DarkUnderlord said:
Anyone who can suggest that uploading HTML files is better than a wiki clearly lacks the capability to grasp, firstly what a wiki is for and secondly how it works (that being multiple authors working together to create an article over time).
Anyone who can suggest that I said that HTML files are better for what a wiki does clearly lacks the ability to properly read and understand what I'm saying.
I'm not saying HTML files are better for what a wiki does than a wiki, I'm saying that in this case a wiki is rather useless. I'm saying that when looking at all the aspects, a wiki, in this case, is overkill, and seperate articles would make for better and more interesting content.
I say again, to suggest that formatting plain HTML articles is better than a dynamic system when you're dealing with people who know very little HTML and don't have FTP access shows a lack of understanding of site management. Sure, there's no doubt you know HTML and I bet there are plenty of little web-sites you've setup but there's a reason databases and PHP were invented. I can tell you've never managed a site that's required input from a range of people.
No, I haven't. But again: that's not my point, I'm saying that when looking at everything, a wiki isn't needed or positive in this case.
Sorry, how much are we straining the server here?
Tell you what, you go through and take all the info currently in the Troikapedia (which isn't much), format it into plain HTML files, make a CSS template and upload it all somewhere. Then upload more stuff to it on a regular basis as people keep sending more information to you. Make sure you inter-link the articles too and when someone notices a spelling error or typo, fix it within 10 seconds. How much fun is that going to be for you?
I repeat again: by far not all the info in the Troikapedia is useful or wanted info. One of the bigger and more important aspects of site and content management is to ignore the superfluous and add only the wanted stuff so you avoid clutter.
Also, HTML articles usually stimulate a different way of content management. Instead of heaps of pages of small info, you get a lot fewer pages, but with much more info on each page. For instance, when talking about races, you wouldn't first make a main page about races, and then several smaller ones for the different races, but you'd have one big page explaining everything.
Wiki and HTML content are two very different ways of offering information, and I'd say that, at least in this case, HTML content would be preferred.
For something like a hokey little web-site which doesn't post much, HTML is great. For something like a bigger web-site that wants more info and has a range of people on staff, many of whom don't know HTML... No. The goal is to have a Troikapedia as large as
The Vault... and that's just for one series of games. The Troikapedia is aimed to cover Bloodlines, Mystary, ToEE, Arcanum and Troika themselves.
And I'm saying that could be done better with a different system and in a different way.
Are you now going to tell me the Vault should all be plain HTML too?
I'm still in dubio about The Vault. I personally feel it's more or less on the border between what should be HTML content, and what should or could be wiki content.
But I also think that there is more to say about the Fallout games and universe than about Troika and its three games. Only one of those three games had its own universe, and methinks there isn't as much to say about it as there is about the two main Fallout games, the canon, the bibles and all the speculation and knowledge about Van Buren.
Unlike Ashmo, I don't have 3 hours to spend trying to make a single image appear where it should in every browser and to hunt down the magic hack that's going to make it work in IE.
Hah, and you're accusing me of ignorance. Give me a break, for formatting and a universal representation that can be easily updated by changing one file, CSS is ideal.
That's great. It's a wiki. It's not designed to hold interviews and other "opinionated" content. It was solely established to provide information on all the quests, easter eggs and other things that are found in Troika's games. As well as information on Troika themselves. The wonderful thing about it is that ANYONE can write, edit or add content to the wiki without having to know any HTML nor require FTP access to the server so they can upload their content.
If you're not going to find it useful, that's lovely. There are plenty of people who are.
And that's where I disagree, I don't think there's a lot of added value coming from a wiki, not in this case. The walkthroughs, easter eggs and all are already available from a lot of different sources, and putting them in wiki format won't add anything new.
