Wikibooks:Reading room/Archives/2011/September

What to do?
Hi everyone,

If I make a suggestion to merge a page and no one else replies after say, a month, what should I do? --JamesNZ (discuss • contribs) 02:58, 27 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Merge it yourself (I would suggest) as if nobody has commented it is unlikely anyone has a strong opinion. If it needs an edit history merge you should also tag it with so an administrator can perform the merge. Thanks. QU TalkQu 09:53, 27 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Can't only admins merge pages? And what do you mean by a history merge? Thanks --JamesNZ (discuss • contribs) 06:43, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * The process of merging two pages has two parts: content merge, followed by history merge.  Content merge is often called just "merge".  History merge is often called just "merge".  Hence the confusion.


 * Content merge doesn't require admin tools. It is the more difficult operation because it requires understanding the material, and thinking about how to combine the contents of the two pages into a single page.


 * History merge is a mechanical process, in which the revision histories of both pages are sorted into a single revision history. It can only be done by someone with admin tools.


 * Once you've done the "merge" (the content merge), you use template now merged to request that an admin do the "merge" (the history merge). --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 11:42, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I think I got it, thanks very much! --JamesNZ (discuss • contribs) 08:14, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Put image outside of text
Hi everyone,

I want to update Figure 1 on this page: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Quickie_Material. My problem is that the picture I want to replace it with is very narrow and that means that there is a lot of whitespace between the paragraphs. I want the picture to lie outside of the text (so there won't be so much whitespace) but I don't know how to do it. Any ideas? --JamesNZ (discuss • contribs) 07:30, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * The reason there is so much whitespace there is that at the end of that paragraph there is a call to template clear, which forces everything after it to go below the picture. If you remove the call to clear, that will allow later text to go next to the picture.  (Having a section heading next to a picture does strange things to the positioning of the   link for the section, though.)


 * (Btw, the preferred way to link to a page is with wiki markup,   rather than giving a full url.  Thus &mdash; Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Quickie Material.  Among other things, the wiki markup works better for anyone who's using the secure server.)  --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 12:06, 31 August 2011 (UTC)


 * That worked great, thanks very much! --JamesNZ (discuss • contribs) 08:10, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Boston
i would like to start a wikibook on Boston please. How do i do this? --Fdena (discuss • contribs) 18:44, 9 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Hello and welcome. First I suggest you read What is Wikibooks to ensure you understand the scope of this project. In summary Wikibooks is for instructional textbooks and guides rather than, for example, encyclopaedic articles. This will help you define the content of structure of what you want to create and help ensure it doesn't accidentally fall outside of the scope here. Then, depending on what you are trying to create (a guide to Boston architecture? a guide to the history or geography? etc.) it might be useful to read a similar book here if there is one. Technically how to create the book is covered by the links provided on your talk page. If this doesn't provide enough help, please ask again. Enjoy. QU TalkQu 18:49, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

how to get a subject page to mention a book
How do I get a book into a subject page? Is there a page on Wikibooks somewhere that describes how to get a subject page to mention a book?

In particular, how do I get the Subject: Electrical engineering page to mention the book Electronics Communication?

As far as I can tell, I've done everything suggested by Categories and Using Wikibooks/Subjects, Categories, and Classifications. In particular, I added that "Electrical engineering" subject to the "subject" template on the root page of the "Electronics Communication" book, but that only seems to add it to Category: Electrical engineering, which is not the same as Subject: Electrical engineering.

I still don't see the book Electronics Communication on the list at Subject: Electrical engineering. --DavidCary (discuss • contribs) 01:39, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I see it there in the subject page. You've done everything right. --dark lama  02:02, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I've experienced a time delay with this before (up to 30 minutes I think)... clearing the cache didn't help either. QU TalkQu 12:07, 8 September 2011 (UTC)


 * You must purge the page for immediate results (add ?action=purge to the URL or enable the gadget for a tab link). Server-side = purge cache; client-side = clear cache. – Adrignola discuss 22:55, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

On presentation of files
You must kept not only pdf files there should be files which work on medium quality cells 80.239.243.205 (discuss) 17:40, 9 September 2011 (UTC) User agent: Opera/9.80 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.2.20464/25.842; U; en) Presto/2.5.25 Version/10.54

Austin
Hello, I am a blender 3D enthusiast in Austin Tx. I joined wikibooks to upgrade a great tutorial to the latest version of the software.

I am 36, and currently run a food trailer business www.sunfarmkitchens.ca. Many years ago i was the physics engine programmer at a video game company. I'm most interested in exploring and communicating science ideas using cool tools.

kesten Kesten (discuss • contribs) 17:21, 10 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Welcome Kesten. We hope you enjoy contributing to Wikibooks.  If you need any help leave a message on my discussion page or the discussion page of any of the other regulars.--ЗAНИA [[Image:Flag_of_Italy.svg|15px]]talk 22:42, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Monobook edit toolbar
Hello, I don't have the REDIRECT in Monobook, would it be possible to allow it by default please? JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 17:58, 26 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I think it is enabled by default. I can only think of a few reasons why you might not have it. You disabled "show edit toolbar" or "Enable enhanced editing toolbar" from your preferences, or you have JavaScript disabled. --dark lama  21:33, 26 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes I had unticked Enable enhanced editing toolbar because it's not compatible with the older buttons I use. However, on the other wikis people with my settings have at least:


 * Also this one: [[Image:Button_references_alt.png]] which seems to be installed by Bugzilla.
 * And if possible:


 * Best regards. JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 21:11, 27 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Wikibooks doesn't make use of redirects and the references tag as much, though both are in the enhanced toolbar by default. I have added a Gadget called "Toolbox Compatibility Layer" under "Editors" to allow the old interface to be used for adding buttons to the enhanced toolbar. Does that help any? I think the developers intend to move the old toolbar into an extension and possibly phase it out at some point, so we probably shouldn't do much to support the old toolbar. --dark lama  18:27, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your support, but I'm still missing the search & replace function: could you please treat Reading_room/Archives/2011/February? JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 21:30, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Malaysia
I've just started a book for my class, "A Bit History of Internet". I want to list the book under http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Computer_networking, how can I do this?


 * I saw the initiation of that project, good work, see Computer Networks it may duplicate part of your intended contributions or be a better repository. Please add a scope to your project so others know what it is about.
 * The wikibook is now present at Subject:Computer_networking (see Categories). --Panic (discuss • contribs) 09:51, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Referrers
Hi,

I'm trying to promote the OpenGL wikibook using various ways.

We already have Henrik's stats, and that's quite nice.

I find that access to the referrers is an invaluable tool to check for backlinks, check for most common search engine keywords or phrases that pointed to our book, and possibly touch potential contributors. Is there a way to see where wikibooks reader come from (HTTP referrer)?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Beuc (discuss • contribs) 19:20, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Only with access to the web server's logs, and that won't happen as it's private information because it includes IP addresses. People on other projects have wanted to get this kind of thing (referrers and keywords) with Google Analytics but it's been shot down as violating the privacy policy. – Adrignola discuss 16:54, 21 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Is there a plan to publish anonymized logs? I'm interested in everything but the IP addresses. Beuc (discuss • contribs) 21:59, 21 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know of any plans. You'd have to make friends with someone on wikitech-l. – Adrignola discuss 00:33, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Is the review system mandatory?
I recently promoted Guus' OpenGL_Programming/Scientific_OpenGL_Tutorial_03 on the blogosphere, and I just saw that it displays a prominent "This page may need to be reviewed for quality." warning - which is a potential turn-off for newcomers.

Since we currently do not use the review system in this wikibook, I wonder if this is a feature we must have, or if it is customisable.

I understand that using my account I could review all such pages and make the warning disappear, but I'd like to know nonetheless.

Cheers! Beuc (discuss • contribs) 22:25, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
 * You could review it to remove it.
 * Yes, I explicitely wrote that I knew this :)

Keep in mind that if someone makes an edit that isn't reviewed, the bar will appear again. We could set up a per-book CSS to hide the bar for the book. I think we could adjust the flagged revisions configuration to not show such a bar.
 * That would be nice. Is there a plan to do so?

Regardless, you may wish to view the gallery showcasing all the elements of the system and also how they can change based on yet another preference (besides the one where you determine whether you see the latest reviewed or latest draft). – Adrignola discuss 00:39, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm considering non-logged users (I don't particularly mind myself.) Beuc (discuss • contribs) 12:01, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
 * There is no plan for either at this moment. It must be requested and I'm also assuming that there are no objections from the community for hiding portions of the site's interface. (There may very well be some.) – Adrignola discuss 13:35, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

List new book by subject
I've just started a book for my class, "A Bit History of Internet". I want to list the book under http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Subject:Computer_networking, how can I do this?

Thanks


 * By adding to the main page (only the main page, not the subpages) QU TalkQu 08:18, 22 September 2011 (UTC)