User talk:Skybike/Template:Newsletter-header-translate

Hi, so far, the template has been kept here Talk:Next_newsletter - I guess, we should pick a more obvious location ? --Hooray (talk) 13:46, 24 June 2020 (EDT)

Hi Hooray,

first, I welcome to see the newsletter becoming more popular these days. And in fact I already contributed to Talk:Next newsletter. But in mid 2017 we discussed a replacement for Talk: Next newsletter. You can find that discussion at Village Pump 2018. Johan G designed a new/better newsletter here. Later I continued that project here. The official newsletter switched to the new design in September 2018 started by legoboyvdlp.

There are many differences in design, just note the manual "Table of Content" below that title box at Talk:Next newsletter. We decided to switch back to the regular TOC to lower the entry level for new authors. (discussion)

The template has a huge scale of automatisation. Mediawiki has the ability to "preload" a page while creating a new one:

• Click at the top right of the Newsletter header where it says "create next edition"!
• You are about to create a new page. But the whole code is already filled in. Click Preview (Save) to create the Newsletter.
• No need to copy the code manually from Talk:Next newsletter.
• No need to adjust any header dates or category numbers.
• Every author can create a Newsletter in 2 simple clicks.

The project consists of 3 pages currently in my sandbox:

• Newsletter Example: an replacement for Talk:Next newsletter by Johan G. Feel free to edit that page.
• {{This months newsletter}} complex template to manage the preload stuff.
• And then an enhanced {{Newsletter header}} using preloading links. The old header has alignment issues on mobile devices as well and does not support translations.

It is a 100% ready to use and legoboyvdlp created the first "new" Newsletter in September 2018. Since then every single newsletter has been ceated that way and using the new design.

Having such a frequently used code at a private sandbox is not what a "sandbox" is made for. At Village Pump I asked for thoughts on publishing it but never got any reaction (mid 2018). I am still willing to bring that into the real FlightGear wiki. I could copy all components to "FlightGear main" and merge all changes of Talk:Next newsletter to the new design here.

As said, this system already runs for almost 2 years without any issue. Although getting back to a copy-paste based system, as we had it before 2018, might be a valid option as well (I have to admit that these programmed components are more complex to maintain, alhough they make it extremely easy for newsletter authors).

Background: We had the discussion about redesigning the newsletter mainly to lower the entry level for contributors. These grey toc entries right below of the newsletter header at Talk:Next newsletter had to be added manually and grouped manually. And Johan G also added the "We would like to emphasize ..." text at the top, a video section and some comments for editors.

Another idea was however to make the newsletter multilingual. And in addition mediawiki preload system works with variables (like "$1 = June"), you never need to change such stuff as ("Category: Newsletter XXXX") manually again.

Greetings Skybike (talk) 19:19, 24 June 2020 (EDT)