Organizing the wiki page:WpsIpod5g

[lights0ut]

I was thinking of going with the SOAP seal with different colored icons denoting WPSs that will work with SVN builds versus ones that require patches.

Regardless, I plan on having this topic be one of the topics discussed in DevCon-West.

you mean different colored soap bars? that would work quite nicely.

[scorche]

I was thinking of going with the SOAP seal with different colored icons denoting WPSs that will work with SVN builds versus ones that require patches.

Regardless, I plan on having this topic be one of the topics discussed in DevCon-West.

you mean different colored soap bars? that would work quite nicely.

Yes, that is what I mean.  In the meantime, there would be a separate wiki page where we would toss the un-SOAPed themes until we can wade through them.  But, as I said before, there is much more to this as well regarding the actual guidelines, method for delivery, and other items, which is why I think it will be a good topic to bring up at DevCon-W.

[lights0ut]

Just to let everyone know I'm still planning on getting the wiki organized. After looking at some of the other WPS galleries,  I noticed that most have the themes organized by the Author, and I think this would work really well and help to distinguish the wiki from rockbox-themes.org. Not to cut down on rockbox-themes, but I think that it would be an advantage to have two styles of organization, alphabetical (on rockbox-themes) and by author (the wiki). I think that I would organize the themes by author only if there is more than one theme by the author, and then Alphabetically.
So the gallery would look like this:
TOC
>only links to Author's
>links to themenames if only one submission

Authors - sorted alphabetically, real name preferred over alias (i.e. Gary Light instead of EvilG123 or Chris Banes instead of Senab) of course, this would be left to the decision of the author themeselves.

Authors with 1 submission - themes sorted by theme title alphabetically.

Any thoughts? I think this would work really nicely and would really cleanup the wiki. It would also give users a chance to view each author's work together, just to see what else they've done. I also had an idea that after the wiki was organized this way, we could easily make author's themepacks (like a Senab themepack, a PHK themepack etc.) which would be really cool.

[lights0ut]

Just to elaborate a bit more on my previous idea about organizing by author, I started to think about what to do with the large amount of modified WPS's (remixes as I call them). I think a good way to go about it would be to put them next to their originals, and quoting the remixer. Or maybe I could add a link inside each remixed WPS like this
WPS description etc.
Remixed by: Link to Remix (Author's Name)

I just thought of the second idea as I was typing (I actually prefer it), it would help keep each author's works whether original or remix together.

[lights0ut]

Since there isn't much activity in this thread, I decided to spike some interest by implementing my suggested changes thus far; I've made some major modifications to the iPod 5G WPS gallery so please check it out.

I'd say that the layout is a good 70% done, there are still some changes to be made with regard to formatting (making things clearer), but I thought I'd get the ball rolling on this.

A couple of things you may be wondering, yes I did save a copy of the original, yes all the WPS's that were there before are still there.

I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to leave any feedback

[scorche]

First, the edit button is handy...use it please  

Secondly, many people are waiting on this because there are many other decisions to make regarding WPSs and it would be easier to make one big round-up effort rather than a few.  Also, apparently people are waiting till WPSs in general and a few issues about them are going to be discussed and decided upon at DevCon-West.

Also, saving a copy of the original isn't needed, as the wiki uses a revision system and keeps track of all past revisions.

[Yotto]

I appreciate the effort, and like the direction you're going, but the page itself is way too unwieldy as-is.  There is no way to make it ... weildy? ... with the number of themes available.  I think it should be split up, perhaps by author.

Also, I authored Lights, White Lights, and Car.

[lights0ut]

Thanks for the feedback Yotto, I'll make the changes you requested.

Edit: Done, hope I got your name right

 I know the gallery is huge, I'm trying to make things better by organizing it, there is no way I can trim it. But if I put things on separate pages, I'm not sure how intuitive that would be. I *think* I could pull it off, on each page I'd just have to add the wiki tag to include the main gallery so that the links work (someone tell me if I'm right about that).

You'll notice that on the first few author's galleries there are little arrows on the right hand side, these link to the top, so say you're done looking through said author's gallery, and now you want to look at Senabs, its much easier to go back to the top, and look through the more organized TOC for him under
the Authors Galleries section. Plus I've made the Quick links section, which should help if you just want to browse each section. Also the Make your own should provide people with an avenue to the appropriate tutorial pages, without always asking on the forums. I added the improtant stuff section to help people out with fonts and a way to read the guidelines and the soon to be implemented (I hope) Soap Seal of Approval. I may make this a separate page because I want to add some notes about installation, but that may not be a good idea because it may be best just to keep it where everyone can see it.

[ryran]

I'd like to .. uhh... re-open this whole thing for discussion. Or at least start a dialogue with you, Gary, since you kinda took this on as a pet project.

So. I really don't like the way the WPS page is organized now.
Specifically I'm very opposed to the implemented "galleries" system. I think separating between an "author gallery" and "unknown/single submission" is not a good idea--I believe the WPSes should speak for themselves and be organized irrespective of their creator. I also think it only adds an unnecessary level of complexity to have an "imitations/look-alikes" gallery.

As for the remix gallery: the 5g WPS page is already prohibitively large--making it longer by having duplicates is craziness. Seriously, it doesn't make practical sense to have any WPS in more than one place on the same page..it's horrible for editing and upkeep and it just makes things confusing for users. I think "remixes" should be kept adjacent to the original WPS they're based on at all times.

Hmm. I guess that's all I've got for now. Damn it's late.
Since I see this could potentially be taken as more than just constructive criticism, I just want to end this by saying that you have my recognition and admiration--for seeing a problem and taking the initiative to work on improving it. Nothing but respect for you man.

[lights0ut]

Thanks for voicing your opinion on this, that is what the thread is for, and I do encourage people to comment on this. (no offense taken at all, btw) The wiki is for the rockbox community, and if the community is not happy with how the wiki is looking, it should be changed to something more useful.

Ryan, I understand your points about the how the gallery would be much less complex if it were A to Z, what I was trying to do was to distinguish the gallery from Rockbox-themes.org because the themes site is organized A to Z. That is not to say that I dislike rockbox-themes, I like it a lot, but I wanted to do something with the wiki.

However, I agree with your point about the fact that it is now more complex to maintain the wiki with the different sections. This is a major point, and enough for me to rethink how the wiki is organized, I have an archived version of the wiki's state before I started, so I could revert it back, and add in the changes since then.

But I don't think that would be proper, what I'm trying to do is improve the wiki because I think there is a general feeling that it needs to be cleaned up. Should it just be organized A to Z? or is there a better way?

I had the idea earlier to make two different WPS galleries:
1. A straightforward A to Z format
2. Separate pages for each of the "galleries"

What do people think of this idea? Would it make things better, worse, or is it not worth the effort?

[scorche]

As I have said before, this will get all hashed out tomorrow, so stay tuned.

[lights0ut]

It's well overdue but I am in the process of returning the WPS gallery for the 5G iPod on the wiki back to it's original organization. Basically I'm just putting all the themes in alphabetical order by theme name. Hopefully, this will not break any links from forum topics etc. but if this causes too much havoc then we can always keep the wiki the way it is, or change it (it is after all, a wiki)

EDIT: Changes are complete here's a rundown
-themes are now in alphabetical order (# A-Z)
-omitted notes about themes that were removed due to copyright issues
-fixed headings and TOC
-removed up arrow links to TOC, users can just hit the home key
-tidied up introduction, focus on introducing new users to the gallery
-fixed some formatting errors from my find+replace work

[zajacattack]

I'm all for this. Any help you need, just say the word.

[hhannah]

I totally agree with your idea

Now, regarding your original idea of dividing the themes that work on the official build, from those that require patches or patched builds, I think it would be really helpful: if you only want to use the official (and supported) build, you'll know where to go; if you are a "looks-REALLY-matter" user, open to use patches or patched builds, you also will know where to go. And also, this division would save webpage loading time, sometimes it can go really slow. An extra idea: a "recently added/updated" list would be also of great help

And by the way, thanks for your time and work on all this!

[pondlife]

Just an idea...

How about only including themes that work with an unpatched build, and have been tested as currently working with an SVN build.  Themes that are broken, or require patches would be moved to new pages (WpsIpod5gBroken and WpsIpod5gNeedPatches perhaps).  

This would obviously take time, but it would also help us to keep track of which themes need fixing up, and prevent the page being clogged up with themes that are useless to (SVN) Rockbox users.

pondlife