Talk:Main Page:Archive13

script
its still not fixed, but soon i hope.ZyMOS

featured articles
So im going to implement a featured articles box to the main page with 2*2 of the best articles and 4 or the newest(that are mostly complete) So...

Vote for the best 2 howtos and 2 guides
voting semi/anonymously pick you 2 howtos and 2 guides. Ones with the most votes will be added to the front page. ties will have run off voting

Voting format
 * first choice; Second Choice

Howtos:
 * How to find Free Software and Open Source software;Howto make a reusable menstrual pad moa3333 13:38, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Howto store carrots so they stay crisp longer;-- --A vivid dreamer 11:57, 29 May 2006 (UTC)
 * How to set up a NAT router on a linux-based computer;-- Optimix 01:33, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Guides:
 * Guide to free kernels;Guide into APT Advanced Packaging Tool moa3333 13:38, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

=Map of where the contributors live= I added a map of where all the major contributors live on the Community Page. Feel Free to add ur location, i added mine and moa3333(just because i knew where u lived). How to add your home location to the Wikihowto Map ZyMOS 01:38, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I like how you added edit to the key pages box... we should probably add that to more boxes, when applicable  ZyMOS 02:47, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

popularity
Wikihowto is now the first result on google when searching the word wikihowto, and the second on Yahoo. However, the site was not shown as a result of searching how to, howto, tutorial, guide, diy on ether google or yahoo. google used the url www.wikia.com/wiki/c:en.howto:Main_Page while yahoo used the standard http://en.howto.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page ZyMOS
 * it is not any more the fisr result... strange... moa3333 12:32, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * it is again Optimix 19:19, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Application of Wikihowto in the Industry?
Not so long time ago, I have started working in a different company, as a part-time job.

The job is not very related with computers. I do not have to use computer at all.

However, still, here in Japan, the people who teach me how to accomplish the things, would frequently write down the procedure on the paper, for my further reference, that I could do again the same procedure in the future.

I started thinking, why could not the teaching person write it not on the paper, but create a page instead, using his mobile phone, under the namespace of the company, so I could next time quickly refer to it from my mobile phone. It would be really something, what would bring the Howto wiki to be more effective and needed in the real world, where people are mobile.

Unfortunately, at the present moment, MediaWiki is not very compatible with all kinds of phones.

Any thoughts?

Inyuki 19:35, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Newbie question
 As a newbie, I was wondering if there should be a directory of How To's on the home page, so I can quickly see what this is all about...

Gil 3 June 2006
 * Welcome! Well, finally, we are aiming that people just searched, like they searching on Wikipedia - you usually won't browse the directory, but go directly to what you need.


 * However, at this point, yes. I do think that a directory would be effective in providing such an outlook.


 * Inyuki 11:12, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * well, this was the case with the original Wikisolutions i created, so i don't bother if there are categories. However, i realized objects act like tags, and you always find your howtos faster by searching the objects... As a conclusion: the guidelines in content pages and categories for howtos are the only things that are not officially part of the proposal for now. They can be used experimentally, and if they are useful we will include them in the proposal later... moa3333 23:45, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Other languages
I requested a trench and a Romanian site, but Angela said to put howtos on this one first until there is a community for other languages. I think we can make Wikihowto possible for other languages (like links to French web sites). Only the description should be in English, not the external links (each Wiktionary is also in multiple languages in the same way).

On the other hand, someone who speaks English could be interested where he can buy a computer in Paris... So i think howtos related to other languages are ok as long as the description is in English. moa3333 23:37, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think that just creating few people group would be enough for that, especially, if these people are already wikipedians. Community means that there are people, not necessarily content. Inyuki 10:38, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Millennium Development Goals of UN
I think this we should all be aware of. These are the goals copied from the Wikipedia: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals )
 * 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
 * 2) Achieve universal primary education
 * 3) Promote gender equality and empower women
 * 4) Reduce child mortality
 * 5) Improve maternal health
 * 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
 * 7) Ensure environmental sustainability
 * 8) Develop a global partnership for development

I think it is just important for us all to be aware of them, and think, how to contribute their achievement in one way or another. Any thoughts? Inyuki 10:47, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * sounds good... maybe putit in out ideals/goals

kernel howto page
i spent a week writing a script for parsing the linux kernel options files, and got it fairly decent. User:ZyMOS/Howto configure the linux kernel. My idea is to have each page have the respective picture of the menuconfig screenshot. The page should be used for all versions, and just denote which versions each option applys to. the directory structor will be the same as the kernel. them me wat u think, im going to add it to main soon, and i cant wen people start adding to it i wont run the script and overwrite it ZyMOS 17:22, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Very cool, but how will you take the screenshots ? Optimix 01:37, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * ImageMagick, has a command line program called import see. Howto use the ImageMagick import command to take screenshots
 * (+) Great. Maybe I will too start using Linux more than I use Windows some soon... I used to take screenshots using WMware. I don't know if it s applicable or convenient in this case. Inyuki 04:00, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

what does this mean?"
I've noticed that when i look at "recent changes" or "my watch list" the list has a heading that says "Below are the last 1 changes in the last 3 days, as of $3". i was just wondering if the "as of $3" was an error. i uploaded a screen shot showing this happening... A vivid dreamer 04:35, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I suppose this should be a date and it's a bug. I have no watchlist items. On wikipedia, I have watched pages and here is the output : "Below are the last 6 changes in the last 3 days, as of 12:34, 11 June 2006." Optimix 10:35, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Aside from the "my watchlist" page, this problem also occurs in wikihowto when i view the "recent changes" page, which you can view by clicking on the link located near the top left hand side of the page under the "navigation" menu. --A vivid dreamer 12:12, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * As far as I know, about three days back, the WikiMedia software on some Wikis was updated. I noticed there was an error of the Main Page of other languages changed to the English "Main Page", thus displaying nothing at the first page. I had to make redirects to their original ones. Inyuki 13:25, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

howto.wikia.com
I don't know who initiated this change, but I saw some changes, that the http://en.howto.wikia.com started redirecting to howto.wikia.com, and the main page of all the wikis disappeared.

I agree with this change made by Wikia, as temporarily it would be better for advertising the HowTo wiki. "howto.wikia.com" is easier to memorize than "en.howto.wikia.com", and it is not yet time to create the international page like in Wikipedia. We could have it further in the future, when there will be more than dozen or so languages, as we have already talked before.

Inyuki 00:48, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

New Wikia CEO
Something we should be aware of, I think.

Read here, and listen to this. Any thoughts?

Actually, onece in the past, I spoke with Wikia about the Wikicities, and expressed a thought about possibility to support the Wikipedia expenses by selling ads (using some of the Wikia revenue to ensure the Wikipedia existence), and that maybe the Wikihowto is a very appropriate place for Goggle ads, because they are adapted to the context, and if a person really wants to accomplish some task, ads could really be useful. I didn't get the explicit answer about this, but I think it would be good to discuss, what we all think about leaving ads on the project, and leaving it a Wikia project.
 * On the other hand, as all the information is GPL'ed, if we have enough supporters, I believe it could be supported from donations, just as Wikipedia is. Wikia, though, could try make the environment as friendly as possible here, making advertisements as non-obstructive and as useful as possible. -Inyuki

Another thought that comes out when I listen the recording, is that it seems like now Wikia would like to make all the Wikis - guides to some areas. Well, maybe that is a little bit different thing, because not necessarily someone would want to create some guides, maybe people, who want to create a community, just want to collect some kind of information for later reference.

Also, the concepts of "guide" or "guidance", and "howto" are different.

Inyuki 08:17, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi Inyuki,

Gil Penchina here - thanks for the comments. I agree with you that "guide" is not the perfect word for what we do here at wikia, I am struggling to find a word that describes a community that is rich in meaning, likes to talk and by friendly, and likes to write about things that people are passionate about. Guide is the best word I have come up with as a guide book is a reference for some people, and a guide is an expert who knows things. I am still looking for the perfect word that describes all the fun people have and the thoughtful contributions that they provide. If you have suggestions, I'm delighted to listen. My main talk page is on central, or at Gil --Gil 21:44, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Thoughts about the expected future results
As the project is about how to create things,... I am wondering, when we would have the first "OpenHow" (like OpenSource) things in production, or on market available. When would we have the first "OpenHow" vehicle, or first "OpenHow" factory, or first "OpenHow"...?

Inyuki 08:45, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Script
ZyMOS, could you run the script that will re-compute the old-style pages (Help:Unknown List)? moa3333 10:08, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
 * ya sorry i havnt run it in a long time, User:A vivid dreamer found a bug in it, i will run it now... also since i finished the whole linux kernel config thing, got back to fixing the script.  i finally figured it out.. http://howto.wikia.com/dbdumps/pages_current.xml (~12MB) so i can use this... we shall see how long it takes for me to get it right

ZyMOS 18:51, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Minimizing the links in the first page
I think it would be enough just "search" box, "browse" link, and the part of the Wikihowto object in the first page. Under the "browse" link there could be all types of searches - list of howtos, list of guides, etc., including "list of users". Perhaps if I were the first time user, I would like to try browsing, and the most interesting would be for me seeing, what howtos does various users create. Not just howtos themselves, but what other users are doing.

Looking at what others write, people would automatically learn how to write use, and how to write howtos following the patterns of existing users.

I added a link to the "users" from the main page, but now realized that we have already quite many pages with users listed: ...
 * Help:Supporters (By time joined as a supporter)
 * About:Users (By relation with the project)
 * Help:Users (Alphabetical/descriptional)

Inyuki 08:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Main page looks
I saw that on some computers in some browsers (Internet Explorers) the main page is displayed not very correctly, being the logo of Wikihowto not centered, but in the left of the screen. I will add a screenshot later when I will have an opportunity to use the IE again.

Inyuki 17:48, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

About linking from Wikipedia..
We have talked before that our plan is linking the HowTo pages to the objects at Wikipedia.

Maybe we could just extent the pages of Wikipedia itself, to include large lists of wiki-howtos related with the topic.

...

Well, now I started thinking for this:



Inyuki 01:18, 27 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I think that sort of link isn't going to be accepted on Wikipedia since Wikia is not a sister project. There was discussion of a similar link at Wikipedia:Template talk:Wikitravel and also on the mailing lists. Angela (talk) 04:23, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
 * So maybe we need to think of a standard for linking from Wikipedia to Wikia, or thinking how to make Wikihowto a sister project? An interesting howto question is - "How a Wikipedia sister project is made?" Inyuki 08:13, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree with angela, i think its premature, i have linked some howtos in wikipedia pages in the see also sections. but i think it should be limited to well written howtos and guides, and no stubs... ZyMOS 01:44, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia:Template:Wikia is a standard way of linking to Wikia already. Sister projects are just those run by the Wikimedia Foundation. Angela (talk) 02:07, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

page naming
please use howto in page naming. it makes it easier to script, also searching how to xxxxx does not work in search engines. ZyMOS 05:27, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

First Open-Source Mass-production line?
I am thinking, that maybe starting an open development of some production line that is not very difficult, but that has a demand, could be meaningful. Yeah, I know it sounds like communism (but it is different, because we are talking about the publicity of information, not the products themselves.) anyone could edit it's source, and improve it or leave it according to the needs. The most necessary products would naturally have high demand, high popularity, and thus high quality.

So, What kind of production technology do we need to learn now?


 * How to mass-produce Bio-fuel?
 * How to train special dogs for blind people?

Maybe Bio-fuel technology could be of some importance.

133.9.4.11 18:36, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

New logo version
I am going to clean up the edges and then let it be. so tell me wat u think and if i should change anything ZyMOS 05:36, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

PS I got a new script to update the list everything is good with it except wanted pages. but i can run it semi-daily again. ZyMOS


 * I think it looks great.--A vivid dreamer 11:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)