Hello, I hope I'm not stepping on anybody's toes by working on this wiki. I'm hoping to make this the go-to place for people with questions about Duolingo. --RealTegan (talk) 00:41, January 27, 2014 (UTC)
Yo, I was thinking that it would be totes Coolio if we had like a page where people posted wikipedia articles that were not availble in particular languages, like "Spanish articles not availble in English", or something to that effect. What do you think? Red-Rat-Writer (talk) 08:05, February 24, 2014 (UTC) Red-Rat-Writer
Hi all, this link: http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Duolingo_Wiki#Getting_Help is spread all over Duolingo. Can we return the section heading and the link? Literally hundreds of people have it bookmarked but it doesn't direct anywhere anymore. Usagiboy7 01:23, February 27, 2014 (UTC)
Re: Red-Rat-Writer's comment: Duolingo has a Discuss section at the top of each document in Immersion. I don't feel it is ok for this wiki to divert people. Duolingo tracks how long users are on the website and this data is very important for running the website. Outside of a quick Q&A reference, I think we should avoid encouraging people to spend more time off of DL when features for discussion purposes already exist on the website. (Red-Rat-Writer and I already discussed this. But, I wanted to share these thoughts with everyone else.) Usagiboy7 06:55, March 3, 2014 (UTC)
Hi all, Mygrapefruit, the user who initially created the wiki is willing for me to become an Admin for this blog. So, I am opening discussion for it here. Thoughts, questions, objections? If I become an Admin, I will be willing to devote a larger block of time and energy to learning the ins and outs of how the wiki works and how best to carry out Admin duties. Usagiboy7 21:13, March 3, 2014 (UTC)
Hi everyone, is it okay if I become an admin? Any thoughts? Thanks,
BenTheGeek (talk) 16:45, March 6, 2014 (UTC)BenTheGeek
Yes, I think you should become admin UsagiBoy7. It is better to have an active admin here. Dessamator (talk) 15:31, March 8, 2014 (UTC)
I know I'm not a Duo Mod, but I think I should get a chance of becoming an admin for this wiki. If I do become one, I will learn all the ins and outs of this wiki.
Thanks,
BenTheGeek (talk) 16:37, March 10, 2014 (UTC)BenTheGeek
@Other Editors: Two questions: First: Can there be more than one admin? I only want to be an Admin if there are other Admin's to work with. Second: The number formatting button is only giving me 1's today. I went into "view source" and was unable to resolve the problem while I was working here http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Where_to_Discuss_What_on_Duolingo_%28Unofficial%29 in the sections "Using the search bar" and "Screenshots and Images". Any tips? -Usagiboy7
There can be many admins in a wikia. Only bureacrauts/ wikia staff can add admins though. Also, we've seen thus far, a wikia can work relatively well even without an admin. The trouble is only when pages start getting vandalised or other sorts of problems crop up. Since this wikia doesn't seem to be that popular, and doesn't have many editors it is not yet a problem.
Anyway, I've fixed your formatting problem. It worked normally.
Dessamator (talk) 12:27, March 14, 2014 (UTC)
Speaking of getting vandalized, we were vandalized earlier today by someone inserting a random sentence about potatoes in the Where to Discuss What on Duolingo page. I've already cleaned it up. But, I was unable to ban their IP address (IP Address 68.195.84.109). If anyone currently has that ability, please do so. Usagiboy7 06:48, March 18, 2014 (UTC)
Only admins or wikia staff can ban a spammer. Since there is no active admin, the only way is to ask a wikia staff through their support.
Dessamator (talk) 08:01, March 20, 2014 (UTC)
Apparently the wikia staff has reviewed BenTheGeek's request, and asked that there to be a formal discussion in which people indicate people they nominate to be admins. From the post it seems that they may add more than one if there is a need for it.
Anyway, it seems that whoever is nominated for the position should be an active contributor for the wikia, since there is already an admin in this wiki that is basically AWOL. So it should be someone who is prepared to dedicate some time to this and check up on the forum at least once a week, and preferably contribute/add new pages or content on a regular basis. That's my view anyway. Perhaps a poll should be created so people can vote on who they want.
http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Adoption:Duolingo_Wiki?t=20140315004934
Dessamator (talk) 18:56, March 22, 2014 (UTC)
Can someone look at this, please? http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:BenTheGeek/Admin%3F
Oh, whoops, that post was made by me. BenTheGeek (talk) 00:38, March 23, 2014 (UTC)BenTheGeek
New Look of the main page I recognize the intention to organize the information on the main DuolingoWiki page, but, I feel that it looks more cluttered. There are more words and the orientation is side by side instead of up and down. I felt that the title of the Guides were self-explanatory (though, the similar titles of the keyboard guides confuses me each time I need to refer someone. I would retitle them, but I don't speak computer terms well enough to properly title them) Usagiboy7 21:11, March 29, 2014 (UTC)
As an alternative to the two-column format, what about instead removing some of the background information about Duolingo? My thinking here is that most people coming to the wiki will be coming already knowing what Duolingo is (most likely because they were sent here from the forums).
The words I added serve to categorize the links, which I think will help people find what they want more quickly.
I've been thinking of combining the keyboard guides but haven't settled on if or exactly how to do it yet.
Stec (talk) 21:24, March 29, 2014 (UTC)
Re: New look of main page--- I like the new changes. :) Where has the previous information migrated to? Just curious. Usagiboy7 22:20, March 29, 2014 (UTC)
To nowhere. If you ever need it back, though, you can copy the source from a previous revision (e.g. http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Duolingo_Wiki?oldid=5321).
If you meant the second keyboard guide: I merged it into the other one.
Stec (talk) 22:48, March 29, 2014 (UTC)
Thank you so much! The people here, including you, have really put a lot of work into the wiki. A ton of people have been helped by it. I get messages each day from users thanking me for the link. :)
That's all fine and well, but now the pictures have basically become misplaced because of the advert wikia adds to a page. I think that the picture is important because it adds confirmation that the user has reached the right page without even reading anything.
Dessamator (talk) 06:04, March 30, 2014 (UTC)
I didn't realize the ads were that intrusive. Anyway, I played around with it a bit. Let me know if that's better. Stec (talk) 06:34, March 30, 2014 (UTC)
Excellent this is perfect. We also need to find a better way to communicate about the main page, on the ICG page I managed to create a thread related to it, and it shows up on the main page. I think we need something similar, because the only way of knowing something new has been posted here is to check the recent activity log. Or receive a notification email.Dessamator (talk) 08:08, March 30, 2014 (UTC)
@Everyone I have decided to apply to become an Admin afterall. Please leave your feedback here: http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:2478
Usagiboy7 08:37, April 6, 2014 (UTC)
Proposed changes to main page[]
I think we should change the main page somewhat:
- Remove the intro video and add it to the slider;
- Alter the description to the one here (or similar): http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/MediaWiki:Description;
- Move the slider above the useful links to showcase the most important items in the site; or
- Move the useful links to the right column.
I think the wiki will be better organized in that manner. I've seen it in other wikis and it makes it rather easier to understand what the wiki is about and where to find information, but doesn't clutter the main page.
Dessamator (talk) 21:28, June 8, 2014 (UTC)
Remove the intro video and add it to the slider
Fine with me, although you'll either have to remove something else from the slider or change it to a slideshow, as a slider only holds four items.
Alter the description to the one here
What are the reasons you prefer that one to the current one? I like that the current one explicitly mentions that it's an unofficial site and links to where to find official info.
Move the slider above the useful links to showcase the most important items in the site
Aren't the useful links the most important items on the site? Also, the slider only shows one item at a time, which doesn't seem very efficient.
Move the useful links to the right column.
And squish the slider into the left column? That seems like a tight fit.
I've seen it in other wikis and it makes it rather easier to understand what the wiki is about and where to find information, but doesn't clutter the main page.
Can you link to an example?
I've also been thinking of some changes to the main page but haven't settled on exactly what yet. I might go ahead and try out some of your & my ideas to see how they look.
Stec (talk) 23:14, June 8, 2014 (UTC)
- What are the reasons you prefer that one to the current one? I like that the current one explicitly mentions that it's an unofficial site and links to where to find official info.
I think a shorter brief message is better to inform things than a large one full of links. All we need to do is make sure the term "community" or "unnoficial" is there, and we cover the problem. As for finding links, we have 3 places we can add that, the blue navbar, the grey navbar at the bottom, and the column on the right.
I also think it is better if we don't position this wikia as a guide, but rather an unofficial place for all things related to duolingo.
- Aren't the useful links the most important items on the site? Also, the slider only shows one item at a time, which doesn't seem very efficient.
Yes, they are important. But we have multiple places to store that information as I mentioned above. As for the slider. It is meant to draw the person's eyes to the most important aspects of the site. It doesn't need to contain all the information, only to guide people to the right place.
- And squish the slider into the left column? That seems like a tight fit.
No, the left bar already has its size preset. No column will ever affect its contents. I had previously created a column with videos, and I removed it later because it was buggy. It never caused problems with the main column.
- Can you link to an example?
http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Narutopedia
http://supernatural.wikia.com/wiki/Supernatural_Wiki
http://marvel.wikia.com/Main_Page
Dessamator (talk) 23:43, June 8, 2014 (UTC)
- As for the slider. It is meant to draw the person's eyes to the most important aspects of the site.
There are other ways to do that, though. I was thinking a table with large-ish image or text links to six main topics/guides, and the other guides listed either below or on a separate page. Maybe we can do both, though, or put the main guides above/below the slider and the rest of the guides in the right column.
As for the slider itself, it currently displays images for:
- Language Tree
- Language Incubator
- Duolingo Mobile
- Duolingo Gear
Are those the most important aspects of the site? If not, what should we replace with what?
- No, the left bar already has its size preset.
I thought you meant columns like we have right now for the "Resources" section, i.e. a two-celled table. I see what you mean now, though.
Stec (talk) 00:23, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
I think the language tree is already shown in the "mobile" page, and so it doesn't need to be shown again there. Personally, I think it doesn't really look good, too much white and doesn't really highlight any specific aspect of duolingo. It was changed with Duolingo intro video, we can change it with another video perhaps. Maybe the "language free at last", or the "duolingo is best learning app" video.
- There are other ways to do that, though. I was thinking a table with large-ish image or text links to six main topics/guides, and the other guides listed either below or on a separate page. Maybe we can do both, though, or put the main guides above/below the slider and the rest of the guides in the right column.
I like the idea of listing a few of the guides, not all of them. The recommended pages are a must, and people also seem to like the "useful links". As for the rest, I agree we can put them in another page.
Also, I am only bouncing ideas. If you come up with better alternatives feel free to change so that we see what works best.
Dessamator (talk) 00:46, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
I really think the links to the main content of the site should be front-and-center rather than off to the side. I've combined the description and main links areas and reduced their size, though, so the slider is still almost as high on the page as it is in this revision: http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Duolingo_Wiki?oldid=7162
Going forward, though, I think we're better off sprucing up the static links with images than relying on the slider.
Stec (talk) 12:53, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
Well, I have to say I prefer the links the way they are now (your latest change) compared to before.
But I still think we are simply replicating the content by showing "other resources" again on the main page. That's what the navbar at the bottom and top are for: to direct people to where they need to go.
I do agree that the slider isn't the best for displaying such content though. Images would be far better than those links in my opinion. They simply look out of place.
Dessamator (talk) 13:07, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
I also don't see the point of saying "Welcome to duolingo.wikia.com, the unofficial Duolingo wiki". Firstly, anyone coming to this site knows a wikia is community edited so it is unofficial, secondly, even if Duolingo created a wikipedia server and hosted it themselves, it wouldn't change the community aspect of this wikia. Finally, people already know they are in duolingo.wikia.com(from the browser URL), I think it is better to simply avoid that and write something like " Welcome to the unofficial Duolingo wiki!".
We could also change it to put that on the header like so:
| Welcome to the unofficial Duolingo wiki. | |
|---|---|
| File:New Duo Owl.png | links here... |
It still requires a bit of formatting but that's the general idea. Perhaps the Duo the owl could go as a background on the the table. If someone can figure out how to add that. Dessamator (talk) 13:30, June 9, 2014 (UTC)
Cleaning/ improving "other" link table[]
I think that the "other" table is becoming too crowded. Maybe we should include only the most popular links, and use some images instead of words for some things. Some observations:
- Mobile is already covered in the main table above the slider
- Aggregation pages could be created that will link to all guides or similar pages, and only the most important ones are listed in the main page.
- Instead of using links we can replace some content with images, as we've done in the main page especially for reddit/google+/ words, courses, test center, etc...
- The table could be expanded into 3 or more columns so that it doesn't take too much room and looks too big.
Dessamator (talk) 10:41, May 21, 2015 (UTC)
I've made some changes to make the main page look better on small-screen devices. There seem to still be a few rough edges, though, like the Duo PNG not scaling down correctly. Let me know how it looks on your devices.
Stec (talk) 20:29, May 21, 2015 (UTC)
- It always worked well before even on mobile. But your changes are definitely an improvement.
- Edit: I forgot that i generally use the full site on mobile. But the android phone with chrome i tried it on didnt render it properly. The icons weren't aligned.and the table border was showing.
- Moving forward the best way to make it mobile compatible is to ditch the tables and design it using html tags and css as recommended by wikia (http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Help:Wikitext_best_practices). Dessamator (talk) 16:09, May 22, 2015 (UTC)