The short answer, David, is that the implementation of the con-boxes
ought to be independent of the size poll happening now.
Yes, it would be possible to make, for example Template:Con_Origins
(which would be transcluded onto a user's page using {{Con Origins}},
and Template:Con_Origins will contain appropriate code to point to the
image, include the appropriate text and transclude the generic userbox
design. My MediaWiki-fu is not yet strong enough to know out how to
do this (but I'll try and research it over the next few days), as it's
much easier to do this at the outset rather than converting the
"existing" userboxes over. That said, if the appropriate userboxes
are made they can be converted to a "better" design later with no
changes needed from the users using them.
Timothy
On 10/18/07, David Artman <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: "Don Sheldon" <don.sheldon@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Hmmm, I seem to have generated a more vocal response than I suggested,
> > my appologies. My original questions were, perhaps, not well worded.
> > I will be more careful in my second attempt.
>
> I am sorry that I came off testy--again, I did not mean to seem so; I
> was just finding it a bit... bothersome... that a process about 3 months
> down a SLOW road of discussion and preparation was suddenly being
> stopped and rewound (or so I thought). Further, you caught the brunt of
> that peevishness because you happened to be the last to post--not fair
> of me at all.
>
> > this list) that a latter change would have to be manually propagated.
>
> The process as I understand it is (was?) something like this:
> 1) A base template is made, with placeholder text to change per-con
> (-warren/-game; I will just say "con" for all, henceforth).
> 2) For each con, that base template is copied to a new template page and
> the placeholder text is modified to be con-specific.
> 3) An icon is made at the size that it will be used, and it is called
> for by the con-specific template by modifying the placeholder text for
> the image file name.
> 4) Anyone who wants to use the con-specific template just calls it
> directly, with no "passed variables" to the template. Ex: {Origins} or
> {Zendo}, not {badge:name=Origins;image=OriginsLogo.jpg}, which is a lot
> to get right for many casual users of them (or so I imagined).
>
> Now, if it's possible to "nest templates" so that the con-specific
> template instantiates the base template on-the-fly and populates the
> placeholder text (and table cell colors and anything else we'd tweak on
> a per-badge basis) each time the con-specific template is called, then
> that would certainly be more structured and easier to modify later
> (well, except for the specifically-sized icons). One need only change,
> say, the dimensions of the base template and all specific templates
> which call it would automatically also change, because they always
> "re-generate" themselves by looking first at that base code. (Right?)
>
> If you know how to do that, Don, then please get on-board with the base
> template design. That would, in fact, make it a LOT easier for
> individual Rabbits to make their own badges for the cons (or warrens)
> that they coordinate, because they wouldn't have to wade through all of
> the base template code to find and modify placeholder text (without
> accidentally breaking the code). Rather, they could just "compile" a
> specific template with a string of variable definitions (similar to the
> Bio box or the InfoBox on the Icehouse wiki).
>
> > Of course, I may be really misunderstanding the current state of
> > things and the "suggestion" that I'm making has already been discussed
> > or even implemented. If that's the case, I'm very sorry.
>
> No need to be sorry; your idea has not been present before, and if you
> (or Mark) can pull it off then it's superior. Of course... it's neither
> here nor there WRT what that base template will start out as, size-wise
> (even if it's easy to change, it has to BE something first, to be
> changed, ya?). So the Poll rolls on, even as we are discovering smarter
> ways to implement the final decisions from that Poll.
>
> > seem to know what you're doing, I'm sure you can handle it, and if
>
> When it was the method that I enumerated above, sure: I can copy, paste,
> and code hack with the best of them.
>
> If we want to nest the specific templates as instantiations of the base
> template using passed variables, then I can't handle it at all--I
> wouldn't know where to begin, to make such a structure.
>
> In closing, I really, really didn't mean to seem to "land on you with
> both feet," Don. Your suggestion was good, but I misperceived it a bit
> and thought we'd be going back to Square One or we'd be taking something
> simple and making it very hard for group maintenance. If that turns out
> not to be the case, then I very much want us to make such changes now,
> rather than head off in an inferior direction.
>
> Sincerely;
> David
>
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