Forum:Any suggestions?

Forums: Index > Any suggestions?

So, I talked to the Powers that Be, and I'm now in charge (for lack of a better term) of this wiki. However, I'm curious to know what you would like to see: organization, presentation, cool little things you've seen on other Wikia sites...

Really, even though I'm not the local bureaucrat and admin now, I'm only in place to help grow the project; I'm "in charge", but I take my marching orders from the community. :) EVula // talk // 21:56, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Background image

I have one. We should do something about the godawful background on the Monobook layout. That change has been on the cards for ages, but owing to the previous admin's inactivity, nothing happened. There's a topic in the forum about it which you may have seen already. These are two possible solutions:

• Replace the background image with one of the replacements [1] [2] in that topic (which would look nicer but wouldn't solve the problem of the images "repeating" on long articles.)
• Change the default layout to Quartz (Brick)

I'm not really sure which I'd prefer. Quartz is nice and modern, but I never have gotten used to having a navigation bar on the right side of the page. :P --MattyDienhoff 02:37, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Personally, I prefer Image:Wiki Background.jpg; it has more of a Half-Life feel than Image:Wiki Background 2.jpg; the second is a cool image, but it just doesn't say "worn down dystopian future" to me. :) The whole repeating issue can be very, very easily addressed with a little bit of CSS trickery (make it fixed position and voila, it doesn't scroll at all).

I'd also prefer to keep the Monobook layout; like you, the whole right-aligned thing is just a bit strange for me. :) I'd like to eventually set up something like Halopedia or Wookieepedia have in regards to the Search box, where there's a random image to hook people all the faster. I'd also like to steal borrow Halopedia's drop-down side boxes. EVula // talk // 08:08, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I've gone ahead and made the background change; I think it looks much, much better, and the fixed background-position helps the image fade even more. (and if you're curious about what the other image would look like as the background, you can override MediaWiki:Monobook.css with Special:Mypage/Monobook.css) EVula // talk // 08:16, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Awesome, that's a huge improvement. --MattyDienhoff 13:55, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Templates

Okay, next up, templates. We could use some new ones, but I have no idea how to make them myself, can you create templates from scratch?

"Chapter list" templates for each game in the series would be a good place to start. You may have noticed we have chapter walkthroughs for Opposing Force, Half-Life 2, and Episode Two, but they're all lumped in together, which is messy. Ideally, we'd have a seperate template for each game. Something simple like those Billboard Hot 100 number one single templates on Wikipedia would probably work. Like this:

Half-Life 2 Chapter Walkthroughs

[link to previous chapter] -- current chapter -- [link to next chapter]

[link to list of all chapters?]

--MattyDienhoff 05:48, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I'd also like to lobby this, and the creation of a quote template. Coming Second 15:10, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Creating a template from scratch wouldn't be too difficult; I'll see what I can cobble together. What do you mean by a "quote" template, though? EVula // talk // 14:38, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Just a simple "I said this" Character name to head character pages, like Wiki and Wookipedia often have. Cheers! Coming Second 13:28, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Aaah, so that's what you mean. Like this one? --MattyDienhoff 15:10, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, precisely. Mind you, we won't be able to use it for the main character of the Half-Life series... Coming Second 19:41, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

It'd be pretty easy to steal borrow w:c:starwars:Template:Quote for our purposes. Hell, there's already {{quote}}, which is pretty much the same thing... perhaps you're a bit forgetful, CS. ;) EVula // talk // ☯ // 20:37, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Ah yes. But reading the discussion page, I remember doing a pretty terrible job of hacking the code, i.e. it doesn't work. Mind giving it the once over? Coming Second 01:39, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

---

Okay, I hacked and stole the Succession template from Wikipedia to make a general, all-purpose template in the form of {{succession}}, which can easily be used for the chapter walkthroughs. You can see it in place at (in order) Entanglement, Anticitizen One, and "Follow Freeman!".

I stopped there since I wanted to at least get some feedback before going through everything... or someone else could do it. :D It's a bit different from what was requested, but it's very generic, and could be used on a variety of pages (or could be the base for more specific versions). Thoughts? EVula // talk // ☯ // 23:45, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Also, I created an alternate way of handling navigation at the top of the article, {{Episode 2 nav}}. You can see it in place on all Episode 2 walkthroughs, beginning at To The White Forest. I think it would probably be best if we had the specific list at the top, and the simple "previous/next" template at the bottom; I've gone ahead and done an example of this at this Vortal Coil. Thoughts? EVula // talk // ☯ // 00:25, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Having the list at the top, and the previous/next template at the bottom is perfect, that's what I had in mind. Let's go with that. --MattyDienhoff 04:21, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Alrighty, I applied it to the rest of the chapters. I'll do up navigation templates for HL1, HL2, and Episode 1... er, at some point. I've got a lot of stuff happening in real life, which takes a bit higher priority over this site; specifically, the site can't kick me out of bed for ignoring it, as opposed to other things in my life. :) EVula // talk // ☯ // 21:00, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I can do it if you like, it's just a simple matter of copying, pasting and modifying from here on out, isn't it? --MattyDienhoff 04:47, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I've created lists for EP1 and HL2, and added them to all of the articles along with the succession template. :) --MattyDienhoff 06:41, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Opposing Force

You need to add Opposing Force to the list of games, especially if Blue Shift is on there. It was one of the two "official" expansions to Half-Life, and I'd be nice if it could get the recognition there.

Good point, done. --MattyDienhoff 03:53, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

We also need Decay on the list of games. Decay is also an official Gearbox expansion. It was a two-player cooperative game included in the PlayStation 2 version of Half-Life. Decay doesn't get enough recognition. A shame, I thought it was great! Your evil twin 20:22, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Another good point! Done and done. --MattyDienhoff 13:49, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Mods

How about a seperate section for Mods of Hl1 & 2 that are of particular note? Examples could be Counter-Strike, Zombie Panic, Sven CO-Op, etc - 62.172.185.126 14:40, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Will this do? --MattyDienhoff 14:48, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Not if it only contains 3 mods, no - Shaft121 14:52, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

It's a work in progress. When you said "seperate section", did you mean on the sidebar? --MattyDienhoff 14:58, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Well a link somewhere prominent would be of use, but I'm not a Wiki editor, just someone who is providing a suggestion - Shaft121 15:00, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Easter Eggs

How about a section of the Wiki devoted to the various Easter Eggs found in the games? I found this Wiki by googling for such eggs and it may bring more people in - Shaft121 15:00, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Might be a good idea, there is such a page here, but it's in disarray, see the discussion page there for more info. --MattyDienhoff 07:23, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Complete overhaul/new skin

Well, I am also a halopedia member, and they have recently adopted a new skin. However, it is much more than that. they have quizzes, polls, picture games, friends, foes, social profiles, blog/article things, and tons more. For more info on it, I believe that the two guys to talk to can be found here and here, as they were the ones who (i believe) introduced the new skin. This might boost this wiki's popularity. It would almost certainly make it more popular with those who already inhabit it. --Charles II 17:24, 18 March 2008 (UTC)