As some of you will remember, I currently host the DIY FAQ and Wiki. The server they are currently on needs to undergo some maintenance, and as such I need to migrate both sites to a new server.
The FAQ is easy - it's small, and takes no time at all.
The Wiki is a monster - the database alone is over 400Mb, plus another few hundred Mb in image files.
I'd like to get the migration done this weekend. To this end, I request that no changes are made to the sites (including adding/editing Wiki content) from tonight until Monday night. Any changes made will be lost!
I've emailed Phil about this, and he's ready to repoint the domains as soon as I'm done.
I hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone, and expect normal service to be resumed shortly. No site downtime is anticipated. I will post a notice on this thread once the migration is complete.
I haven't been around for a while to do anything to the FAQ due to family commitments, and wonder if its time for the FAQ to be integrated into the Wiki somehow? Is that practical and does anyone feel like doing it? - I can't see me being able to do it in the near future. In fact is there anyone willing to take on the FAQ editing/maintenance task too?
The Wiki has got some good stuff in it now, but I see a problem in that although one can find articles by searching, there is no mechanism for browsing it in a structured way. To answer the question "What is in the Wiki?" one has to visit every article in the contents list (actually just an index) which itself is well hidden under "See Also" at the very bottom of the Main Page. I know non-structuredness is inherent in Wikis, but wouldn't it be possible to construct a structured Main Page consisting of a hierarchical list containing links pointing to the existing articles?
This would make the Wiki more accessible to those that don't have an immediate DIY task to search for, but want to browse for inspiration.
The Wiki is held within the FAQ domain (diyfaq.org.uk), and the authors have given over control to whoever maintains the FAQ - and in this case there would be multiple maintainers, or you could consider it self-maintaining (c.f. Faq-O-matic).
The FAQ has already changed from its original format of a linear newsgroup posting to a re-edited website format. Is moving it to the Wiki so different? It's certainly worth asking the original authors if they have any objections though.
But first we need someone able to take on the task.
As I've said before, I agree with Phil about this - I don't like the lack of hierarchy in wikis. However, since the whole world seems to disagree with me on this, and everyone seems to love wikis despite their complete lack of structure, who am I to argue ;-)
That's encouraging; and it does seem to give an approximation to a structured look, though as far as I can tell your Wiki only has sub-categories in the equipment section. Do you know if its possible to make a sub-category list appear nested inside the parent category list, and on the same page' as opposed to a separate page as both yours and 'ours' do?
(BTW Dave, it took me a while to realize your Wiki has nothing to do with Irritable Bowel Syndrome!!)
To the actual authors of the DIY Wiki, do you have an opinion on this?
Yes that is correct, but illustrates what can be done. Looking at the great long "Technical" category that could do with some sub-categories.
Not quite sure I follow what you are asking. The category list that is displayed at the top each category page in the IBSFaq wiki and on the main page comes from a template and is hard coded. I could hard code the sub-categories into that list.
I don't know of an automagic way of generating the category list for display in a page. The special page "Categories" just lists them all without paying attention to any arbitary parent/child relationships.
It's not my wiki but that of the Institute of Broadcast Sound, I just help maintain it. If you forget the .uk you end up with the International Bible Society...
While you've made a good navigational structure for the data within your wiki (well done!), the fact remains that the way the data is stored is inherently non-hirerarchical. There are no fixed relationships between categories and articles other than those you have created in the navigation system.
This goes against everything I know about data management, which is why I dislike wikis.
Thank you and yes I agree there is nothing in the actual, under the hood, wiki database that links anything to anything else except when it is included in the navigation. This makes a wiki rather powerful and as always with power comes responsibilty to use that power wisely.
It certainly makes a wiki flexible, but it also creates a huge amount of extra work, required to achieve any semblance of a hierarchy.
Wikis offer the most flexible type of index, which is why people love them. I just like my information to have a built-in level of organisation, even if it means imposing some limitations :-)
Hmmm... sounds as if there could be a parallel scheme, with a nice neat hierarchical structure, and drawing its content from the Wiki articles, either by snapshot imports or by simply linking to them. It could be called The uk.d-i-y FAQ. Just needs a volunteer! ;)
Lack of volunteers is the prime point imho. We could come up with a scheme, but so far no-one has volunteered to do it. IIRC we only have
2 multiple article contributors so far.
Putting a traditional heirarchical structure on the wiki is I think so fraught with issues its hardly worth considering, but I do agree that some means to make it easier to find articles would be a big step forward.
I also think there's a very simple solution. Its one I was going to propose earlier, but there's just one detail I hadnt yet figured out. The idea was to move the content in 'Main page' out, renaming it something else, and make the 'Main page' redirect to the contents page, this one:
formatting link
when someone clicks on or links to 'Main page', that contents page shows up.
Now I'm certainly not going to pretend this is the perfect answer - there's no heirarchy or organisation, but it does seem to answer every other requirement.
Its easily implemented
The page automatically updates itself as new articles appear, no ongoing maintennace work is needed
People have a single introductory point that shows them all the articles on the wiki, and which they can search for keywords if they wish
People tend to click on 'main page,' so its the perfect place to put this introduction to the wiki.
And finally bear in mind that altho some would like more structure, reality is there is no such structure to be found anywhere on the wiki, and I'm doubtful that someone will come along and a) create it b) maintain it indefinitely
With so few contriobutors I think any solution would have to be easy to implement and maintenance free. This idea is, and it does the job, albeit not as neatly as some might like.
The one q I didnt figure out was what article name to call the current content of 'Main page'
Someone taking the trouble to come up with a parallel mechanism as suggested above, or any other hierarchical access scheme, is IMHO vital for the long term success of the project. Without it, the wiki can be in danger of becoming swamped by a mish-mash of random short articles.
Nobody has to publicly 'volunteer', but is welcome to try out ideas behind the scenes in the beta area of the FAQ - just contact me; address is valid.
That's not what I understand as a Contents Page; it is an alphabetical index, and perversly sorted by rows instead of columns. Nevertheless, just doing that would make the wiki content a lot more accesible to first time visitors, many of whom must be frightened away by the existing entry page. As I said before, the wiki is fine for those searching for a keyword but hopeless for the curious just wondering what sort of stuff is in it.
... which is its key problem!
Yes, yes, and yes. Go for it!!
You never can tell.
These are two separately do-able tasks. Lets try to be positive, not put off any potential helpers.
Go for it!! Any improvement in accessibiliity will lead to more readers; Some will turn into contributors, and maybe one of them will tackle a parallel hierarchical access scheme.
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