It doesn't have to be homemade though. If I didn't have a fast always-on and flat-rate internet connection, the first thing I would do upon coming across Wikipedia would be to whip out wget and download the baby, so that I can browse offline. I can't be the only one.
It might really make people think if they can click Download Wikipedia! :o) What would you think of adding this to the sidebar? Perhaps we could move this file to another server so it wouldn't diminish Wikipedia performance... maybe download.com? :o)
Also, please, please, PLEASE fix that horrible date link on the sidebar. It's HORRIBLE! I'll repeat: it's *horrible*! Either change it so it links individually to the date and year, or link it to Current_Events or just delete it... but do something!!!
Thanks, Chuck
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On dim, 2002-05-19 at 09:28, Chuck Smith wrote: [ re: offline browsing? ]
It might really make people think if they can click Download Wikipedia! :o) What would you think of adding this to the sidebar? Perhaps we could move this file to another server so it wouldn't diminish Wikipedia performance... maybe download.com? :o)
Download wikipedia! And install a web server, database server, and PHP interpreter, and configure them all just right. :) Eventually, we might want to set something up for generating a "static" version of wikipedia from the database, which could then be downloaded for offline viewing, mirroring, putting on a CD for archival purposes... (Every page would have a link to the article on the live wikipedia to see/edit the current version, of course.)
In the meantime though, it might be nice if the database dump were updated from time to time for backups' and developers' sake.
Also, please, please, PLEASE fix that horrible date link on the sidebar. It's HORRIBLE! I'll repeat: it's *horrible*! Either change it so it links individually to the date and year, or link it to Current_Events or just delete it... but do something!!!
Switch your skin to Cologne Blue -- no more date link! :)
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
Also, please, please, PLEASE fix that horrible date link on the sidebar. It's HORRIBLE! I'll repeat: it's *horrible*! Either change it so it links individually to the date and year, or link it to Current_Events or just delete it... but do something!!!
Switch your skin to Cologne Blue -- no more date link! :)
Which reminds me - should we make CB the default skin? I have switched to it since the big update a week or so ago, and I like it a lot better than the standard one.
On the statistics page, you might notice that most people never changed skins - the ones who deliberately chose a skin are counted, the rest never tried. In case of making CB standard, should these be switched as well (they can always change back, of course)?
Magnus
On dim, 2002-05-19 at 10:27, Magnus Manske wrote:
Switch your skin to Cologne Blue -- no more date link! :)
Which reminds me - should we make CB the default skin? I have switched to it since the big update a week or so ago, and I like it a lot better than the standard one.
Might not hurt... There are still a few bugs to be worked out, and general usability issues that I've discovered since switching to it full-time:
General: * The sidebar is getting so long that I have to scroll down to see everything, and I'm running at 1280x1024.
* A lot of the things I want to use are hidden in the middle or bottom somewhere and take a while to find: "Edit this page" is helped by being in a larger font, but "Add to watchlist" and "Talk" are scrunched down among other things and I easily lose them; "My watchlist"[1] and "My settings" aren't even visible until I scroll down. "Previous versions" and "pages that link here" are also way down there. Same with "this user's edits" on a user page.
Meanwhile, "Short pages", "Long articles", "User list" etc are taking up valuable real estate at the top of the screen.
* I find it odd that "My watchlist" and "Add to watchlist" are so distantly separated.
Specific things: * There's no access to "previous versions" or "pages that link here" when editing a page; you have to hit "cancel" and get at the links from there unless you had the presence of mind to open the edit link in a separate window.
* Hitting "Edit this page" on a previous page version edits the most recent version instead. (Fixed in CVS)
[1] Notice that special:Watchlist is currently buggy, giving false notice about nonexistent pages and ordering things horribly wrongly; this is fixed in CVS. Although, the watchlist page itself isn't as important now that RecentChanges indicates changes to your watchlist entries in bold... But I still use my watchlist as a kind of bookmark list.
On the statistics page, you might notice that most people never changed skins - the ones who deliberately chose a skin are counted, the rest never tried. In case of making CB standard, should these be switched as well (they can always change back, of course)?
I rather figured that would be part of the process of making it the standard skin, yeah.
Note though that we should fix the cookie problem for "http://www.wikipedia.com/" (without the /wiki/ part) so that the mainpage always comes up in the user's selected skin.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
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