From CruisersWiki

Contents 1 Homepage Discussion Page 2 Attract more editors to discussions 3 Blog Posts Related To This Location 4 Wrong link to Creativecommons.png 5 Template:PartOf as a new "Navbar" 6 Aegean Sea 7 Personal Notes

Homepage Discussion Page

Suggest new content sections/headings, post questions, general suggestions, etc., below. Click on the "+" sign next to "Edit" (top of page tab) to open a new topic for discussion or "Edit" to add to or comment on existing topics on this page.

Attract more editors to discussions

I'd like to propose to put a link to this discussion page, so the editors could come here and have a discussion about this wiki. How is that? --Vadim 11:24, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

I think this is an excellent idea. --Istioploos 13:02, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

Done. Restylings are welcomed! --Vadim 14:15, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

Blog Posts Related To This Location

• What do you think of having a section at the bottom of the page for "Blog Posts Related To This Location" in which people can post a link to their blog, provided the page referenced is related to the page in question? This would make it very easy for cruisers to get detailed personal impressions, including photos, of the places they are researching? LifePart2 19:10, 5 May 2013 (BST)

Wrong link to Creativecommons.png

There is an img tag on every page here that refers to http://www.cruiserswiki.com/images/f/fe/Creativecommons.png, apparently it should read as http://www.cruiserswiki.org/images/f/fe/Creativecommons.png.

It takes quite a while (c-ca 2.5 min) for this request to time out. Perhaps this is why on page edit a tool bar loads only after such a delay.

--Vadp 11:19, 9 February 2015 (GMT)

The little investigation revealed that the culprit is the MonoBook skin of this wiki: when you switch to some other skin there is no load delay and, for example, google map widgets load up swiftly.

At the very boItom of every page made with this skin there is a link to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ and the icon for this link is hardcoded to http://www.cruiserswiki.com/images/f/fe/Creativecommons.png:

    <div id="f-copyrightico"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/">
            <img src="http://www.cruiserswiki.com/images/f/fe/Creativecommons.png" alt="C.C. 3.0 License" width="88" height="31" />
    </a></div>

Apparently a fix this issue could be:

    <img src="/images/f/fe/Creativecommons.png" alt="C.C. 3.0 License" width="88" height="31" />

--Vadp 17:14, 10 February 2015 (GMT)

A workaround has been implemented -- see MediaWiki:Monobook.js. It seems to work fine in Firefox, Chrome and IE v.11 --Vadim 16:13, 19 April 2015 (BST)

A newer workaround was implemented at MediaWiki:Common.js. Although it is not able fully solve the problem for Safari --Vadim 15:25, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

Template:PartOf as a new "Navbar"

Santa Teresa Gallura test has a new feature which looks similar to the old Navbar at the bottom of a page (see Santa Teresa Gallura). In fact it's more than that, as it introduces a true article hierarchy from, say, a marina to a town, region, country, geographic area, the World. This hierarchy: (1) can explored and analysed by an user or an editor, (2) used by some software application, for example, to built a list of POIs for a whole region to be drawn at a chartlet or to allow user to transfer a set POIs to a chartplotter or some other navigation application.

As to it's visual presentation, then my feeling is that the top of the page could be a better location for it: once you open a page you'd be able to grasp some important information about the article at once, without scrolling a page: it's relation with other article, it's contents, then on the left -- links to a home page, wiki contents, etc. --Vadim 16:58, 10 February 2016 (GMT)

As I mentioned before, I am not sure I like the Navbar at the the top of the page. I think that users are by now used to see it at the bottom. Had we not had this history I would preferred it, like you, at the top. Having said that there were many mistakes in the Navbars of older pages. Many Germany pages in the North Sea also claimed to be in the Baltic, so its automatic creation will alleviate this problem.

As far as the Navbar aesthetics and position I propose that we give both arguments to the rest of the registered editors and go by the consensus. What do you think? --Istioploos 18:44, 10 February 2016 (GMT)

As per Istioploos advice the users are able to discuss it here --Vadim 14:17, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

I quite like the position at the top and it is a more logical position (as other editors have observed in the past), but I'd make two points: 1. It needs better graphical treatment, e.g. tabs as it looks like an editing mistake the way it is at present; and 2. I assume that Vadim is willing to apply this change across all the current Wiki pages for consistency. In the absence of either of these my answer would be no. ----Athene of Lymington 14:36, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

No problems, Gordon, with both of you points. Although #2 looks like a bit of challenge, but I wouldn't suggest this change without thinking of how to implement it. My feeling is that {{NavBar}} conversion could be automated, on the other hand I'm not quite sure about "Cruising Wiki Navigation" in its older, table, form. Perhaps categories creation would need some help, for the moment I don't see how to automate this process.

As for it's design, then my concern is not to overdo it. See, for example how it's made at the Wikivoyage. It's very simple there. Any suggestions? --Vadim 15:04, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

Take a look at the change I've made to your Santa Teresa Gallura page - I've just moved the navbar to the top. I'd be happy to do that with all the countries and pages for which I've been largely or partly responsible, namely Albania, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia. Assuming, of course, that Istioploos is of like mind and is prepared to do the same with Greece and Turkey etc. It's time I reviewed all these countries anyway to see if there are any areas I can update or improve. --Athene of Lymington 17:14, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

Thanks, Gordon. There is no need to make any changes at the articles, at least right now: relocation of navbar call can be done automatically, but I need to think a bit more on it. --Vadim 19:10, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

I've made some changes to make PartOf bar and horizontal TOC a bit more distinct. See Porto Santa Teresa Gallura test. How is that?

It looks good but there 3 problems: 1. If I click on "World" on the Navbar I get categories, 2. The "Santa Teresa Galleria" on the Navbar should not be a link but black like it was in the old bar, 3. At the bottom of the page it shows "Santa Teresa Galleria" as a category. --Istioploos 19:33, 14 February 2016 (GMT)

#1 changed as per your suggestion, I think #2 is not needed really as it repeats the title of an article -- it's mere repetition, #3 category at the bottom removed. Looks better? --Vadim 09:42, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

Also could you please have a look at Salerno test? Here a bot has turned Navbar into PartOf.

Yes it does that here and in Porto Santa Teresa... It looks like a nav bar but it is a Part of categories. Here I must say that I personally prefer the mire conventional TOC that is similar to the one in Wikipedia. --Istioploos 19:33, 14 February 2016 (GMT)

Have a look at Category:Articles needing PartOf category -- Salerno test is there!

Now, near the top of Salerno test you'd see "Create category hierarchy to Tyrrhenian Coast". If you follow this link it will create a category for Tyrrhenian Coast. At the edit box you'd need to replace <!-- insert name of next region level up here --> with the name of an upper region, Italy in this case, and so on. --Vadim 13:57, 14 February 2016 (GMT)

OK it seems I've made a bot that makes *all* the job automatically --Vadim 16:23, 14 February 2016 (GMT)

The bot need to create a Navbar. Categories are better be left to human judgement. --Istioploos 19:33, 14 February 2016 (GMT)

Categories that you have noted serve an auxiliary function. You've just caught me in the middle of editing -- now they are hidden --Vadim 11:45, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

I like the new look of Salerno test. Much neater and easier to navigate. In the past I've always had to put a link in the first paragraph back to the island/region/country page as many users want to use the Wiki to 'port hop' along a coastline when planning an itinerary. It's not necessary with this approach. Another challenge might be to try to engineer a neater approach to the tables of ports/islands on the country and region pages? My only other observation is whether removing the text for the chartlet and Panoramio icons may result in less knowledgeable users not clicking on them at all? --Athene of Lymington 10:02, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

* RE text for the chartlet and Panoramio icons. When you hover over an icon at the infobox it shows a tool tip. This gives a reader a hint, but it does not eat screen space. For chartlet hoover over infobox coordinates -- a link there opens a full window chartlet and see article's points there, like here. I reckon this feature is of great value for a casual reader. BTW Template:Chartlet allows to embed a small chartlet right into a page --Vadim 11:40, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

* RE tables of ports/islands on the country and region pages The only thing that I think of at the moment is simply to arrange ports/islands there not alphabetically, but following a coast line. --Vadim 11:50, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

I think I've made a point for some consensus on how TOC looks like. Now it is different in two skins: in monobook it's old style, in vector -- it's horizontal. Have a look at Santa Teresa Gallura test and Salerno test --Vadim 11:20, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

I find this arrangement very good. I tested these 2 pages in both skins. The Navbar now works as I expected it to work, looks good, and I have no problem with it being on the top of the page. I also like very much its TOC behavior in "Vector" where contents below level 3 are shown as a submenu. Bravo! --Istioploos 13:01, 15 February 2016 (GMT)

So, I'm about to apply new TOC and Navbar replacements. Any objections? --Vadim 09:16, 16 February 2016 (GMT)

OK then, implementing this change --Vadim 08:59, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

The change was implemented --Vadim 11:21, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

Looking at Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, etc. I see the following problems: 1. In both "Vector" & "Mono Book" the NavBar has disappeared. 2. While in "Vector" the TOC looks great, in "Mono Book" the {{TOCleft}} has been ignored and the TOC is at the wrong place. i.e. before anything else. I had spent a lot of time to place at a good location in almost every page that I had edited. --Istioploos 14:07, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

You're quite right Indian Ocean doesn't look good. That makes the things complicate --Vadim 15:53, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

Have a look at Indian Ocean now -- a page cannot contain two TOCs -- I think that's the best could be done in this situation --Vadim 16:08, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

Indian Ocean now looks fine in both "Vector" and "MonoBook"., thanks. But still NO NavBars unlike in Santa Teresa Gallura test, I guess these will come latter. By the way, if I restore {{Navbar| [[Indian Ocean]] }} on Indian Ocean it works fine in both skins and so does {{IsPartOf|Indian Ocean}}. --Istioploos 19:33, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

Do we want the NavBar to show the current page (in black) in addition to like of its ancestors? I think this is clearer. --Istioploos 19:57, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

Personally, I don't think that it's worth repeating a page name at the new "Navbar" as it's located now right below the page's title and simply duplicates it. I don't mind though if you'd like to stay it there. I've mended the template, so have a look.

Thank you, I do like this because it graphically shows the hierarchy. --Istioploos 14:34, 18 February 2016 (GMT)

By the way, have a look at Adriatic Sea. "Navbar" there is not hierarchical. In this case it lists the counties that *inside* the region. But as I wrote, there is no problem if you like it this way --Vadim 09:27, 18 February 2016 (GMT)

Looking in this page's history I see that I had added the countries. I agree that we should just stick to the hierarchy, so I changed it. --Istioploos 14:34, 18 February 2016 (GMT)

Aegean Sea

It looks rather distracting for me that lump of history there. Would not be it better to put a link to Wikipedia instead? --Vadim 09:38, 18 February 2016 (GMT)

Maybe you are right. But it has much more relevant information than what is given in Wikipedia. Do you think we can just put the history in a separate page? --Istioploos 14:43, 18 February 2016 (GMT)

Personal Notes

Following our recent exchange, take a look at what I've done to Santa Teresa Gallura and the link to a separate 'Comments' page. I think this might help encourage more contributions to the Wiki from less confident subscribers. On occasion the admins would be able to pick up updates from here and use them to edit the main page where the contributor hasn't had the confidence to do so. I've done this in the past for several subscribers and it does show that the admins are willing to undertake active mentoring.

I'd agree that "Discussion" pages associated with each article look like a good place for posing personal notes. Perhaps a (html) form to feel in would be useful, like they do at Wikivoyage to finn in and update their listings (aka POI) (look for a small 'edit' piece after each listing at https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Alghero#See) --Vadim 14:44, 18 February 2016 (GMT)