Hardware Linage?

[durvivor]

Do, we want to attempt a Linage section on hardware pages? e.g. On the Intel PowerBook page can we add a section

== Lineage ==

Preceded by the [[Aluminim PowerBook]]
Siblings [[Intel PowerBook rev. a]] [[Intel PowerBook rev. b]]
Replaced by the [[Carbon Fibre Intel PowerBook]]


This way, as you browse hardware you can navigate the hardwares lifecycle. Up and down the chain. Useful for folks researching a used laptop purchase, Useful for folks researching a new purchase?

I was tempted to just add this new "Lineage" section to the Intel PowerBook but, wanted to talk about it first.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Isn't that why, currently, the PowerBooks have the revisions tagged onto them (Rev. A-E or F) and the PowerMac G4s are in chronological order?

Doesn't seem necessary and can also be heavily influence by opinion. (Was the Cube closer to the PowerMacs or the AIO G3 PowerMac? iMac G5's great grandpa was the original Mac because that was an AIO too, right?)
Messy.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

If I get you correctly...

Then you just want a small 'navigation' type menu on each hardware page showing what came before it, what came after it, and what (possibly) is related to it.

If it is done similar to the way the 'full' Wikipedia does articles on government officials (look at the block near the bottom of the Wikipedia page for Bill Clinton, just below the 'External Links') then great. It would only be used for models that have an obvious lineage. The Cube, for example, wouldn't get one.

The iMac, though, would. And it would only list the immediate predicessor and immediate sucessor. (Although if you ALSO wanted to do an 'iMac menu' also similar to the 'Presidents of the USA' menu below the succession box, that would be fine, too.)

In wiki code, this is a 'succession box', and is handled as such (This would be for the rev.b iMac):

{{succession box | before = [[iMac rev.a]] | after = [[iMac rev.c]]}}

Which would look rougly like this (Links broken, sorry):

Preceded by: iMac rev.a | Succeeded by: iMac rev.c

You add the 'all iMac menu' simply by adding {{Template: iMac Models}}, at the end, similar to the current {{Template: Power Mac Models}}.

 

[HexMonkey]

I've added a draft version of a succession box template and an example of its use. Thoughts?

In wiki code, this is a 'succession box'...

Just to avoid confusion, the succession box itself is not part of wiki code, but rather a template used on Wikipedia. To use it here, we'd need to create a similar template (see above).

 

[Mechcozmo]

Going to leave us with some messy page footers, won't it? Some of the headers are already a bit messy with Capital Letter restrictions, the Directory template, etc.

 

[HexMonkey]

That's certainly an issue, and it would seem a bit redundant for pages which use, for example, the Power Mac Models template. I think it could be helpful for the reasons previously mentioned (ie as a navigational aid), but whether the benefit gained from adding it is greater than the cost of cluttering the page is a more difficult question.

 

[Mechcozmo]

...but whether the benefit gained from adding it is greater than the cost of cluttering the page is a more difficult question.

I don't like the cluttering of the pages personally; unless the various templates can be designed to fit together properly and seamlessly so that it does not matter how many are used, we should use as few as possible.

 

[HexMonkey]

I've added a couple of designs that are integrated with the Power Mac Models template. Obviously it would be more complicated to set up if we went along this path, since we'd either need a new succession box template for each model template, or require the model template as a parameter (which would require modifying them), but I think they add less clutter than the original design.

 

[Mechcozmo]

I've added a couple of designs that are integrated with the Power Mac Models template. Obviously it would be more complicated to set up if we went along this path, since we'd either need a new succession box template for each model template, or require the model template as a parameter (which would require modifying them), but I think they add less clutter than the original design.

I like the idea and the clutter-free design... but it would involve a bit more work unless it is configured so the model template is a parameter.

Not sure what to do, really. They'd be cool certainly but... do we need them now? Perhaps we should create the articles and fill in all the data first, then adapt the designs to the created wiki? Or do we design these and then adapt the wiki to them?

 

[HexMonkey]

Certainly the articles have a much higher priority - there are about 75 different models on the Wanted Pages list. If we're going to make these changes though, it might be slightly easier to do so first so that we don't have to edit the templates on all the model pages, as we'd have to do if the changes were implemented at a later stage.

As for implementation, I was also leaning towards using a template as a parameter. At the moment we have four hardware templates: 68k Models, iPod Models, Laptop Models and PowerPC Models. These would each be broken up into three templates, while still producing the same output, eg the PowerPC Models template would be changed to:

{{start model box}}
{{PowerPC Model List}}
{{end model box}}

Then the {{PowerPC Model List}} template would be used as a parameter for the succession box, rather than {{PowerPC Models}} (which would result in two separate boxes or an embedded box).
eg

{{succession box | before = [[PowerMac G3 (Beige)]] | title = [[PowerMac G3 (Blue and White)]] | after = [[PowerMac G4]] | models = PowerPC Model List}}

 

[arn]

haven't had time to look into it much... but if we do go with this, I vote a simpler/less cluttered look

 

[Mechcozmo]

Certainly the articles have a much higher priority - there are about 75 different models on the Wanted Pages list. If we're going to make these changes though, it might be slightly easier to do so first so that we don't have to edit the templates on all the model pages, as we'd have to do if the changes were implemented at a later stage.

As for implementation, I was also leaning towards using a template as a parameter. At the moment we have four hardware templates: 68k Models, iPod Models, Laptop Models and PowerPC Models. These would each be broken up into three templates, while still producing the same output, eg the PowerPC Models template would be changed to:

{{start model box}}
{{PowerPC Model List}}
{{end model box}}

Then the {{PowerPC Model List}} template would be used as a parameter for the succession box, rather than {{PowerPC Models}} (which would result in two separate boxes or an embedded box).
eg

{{succession box | before = [[PowerMac G3 (Beige)]] | title = [[PowerMac G3 (Blue and White)]] | after = [[PowerMac G4]] | models = PowerPC Model List}}

Mechcozmo like.