User:Shrev64/sandbox
A critique.
Simple infobox template
Template for an infobox that
- is easy to update
- has readable code
- lacks all of the bells and whistles (but frankly, does it need them?)
- could be customized via CSS
My main gripe with the wiki's current infobox template is that almost all of its fields are templates themselves (I'm looking at you, /row templates)....this makes the infobox template so specialized that it might as well not be a template because the fields seem extremely difficult to fill out for the average editor. I get wanting to make things automated and whatnot, but it honestly feels unsustainable, in my humble opinion.
| {{{name}}} | |
| [[File:{{{image}}}|250px]] | |
| Developer: | [[]] |
| Publisher: | [[]] |
| Engines: | [[]] |
| Release Dates: | |
| Ratings: | |
{{Infobox
|name =
|image =
|developer =
|publisher =
|engines =
|release =
|ratings =
}}
Testing some stuff using LEGO Ninjago as an example
The infobox. The number one culprit behind every page's Achilles' heel, content that's been pushed down. Quite frankly I didn't even bother trying to comprehend the existing code, so I just went ahead and used the one a section above, just to experiment. This is a sandbox, after all.
| Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game cover.jpg | |
| |
| Developer: | TT Fusion |
| Publisher: | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
| Engines: | [[]] |
| Release Dates: | September 22, 2017Windows Win: September 22, 2017 |
| Ratings: | |
| The Lego Movie | |
|---|---|
| Subseries of Lego | |
| The Lego Movie Videogame | 2014 |
| The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game | 2017 |
| The Lego Movie 2 Videogame | 2019 |
As an aside, I really love the Series template. A shame that it's going away for......profit??? In a more serious tone, I think having it be outside the infobox improved navigation to other games in the series greatly. With it planned on being incorporated in the infobox via a simple link, that just means extra clicks from the user.
General information
Availability
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamesplanet |  |
Why not upload a Steam icon to the wiki and use it? | | |
| Green Man Gaming | Same with Windows? | | ||
| Humble Store | | |||
| Steam | |
As you've probably noticed, the section isn't pushed down by the infobox. Yay! Now, to the first table: Availability. The current Availability template is so... "template-cized" that 1) it defeats the purpose of the template in the first place and 2) why not just use a simple table? I sound like a broken record but the /row templates feel more like someone's showing off and reinventing the wheel rather than using what wikimarkup already offers.
Current code:
{{Availability|
{{Availability/row| Gamesplanet | 3358-1 | Steam | | | Windows }}
{{Availability/row| GMG | the-lego-ninjago-movie-videogame-pc | Steam | | | Windows }}
{{Availability/row| Humble | the-lego-ninjago-movie-video-game | Steam | | | Windows }}
{{Availability/row| Steam | 640590 | Steam | | | Windows }}
}}
Why not something like a table:
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamesplanet | |
Why not upload a Steam icon to the wiki and use it? | | |
| Green Man Gaming | Same with Windows? | | ||
| Humble Store | | |||
| Steam | |
Elegant? Hardly, but it can be easily remedied with CSS. Functional? Absolutely. No longer does it force its way to have its full width, keeping the page clean and easily navigable.
Game data
Similar to the table example above. All of these sub-templates are, quite frankly, ridiculous. Wiki editors are smarter than you think; it's not terribly difficult for them to use brackets ([[]]) to create links. They don't need convoluted /row and sub-templates to do this for them. Even worse, these templates might make it more difficult for editors, for very little payoff in appearance. For reference, I've printed out the code currently:
Configuration file(s) location
{{Game data|
{{Game data/config|Windows|{{p|appdata}}\Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment\The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game\PCCONFIG.TXT}}
}}
Save game data location
{{Game data|
{{Game data/saves|Windows|{{p|steam}}\userdata\{{P|uid}}\640590\remote\savedgames\}}
}}
Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. Tables accomplish everything that these templates do, with far less code and far more readable code.
Oh, I almost forgot about Images! Unsurprisingly, there's an Image template. Truthfully, I don't have a big issue with the template, but why reinvent the wheel? Wikimarkup, folks!
{{Image|File.png|Caption}} vs [[File:File.png|250px|right]]. The latter is native wikimarkup.
Quick aside: While I'm here, why the Code template vs the <code> tags, that, again are native wikimarkup? Anyways, before I get distracted by this benign sidequest. Back to Images. My main issue with these are the fact that they push down all the content below it. Hurts navigation severely. Let's try implementing the table from above, with the images floating right.
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamesplanet | | |||
| Green Man Gaming | | |||
| Humble Store | | |||
| Steam | |
Wait, what's that? An image and a informational table co-existing, side-by-side? Beautiful, if I do say so myself. The image is displayed using thumb. Not particularly ideal, but it does a good job autosizing the image while maintaining the caption. It doesn't require the Image template because it's not trying to reinvent the wheel.
Galleries might be worth having, depending on the use-case. They do a decent job of conserving space.
In-game input settings
In-game camera settings.
Don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to.
A couple of notes:
- I love the purpose of the PCGW and I'm glad it exists. It provides a ton of helpful information and is invaluable for some games. I just wish it didn't feel so cumbersome to navigate.
- I have no idea how this behaves on Mobile, but guessing from my experience on Wikia/Fandom, my implementation would be good. Maybe the current templates work extraordinarily well on mobile? I don't know.