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#1 2005-12-06 06:17:04
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
[wiki] Attributes definition and cross-reference, glossary
Just typing this out pretty quickly before I need to sign-off for the night…
- I’ve moved a couple attribute descriptions from the Glossary into the Attribute Cross Reference, where they belong.
- I see some feature discussion in the Glossary (container tags, custom fields, etc). This info should be placed where it belongs elsewhere in the wiki. If it still warrants Glossary mention, then it should only be a consise description, and a link to the wiki page in question.
- Reorganized Attributes Cross Reference to use headings and simple lists, so that…
- For attributes getting widely used, a definition is placed on the Attributes Cross Reference page. Then on a tag’s page we can do as I’ve done here. For attributes only used by one tag, we’ll just keep the explanation within that tag’s attribute listing.
This way, it’ll be a lot easier to keep info consistant, and helps make it a little easier to contribute docs on new tags. Does this sound okay?
By the way, I’m liking how the wiki is starting to look. :)
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Re: [wiki] Attributes definition and cross-reference, glossary
As far as the Tag stuff goes, looks good to me.
As for the Glossary, I think it can be tricky. Here’s a couple things to consider, though I’m not attempting to make any decision here:
…and a link to the wiki page in question.
There are many instances in wiki pages where terms are used that do not link to the respective Glossary terms. Authors need to be more diligent about linking up to the Glossary terms in page content. If done, then the Glossary terms don’t just exist on a one-to-one basis with a wiki page, they exist as a many-to-one (many wiki pages to each glossary term). Hence, it’s perhaps not feasible to link from the Glossary terms to various wiki pages; only one way, to the glossary, makes sense.
This info should be placed where it belongs elsewhere in the wiki. If it still warrants Glossary mention, then it should only be a consise description,
Sometimes, I think, the Glossary is the better place to elaborate a concept; especially if such important elaboration is out of scope, or simply too much extra text, in context of page instructions. Nothing worse when a concept is overdefined or over explained in the flow of a thought about doing something else. Better to explain in more detail outside of the main instructional flow. You see this all the time in writing as footnotes on a page, so in a way the Glossary could be serving as a kind of footnotes too; hence, it could be appropriate for extended descriptions that are not appropriate in the middle of page instructions. Make sense?
Do we need to rename the Glossary to TxPedia (Textpattern Encyclopedia)? Naw.
By the way, I’m liking how the wiki is starting to look. :)
Thanks, little by little. I don’t think it’s going to look exactly like the plan, but we’ll keep poking along.
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#3 2005-12-07 05:06:28
- Mary
- Sock Enthusiast
- Registered: 2004-06-27
- Posts: 6,236
Re: [wiki] Attributes definition and cross-reference, glossary
I wasn’t terribly lucent. I had wanted to post about it rather quickly so there was some semblance of an explanation. So part of what I’ll say will be a contradiction of what I’ve already said. You know. ;)
I’m really speaking more about the fuller explanations, not the simple concepts, and where there already exists appropriate places to be. My thinking is that the whole wiki is like the encyclopedia, but the “Glossary” functions like a basic explanation and a pointer to the info you’re after. Like:
- The entry about permlinks is good. It just needs to be finished up with a link to the wiki page explaning the preferences (which contains the permlink setting).
- The entry about plugins is also good, again, just needing a link to related wiki page.
- Then we have the override_forms and container tags entries. These should look more like the conditional tag and custom fields entries. All of these four should have links to the fuller existing feature explanation page(s).
Thanks for the patience in trying to get my strange way of putting things, especially when I should have been in bed instead of posting. ;D
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Re: [wiki] Attributes definition and cross-reference, glossary
Sounds good. No objections from me to make the changes.
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