Talk:Knowledge Base

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Locking

I'm locking the Main Page due to vandalism. If things need editing, post it here and I'll try to frequent it as much as possible to update the page or prod me in irc.mozilla.org/#wiki (if I'm away, leave a message and feel free to make faces at me).

I'm designing a layout that I think wil be easier for first-time browsers of this site. Please check my Userpage to see what I am doing Stex 07:20, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Bugzilla

You should put Bugzilla in under Other Mozilla.org Applications. Better yet, replace these links with a working category feature, a la Wikipedia. Right now, the MediaWiki:Categories page is protected and includes the exciting text "Categories" and only that. Alternatively, Special:Categories includes a grand total of 6 different categories, none of which include that categories on the main page. Superm401 12:30, 5 Feb 2005 (PST). As an example of what we could have, see Wikipedia:Browse by category. Note, I realize that this isn't aspiring to be Wikipedia, and it shouldn't be, but this could make the system much more organized. Superm401 12:30, 5 Feb 2005 (PST)

This looks promising. Any way to get categories to "embed" themselves into the front page? I want users to have a working table of contents with links to various places the moment they arrive at the front page. There's also the issue of whether or not a sysop can protect a category from inclusion, so that the sysop still has a tight rein on whether or not something appears to a user the first time he arrives here (like the protection we have on the front page right now to prevent links to any articles/links from being added).

The front page will probably have to be edited manually to point to categories; please discuss this on Talk:Rules and Talk:Rules/Categories. --asqueella

Removed resolved issues

Removed resolved issues, you can see them in page history. --asqueella 08:14, 30 Mar 2005 (PST)

suggestion: style change

By using the default wikimedia skin this wiki looks sadly unprofessional. By comparison with the beautifully designed MozillaZine header, the bottom part of the page seems to have simply being forced. Wikimedia has a gallery of user styles (most of them licensed as a free document) that serves as an example of how simple changes (like the color-schema) could give more life to this knowledge base. You want to be Mozillazine, not a wikipedia looking amateur wiki.

Cheops might give you an idea of a warmer look for this page, and MiniMenu shows the wonderful possibilities the wiki has. --Avsa 20:18, 18 Apr 2005 (PDT)

Agreed, I'd love to see a better-looking style, but that depends on finding someone willing to implement it! --Mozcerize 01:01, 19 Apr 2005 (PDT)

One style issue is that table cells have no border when displayed in Opera, so pages like about:config entries are very difficult to read. --Mozcerize 06:19, 13 September 2005 (PDT)

Eww. I've opened a discussion about that (just now) Template talk:Prettytable. --shadytrees

The Mozilla Thunderbird Help link

Hi, In the section on Mozilla Thunderbird the links are 'dead'! I think you need to change this:

Need more help? Visit <a href='http://texturizer.net/thunderbird/support.html' class='external' title="http://texturizer.net/thunderbird/support.html">Mozilla Thunderbird Help</a> (http://texturizer.net/thunderbird/support.html) or browse the <a href="/Thunderbird_:_Links" title ="Thunderbird : Links"> Thunderbird links</a> page.

TO:

Need more help? Visit <a href='http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/' class='external' title="http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/">Mozilla Thunderbird Help</a> (http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/) or browse the <a href="/Thunderbird_:_Links" title ="Thunderbird : Links"> Thunderbird links</a> page.

Done. --hao2lian

Templates

Is there a Special page which lists all the templates available? I can't find it if there is! If there isn't we should definitely create one, because I can never find the templates that I'm looking for (to remind myself of their exact title). --Mozcerize 02:16, 4 Jun 2005 (PDT)

I would also like to know this. --Wintogreen 02:30, 17 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Seems that Special:Allpages ought to look instead like this one, where you can choose to show all articles in a certain namespace. Are we using an outdated wiki version? --Wintogreen 10:02, 20 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Thanks Wintogreen, and good news---our AllPages now works correctly. It is extremely useful, as you can filter by article title and by namespace, including template and category. But there's a minor problem with it. When you first visit it, is lists only a couple of articles which seem to be randomly chosen! You actually have to click the "Go" button to create the list. Instead, a welcome message should appear, as with the Wikimedia page.

Also, it would still be very useful to have a Special page for templates, like the one that exists for categories. Ideally it would list all templates and display the text which forms each template. --Mozcerize 06:15, 13 September 2005 (PDT)

Directing people to the forums

Would it be possible on the kb account creation/login page (i.e., Special:Userlogin) to include a boldfaced line referring people to the forums? There seem to be more and more pages like User talk:SciFiPecan, and maybe something like {{noquestions}} on the login page would deter some of these people. --Wintogreen 02:30, 17 Jun 2005 (PDT)

I would also like this to be implamented. It is a very good idea Stex 04:10, 6 Jul 2005 (PDT)

PM kerz on the forums, since he doesn't visit here often. Only he can make a change like that. --shadytrees

Capitalization Conventions and General Look

It might be helpful to add some capitalization conventions to the In-House Style

For instance, do we say "press the Shift key" or "press the shift key"

Also, some of the entries are good in content but look somewhat sloppy (no capitalization, incorrect or nonconventional usage of symbols, etc.).

Quite a few capitalization conventions are already covered in In-House Style; see the "Special punctuation and formatting" section for keyboard actions such as "Shift". If you see an article that looks really messy and you don't want to clean it up yourself, you can just insert {{cleanup}} at the top, which will get it added to this list. Thanks for the cleanup work you've been doing, by the way. --Wintogreen 23:18, 12 Aug 2005 (PDT)

Ideas for Extensions

Hello,

I was wondering whether it would be appropriate to set up a section linking from here to collect ideas for developers on ideas for new or adapted extensions (for Firefox, Thunderbird, etc.) or the main programs themselves. If not, I have set up a wiki at http://allyourideas.com to which corresponding section(s) could be easily added to the relevant subsection(s). I think a wiki is an ideal way to organize ideas and feature requests for developers in a readable fashion (unlike discussion forums which could run on and on without any structure and with ideas being constantly repeated). Thanks. Brettz9 04:07, 16 October 2005 (PDT)

Pushing the Search option.

Now that the Wiki's Search function seems to be a little stronger now, should we add a line to the top of the page like "So your not wasting time wading through many useless pages, try using the Search function over there>>>>>." Or maybe something like "For faster, more accurate results, try the Search Function." --Marc 06:45, 21 October 2005 (PDT)

I think this needs to be part of a wider restructuring of the "site entrance". Now that categories are really taking off, we need to start a discussion on how to promote the different ways of using the KB. Really, effective searching and browsing the category tree should be the primary ways of finding information if you arrive at the site on your own. (Of course, many people arrive at the site via links to specific articles featured in answers in the forums.) --Mozcerize 03:10, 22 October 2005 (PDT)

I agree. I, personally, haven't figured out how to effectively browse the category tree without the Search option. To me, the Search is (and should be) the strongest point in the whole 'Category' filing. Again, to me, the Category filing is a little confusing. To a common end user (which I believe could be considered a newbie), Google and a fast, strong search is what they would be used to. As you point out, if I were to arrive at a specific article and didn't know about the Category line at the bottom, I wouldn't know how to browse the Category's. Currently, the Main Page link takes you to the Main Page, but that has nothing to do with Categories, which is fine, for now. Although I don't believe the Categories page should be the Welcome page for new users. Just my two cents. I would like to see the Search button go higher in the page, right under the Main Page link. --Marc 09:22, 22 October 2005 (PDT)

Thanks for your thoughts on this! I agree entirely that a decent search interface should be a priority, and it should be displayed far more prominantly. --Mozcerize 10:09, 22 October 2005 (PDT)

Tentative try. --shadytrees

Hullo, where should I put this ?

Hello, I've been documenting some stuff on PyXPCOM, I'm just not *entirely* sure it's the right place (since this wiki already doesn't have a lot of info on XPCOM and IDL).

Also, I'm not sure I'm doing things right, I know I'd need to make that page less personal (no more "I" and "me" in it), and link it up to the rest of the knowledge base a bit better. But I'm not sure that kind of pseudo-tutorial is what's expected on this wiki. I wish there was some kind of "community portal" or "village pump" or something (I'm a wikipedian, does it show ? ^-^); in the meanwhile, I come here to ask. Flammifer 20:28, 9 November 2005 (PST)

Your article is great, and it is exactly what the Knowledge Base needs, especially since we have a lack of developer documentation. As far I can see, it's in the right place. --shadytrees

Talk:Knowledge Base prior to August 2005

While digging around in Special:Uncategorizedpages I finally figured out that one of the pages listed there is the missing early history of this Talk page. It was created on 11 August 2005 when Ultrasina move this Talk page to "Http:/www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/rss/c expressnews.xml". You can see it at http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=Http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/rss/c_expressnews.xml

I tried to move that page to something else but it wouldn't let me. Maybe someone with admin superpowers can move it (or delete it, if it's not worth keeping for historical reasons). --wintogreen 19:07, 4 December 2005 (UTC)