User talk:JMRyan/Shelf templates

Shelf templates
Use this page to discuss the proposed templates at User:JMRyan/Shelf1 and User:JMRyan/Shelf2 or alternatives to these. --JMRyan 10:26, 4 January 2006 (UTC)


 * User:JMRyan/Shelf1 seems interesting. I tried using it at NetHack and Guide to X11. Currently I put it at the top of each page.


 * I have almost no interest in User:JMRyan/Shelf2 because I usually have other methods of linking to the book. For example, NetHack/Introduction and General Advice uses slash convention, so Wikibooks makes an automatic "< NetHack" at the top.


 * For Guide to X11, I have a navigation template called Guide to X11:toc (now Guide to X11 --Kernigh 19:54, 29 January 2006 (UTC)) . I could try to add a link to that template, saying which bookshelf has the book. However, because only the book, not its chapters, is shelved, I prefer using something like User:JMRyan/Shelf1.


 * If we combine a shelf template with the User:ManuelGR/Centralized development status proposal, the combination would improve the shelving of books. --Kernigh 02:32, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your interest. Issues raised:


 * 1) User:JMRyan/Shelf2.  This was intended to be useful only if internal pages (subpages, chapters, whatever you want to call them) were to be linked to the bookshelf.  However, I think I agree with you that it is better to link only the book's main or top page to the bookshelf, thus making only User:JMRyan/Shelf1 useful.
 * 2) Placement on a page.  The template was intended for the bottom of the page.  That is why I gave it the look and feel of the Categories listing instead of modeling the look of it after, for example, Template:Wikipedia.  The bookshelves serve a similar function to Categories (but using a different organizing principle), so I intended the bookshelf link to nestle with the category link.  The template does not have to be used that way, but that was what I had in mind when I created it.
 * 3) Combining with User:ManuelGR/Centralized development status proposal.  I'm not sure what you mean.  I can think of three things you might mean:
 * 4) Somehow combine his template and mine.  That does not seem likely to me since the template would not appear on the same pages.  User:ManuelGR's template would appear, for example, in a bookshelf while mine links to the bookshelf.
 * 5) Modify my template to work link his.  In particular, have a standardly named page something like book_name/Bookshelf and have Shelf1 pick up the bookshelf from there.  But if we only link to the bookshelf in on place (on the book's main page), that does not seem helpful.  User:ManuelGR's proposal is useful because the development rating might appear in several places.
 * 6) Simply add as a guideline or policy using my template plus User:ManuelGR's proposal.  Now that I have written all of this, I see that this is most likely what you really had in mind.  My best guess would be to have (1) User:ManuelGR's proposal be by policy, (2) Having a link to the bookshelf from the a book's main page be a policy, and (3) using my template to accomplish (2) be a guideline.

Thanks again for your interest. --JMRyan 09:05, 7 January 2006 (UTC)