New Arch Wiki application article policy

Misfit138 · 2009-12-02 13:44:21

We are rolling out a new minor guideline concerning wiki articles which pertain to applications, that will enhance the overall comprehensiveness of the wiki.
Going forward, we'd like to include:
A description of the application (this is already done for nearly all apps)
The description should be followed by a package data tag that includes:

Architecture:
Very Brief Description:
Repo:
Optionally, Upstream URL:
License under which it is released:
The name of the package which contains the app:

Example for Amarok:

Architecture(s): i686,x86_64
Repository: Extra
Description: A media player for KDE
Upstream URL: http://amarok.kde.org
License: GPL2, LGPL2, FDL
package name: amarok

As you can see, these are just a few short lines and this information is readily available for all official packages on their respective links.
Thanks for your expeditious cooperation, and thanks for all the contributions which continue to improve and maintain the Arch wiki's status as the very finest available!

EDIT: updated

keiichi · 2009-12-02 14:57:17

How does this work out for the new app template that Pointone made and that's been semi-implemented on Common Applications and Lightweight Applications? It should include all the information and I'd like to know if it needs any revisions before I continue using it.

Misfit138 · 2009-12-02 15:26:40

keiichi wrote:

How does this work out for the new app template that Pointone made and that's been semi-implemented on Common Applications and Lightweight Applications? It should include all the information and I'd like to know if it needs any revisions before I continue using it.

The Common Apps page seems to be a bit different, because in its current form, it appears to be giving a list and corresponding links.

This minor policy upgrade would refer to the actual respective page of each application.
I am thinking that if you were to include the extra information with each mention in the Common APps article, it would end up being unnecessarily long..
However, if you think that an additional template would streamline the process of adding this brief information to each applications wiki page, that might work too.

keiichi · 2009-12-02 16:07:32

That'd be good, I'll wait for Pointone to read this news and when he pops up I'll prod him for another template.

pointone · 2009-12-02 18:37:50

No prodding necessary; started playing around on my user page already: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/User:Pointone

Seems like something that should replace/supplement the article summary templates, IMHO.

However, I'm not yet convinced of the usefulness of including this information in an article, when simply adding a link to the package provides the same information with much less maintenance...

keiichi · 2009-12-02 18:45:42

I'm with pointone on this, I don't see much of a reason for such a bloated template. A template for such a thing would be nice but the template would need to be a slim one just linking to the package and providing little else.

Misfit138 · 2009-12-02 20:04:06

pointone wrote:

..However, I'm not yet convinced of the usefulness of including this information in an article, when simply adding a link to the package provides the same information with much less maintenance...

True, but this is for the purpose of condensing as much information within each application's wiki article as is practical and possible. External links and additional resources being linked to are helpful as well, but we are shooting to expand the comprehensive nature of each article. Including these extra few lines at the outset of the article will provide a lot of quick and useful information.
The architecture, license and package name will clearly inform readers of the feasibility of installation and use of the software they are looking up in our wiki.
In this way, the wiki becomes the first, last and only stop for most tasks, before opening up the terminal to install and configure.

Xyne · 2009-12-02 20:26:03

Wouldn't it make much more sense to add a new tag to the wiki and let that pull in information automatically for official packages and maybe even the AUR? It would guarantee uniformity for all such packages and make it very easy to change the fields later.

keiichi · 2009-12-02 22:26:18

Xyne wrote:

Wouldn't it make much more sense to add a new tag to the wiki and let that pull in information automatically for official packages and maybe even the AUR? It would guarantee uniformity for all such packages and make it very easy to change the fields later.

This is a good idea to replace the current new policy.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-02 13:44:21

New Arch Wiki application article policy

#2 2009-12-02 14:57:17

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#3 2009-12-02 15:26:40

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#4 2009-12-02 16:07:32

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#5 2009-12-02 18:37:50

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#6 2009-12-02 18:45:42

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#7 2009-12-02 20:04:06

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#8 2009-12-02 20:26:03

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

#9 2009-12-02 22:26:18

Re: New Arch Wiki application article policy

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