>From my point of view Collections are mostly about storing sets of pages with >related content and then being able to deliver them in other formats, >especially for off-line use. Ideally I would like as much as possible of the >cross-reference data in the wiki pages preserved / transformed, but mainly to >have sets of pages available when internet access isn't a possibility.
>From this point of view community collections are much more useful than >personal ones, and in the end will probably produce a category of their own of >reviewd collections that have had some polish put on them to make useful >extended documents (presented in multiple formats: print, PDF, HTML for >off-line viewing ...). Richard ----- Original Message ---- > From: Heiko Hees <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [email protected] > Cc: Wikimedia textbook discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Monday, 10 November, 2008 17:08:00 > Subject: [mwlib] Collection Extension Usability > > > Hi, > > we received a lot of feedback that suggests, that the extension needs > some usability improvements if it shall be useful to casual visitors. I > ´ll share our thoughts on how to improve the situation and it would be > great if you could share yours. > > We distinguish two use cases: > * Users want to create collections > * Users want to share/find collections > > = Creating collections = > > The main challenge for most users is to discover this feature at all - > as most visitors simply ignore the sidebar. The current solution > having a dedicated portlet for the extension labeled "Create book" is > the best we could think off so far. We plan to remove all but the "add > wiki page" links if users have no active collection. This will save > some space in the sidebar making it less obtrusive if users are not > interested in creating collections. > > When compiling collections users are limited to add articles they are > visiting (except for categories). We thought it might be beneficial to > permit to add articles which are linked on a page without visiting > them. The idea is to have an advanced book-creation-mode which allows > for easier collection building. It could be activated if users have > non- empty collections. Using JS article links could be enhanced to > have an "add article" button if users hover them. This mode could be > displayed and disabled in a box in the upper right content area. See > the following link for a mock-up: > http://code.pediapress.com/wiki/raw-attachment/wiki/UsabilityIdeas/mock-up-bb-mode.png > > We refactored the collection page which now allows to resort articles > and chapters using drag and drop. A more fine grained and verbose ajax > progress was implemented when documents are generated. As this is not > yet updated on Wikibooks - you can always find the latest version of > the software running at http://simple.pediapress.com/w/ . > > > = Sharing / Finding collections = > > The current implementation allows: > * saving collections in user or global namespace > * all collections are listed in the category collections > * manually editing (e.g. adding them to more categories) > * direct links to load, or export collections can be created and used > on other pages (this needs some documentation though) > > Still missing is some mechanism to track, describe and promote > valuable collections - distinguishing them from those trial or > outdated collections that start piling up in the collection category. > > Maybe one could use ordinary wiki pages ("featured collections") to > list good and maintained collections. Collections could also be linked > from topic main pages (books, portals, ...). Do you think this will be > sufficient or is a more formal and technically supported solution > necessary? > > Please comment and post your thoughts on how to improve the usability? > > > Thanks, > Heiko --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mwlib" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mwlib?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
