Namespaces

Should I set up portals? Perhaps the wiki homepage should link to different portal pages, where each portal will be an "entry point" of different topics of music.

I'm still not sure what a Portal is and what the benefits are to our site... I'm trying to understand, but I don't get it. Is it like ... a homepage for each major category?

Like this? Portal:Classical music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't really see the benefits for us, but if you can think of any, please list.

Yes....you got it. The benefit would be better direction for our editors on what to write, and easier categorization and navigation of articles for users who browse. You know our Site Structure? Instead of using that, we could use a portal in replace of the site structure for each idea.

One example may be creating a portal for all elements of the YC site (what Jen has been working on). Other ideas: instead of directly linking to a category page, we can have a dedicated homepage for each "major" idea, linking to parts that will help aid a composer. For example...the category of "lists of compositions" could be included on a Composer portal. So anyone interested in Composers, can just go to that homepage to find out relevant information about composers in general. The portal may contain a bio link, composition analysis link etc. I do think our wiki is a bit small for this, but we don't need to create 10 portals. We can create just one, and expand as the wiki grows.

Well, if you think it's worth it, why not try and see how people like it?

Ok I learned a little more about this. Portals don't offer any functionality. In fact, it is just a custom created namespace by wikipedia for categorization purposes. I like the idea though, and think we should do the same. I created a custom namespace for Portals, and Profiles. I am thinking profiles shouldn't be included on an article page, they should be on a profile namespace for more logical categorization. What do you think?

This would require "moving" the profiles to their dedicated page.

To create a portal, or profile, in the "submit article" box, you would type:

Portal:Name Here

Profile:Name Here

When moving a page to a profile page (or proper namespace), you would change the name of the title from "User Name" to "Profile:User Name"

What exactly is a namespace?

I feel this is something I should know...

Some examples of built in namespaces:

• Talk Page
  
• Discussion Page
  
• Category Page
  
• Template Page
  
• Special Page

Each of the above are special categorized pages (you can search just those specific groups of pages too). Instead of having the traditional "article" tab, which is to the left of the discussion tab, the name of that tab will be equal to the name of the desired namespace. I created 2 custom namespaces, for the sole purpose of categorization. A Profile page really isn't a part of articles. And a "portal" page would be a doorway page to different major points in music, for example "Music Theory" could most likely be a main homepage (linked off of the wiki homepage. These doorway pages could be grouped together in the "Portal" namespace so that we can easily find it through search. It will also give the editors cues that this is a special page, and should be formatted in a particular way (like a homepage). Similarly, it will give cues to a YC member, or guest, that the page is a "portal" or "main homepage for a major category".

Make sense?

Eh, this would really require a lot of redoing things and recategorizing and formatting new homepages and especially informing the public, ... wouldn't it?

If you think it's important, it's best we do it now before we get even bigger. The earlier the merrier.

Maybe I can do this with a database tweak...

*collective "Uh-oh... " *

Did it successfully. Here is what it would look like:

[[Profile:Kenneth_Edward_Keyn]]

What do you think?

Now can you make it so it says Kenneth Edward Keyn instead of Profile:Kenneth Edward Keyn? 'Cause I don't like it this way. It's fine that the tab changed, but A.) the template already states it's a profile B.) on the profile list, it's redundant for each item to say Profile:blah name .... I for one think this is unnecessary after seeing what it looks like. Especially on the profile category page.

No way to change the title on a namespace. But I don't mind the profile being there, mainly because we can distinguish between a historical person, vs a YC member. Also, it will filter the "article search" to only search for articles. I don't find it particularly useful to include member profiles as a part of the internal wiki search.

I still think it's a bit of an eyesore. And a pain when people submit articles under their name and forget to include Profile: and we have to fix them.

Could we have some other editor's opinions on this? Maybe I'm the only one that disagrees.

*hands out pokes*

Ok I already changed a handful, 10 maybe...ill stop for now.

I can easily add a default text in the box that will say "Profile:_______" so it should be ok regarding newly updated profiles.

I agree it looks a bit messy, but profiles are not articles. More opinions please.

I like the name space. Visually it looks better than the category page. I can see Enigmus' concerns though. Unless we have a default text as chopin mentioned... that would get tiresome performing the same edit over and over again.

I share James' concern. I'd rather keep things as is.

I agree it looks tiresome, but I think it is better to separate profiles from articles. I also think it eliminates the possibility of someone having the same name as a historic figure. Like I said, in the box to add a profile, I can have the default text "Profile:" and instructions would be to start typing after that string.

Let's see how it goes.

*sigh* Very well, but I'm all for seeing if you can remove the Profile: notice before each title. I just think it looks plain messy. Fine for special pages, and help pages, and all that... but profiles? Profiles are articles... made by the users. I just think it's weird. :blink: You da boss.

I'm still failing to see the difference between this and this, besides the ugly "Profile:" bit...

*fears change*

*agrees with mark*

But hey, if we're going with this, we can remove the tab at the top of each profile that says it is a profile. You know, the template part.

I just changed all profiles to their namespace. Yeah I wish the title would display differently but this seems like the most logical thing to do. Let me sit on this for a few days, and if it still does not agree with everyone, I can easily revert.

now there's a weird blank space in its place...

I never did like the look of the profile template... i just think it was too tall is all. It only really needs to be one line, but I always thought we should keep it.

I hope you know all the redirects from User: pages are broken now. For instance... [[user:EnigmusJ4]] doesn't redirect back to [[James Householder IV]] now. It has to be [[Profile:James Householder IV]]. Grrrrrrrrrrrawr.

I know :) But this categorization is so much cleaner....now when I hit random articles, I don't have to worry about being taken to a profile page. Give it a few days, and if this setup still bothers you, let me know. Change is hard, I know.