, ships and spaceports at this zoom level but cannot see planets. If we pull out to a sector view we would only see freighters and warships. ||


The <rowspan="5"> can be replaced by the shortcut <|5>, while the shortcut <^> serves to align the text to the top of the cell (full code is <valign="top">). This is due to the wiki not having a way to evenly distribute the rows in the table and at the same time making the last row much higher than the previous ones (unless there is enough text to make them high enough, so that the last is also reasonably high).

There is a small nitpick, if you have a larger picture and not a lot of text, you might want to insert blank rows at the top of the table to move the text further down, as this: 

||<rowspan="5"> [[Image(ExplorerPipewrench3.gif)]] ||||
||||
||||
|| '''Area One''' ||
|| We have scrolled out to view the two systems that we own. ||
|| Clicking on the outer edge of our home system will show us general information about the 
...

As an exercise I used it in http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Exploration_Chapter2 and http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Game_Screens_(Galactopedia).

< Message edited by joeyeti -- 8/31/2012 8:13:49 AM >

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 39
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/31/2012 8:37:24 AM   
bryanhbell

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 8/24/2012
From: Issaquah, WA USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: joeyeti

I found a good way of coping with images surrounded by text. so that no BR tags are needed or the like...


Thanks. I considered using tables to format the text and images on Game Screens (Galactopedia), but got lazy and just stuck in a bunch of BR tags instead. I'll go back soon and fix that up.

I dislike having to use tables for layout. Normally in web design that's considered A Bad Thing(tm), but I suppose it's necessary in the context of wiki markup, if a bit tedious. In Wikipedia, you can force a break after an image using {{clear}}, but that kind of thing doesn't seem to be available in Wiki Spot (as far as I can tell).

Also, thanks for fixing my permissions in the wiki.

One last thing. I am wondering if maybe we should stop using this thread and the Matrix Games forums for back-and-forth communication about the wiki. Does Wiki Spot provide some facility for messaging?

< Message edited by bryanhbell -- 8/31/2012 10:52:40 AM >

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Post #: 40
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 8/31/2012 9:36:32 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		I believe there is a way to force a break on Wikispot too - using ==== as a section break.
I found this (and lots more) in the Editing help - http://wikispot.org/Help_with_Editing
It's true there are many things I miss over Mediawiki, but I am willing to forgo that in return for the advantages I listed somewhere above...

As per communication on Wikispot - there is the way of editing the User pages and posting "messages" there with the signature... As I just did :) - http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Users/BryanHBell

(in reply to bryanhbell)
Post #: 41
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/1/2012 11:58:20 AM   
jpwrunyan


Posts: 558
Joined: 12/3/2011
From: Uranus
Status: offline 		Ok guys, two thigs:

1) I notice that the galactopedia is replicated independently of other pages. I think this is bad. For example, there is a page for "Planets and Colonization" and a page for "Galactopedia: Colonization". I think there should just be a page for "Colonization". The initial content can simple be taken from the galactopedia. All things colonizing should go on that page. Detailed concepts can have their own page linked from there. Basically like every article in Wikipedia is done.

2) How do you create new pages? For example, I wrote the page for "Galactopedia: Colonization" and want to make another page discussing Colony Ships. How is this done? I cannot find an option anywhere for making new pages.

Thanks in advance for your help/feedback.

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 42
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/1/2012 1:40:12 PM   
bryanhbell

 

Posts: 55
Joined: 8/24/2012
From: Issaquah, WA USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: jpwrunyan
1) I notice that the galactopedia is replicated independently of other pages. I think this is bad.


We agreed earlier in this thread to keep an exact replica of the in-game Galactopedia content on the wiki. This is independent of and in addtion to any other content we create. The idea is to have an already-wikified starting point resource for creating expanded pages elsewhere in the wiki. Additionally, I think it might be useful to have a replica of the in-game Galactopedia available somewhere outside of the game. Sure, there'll be duplicated information between what's in the Galactopedia replica and the expanded pages we add to the rest of the wiki. I don't think that matters. The title/name of each page in the replica has "(Galactopedia)" appended so it stands out as a separate resource.

Once the wiki content is sufficiently robust, we may opt to delete all the Galactopedia replica pages.

That said, we can certainly revisit the idea of having a Galactopedia replica in the wiki. I like the idea of having it, but I'm not adamant that it stay there.

quote:

2) How do you create new pages? For example, I wrote the page for "Galactopedia: Colonization" and want to make another page discussing Colony Ships. How is this done? I cannot find an option anywhere for making new pages.


To create a new page, add a link to an appropriate page. After adding the link, click on it and you'll be taken to the new page for editing.



< Message edited by bryanhbell -- 9/1/2012 1:49:10 PM >

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Bryan H. Bell

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Post #: 43
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/1/2012 2:13:08 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		jp,

as long as someone (wink wink Bryan so far, perhaps other will join?) is willing to copy-paste the Galactopedia in, there is enough space for everything... As Bryan said, Galactopedia entries are "hidden" beneath the basic Galactopedia entry (and recognizable by the suffix), so they can serve as a starting point for original articles on the Wiki, they can be referenced as an offline Galactopedia, should someone wish to, or they can be deleted if we find them duplicate in the end...

That is the beauty of the shared Wiki creation - no one pays you for hard-optimized content, so if you wish to add something, do it! More content always means more options, if there are willing people to add it.

(in reply to bryanhbell)
Post #: 44
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/1/2012 2:16:51 PM   
Pipewrench


Posts: 453
Joined: 1/5/2010
Status: offline 		2.
["New Page"] or ["New Page" NEW PAGE]

creates

New Page and when clicked will open a page with that name. if no page exists a new page creation screen will be displayed

The wording after the quotation is to rename the text displayed in the link but New Page is still the links address.

Save the new link on an existing page and then re-load the page. Now click on the link, it will try and load "New Page".








< Message edited by pipewrench -- 9/1/2012 2:25:23 PM >

(in reply to jpwrunyan)
Post #: 45
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/2/2012 2:41:04 PM   
jpwrunyan


Posts: 558
Joined: 12/3/2011
From: Uranus
Status: offline 		Thanks guys. Sorry, I either misunderstood the previous posts or forgot what had been agreed upon (I have been skipping to the second page here lately). I now understand the reasoning behind having the Galactopedia in the wiki, so consider my previous comment rescinded. On a side note, since my entry under Galactopedia Colonization was modified from the actual Galactopedia, I will move it to the wiki Colonization Planets page.

Edit: I see you totally anticipated that! Thanks, Bryan! I will continue further discussion on the wiki as the need arises!

< Message edited by jpwrunyan -- 9/2/2012 2:43:47 PM >

(in reply to Pipewrench)
Post #: 46
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 9/20/2012 8:17:55 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Ladies and Gentlepeople,

I am now focusing fully on the Tech trees. And that is where I would be grateful for any help from folks having some spare time and willing to transcribe images to text - as this is a lengthy process mainly due to the size of the Tech trees.

What I would mainly need, is getting all the individual Tech development details in text form (does not have to be tabled Excel, just simple tabbed or semi-coloned text, as I have some security limitations on Word macros, which in turn prohibits me from macro-converting word to wiki and leaves me with manual search-replace). I could supply source screenshots taken from the game if need be - but if you happen to have two monitors for instance (or a widescreen), this can be also done during gameplay by setting a smaller game window and editing the text side-by-side.

I am working on the Weapons Tech tree myself and have the basic structure already prepared, so if anyone would like to focus on the Energy or High-Tech trees, I would be grateful (and the users of the wiki also)!

Last but not least, this "campaign" is aimed at folks not yet editing the wiki, as all the guys already on-board have their "wip" areas they currently focus on...

Thx!

(in reply to jpwrunyan)
Post #: 47
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/16/2013 10:54:30 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		After some time I returned to updating the Wiki. Of course, my progress is slow, as I have some outstanding projects ongoing yet, but it should clear up soon-ish (during the early summer I expect).

From what I have seen so far in the Shadows previews, there will mostly be new things added and not much (if anything significant at all) will be changed from the current Legends features, so I guess we can happily update the wiki as we move along... (wink wink ).

Continuing my work on the Tech trees so far...

EDIT: I am also planning slowly to try to correct errors, typos, spelling etc. (english is not my native language, mind you, but I will do what I can )

< Message edited by joeyeti -- 5/16/2013 12:49:50 PM >

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Post #: 48
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/18/2013 12:30:13 PM   
hfl13


Posts: 45
Joined: 4/27/2013
From: Germany, near Frankfurt
Status: offline 		Great effort ! Will contribute if I am sure enough to add to the wiki. Due to complexity and much vageness in some posts the new wiki is a great project.


Why isn´t this stickied yet ???

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 49
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/18/2013 1:04:30 PM   
ASHBERY76


Posts: 2136
Joined: 10/10/2001
From: England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: hfl13
Why isn´t this stickied yet ???


Indeed.I never even knew about this before this topic bumb.

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Post #: 50
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/18/2013 4:12:47 PM   
hfl13


Posts: 45
Joined: 4/27/2013
From: Germany, near Frankfurt
Status: offline 		Thanks you Erik !

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Post #: 51
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/18/2013 4:24:14 PM   
Mansen


Posts: 352
Joined: 5/3/2013
Status: offline

_____________________________

Currently Working On:
X-Universe Conversion (Hiatus)

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Post #: 52
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/22/2013 7:05:03 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Thx for stickying the topic!

I have updated the Game Features section of the Wiki as per the release info on the webpage... Will update other sections slowly in the coming days and also continue on the groundwork of the wiki (e.g. adding content) :)

Thank you all in advance for any help!

_____________________________

Joe

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Post #: 53
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 5/23/2013 2:25:06 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Finished the Weapons Tech tree details, going to Energy Tech tree now.

If anyone is willing to help me with the tedious work, I would appreciate if you could take screenshots of the popup windows in-game of the details for each tech (see below example). Too bad this is not detailed anywhere (or in raw text form)... I will start the Energy tree, so if anyone would start the HighTech one, that could save me some work :)




Attachment (1)

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Joe

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Post #: 54
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 6/12/2013 1:56:30 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Started on the framework for the Energy tree, putting in the base colors and placeholders for the individual technology levels, so that it is easier to copy+paste them and fill it all in.

I am considering splitting the Tech Trees into three separate pages due to the length of the overall page itself (as Wikispot does not allow for a more condensed layout).

http://distant-worlds.wikispot.org/Tech_trees


I have also devised an AutoIt script to greatly ease and semi-automate the manual backup of all wiki pages (as Wikispot does not have an export function either). So far pages up to the letter "E" are backed up .

For those interested - the script remembers the current mouse position in my Firefox window (hovering about a link to a page in the "All Pages" screen on the Wiki), clicks the link adding the "edit" part to the address to open it in editing mode, copies all the text from the editing window, opens Notepad, pastes the wiki code in, copies the URL address, saves the Notepad file by trimming the URL address to only the actual page name, closes Notepad, returns back to Firefox, clicks "Back" two times to get back to the "All Pages" page on the Wiki and moves the mouse 16 pixels down to the link for the next page. Unless of course the pages under that letter are finished, in which case I manually adjust the mouse to the next link.

All I need to do then is hit "F12" to process that next page . This way I only hit "F12" until there is a gap between the links to the pages...

< Message edited by joeyeti -- 6/12/2013 2:03:12 PM >

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Joe

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Post #: 55
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 7/10/2013 7:11:44 AM   
Starke

 

Posts: 147
Joined: 6/7/2013
Status: offline 		I just wanted to say thank you for your work so far on the wiki, work-in-progress as it is. It has come in handy when I didn't want to start up the full game to find out some random bonus or statistic. While I'd like to help, realistically I know my time is overstretched as it is. =( Good luck.

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 56
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 4/4/2014 1:48:48 PM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Resuming my work on the DW Wiki :)

Rewrote a part of Research and Technology and continuing with filling up the Tech Trees.
Energy Tech Tree is nearly finished now, the only remaining section is "Space Construction".
I also added the newly created HighTech tree overview picture (created in the useful DIA editor as the other ones were).

On top of that I backed up all the remaining Wiki content manually, that was outstanding after I did not finish my backup last year (this is just for personal reasons as there is no automated backup feature on the Wikispot engine - too bad). Just for the event that something would happen to the Wiki or its hosting at any given time, to be able to restore the content on a different site...

If anyone willing to help can help, all the better!

_____________________________

Joe

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Post #: 57
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 4/10/2014 10:00:06 AM   
joeyeti


Posts: 329
Joined: 2/28/2012
Status: offline 		Inserted placeholders for all HighTech technologies, now only need screenshots from the Research tree to continue...
Created "Governments" at the front page
Copied individual government types into their pages from galactopedia and added coloring to the attribute table
Small changes here and there as I spot them...

_____________________________

Joe

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Post #: 58
RE: Wiki pages - are they needed besides Galactopedia? - 4/10/2014 12:51:52 PM   
CyclopsSlayer


Posts: 583
Joined: 2/11/2012
Status: offline 		Thank you! I frequently use the wiki for references and any update or extension is more than appreciated.

(in reply to joeyeti)
Post #: 59
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