Mailing List Archive: Wikipedia: Wikitech

Moving the contents to the side panel

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stevagewp at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 6:42 PM

Post #1 of 7 (1086 views)
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Moving the contents to the side panel

The contents box seems to cause endless problems with article layout,
particularly when combined with an infobox[1], or when the intro
section is short compared to the number of sections in the article.[2]
The result always seems to be a huge white space between the intro and
the rest of the article.

Would it be possible to have the contents box appear in the side panel
of the GUI, perhaps above the toolbox? This could either be a
per-article setting or perhaps site-wide.

Steve

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

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Simetrical+wikilist at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 7:12 PM

Post #2 of 7 (1052 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

It would help if we could restrict the depth of the TOC for a given
article using a magic word.

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gmaxwell at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 7:13 PM

Post #3 of 7 (1044 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

On 2/20/07, Steve Bennett <stevagewp[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> The contents box seems to cause endless problems with article layout,
> particularly when combined with an infobox[1], or when the intro
> section is short compared to the number of sections in the article.[2]
> The result always seems to be a huge white space between the intro and
> the rest of the article.
>
> Would it be possible to have the contents box appear in the side panel
> of the GUI, perhaps above the toolbox? This could either be a
> per-article setting or perhaps site-wide.

Could equally be considered the fault of stupidly long map containing
self side-stacking infoboxes.

Consider this monstrocity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Memorial

It's problems have nothing to do with the toc....

It was even worse before someone just replaced the map in the info box.

Would be nice if the toc could be made multiple columns wide....

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stevagewp at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 9:03 PM

Post #4 of 7 (1043 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

On 2/21/07, Simetrical <Simetrical+wikilist[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> It would help if we could restrict the depth of the TOC for a given
> article using a magic word.

Yeah, I have a feeling I or someone else has requested that before.
Other possibilities:

- Make the TOC hideable
- Make the TOC take less space by default (smaller font for example)
- Make the TOC a little box with scrollbars

Steve

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stevagewp at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 9:06 PM

Post #5 of 7 (1046 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

On 2/21/07, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> Consider this monstrocity:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Memorial
>
> It's problems have nothing to do with the toc....

What's actually wrong with that? It's one of the smaller infoboxes
I've seen. Look up countries or cities. I'm sure I've seen some two
pages long.

> Would be nice if the toc could be made multiple columns wide....

Yeah, not a bad thought, especially if combined with only showing the
top level. Or how about a nested expandable tree, like:

1. Section 1 +
2. Section 2 +
...

Where clicking the +'s expands the next layer.

Steve

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hippytrail at gmail

Feb 20, 2007, 11:18 PM

Post #6 of 7 (1149 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

This strikes a chord with me. Table of contents seems like metadata
which should be part of the interface rather than part of the article.
It seems odd that it's included with action=render in the
article and not in the sidebar areas handled by the skin.

Andrew Dunbar (hippietrail)

On 2/21/07, Steve Bennett <stevagewp[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/21/07, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell[at]gmail.com> wrote:
> > Consider this monstrocity:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Memorial
> >
> > It's problems have nothing to do with the toc....
>
> What's actually wrong with that? It's one of the smaller infoboxes
> I've seen. Look up countries or cities. I'm sure I've seen some two
> pages long.
>
> > Would be nice if the toc could be made multiple columns wide....
>
> Yeah, not a bad thought, especially if combined with only showing the
> top level. Or how about a nested expandable tree, like:
>
> 1. Section 1 +
> 2. Section 2 +
> ...
>
> Where clicking the +'s expands the next layer.
>
> Steve
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikitech-l mailing list
> Wikitech-l[at]lists.wikimedia.org
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
>

--
http://linguaphile.sf.net

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timwi at gmx

Feb 23, 2007, 7:50 AM

Post #7 of 7 (1048 views)
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Re: Moving the contents to the side panel [In reply to]

Steve Bennett wrote:
> The contents box seems to cause endless problems with article layout,
> particularly when combined with an infobox[1], or when the intro
> section is short compared to the number of sections in the article.[2]
> The result always seems to be a huge white space between the intro and
> the rest of the article.

I don't really see a problem with that. Whitespace can often make
something easier to read, especially where the alternative is to confuse
the eye with lots of clutter.

Then again, maybe the TOC should be slightly smaller font and layed-out
in two columns (like some References/Footnotes sections are)?

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