User talk:Alice/South Island/Template

I like the look of this as a method of replacing the standard title and list of contents. Are there any plans to make this more general and expand to other, or even all, articles?--Traveler100 (talk) 10:24, 11 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't know if there are plans to expand its use. I like its format and look, too, and wouldn't mind trying it out for a Park guide I'm going to do some work on (with some colour modifications). -Shaundd (talk) 13:55, 14 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Not sure if I like it. I definitely don't like the colors and would prefer black and white or something close to it. I do like the idea of a horizontal table of contents but would prefer a smaller font, and I'm not sure how it would look with more headers than this. Currently, on my screen it divides into two rows with Stay safe and Go next on a separate line, and I think it's a little odd that they are all top-level headers except for "Climate". If we include second-level headers, pages with a lot of them are going to have a header toc that looks like a paragraph; if we don't then that part of the functionality is simply lost. Also not sure what I think about the overlapping boxes - I think my opinion would depend on how the other issues are dealt with. Texugo (talk) 14:15, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Part of the design philosophy is that it should gracefully change to two (and three and four) parallel horizontal lines of navigation links with more headings and narrower screens. For this reason it is important to include non-breaking spaces where relevant.
 * As for colour preferences - they can be dealt with by way of skins if this style of article heading was adopted widely. Colour choices tend to be very personal and not really amenable to rational debate. -- A l i c e ✉ 00:51, 15 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I deleted Climate; it seems to me there is no doubt at all that second level headings do not belong in such a TOC.


 * As a general comment, I consider this template vastly inferior to the earlier experiment visible at Southern_Coast_(Fujian) and discussed at TOC. Keep it simple, stupid.


 * (On the other hand, I'm a bit of a reactionary when it comes to formatting. I consider anything with "span style=" obviously a blunder except in very exceptional circumstances.) Pashley (talk) 00:35, 15 March 2013 (UTC)


 * This is not a ToC
 * This is a new style of experimental article heading and is specific to one page only.
 * It has nothing to do with China or any other of our non-NZ articles.
 * The intention is to add other elements in due course. -- A l i c e ✉ 00:44, 15 March 2013 (UTC)


 * It clearly is a ToC, a navigation tool for finding parts of an article.
 * I do not think it is a very good one, but I've said my piece and am now willing to sit back and see where the experiment goes. Pashley (talk) 00:49, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

Messing about with categories and navigation
Texugo above makes the entirely valid point that this template (missing secondary and tertiary navigation) is NOT suitable for other articles.

This template is NOT "an experimental article" which was the lie introduced by recent un-discussed edits. it is peculiar to one article (and one article only) - which is why it is a sub-page of South Island

I would welcome ideas as to how to EXPAND the navigation levels (while keeping a cool and uncluttered look) and the horizontal style, but it is entirely inappropriate to REMOVE navigation levels BEFORE discussing whether those navigations are actually needed at the discussion page of South Island first!

Please remember that this template has already been in use on a live article for more than a month already and it would be more appropriate to do a sandbox in your own user space before radically sabotaging attempting to improve its functionality. -- A l i c <font color="#00EEFF">e <font color="#FF3333">✉ 00:40, 15 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I'm going to move this out of mainspace:
 * It's a user experiment, not something that is being developed collaboratively, so it belongs in userspace.
 * If it is meant to be used on only one article then it belongs in a sandbox - mainspace experiments were intended for things being proposed for the rest of the site.
 * Similarly, mainspace experiments were meant to be done in low-visibility articles - a top-level region for New Zealand does not meet that criteria.
 * -- Ryan &bull; (talk) &bull; 01:28, 15 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I was planning to do just that when I got back to my computer, for exactly the same reasons, but I see it has already been done. Texugo (talk) 03:19, 15 March 2013 (UTC)