Talk:Using Wikibooks

Layout
Very nice layout Urbane User. As long as Whiteknight doesn't mind, it'd be OK with me to delete the earlier version. I think the two of us were the only contributors. -- Jim Thomas (aka Jomegat) 18:14, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm very glad you like it. I look forward to getting cracking with this wikibook. Urbane User   (Talk)   (Contributions)  08:56, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

If anyone still looks at this, I was thinking of changing the layout to match the one on User:Reece/Using_Wikibooks made by the person who originally made the pretty layout, but leaving out the policies part, because I can't really think of what more you could say on the policies than what is said on the help pages, unless you're going to go into the history of the policy and linking to important discussions and stuff, but then I think that would be more suited for a book like Wikibooks Community.

I think providing the extra pages with things to do will make it easier for people to see what needs to be done and will give contributors a better sense of direction. I'll just add the links into the table I guess. Ikarsik (talk) 16:09, 13 April 2008 (UTC)


 * I hope you three don't mind, but I went through and simplified this TOC a lot. The older version was nice looking, but it was very difficult to edit or modify. I also flattened out the TOC, since there didn't seem to be any real reason to separate it out into chapters like we were doing. I think we can do a lot of beautification to this page without sacrificing editability like we had. Suggestions always welcome! --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 14:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Merger from Wikibooks Community
I'm suggesting a merger from Wikibooks Community. I created that other book as a sort of guide for new users to understanding our environment and processes. However, the more I think about it, the more it should be included here in Using Wikibooks. The community book is relatively short, and wouldn't add too much bloat to this book. My big hope is to make Using Wikibooks printable and distributable soon, and the more information we can add to it to help new users, the better. I would love to hear what other people say about this. --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 14:12, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm in favor of that proposal. I'm also thinking that Using Wikibooks ought to be more prominently featured on the site - maybe even in the navigtion section in the left panel. --Jomegat (talk) 18:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I've long wanted to merge all the and policy pages into this book wholesale, and use the Wikibooks namespace for this book. Instead of separate pages about the Wikibooks project, have a textbook with it's own namespace. That would certainly encourage the idea of having a coherent, organized resource about this wiki. And similarly for the Help namespace. That should be a textbook about using MediaWiki, not random, poorly-organized single pages.
 * But that is quite a large decision - I'd want community input on both those proposals before doing anything so radical. &mdash; Mike.lifeguard &#124; talk 18:38, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree with both Jim and Mike about this. I've said for a long time that our old help pages should be redone in book format. Using Wikibooks is exactly the book that could replace those old pages. That's going to be a huge project though, so this probably isn't the time or place to discuss it. If people like the merger with Wikibooks Community, I will start working on it later today or tomorrow. It should be relatively straight forward. --Whiteknight (Page) (Talk) 14:46, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

How to obtain a PDF version of this tutorial
Okay, I'm new here, and would like to get a PDF version of this primer for off line reading to get me started, but how do I obtain one? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.173.40.9 (discuss) 08:43, 19 June 2010 (UTC)
 * See Using Wikibooks/Print versions and PDFs, particularly the section on the Collections Extension. --Jomegat (talk) 12:28, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Section Order
I'm not sure when it happened, but the section order on the main page has been changed - I think for the worse. The original intent of the book was to lead the reader through increasing levels of participation in the WB community. Thus, the Reader section (how to read WB) came before Editor (how to make corrections), then Writer (creating books & organizing a community of editors), and finally Administrator. Intro and Quickstart can come before that. Unless there is an objection to this order, I plan to make that change in the next couple of days. Or if someone else agrees that this is a better order, there is no need to wait for me to do it. --Jomegat (talk) 00:15, 15 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I think the order wasn't changed per say or not intentionally done. I think a minor change in CSS caused it to happen. See before, after and diff. --dark lama  00:32, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Hmmm. In my browser, both the before and the after have the Reader section coming after Editor & Writer. --Jomegat (talk) 00:46, 15 December 2010 (UTC)
 * But it looks like you've fixed it. I guess it was affected by browser page width. Thanks! --Jomegat (talk) 00:49, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

how we can calculate elecrical field due to line of negative charges —Preceding unsigned comment added by 39.32.112.2 (discuss) 9:58, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Making a book
How do you make a book in WikiBooks? Qwertyxp2000 (discuss • contribs) 07:16, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * See Using Wikibooks. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 12:05, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * If you have read all of the information in Using Wikibooks and are still stumped then I guess your problem might be the actually act of how to create a new book. This confused me massively when I first tried to create a book and I still don't believe it's addressed anywhere.  First you should use the Search box to see if anything similar to what you want already exists.  Otherwise you need to type  https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/  and after the last / put the name you want for your book.  Assuming the book doesn't already exist, you'll be taken to a page asking you if you want to Create the page/book.--ЗAНИA [[Image:Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Mann.svg|15px]]talk 20:34, 8 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Or maybe I just haven't seen a button which says Create a new book in 10 years of editing here. Is there a reason why we don't have such a thing?--ЗAНИA [[Image:Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Mann.svg|15px]]talk 20:34, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

How do we make wikibooks articles
Hi guys,all I need to know is how to make wikibooks articles like wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.74.53.219 (discuss) 11:41, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Making a complete readable book from a completed Wikibook?
Unless I have missed something, it appears that "Printable Version" and "Download as PDF" only gets you a page or article, as in Wikipedia. And "Create a Collection" means reading the entire book and every link thereof; the option to "add to collection" without reading it is useless as you don't know if other sub-chapters need to be linked. After you have read everything, why would you still want to download the book?

A "book" is perceived as being the entire subject matter. Lengthy Wikibooks may be composed as linked sections, chapters, subchapters, and possibly related articles that need to be in an appendix of the book, in order to be an online-readable article. Unlike a Wikipedia article, a book should not include gratutious links not needed by the readership of the book; if the authors of the book want to point out the existance of such articles, they could be in the form of a footnote or reference, rather than an inline wikilink.

Does the "create a printed book" function use software that gathers all of the content mentioned in the book? It is not clear.

What is needed is a "create a complete book" function that does so and produces a collection of the entire content.

How many Wikibooks are currently written as complete books ready to print, rather than as wikilinked pages? 50.153.5.53 (discuss) 08:21, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Books each have their own category in Wikibooks. Simply add all pages in the category (which can be done with one click) and you have a full downloadable book. QuiteUnusual (discuss • contribs) 12:14, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, that is what I missed. Maybe there is a place to mention that when selecting download versions?50.153.7.25 (discuss) 19:20, 20 November 2015 (UTC)

Some suggestion
Dear All, I have came across Using Wikibooks and looking at Wikibooks Template. As I'm going through Wikibooks Template, I noted that two fairly important pages (i) Wikibooks:Template https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Templates and (ii) Help:Templates https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Help:Templates are not appearing in Using Wikibooks/Advance Techniques which describes about Wikibooks Templates https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_Wikibooks/Advanced_Techniques.

One have to navigate to Using Wikibooks/Advance Techniques -> Sandbox -> Help:Templates only have the visibility to the link of the Help:Templates. Will putting Help:Templates and Wikibooks:Templates in the page like Using Wikibooks/Advance Techniques help to improve the navigation and the accessibility of users to the Wikibooks Templates resources? Hope this help. Thanks! Shchung (discuss • contribs) 09:14, 16 April 2016 (UTC)

Book communities
For some years I've had in mind to add a discussion of adopting a book to this book, presumably with some related themes attached. Having made some progress, here are a few notes.
 * Possible inspiration:.
 * Some material was merged in 2008 (as discussed above) from a previous book by User:Whiteknight, . As remarked, there wasn't a great deal there, but it's interesting to browse through the deleted book (if you've got an admin bit to do so); here are some highlights:
 * Remarks now at /What Is Wikibooks about History and Community are mostly from Wikibooks Community/Introduction, with a few changes which include the addition of the trailing words "in the section The Wikibooks Community". I take this as a good sign that what I want to add is not unreasonable.
 * There's some interesting project history, that I'm not sure off hand where else we might have recorded atm, at Wikibooks Community/The Reading Room and Wikibooks Community/Featured Books.

--Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 17:16, 11 August 2019 (UTC)
 * For my next step, I mean to reread Using Wikibooks fully, to grok what's there, and where and how one might integrate the new material.


 * I've found the Reading Room history, at /Discussion and Consensus. That page, /Discussion and Consensus, is probably at the point in the book outline where the additional material ought to go. The trouble is that while what it says is true, it's missing part of the picture.  It depicts Wikibooks as a single monolithic community.  Maybe Wikibooks felt more like that to users who learned this place in its Elder Days (Whiteknight arrived in 2005 afaik); but my experience, from a slightly later vintage (arrived late 2007), is more complex. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 19:24, 11 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Another important existing section is /Contributing To An Existing Wikibook. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 03:24, 12 August 2019 (UTC)


 * My current thinking is that what's called for will be surgical alterations to certain sections; partly adding forward references, and partly tweaking material to bring out certain important points.
 * /What Is Wikibooks &mdash; reference the two later places where community will be particularly discussed.
 * ✅ --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 21:36, 12 August 2019 (UTC)
 * /Discussion and Consensus &mdash; less monolithic impression, and reference to the later discussion.
 * /Contributing To An Existing Wikibook &mdash; subtle tweaks to bring out the point about communities per book and over time.
 * --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 20:00, 12 August 2019 (UTC)


 * Care is needed to keep the be bold principle vigorous. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 15:18, 13 August 2019 (UTC)