User:FuzzicalLogic/Ideas
Templates
There are LOTS of templates. Many are in the Templates namespace (global), though according to the guidelines should probably be localized to the main article. There might also be some benefit to widening their options. Some, obviously should be simple and specific, while others should be more general. Additionally, there might be nice benefit to restructure, but that is a beast for a later dungeon.
- Ambiguity is prevalent among the templates. There are too many with too many names. There is often little documentation surrounding many of them.
- Many are additionally a pain to adjust. Not sure if this could be made better.
- Some templates could benefit from a little sub-templating as well. Will have to check if "sub-templating" works on this wiki.
In general, the navigation is strong in WoWWiki and little needs to be done. However, I believe that some better templates could lead to smoother navigation and better productivity. Below is a list of recommendations:
- Sidebar Navigation for "Hubs". Some of the horizontal/footer navigation uses way too much real estate.
- Some Automated Generation for "Hubs". There are several overlooked techniques that could automatically generate some of the sub navigation without the need for massive adjustment or purging.
- "Hub" Navigation could be more beneficial in localized templates, rather than global templates. For instance, Glyphs could have a subPage called "SideNavigation" for a Sidebar. Then there is little guessing as to naming and usage.
Page Templates
There is a lot of variation between pages of similar types. An added page template might help to create some uniformity to areas that should be uniform. It certainly can be done in a way to allow individualization. This does not apply to all areas. Guides, for instance, are all unique by nature and would not benefit from any such or similar structure.
Categories
This is a topic that will probably take some time to form. In general, the categorical structure is pretty well put together. I have found some situations where some re-classification might be highly beneficial. This is particularly true in highly redundant use of categories. Unfortunately, every large wiki suffers from some level of hyper-classification that could easily be offset with some use of properly appropriated multi-classification. This is always a touchy topic as the typical behavior is to classify until hyper-classification becomes a problem, and then readjust as necessary. Demonstration may be necessary and it may not be accepted as a whole. Furthermore, it is also subject to the perceptions of the community, as a whole, and their process of thought. A truly adequate solution requires that the new backbone structure not inhibit the thought and flow of the already accepted perspective. That said, there are several ways this might be accomplished if the people are receptive.
- There is little need for Categories like "Warrior Glyphs". Simply put, if a Glyph is in the category "Glyphs" and "Warrior", it is a "warrior glyph". This hyper-classification makes it hard to implement category-wide changes as one has to navigate in and out of the category.
- The above point might also apply to managing talent categories.
- Redundancy is key here. Categories are not purely a navigational structure nor a organizational structure, but both. If reclassification does occur, it would be beneficial to place a subjected article in both categories, but possibly with different naming on the category page.
Example: The name of the article need not change. This would not affect the search engine in any way. The Improved Fire Blast Talent could be placed in the following Categories:
- Talents under the name Mage:Improved Fire Blast
- Mage under the name Talent:Improved Fire Blast