Help talk:Contributor Help - Revision history

Carolbmoss at 17:36, 22 December 2011

2011-12-22T17:36:39Z

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	==  Changes to this page ==		==  Changes to this page ==

−	I like the title change. It works. --[[User:Carolbmoss\|Carol B. Moss]] 17:36, 22 December 2011 (UTC)	+	I like the title change. It works. --[[User:Carolbmoss\|Carol B. Moss]] 17:36, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
−		+
−		+

	I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:		I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:

Carolbmoss: comment added

2011-12-22T17:36:21Z

comment added

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	==  Changes to this page ==		==  Changes to this page ==
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		+	I like the title change. It works. --[[User:Carolbmoss\|Carol B. Moss]] 17:36, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
		+
		+

	I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:		I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:

Evancol: moved Help talk:Edit and Contribute to Help talk:Contributor Help

2011-12-21T16:35:00Z

moved Help talk:Edit and Contribute to Help talk:Contributor Help

← Older revision

Revision as of 16:35, 21 December 2011

Randyhoffman at 15:59, 29 November 2011

2011-11-29T15:59:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:59, 29 November 2011
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	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

−	:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)	+	:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
−	::::::I think my overall issue with help on the wiki is that if someone hears about the wiki and wants to contribute, there is no single comprehensive resource where they can go an learn everything they need to use the wiki. You actually cannot even find a list of the skills that someone should have in order to contribute.	+	::::::I think my overall issue with help on the wiki is that if someone hears about the wiki and wants to contribute, there is no single comprehensive resource where they can go an learn everything they need to use the wiki. You actually cannot even find a list of the skills that someone should have in order to contribute. [[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 15:59, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Randyhoffman at 15:58, 29 November 2011

2011-11-29T15:58:32Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:58, 29 November 2011
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−	== Changes to this page ==	+	==  Changes to this page ==

	I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:		I'd like to see this page turn into more of a central starting point for those who would like to Edit and Contribute to the wiki. Right now it's a collection of links that could use some "re-categorization" and some additional guidance for helping new contributors know where to start. I think some of the following could help with that:
Line 50:		Line 50:

	:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)		:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
		+	::::::I think my overall issue with help on the wiki is that if someone hears about the wiki and wants to contribute, there is no single comprehensive resource where they can go an learn everything they need to use the wiki. You actually cannot even find a list of the skills that someone should have in order to contribute.

VasquezJL at 02:47, 16 September 2011

2011-09-16T02:47:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:47, 16 September 2011
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	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
		+
		+	:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Randyhoffman at 17:56, 15 September 2011

2011-09-15T17:56:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:56, 15 September 2011
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	::We also have a glossary page that could be used in the quick-links tool bar at the top of the page. See [[Help:Wiki Words]], but I admit that a lot more content needs to be added to this page and note that this page is not categorized as a Help page. I'm sure you're aware of the glossary pages for genealogical words. The [[:Category:Glossary]] will help with identifying all glossary pages. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)		::We also have a glossary page that could be used in the quick-links tool bar at the top of the page. See [[Help:Wiki Words]], but I admit that a lot more content needs to be added to this page and note that this page is not categorized as a Help page. I'm sure you're aware of the glossary pages for genealogical words. The [[:Category:Glossary]] will help with identifying all glossary pages. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

−	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)	+	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
−	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?	+	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

Randyhoffman: added comment

2011-09-15T17:56:11Z

added comment

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:56, 15 September 2011
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	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
		+	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?

VasquezJL: comment

2011-09-15T03:27:12Z

comment

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:27, 15 September 2011
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	== More changes ==		== More changes ==

−	As we've worked on this page and compared things to what Wikipedia is doing, we have talked about how much we like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents Wikipedia's Help page]. In that vein we are working on a new version of this page to use the design principles found there - simplicity, the major sections broken out, and being able to see it all on one screen. [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|Here is the preliminary idea]] - let us know what you think!  -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] ([[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]~~ ~~\|~~ ~~[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]) 16:47, 28 July 2011 (UTC)	+	As we've worked on this page and compared things to what Wikipedia is doing, we have talked about how much we like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents Wikipedia's Help page]. In that vein we are working on a new version of this page to use the design principles found there - simplicity, the major sections broken out, and being able to see it all on one screen. [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|Here is the preliminary idea]] - let us know what you think!  -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] ([[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]] \| [[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]) 16:47, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
−	:First, nice work on the proposed design changes! I think we should also look at implementing the quick-links and the search box that are at the top of Wikipedia's page. I also like the idea that the main help page is titiled "Help:Contents" - I didn't see any example of a Help page with icons on the WikiHow example, so I don't have any comments on that one.	+

−	:As we know, there is a ton of help content in the Research Wiki and knowing where the article is located might be a problem, so the search box should help with that issue. The FAQ page(s) also need developing by adding the frequently asked questions. (The quick links at the top of the Wikipedia example includes the link to the FAQ page.) I'm guessing the Q & A's could be identified easily through the community meetings, phone calls, etc.	+	:First, nice work on the proposed design changes! I think we should also look at implementing the quick-links and the search box that are at the top of Wikipedia's page. I also like the idea that the main help page is titiled "Help:Contents" - I didn't see any example of a Help page with icons on the WikiHow example, so I don't have any comments on that one.
		+
		+	:As we know, there is a ton of help content in the Research Wiki and knowing where the article is located might be a problem, so the search box should help with that issue. The FAQ page(s) also need developing by adding the frequently asked questions. (The quick links at the top of the Wikipedia example includes the link to the FAQ page.) I'm guessing the Q & A's could be identified easily through the community meetings, phone calls, etc.

	:We need to be careful with the redesign because of the backlinks feature that's not yet fixed on the wiki. In the Wikipedia example, once a user clicks on a link to a help article, how would they get back to the main help page? On Wikipedia it's done through the backlink that automatically appears on the page. Plus the help articles are all sub-articles to the main help page. So if we move forward with this redesign, we should probably wait until the backlink feature is turned on for the Help namesapce. Once it is turned on, then a lot of the redesign that's needed will be much easier to do because it's automated by the system itself. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)		:We need to be careful with the redesign because of the backlinks feature that's not yet fixed on the wiki. In the Wikipedia example, once a user clicks on a link to a help article, how would they get back to the main help page? On Wikipedia it's done through the backlink that automatically appears on the page. Plus the help articles are all sub-articles to the main help page. So if we move forward with this redesign, we should probably wait until the backlink feature is turned on for the Help namesapce. Once it is turned on, then a lot of the redesign that's needed will be much easier to do because it's automated by the system itself. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

	::We also have a glossary page that could be used in the quick-links tool bar at the top of the page. See [[Help:Wiki Words]], but I admit that a lot more content needs to be added to this page and note that this page is not categorized as a Help page. I'm sure you're aware of the glossary pages for genealogical words. The [[:Category:Glossary]] will help with identifying all glossary pages. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)		::We also have a glossary page that could be used in the quick-links tool bar at the top of the page. See [[Help:Wiki Words]], but I admit that a lot more content needs to be added to this page and note that this page is not categorized as a Help page. I'm sure you're aware of the glossary pages for genealogical words. The [[:Category:Glossary]] will help with identifying all glossary pages. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
		+
		+	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

JensenFA: /* More changes */ addendum reply

2011-08-01T18:37:04Z

More changes: addendum reply

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:37, 1 August 2011
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	:We need to be careful with the redesign because of the backlinks feature that's not yet fixed on the wiki. In the Wikipedia example, once a user clicks on a link to a help article, how would they get back to the main help page? On Wikipedia it's done through the backlink that automatically appears on the page. Plus the help articles are all sub-articles to the main help page. So if we move forward with this redesign, we should probably wait until the backlink feature is turned on for the Help namesapce. Once it is turned on, then a lot of the redesign that's needed will be much easier to do because it's automated by the system itself. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)		:We need to be careful with the redesign because of the backlinks feature that's not yet fixed on the wiki. In the Wikipedia example, once a user clicks on a link to a help article, how would they get back to the main help page? On Wikipedia it's done through the backlink that automatically appears on the page. Plus the help articles are all sub-articles to the main help page. So if we move forward with this redesign, we should probably wait until the backlink feature is turned on for the Help namesapce. Once it is turned on, then a lot of the redesign that's needed will be much easier to do because it's automated by the system itself. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
		+
		+	::We also have a glossary page that could be used in the quick-links tool bar at the top of the page. See [[Help:Wiki Words]], but I admit that a lot more content needs to be added to this page and note that this page is not categorized as a Help page. I'm sure you're aware of the glossary pages for genealogical words. The [[:Category:Glossary]] will help with identifying all glossary pages. --[[User:JensenFA\|Fran]] 18:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:47, 16 September 2011
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	:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		:::This page is coming along, [[User:Evancol/Sandbox\|see the updates here]]. We are not creating these as subpages, so I'm not sure the backlinks feature would work, unless I'm missing something. We'll create links back to the main help page from the next pages. The FAQ and the Glossary are both linked to from specific pages in the on this page. There may be a way to bring the most frequently clicked links out to the main page, we'll have to think about that some more.... -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 03:27, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
	::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)		::::I like the look and feel, but I still wonder if a novice would be slightly overwhelmed when they see that page for the first time. Especially when once they click on one of those links, they sometimes end up seeing a list of articles that are often overlapping or are extremely technical. I'd guess that 90% of wiki activity is creating articles and editing text. Could we do something to point the user to help articles on those topics?[[User:Randyhoffman\|Randyhoffman]] 17:56, 15 September 2011 (UTC)
		+
		+	:::::The overlapping articles is part of what is being worked on as we go through revising all of the help content, so that should help that problem. I would guess that 85%+ of the work is done editing articles and text. Creating articles is going to be a very small part of that, most people just aren't creating new pages. We'll be moving "Editing the Wiki" into the 2nd spot, under Getting Started. I'm not sure where else we could point people to those articles. Do you have any specific suggestions? -- [[User:VasquezJL\|janellv]] {{toolbar\|[[User talk:VasquezJL\|talk]]\|[[Special:Contributions/VasquezJL\|contribs]]}} 02:47, 16 September 2011 (UTC)