On Aug 15, 12:18*pm, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:
On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:57:22 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Putting a traditional heirarchical structure on the wiki is I think so
fraught with issues its hardly worth considering, but I do agree that
some means to make it easier to find articles would be a big step
forward.

It's not that difficult to add [[Category:Tools]] to the bottom of an
article about SDS Drills for example or [[Category:Electrical]] to one
about wiring a plug.

Then construct a template with all the top level categories in it for
display on the "main page" and at the top of each category listing page
(these are built automagically and include sub-category listings).

Most of the automatic pages aren't really much use like the Allpages or
Categories one, the latter because it treats all categories as being at
the same level.

The idea was to move the content in 'Main page' out, renaming it
something else, and make the 'Main page' redirect to the contents
page, this one:
http://www.wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index....ecial:Allpages

No the default "main page" needs to tell the user what the wiki is about
and then lead them to indexes and/or search methods.

I think the contents page gets that message across more or less
instantly.


* People tend to click on 'main page,' so its the perfect place to put
this introduction to the wiki.

But it's not an "introduction" it's just a list of articles. Nothing about
why or where those articals have come from.

I'm unsure why you think that imoprtant to a first time visitor. Task
number 1 is always for them to be able to read whatever article they
want - a list of all the articles does that - as would your list of
categories.

If I'm new to the wiki, and I've been given a link from uk.diy to a
wiki article, I want to read the article. Anything else is just waffle
to me at that point - certainly it has its place, but its not what I
want to read first, and if an article listed on the front page
addresses what the wiki's about I can read it when I want to -
probably after I've got the diy job done that I'm halfway through.


I'm doubtful that someone will come along and
a) create it
b) maintain it indefinitely

The basics appears to be there already, it just needs some sorting out.
The 50 odd categories just need something (a template?) to bring them into
a more manageable/structred list form for display. The main categories
Plumbing, Heating, Electrics, Lighting, Building etc already exist.

No-one is currently doing what you two want, but I daresay it will
happen. Hence I propose to make the main page article redirect to the
contents page as an improvement-for-now move, and we can await the
appearance of a more structured option.


NT