View source for WikiRefactoring

This page outlines a proposal for Wiki Refactoring. It is just my thoughts and ramblings so please add change and then I can implement them one afternoon... [[User:StephenIerodiaconou|StephenIerodiaconou]] 11:23, 23 April 2007 (PDT)

Further note: this doc is a complete MESS... it really is just my ramblings... sorry.. it needs refactoring itself! :) [[User:StephenIerodiaconou|StephenIerodiaconou]] 11:51, 23 April 2007 (PDT)

The general idea is 
* Reorganise information to make the wiki more usable to both players and contributors(especially for contributors as it is mainly used by them) 
* Update certain docs, possibly prune other redundant ones (Clarify and clean docs (e.g add definitions to docs to clarify certain meanings maybe and so on)
* Merge / link together docs

== Wiki Structure ==

I have seen a few other wikis, such as the Manaworld one and they have a structure similar to that which i was proposing here. tho we have alot more info to display cause of the split between 'arianne' and 'stendhal'

=== Main Page ===

* Remove mapacman and gladiators... simply place a link to them E.g. section 'Old Games' and links to them for archival reasons

* Keep amount of information short but useful (for example I dont think the Blogs section really needs to have such an important section of the wiki.

==== Stendhal section at top ====

===== Left Column =====
* Use the Left column as the Stendhal player information section. It would start with useful links for Players (mainly About/Manual & feedback... but also possibly non spoiler versions of Bestiary ,Items list and world... maybe they would just have hints instead of full info about the monsters/quests etc.) 

* The rest of the player oriented information could then be linked to under this

===== Right Column =====

* The right column would include links for contributors and developers. Including links to main sections of Stendhal refactoring as i think it is silly having the refactoring information all hidden off on its own as it is where most of the work gets done.

* Link to developers Blog (see below)

* Link to Roadmap 

==== Arianne Framework in section at bottom ====

* Here we will place the Arianne framework information but the links need pruning or at least the documents need updating. I expect all the Design Docs are now kinda out of date. 

* Include Marauroa API documentation , even if just a link to some DOxygen type docs built from source.

NOTE: something important i think; from viewing the page view count stats, the most viewed page is obviously the main page, the second most is StendhalManual and the 3rd is HowToMakeGames... this says to me that lots of people wanna use Arianne as a development framework, but we have problems actually getting them to create a game using it... (are there any valid attempts to use it? a few have made the first steps but then given up i think) i think a discussion needs to happen about wether more should be done to help possible developers use arianne, such as more docs/better guidance, or wether there is no real desire to promote the framework and rather simply develop stendhal. I know its hard for devs to spend time guiding new possible game developers by the hand but should prob be talked about.

Add a READ THIS FIRST type doc which explains what kind of principles should be understood before bombarding dev team with questions like "what is a class" and so on

----
I agree that it is not simple to create games using Arianne.
I will eventually write a book about how we did stendhal, but it is so time consuming!. Perhaps I give it a try this summer.
Design docs are not so outdated... the overall idea is more or less the same.
--[[User:MiguelAngelBlanchLardin|MiguelAngelBlanchLardin]] 07:10, 27 April 2007 (PDT)
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So does this mean that Stendhal won't have a website/domain on its own but that it will jump to the front page and relegate Arianne Framework to a second plane?
--[[User:Oslsachem|oslsachem]] 13:22, 28 April 2007 (PDT)

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The idea is to reorganise the Wiki to bring Stendhal onto the front page and have its links first, then have the stuff about Arianne (the framework) also on the main page, but below the Stendhal links. I think its important to have both on the main page of the wiki, but also important to recognise that stendhal is now the focus (so should come first)

=== The "Refactoring" Section ===

Alot of information here is not related to refactoring ... it is new ideas. There needs to be an Ideas section or something for stendhal. 

=== Stendhal "Ideas" ===
A page which links to all the ideas sections... this could include User specific pages where users can just jot down ideas of their own and also pages which the community as a whole are working on

=== Aiding Developer communication ===

* A developer's blog ... instead of maintaining a blog per person, have one blog in which each contributor can simply add a section with their name/time stamp to inform other devs what they are currently working on.
* A detailed Roadmap - it was indicated in the meeting I think that a better roadmap was needed to guide development
* A page indicating each developers "strong point"... as stated in the meeting, a page to say ''X knows about Y''

=== Useful relevant linking & definitions ===
* It would be nice to have a set of links at the bottom of each page with related pages.. e.g. a page on NPCs could have a link to the How To create an NPC , and also links to the Quest sections for example.

* I know they can be annoying but maybe use of mouseover popup for definitions of certain terms (I havent yet looked to see if this would be that useful, but an idea, at least for the player sections in which we cannot assume good knowledge of PCs etc)

=== Merge ... ===

* There are 3 (yes, 3!!) Authors or names pages... these could easily be merged into one page (well the NPC info should be split to an NPCs page). There is TeamOfArianne, StendhalCredits (thought its not about devs, its about NPCs) and ArianneAuthors... and then a few individual author pages. Personally i like the ArianneAuthors page idea (a few words about each dev) but it has already grown big and will only get bigger, so maybe it needs a bit of thought. Then there could also be a section for Past Contributors like the TeamOfArianne page at the bottom.

=== Updates ... ===
* History needs expanding in 2006 and 2007... no other reason than for our own reference in the future and to document progress... 

* The How to make games docs (or rather, books!) could be updated but i expect that is WAY too much work!!

=== Remove ... ===
There are orphaned pages , prob ripe for deletion, and some empty pages. 

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