Here are my suggestions for improved formatting:<br><br><ul><li>Literals: UI items should be <b>bold, </b>or <b><i>bold+italic</i></b>). Bold stands out better than <i>italic </i>alone<br></li><li>Links: brighter blue to help them stand out</li>
<li>Indent text/headings under ==heading 2== to better separate sections.</li><li>Increase size of ==heading 2== to make it more separate from ===heading 3===</li><li>Add a bar/background color to headings ?<br></li></ul>
<p>Recommendations for consistent formatting:<br>
</p><ul><li>One =heading 1= per page, as recommended in the Mediawiki documentation</li><li>Describe UI items/options with a clear separation between the word and the description</li><ul><li>Term on its own line, and the decsriptions on next line, indented</li>
<li><u>Not bulleted</u>. Visually interferes with the word itself, and is consistent with most of the manual and other manuals<br></li></ul><li>Bullets are only for examples/lists of things</li>
<li>Numbered lists for explanation of steps</li><li>Omit unnecessary sub-headings, like ==Description==. (It should be assumed that what is written is a description).<br></li></ul><br>I did a quick mock up a page style idea. SImple, but I think effective. Open to feedback:<br>
<a href="http://www.artofjared.com/content/wikiFormatting.html" target="_blank">http://www.artofjared.com/content/wikiFormatting.html</a><br>
<br>To answer your question Cal, I felt that it was maybe too simplified. I think removing unnecessary sub-headings is good, but not all of them, Also, I think UI items should remain formatted. I have mixed feelings about boxes/RefBoxes. They are ugly, but do serve an important function. Maybe they could be reworked into something better looking, but not removed. I agree that simplification is good, but we shouldn't over simplify.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 4:20 PM, Fade <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:fade_docboard_blender@ymail.com" target="_blank">fade_docboard_blender@ymail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div>Hi Docboard,<br>
<br>
Apologies for the delay. I've been out of state on holidays for
the last few days and have only just checked my mail.<br>
<br>
Cal: I'm going to be working on the Sketching/Drawing page for the
next few hours so what I'll do is merge your work and mine into
what I've done so far at the below link. I'll let you know when
I'm done and then we can see if anything else needs to be added
and we can add in Jim's comments from your work.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Fade/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing" target="_blank">http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Fade/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing</a><br>
<br>
Apologies too as I forgot to put a note on the Drawing page that I
was going to propose merging the Sketching/Drawing pages together
(I have done the page to reflect this).<br>
<br>
I'm happy to help with a formatting/layout review. To kick it off,
once I've finished the Sketching/Drawing page today, I'll
duplicate it a few times and use it as a test for some
layout/formatting tests as there's enough elements in there to
have a bit of a play with. I'll post back in a day or so with the
links and some thoughts.<br>
<br>
Regards<span><font color="#888888"><br>
Fade</font></span><div><div><br>
<br>
On 11/01/13 12:05, Cal McGaugh wrote:<br>
</div></div></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div><div>
<div> Hi Keston, </div>
<div> </div>
<div> As I began to look closely at the current pages that Jim
assigned me to edit (Sketching) , I realized why I hadn't been
using the </div>
<div> wiki more in the past.....I find the current formatting very
distracting, and difficult to extract & understand </div>
<div> the relevant info of the page. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> So I took the liberty to remove most of the template code to
see how it would look. </div>
<div> e.g. "Description", "Options", "Usage" etc, the
in-line button images, numbering each heading (1.2.1.2 etc), </div>
<div> and the large darker boxes (at least in the Naiad skin
version). </div>
<div> </div>
<div> They are un-necessary, and in fact, counter-productive to
useability, imho. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div> I showed this to Jim Tucker and he seemed to think it was
an improvement. </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div> Here is the current version of this page using templates </div>
<div>
<a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing" target="_blank">http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Sketching/Drawing</a>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div> And this is the one that I edited by removing most of the
templates. </div>
<div> <a href="http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Megacal" target="_blank">http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Megacal</a> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<div> I kept the relevant headings with their font size &
bolding, also bulleted points. The rest was redundant and
distracting......at least for me, and </div>
<div> I think for many others as well. </div>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div> Not only would it make the pages easier to use, it makes it
easier to create & edit if we aren't constrained to use </div>
<div> the templates. This does not mean that pages would become
inconsistant.....the style should always be consistant. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> <span>"The main purpose of wiki maintenance is to ensure
that the content of each page provides the user with a clear,</span>
</div>
<div> <span>concise and up-to-date description of the Blender
function in the current version. Over and above this, the page</span>
</div>
<div> <span> should conform with the User Manual context (see
below) so that we keep a uniform User Manual layout."
....should always be the standard. </span> </div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div> <span>I'd also like to propose doing a user poll at
Blenderartists.org (if you think it would be productive and
help to improve useability) to ask if: </span> </div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span>Do you use the wiki? </span></li>
<li>How often % vs videos and/or books?</li>
<li>Do you have any suggestions for improving it so you would
use it more? </li>
<li>What do you think of this page vs this page? (the current
version vs my proposed version). </li>
</ul>
<div> BTW, I didn't realize until after I had started the
editing that Fade had already started working on the Sketching
pages.......I tried to contact him/her to see if they wanted
to finish </div>
<div> alone, with my help, or would want me to finish the
pages....no reply , so am not publishing the pages yet, though
did submit it to Jim for review. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> There's a good primer on website useability, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357869508&sr=8-1&keywords=book+don%27t+make+me+think" target="_blank">Don't
Make Me Think</a>, and I believe the same idea makes sense
for the wiki, too. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> I was going to post this at the doc-board, but wanted to
get your Ok first. It may have even already been proposed
years ago.....I'm still wet behind the ears here & in
Blender. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> If you do think it's worth pursuing, I'd even be willing
to limit my editing to cleaning up all the current
pages.......it would be a good project to keep me off the
streets. =) </div>
<div> </div>
<div> Whatever you think is best, I'll abide with it. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> Thanks, </div>
<div> Cal </div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div> <span> </span> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
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