StrategyWiki:Staff lounge/2008/November

Mario Kart Wii controls.
I hate to say but Wanderer is retaining the table and I don't want to get into a dispute over the table. I wish there is a way to settle it down without getting into a reverting argument. Even a few months Wanderer would continue reverting the table. It's like he's obsessed with it. Anyway, I could use some help in settling this without any trouble getting out of hand. Johnnyauau2000 07:31, 2 November 2008 (UTC) Same with the table I fixed earlier when I compare with the manual that goes along with Super Smash Bros Brawl and he could be a headache I might add. Johnnyauau2000 07:55, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


 * As long as all of the content in the manual has been covered, then unless you can actually test it, there's nothing you can do. Wanderer is verifying additional information/corrections to such info. I don't have the game, but in this case a third party is vital to verifying the content. -- 10:23, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


 * You have a point there. If there is a third party, it would be helpful in verifying info. I don't know any third party support but it should be useful for games that has conflicting content. By the way, what's a third party?Johnnyauau2000 13:18, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Aha, it's someone other than those in conflict. The term "party" refers to the fact that it could be a group, rather than an individual. Someone like one of the sysops. -- 23:37, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Replacing images
What's the best way to replace an image? I uploaded some images for the Dog Island Bug Collector page, and I need to redo the background on some of them so they blend in with the table better. If I upload an image with the same file name, will it overwrite the old one? Do I put delete templates on the old images? Do we need to keep them because they were once seen on the wiki? Thanks, - naj zere 06:31, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes it will, but it'll keep the old one in the history. No need to delete the old ones.  We don't HAVE to keep them, but there's no point deleting old versions.  Just upload new versions to the same name.  You may have to clear your cache to see the new images though. -- Prod (Talk) 06:34, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Plus, deleting old revisions doesn't actually remove them from the filesystem (aka they can still be undeleted), so from a space standpoint it doesn't make any sense to delete old revisions either :) -- 14:00, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Code template
Hey, I was trying to make a template to format code like:   HTML  lang But it seems that the template is interpreted with a top-down approach, so the    tags are interpreted before the    parameter, making it impossible to put the user input between them. I tried finding how it's done on MediaWiki, but whenever I see formatted code they're just using    tags alone. So their parser is looking for those and applies special formatting? Anyway, I've used this a few times already so I think a template would be beneficial. The template I started, which doesn't work is here. Thanks, - naj zere 17:33, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Invisible tags
Hey, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what's going on with the Chip's Challenge/Walkthrough page as far as the wikify tags are concerned. When I go in to edit the page I don't see the tags anywhere. - naj zere 17:37, 8 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It's on the table of contents. -- Prod (Talk) 17:52, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Category: Sony Greatest Hits
As I was adding some category tags to pages, I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to split the page up into different systems. Seems like a lot of work to try and get PlayStation 2 to sort the games, or to change the category page itself to sort them based on console from their infoboxes. But I thought I'd mention it. - naj zere 23:49, 15 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The latter is basically impossible (changing the behavior of the category page, that is). Also, what is wrong with the (default) alphabetical sorting? -- 02:53, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It could be grouped by by system with subcategories (Category:Sony Greatest Hits (PlayStation 3) or something like that). -- Prod (Talk) 05:03, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * There's nothing wrong with the default sorting, I was just looking at the WikiPedia page where they have them grouped by console. There's no need for subcategorizing, I just wanted to ask before I go through 300 games adding deprecated category tags. - naj zere 20:03, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Table formatting
Is there a way to build up some space around tables so text flows better around them when they're floating on the left? For instance:
 * First list element
 * Second list element
 * Third list element

should look the same as floating images:
 * First list element
 * Second list element
 * Third list element

It's kind of limiting as far as layout, because if you don't have a 100% width table, you can only put it on the right. Thanks, - naj zere 03:27, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * You need to add a margin-right to the style parameter of prettytable. See the above table for an example of how to do this. -- 03:54, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This might be something we should do in the main style sheet. Essentially the same css we use for the sidebar.  DrBob, your opinions? -- Prod (Talk) 04:45, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm no DrBob, but I would be a huge supporter of that, this problem has bit me in the butt so many times. Procyon (Talk) 04:49, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ahh cool, looks good. - naj zere 06:04, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I'd be OK with adding a 1.4em margin to the right-hand side of left-floated prettytables, and to the left-hand side of right-floated prettytables, but going any further than that will start breaking things. --DrBob (talk) 07:24, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Not both sides indiscriminately? It would have to be done through the template if we're to have it dependent on position. -- Prod (Talk) 05:44, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * No; not both sides indiscriminately, or it'll hover off the side of the page, which wouldn't look nice. We can change the template to apply a different class to it, based on whether it's floated left or right. --DrBob (talk) 07:16, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Image formatting
I noticed some weird formatting with the line spacing when you put a floating image inside a block of text, as opposed to before it:

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 * Embedded in a paragraph

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
 * Before a paragraph

So it looks like the line spacing is getting condensed in there. Where to put the image is somewhat referenced in the guide, but it doesn't explicitly say not to put it right in the middle of some text. I saw this effect on the Dog's Life guide, and just took the images out of the blocks of text to fix it. It's a pretty minor issue, but I don't know how many other guides are using images this way. - naj zere 08:30, 21 November 2008 (UTC)


 * This is another thing I run into all the time. Thank you Najzere for bringing them up.  I always thought this had something to do with images in tables, I didn't realize tables were not required to recreate this effect.  Does anyone know if this also takes place on WP or is it exclusive to us? Procyon (Talk) 14:07, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It doesn't seem to affect WP, but it is difficult to tell because of all the references they use. That's an interesting effect I never really thought about much, but it definitely should be fixed if we can do so.-- Duke  Ruckley Talk 14:15, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Well line spacing isn't an issue, but WikiPedia doesn't handle it well either: an example. - naj zere 15:23, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * That sandbox looks fine to me, however on SW the condensed text is noticeable. -- 19:24, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Really? I see the line break right in the middle of the sentence in the sandbox. I'm using Firefox 3.0.4 and screen resolution of 1440x900 if that matters. In this image you can see the line breaking and the space actually increases between the line where it breaks and the line where it picks back up. - naj zere 20:32, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This looks like it's something that's being done by the wiki parser and it's different from wikipedia (ie. might be fixed in a later patch).
 * Before paragraph: We both put the paragraph in it's own  block.
 * In paragraph: Wikipedia breaks it into two separate  blocks, one for the stuff before, one for the stuff after.  Here on SW, it seems that we don't even put the   tags in at all for this case.
 * --Prod (Talk) 21:06, 21 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Unless the line break location is unintentional, I can't see why it's a bad thing. -- 03:25, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Need for Speed Undercover
I know the game is out but I haven't had the guts to ask these questions. What's the normal process is when you know the new games available and is to be expected to be on the list? How do they make that box image and the things around it and as a whole, how does the forum work? I will admit I know how to edit but I'm not that good at ... how should I put this? A small table list on the side with the picture and even make a new page which is scary to me. Anyway, it's about a month until Christmas there's still those things I have yet to learn. I hope you won't take it the wrong way or leave me with a wrong impression because I'm known to make mistake which is hard not to do twice. Johnnyauau2000 05:48, 28 November 2008 (UTC)
 * You can create a new page in a few different ways. You can type the name of the page into your browser's address bar, into the search box at the top of the page or you can click on a red link with page's name. They all produce different results:


 * Once you get to the edit page, just click the button above the edit box that says "Main game page" and it will automatically put in everything you need for a new main game page, including the infobox, which is the table with the image in it on the side. - naj zere 06:56, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll use the available resources from Gamespot which is the site I go to a lot. However the image game box (if that's correct) will not be there at first. If it works, I'll get on with it as long as anyone can provide help for me. This will be the first for me to see if I have the courage to make a new page. Johnnyauau2000 10:17, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

I hate to make it worse but I want to add two more games for multiplatform consoles. Call of Duty: World at War and James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace is what I want to add before Christmas. I could use some more help on those. I couldn't help how iconic those games were so I'm not going to let this chance slip out of my hands. As for table of contents, I better let the more experience editor help set up those links and maybe I'll get the idea once more. I'm sorry if it's too much. Johnnyauau2000 12:52, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the wake up call. I'll think more about when to use help but what can I do? Where else can I turn for help? Anyway, I'm far too emotional to do anymore. Next time, I should spend less time asking for help and spend more time learning to edit in a more constructive way (not to mention all that hard work that's been paid off). I wish I have a diary but I can't do it on the internet. Anyway, this is the last I want to add because my guilt should be over by now. Johnnyauau2000 07:29, 30 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Online journal? Isn't that what a blog is? We'll help where we can. -- 12:03, 30 November 2008 (UTC)