User talk:Skybike/Template:Newsletter-header-translate
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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 Create FlightGear Newsletter November 2024 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)