Templates/namespaces for country-specific Wiki pages

[AndyPoms]

I started a USA Category a while ago: http://www.waze.com/wiki/index.php/Category:USA

[berestovskyy]

Hi!
I would be nice to "tag" all country-specific pages (namespaces?) or/and have a template to return to country's homepage.

What do you think?

[berestovskyy]

Well, it's up to you Just to clarify my point:

1. If I find a page, there is no way I can tell if the page is country-specific and which country it is. Sometimes you can see it in the title, sometimes at the bottom (categories). But it's inconsistent and some countries do not "tag" their pages at all.
   
   I suggest we add a standard "tag" at the top of every country-specific page (template? namespace? title suffix?) and a country homepage link at the bottom (category? normal link? another template?). Link to a generic English page would be ambiguous IMO.
   
   
2. Regarding links from generic English pages to country-specific. It seems to me that How to label and name roads is a good example, while Road Type is a bad one.
   
   I guess at least the following pages should be country-specific:
   
   1. Road type
   2. How to label and name roads + abbreviation table
   3. Best practices + Landmarks
   4. FAQ for users + editors

[berestovskyy]

Hi!
Maybe we just stick to the idea of Categories, like some other countries do?

[berestovskyy]

Maybe you are trying to make "too smart" template We could make a simple and dumb one, just like {{anchor}}. For instance:

{{Country|<CountryName>}} - a template should be placed at the very top of the country-specific page

This template expands to:

1. [[Category:<CountryName>]]
2. A menu bar right under the page title with links: [[Main Page]] > [[<CountryName>]]

Example:

Code: Select all

{{Country|Poland}}

expands to:

Code: Select all

[[Category:Poland]]
<div style="margin-top: -0.5em; padding: 5px; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid #aaa; width: 100%">[[Main Page]] > [[Poland]]</div>


I never tried it, so some issues still might be there (like margins, paddings etc)...

So maybe you could give it another try?

[berestovskyy]

I like using categories. It would be nice to have this info at the top of a page as well.

There are some languages like English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian etc which are spread across countries/states. So if you find a page using google or internal search, there is no way you can tell which country or state this page belongs.

We have Update this Wiki and Templates pages. Shouldn't we also drop a line there about tagging country/state-specific pages?

[kentsmith9]

We could easily create a template for each country's home page and you simply place that template on all the pages that are for that country specifically. The template could be a colored box showing a link to the country's home page. We need to decide if it is at the top of every page, or at the bottom.

At the top would be good because we can create a simple message telling the reader they are on a country specific page and give a link to the generic English guide. Then on all the generic English pages we can provide the link to the country specific editing table. If the other country managers wanted, we could even create an expandable (default closed) navbox at the bottom of the page linking to the country specific versions of that page. The link from the top of the page could go to the bottom nav table for convenience. (I think we have the wiki extensions available to support the expand/contract settings, or could at least have the expanded table in the mean time.)

Something else we could do is create a navbox that highlights all the key editing, tips, etc., links. The template mentioned above would be the primary source and the info box would be for links to non-country specific information.

[kentsmith9]

If I find a page, there is no way I can tell if the page is country-specific and which country it is. Sometimes you can see it in the title, sometimes at the bottom (categories). But it's inconsistent and some countries do not "tag" their pages at all.

I suggest we add a standard "tag" at the top of every country-specific page (template? namespace? title suffix?) and a country homepage link at the bottom (category? normal link? another template?). Link to a generic English page would be ambiguous IMO.

Understood and agreed. I propose that we have this "country specific note" on every page that would be specific to a location where things could be different in other countries. But when the instructions are more about how Waze works, you would not have such a note up there. It is in that box that even the US pages could lead to a breakdown of other country pages at the bottom of the page where you can pick an alternate link and editors in other countries can add their localized pages over time.

Regarding links from generic English pages to country-specific. It seems to me that How to label and name roads is a good example, while Road Type is a bad one.

I guess at least the following pages should be country-specific:

1. Road type
2. How to label and name roads + abbreviation table
3. Best practices + Landmarks
4. FAQ for users + editors

I think we are in agreement for what would work better. I will start playing with some template tools and post some ideas over the next week.

[kentsmith9]

You might be right. I started doing some tests with templates, but the way I was trying to set them up was more complicated than the Wiki language could parse. I would have to simplify the templates which means it would take more work from the editors' side when creating and updating pages.

If this system is working already, maybe there is nothing to solve? Maybe I forgot what we were trying to solve.

[kentsmith9]

I am necro bumping this one since we never took much action from this discussion. I think we are closer to making some changes now that could easily incorporate some of these ideas.