The AC2 Wiki

[ete]

Okay, something everyone can help with! Please populate this page with all AC abbreviations/acronyms: http://alphacentauri2.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Terminology

They will be displayed as hover text the first time they appear on every page.

[Green1]

Da

Okay, something everyone can help with! Please populate this page with all AC abbreviations/acronyms: http://alphacentauri2.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Terminology

They will be displayed as hover text the first time they appear on every page.

Damn, ete.

You catch me when I am really busy.

[ete]

No rush.

Also: More configuration/extensions.

[ete]

Figuring out how to handle/integrate alphax data (particularly on technologies) is the next hurdle. Possible solutions:
Data pages (easy to change in all places at once (should not be required), easy to add, looks tidier for the editor, easy to draw on from other pages, uses more processing power long term, harder to make versions for mods)
Integrate them into the import as a infobox template (hard to propagate changes, more complex to import, looks messier for the editor, maybe easy to draw on from other pages (maybe better, but I'll have to set something up for it), uses less processing power, easy to use for mods)

Just trying to figure out which way to go. I wonder how much CPU strain should be a consideration? Data pages would increase the cost to the server of rebuilding pages on edit. Will probably try integrating them into the import, see how hard it is at least.

Also the html in wikitext interaction with tables/linebreaks is displaying subtly differently from how it does on Wikipedia. In a way which breaks my hack to make my big template work. So gotta figure out why that is and fix it, or find a way around it. Will probably ask on some irc channel if I don't get it soon.

[sisko]

Just trying to figure out which way to go. I wonder how much CPU strain should be a consideration? Data pages would increase the cost to the server of rebuilding pages on edit. Will probably try integrating them into the import, see how hard it is at least.

we are on a VPS and this is current status:

[ete]

Ok, so CPU is not a major concern for the time being. Still, I think I'll try and do it the hard way, mostly because it's more mod friendly.

Also! Finally got the factioninfobox template working, see the first faction: http://alphacentauri2.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Peacekeeping_Forces

Next is categories (I added a multi category search extension (http://alphacentauri2.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Special:MultiCategorySearch), so we'll be able to do useful searches). Then maybe graphics? Annoying that .pcx is not supported by browsers.

[Buster's Uncle]

If you've got something that opens .pcx files, easy enough to resave as .jpg...

[ete]

True, but doing that for each official+NN faction would be a bit of a timesink. I guess they need cropping anyway, ah well. Long term plans.

[ete]

And categories are mostly working. There will be loads of them to create, but I should be able to do a lot automatically.

Not totally sure how specific to make them, but that can be changed later.

[ete]

Four faction infoboxes in as examples. http://alphacentauri2.info/mediawiki/index.php?title=Category:Factions

Anyone is free to help adding official or custom factions. There are still kinks in the templates and categorization, but they're all pretty straightforward and will be fixed when I get back from my usual weekend break.

It'd be handy to be able to spread out a bit with a wiki forum sometime next week, since a lot of people are more likely to join in and read the requests for help on a forum. And medium-long term ideally figure out some way to integrate wiki talk pages with the forum. I'll look into that.

Current plan:
Add official factions (vel's guide descriptions? they're free to use)
Tidy up faction infobox
Make all the faction categories so you can easily find what you want
Upload rest of the datalinks
Make mainpage useful
Remind Kilk about skinning documentation, try and get him to make it look more like the site (and maybe help with mainpage design)
Write a list of things everyone can help with

Then do a proper launch. Optional extras: Make the user bridge work, set up wiki forum, ???



What do you guys want on the wiki?


Also, thanks for the title whichever of you gave me it :)

[ete]

Made a quick sketch of my thoughts for the mainpage: http://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/510b9f51-47bc-4760-be9f-4a650a000111

[sisko]

looks good to me.

[ete]

oh, and one more possible addition to the handy extras: tidy URLs. /wiki/Main_Page and /wiki/edit/Main_Page look a lot nicer than /mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page and /mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page&action=edit. Will have to look into that, not sure if I can add them with FTP (edit: looks like I can, but it's probably best to rename the /mediawiki/ folder to /wiki/, which I can do but may mess with links you've added to other places), but I should be able to give you a set of rewrite rules to add. Are we on Apache?

Edit: Okay, documentation: http://pynej.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/mediawiki-tidy-urls.html http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache
If we're on Apache and mod_rewrite is on, I should be able to set the rest up. <3 tidy urls.

[sisko]

i'm not a big fan of the pretty URLs. if you want them for the wiki, that's fine, but i won't make any changes to the forum URLs.
they do nothing for SEO and that's the only reason why i would take them into consideration.
the only wiki link added to the forum is the one in the main menu (at least for now) and i can change that anytime.

[ete]

I just like looking at them more and being able to write links to them quickly. That's fine about forums, so long as the wiki has them I'm happy. Also, found http://shorturls.redwerks.org/ which mostly automates it and works with FTP. I'll have a go at this sometime, but could you check that apache's mod_rewrite is on?