Librivox Wiki
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- Posts: 5849
- Joined: November 24th, 2005, 3:54 am
- Location: Chigwell (North-East London, U.K.)
Thanks, Squiddhartha, I'll have a look.
Another question: on the "Help, What If I Suck" page, section "It's All There in the Text", I was doing a very minor edit ("were" to "where"), when I saw this "Mc{{{}}}Luhan" ... what are the curly brackets for?
Another question: on the "Help, What If I Suck" page, section "It's All There in the Text", I was doing a very minor edit ("were" to "where"), when I saw this "Mc{{{}}}Luhan" ... what are the curly brackets for?
What does this whole DIFF thing mean??
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: February 15th, 2006, 7:24 am
- Location: Staffordshire, UK
diff is the name of a program used to show the differences between two files. In the context of a wiki, when viewing the history, the diff view shows you what the person that made an edit changed.kri wrote:What does this whole DIFF thing mean??
The wiki engine being used shows diffs as a table - in the left hand (yellow) column, is text that was deleted. In the right hand (green) column is text that was added. If text is changed, it is shown in both, since as far as the wiki engine is concerned, the old version was deleted and the new version added.
If you like, you could make some changes to the SandBox, then view the diff of the changes to see how it looks - that will probably help give you an understanding of the idea. (the idea behind the sandbox is that it's a place where you can experiment without worrying about breaking things)
Russ
More information on diff at FOLDOC and Wikipedia
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- Posts: 161
- Joined: September 27th, 2005, 3:44 pm
- Location: Longmont, Colorado
Peter, since the wiki automatically takes a word in MixedCase and makes a link out of it, if there's a word that's already in mixed case that you don't want to have turn into a link (e.g., McLuhan, McDonald, etc), you can use Mc{{{}}}Luhan or Mc``Luhan to prevent the linkification.
This username is also my Gmail address.
"But if you've got a nuclear bomb, then you don't need the Jell-O!"
"But if you've got a nuclear bomb, then you don't need the Jell-O!"
My spelling holds its own with just about anyone elses but I do use spell-checkers to pick up typos. As a reader, I find it disruptive when I'm reading some set of intructions and someone typed in "ot" instead of "to".Squiddhartha wrote:I'm not a big user of spellcheckers. I'll peek at it sometime.
I may know what they mean but then I begin to wonder how credible the writer is when they don't pick up something so simple.
No biggy for me, though. There are probably many more things more important to take care of in setting up the Wiki.
Thanks for all your work.
[size=92]http://climber53.com
[i]a one thin dime production[/i][/size]
[size=75][color=blue]-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-[/color]
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/RobertGarrison]project status is in the wiki[/url][/size]
[i]a one thin dime production[/i][/size]
[size=75][color=blue]-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-[/color]
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/RobertGarrison]project status is in the wiki[/url][/size]
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- Posts: 161
- Joined: September 27th, 2005, 3:44 pm
- Location: Longmont, Colorado
Oh, I'm not knocking spellcheckers, I've just never developed the habit of using them, so it didn't occur to me to test it.
Turns out that it just needed a word list put in the appropriate directory. I've done that now, and it should improve matters greatly.
Turns out that it just needed a word list put in the appropriate directory. I've done that now, and it should improve matters greatly.
This username is also my Gmail address.
"But if you've got a nuclear bomb, then you don't need the Jell-O!"
"But if you've got a nuclear bomb, then you don't need the Jell-O!"
Excellent! My spelling is good but I am plagued by constant typos!Squiddhartha wrote:Turns out that it just needed a word list put in the appropriate directory. I've done that now, and it should improve matters greatly.
[size=92]http://climber53.com
[i]a one thin dime production[/i][/size]
[size=75][color=blue]-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-[/color]
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/RobertGarrison]project status is in the wiki[/url][/size]
[i]a one thin dime production[/i][/size]
[size=75][color=blue]-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-[/color]
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/RobertGarrison]project status is in the wiki[/url][/size]
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- Posts: 7
- Joined: February 15th, 2006, 7:24 am
- Location: Staffordshire, UK
Might it be a good idea to add a link to the wiki to the LibriVox front page?
Or is there one already there but I missed it?
Russ
Or is there one already there but I missed it?
Russ
There's not a link yet. Now that the wiki has content and is getting fuller by the minute, I'll add a link on the home page.
I'd also like to replace the static pages with pointers to the proper pages in the wiki, but for tonight, just a link to the wiki will have to do. It's time to go to bed.
Thanks for the reminder.
I'd also like to replace the static pages with pointers to the proper pages in the wiki, but for tonight, just a link to the wiki will have to do. It's time to go to bed.
Thanks for the reminder.
Kristen
http://www.mediatinker.com
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/KristenMcQuillin/]My recordings & claimed chapters[/url]
http://www.mediatinker.com
[url=http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/KristenMcQuillin/]My recordings & claimed chapters[/url]
Wow you guys have put a lot of work into the wiki this weekend huh
Hmm... maybe I should do more actual work work on weekdays so I'm not stuck in the office on weekends!
Just a note for everyone. When you start to edit the page, check the banner at the top. It should say that other users will be warned until ... If it says that someone is editing already, you might want to cancel and check back later to avoid editing conflicts. The wiki seems to do a good job of checking for editing conflicts. The default warning lasts for 10 minutes. But everytime you hit the preview button it will extend it.
Hmm... maybe I should do more actual work work on weekdays so I'm not stuck in the office on weekends!
Just a note for everyone. When you start to edit the page, check the banner at the top. It should say that other users will be warned until ... If it says that someone is editing already, you might want to cancel and check back later to avoid editing conflicts. The wiki seems to do a good job of checking for editing conflicts. The default warning lasts for 10 minutes. But everytime you hit the preview button it will extend it.
Chris Vee
"You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." - Albert Einstein
"You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." - Albert Einstein
Wiki: ideas for improvement.
Caution: written by a recovering perfectionist.
Listed in the order in which I encountered the issues.
Undoubtedly, if I kept looking, I'd find more to comment on, but this is
already long enough for one post and, more importantly, it's lunch time.
Cheers,
harvey
Caution: written by a recovering perfectionist.
Listed in the order in which I encountered the issues.
Undoubtedly, if I kept looking, I'd find more to comment on, but this is
already long enough for one post and, more importantly, it's lunch time.
Cheers,
harvey
- Avoid abbreviations and explain acronyms eg: "Tech Specs" ought to be
"Technical Specifications". Remember, many in the target audience for
LibriVox have never encountered many of these concepts before, let
alone the terminology that goes with them. The same holds true for
potential volunteers.- Perhaps a glossary is in order. That way, except for the most
elementary of instructions aimed at beginners who've never done
anything like this, wiki writers can link to the terms in the glossary
rather than explain them in place.
[Started 2006 Feb 22]
Does this wiki support tool-tip type pop-ups, so that when you mouse
over a specially formatted word or phrase, the definition will pop up
(HTML supports this)?
[New Jan 22] Potentially useful:
http://www.librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/HelpOnMacros
The editing page HelpOnMacros contains this tantalizing entry:However, I don't understand the help page's terse explanation of howCode: Select all
[[GetVal(NeatSnippets,regards)]] Retrieve dictionary entries from dict pages.
to use it.- Always, always, always, -- did I say "always"? -- run the Wiki's
built-in spell-checker on your work.
I just started viewing the wiki today and found a typo on the second
page I looked at: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/SoftwareWeUse
That's in addition to multiple typos on several pages of the main
LibriVox site. These don't contribute to a positive image for or the
credibility of LibriVox.
While I'm on this topic, I've looked and I don't see any spell-checker
as part of the message composer of this forum system. That seems a
major deficiency. (whine: I'm already tired of copying my text into a
word processor to spell check it before I submit it.)- I find the organization on the welcome page confusing, even though I
more-or-less know what I'm looking for, so it's likely that new-comers
will be even more confused.
One problem is the "Technical Details & Support" section. Most of that
is information aimed at volunteers, so seems like it belongs in the
"Volunteer" section. Since it's not there, may not a volunteer
reasonably assume it doesn't apply to them?
Similarly, part of what's on the "Software We Use" page is for
Volunteers and some for Listeners. Ideally, there could be both a
single Software page like the current one, where everything about
LibriVox-related software can be gathered together in one place, plus
having separate pages with just the software for Listeners or for
Volunteer Readers (so they don't have to figure out what's not
appropriate for them).
In order not be maintaining duplicate copies of the same material, does
this wiki support an "include" mechanism? That is, you have only one
copy of something, say a list of programs for recording, which can show
up on more than one wiki page, by being "included" at the appropriate
place in each page as determined by an editor. In other words, the
content of the wiki pages is managed internally in separate chunks,
and those chunks are put together on-the-fly by the wiki system to
display complete "virtual" pages to the readers. (Hope that's reasonably
clear; CSS, many Web servers, and most programming languages
have an "include" feature).
Yes: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/HelpOnMacros/Include- A simpler matter of organization is the order of the main sections on
the welcome page. Assuming that, eventually, if not now, more readers
will be listeners than volunteers, "Information for Listeners" and
"About the Books" ought to come first, and my vote is for this order
(ie, "Listeners" first).- "Other Things" (ie, stuff we don't know what else to do with (:-)
On other sites, I've seen links to materials aimed at members of the
media. Examples of the hyper-text are "media resources", "resources
for the media", and "media kit". Since that's the only thing in this
section, and since there is media interest in LibriVox, why not make it
easier for them to find what's available by renaming "Other Things" to
something like "Resources for the Media".
Probably some reorganization is need to accommodate this. Some
examples are that a reporter is likely to have basic questions about
what LibriVox is (how to get these answered is too unclear on the
Promoting page) and to want to know whom to call for an interview
(where is this info?).- About Our Audio Files. Current placeholder text:
"mp3, ogg vorbis, speex(?) ... how to listen? portable MP3 player,
computer, media player software, burning a CD."
I suggest dividing this up into separate pages to make it easier for
listeners to find exactly the help and answers they're looking for:
One page that describes the files and file types available (ie, About
Our Audio Files); another on "How to Listen"; and a third, perhaps
titled, "Other things you can do with our files" (:-), such as burning
CDs.
(I haven't looked yet) Does the Wikipedia family of sites have how-to
articles? Seems it would be better to link to those than write our
own, such as "How to listen to audio files on your PC", "How to use
your new portable MP3 player", or "How to pick out a player" (even
though I've written the beginning of such an article in the Advice
forum). If so, the most that should appear here is any LibriVox-
specific issues to consider, such as the ability of a player to record
if the user might want to read for LibriVox.- A matter of style to help users navigate.
One of the early pieces of advice I encountered when the World-Wide Web
was new and we were just emerging from the dark ages of the Internet,
was this: As much as possible, the first text the user sees on the new
page they've opened should be identical to the hyper-text of the link
they just clicked. This helps assure the user they have actually ended
up on the page they were expecting to get to. If the title of the new
page is too different from the hyper-text, how do they know they
haven't ended up somewhere they don't want to be?
Let me illustrate with a mild counter example. At the bottom
of the welcome page is the link "Promotional Material". Yet the title
of that (next) page is "Promoting LibriVox". Yes, the user can be
fairly certain this is the right page, but why not remove all cause for
doubt by making the hyper-text the same as the linked page's title.
Furthermore, there's inconsistency in the pages even having a title at
all. The wiki software seems to put the wiki word that's the part of
the URL for that page in the header of the page. For example on the
page http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/HowLibriVoxWorks,
"HowLibriVoxWorks" appears in the standard page header, but the main
body of the article has no title. I suggest that title should be "How
LibriVox Works", to match the hyper-text on the welcome page. I say
this title should not be "HowLibriVoxWorks" since that's non-standard
formatting for English and the target audience for LibriVox is people
who like books (When's the last time you saw a run-on like this in a
book in English?), not just denizens of the Internet who grow used to
these eccentricities of the literacy-impaired (:-)- SoftwareWeUse page. Needed info: pay/free for all programs listed.
[Done]- General navigation:
Each page of the wiki should have two standard links.
One takes the user directly to the wiki's welcome / start page.
The other takes the user directly to the LibriVox home page
(www.librivox.org).
I think, and Kri seems to agree, that the LibriVox logo should link to
the LibriVox home page.
For the other link, I suggest the addition of a permanet tab labeled
something like "Wiki Welcome", or "Start Page", or "Wiki Contents".
Users should be able to get to the wiki's front page with one click
from anywhere within the wiki.- If the order of the linked pages within each category on the welcome
page represents a suggested order of reading them, it would assist
readers by putting a link to the next page in the sequence at the
bottom (and top?) of each page. For example, link to the "Language"
page from the "How LibriVox Works" page.- How to properly set the volume level for recordings.
Since I first discovered the LibriVox site, I've been on the look-out
for an explanation of how to adjust the input volume on PCs for
recording through a microphone, but haven't seen it (I know how to do
this, I just find it curious there's no explanation of it here). I have
seen mention of recording volume, but nothing that instructs readers on
exactly what to do and why in order to get optimal results. The
several LibriVox recordings I've listened to so far all have too many
spikes that go over the maximum volume. The more of these there are,
the more there will be audible distortion in the recording.
If someone will confirm this doesn't exist, I'll (eventually) write it up.- Software We Use page ought to have links to the existing wiki FAQs
on the software listed.
[Done]- [New Feb 22]
Audacity FAQ. Turn the first paragraph into a question: "What is Audacity?",
like the GarageBand FAQ. That will make it easier for users to find.- [New Feb 22]
LibriVox: what's the correct way to write it? I see it both ways,
with lower- and upper-case V's. The site would look better with a
single, standardized way to write it, which is probably "LibriVox".
The cleanest way to prevent WikiName linking is with an exclamation point:Code: Select all
!LibriVox
Last edited by harvey on February 22nd, 2006, 2:41 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Wow, you've definitely spent a lot of time there. We just really got started with the wiki, and there's definitely a lot of room for improvement. At the moment I think we're in a mad rush to populate. I'll have to look into some of the other things (like hovering and the include option). I haven't had time to really dig through everything that MoinMoin does at the moment.
The glossary is a really good idea. Do you think a table of contents on the front page would be helpful?
With something collaborative like this, there will always be inconsistant formatting. It'll take us some time to go through and update new content to get it to look similar.
Thanks for the input. If you have some time, you're more than welcome to jump in and "fix" us up too
The glossary is a really good idea. Do you think a table of contents on the front page would be helpful?
With something collaborative like this, there will always be inconsistant formatting. It'll take us some time to go through and update new content to get it to look similar.
Thanks for the input. If you have some time, you're more than welcome to jump in and "fix" us up too
Chris Vee
"You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." - Albert Einstein
"You never truly understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother." - Albert Einstein
Wow harvey, this is a great list! Thanks for taking so much time to look through things. I think what you're saying about making things easy to understand, and avoiding techno babble, is very good. Unfortunately, most people who edit the Wiki will be quite familiar with using computers - it's good to remind oneself of one's target group. In the case of the wiki, I think we should over-explain, rather than leave things out, and not assume any prior knowledge at all.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination circles the world." Albert Einstein
The big LibriVox logo is the link back to the main page.