Editing User:Pharap/Wiki Improvement Proposals
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==== Summary ==== | ==== Summary ==== | ||
At the moment the it is possible to insert D'ni text and write D'ni words in romanised form, and the wiki has an extensive dictionary. (See: [[:Category:D'ni words]].) | |||
What I would like to propose is a template that could leverage these features and produce a tooltip that provides information from the D'ni dictionary. Most importantly, it should include the three main ways of writing that word ([[Dnifont]], [[OTS]], and [[NTS]]) as well as the IPA pronunciation of the word. This could ideally be applied to words written in any of Dnifont, OTS, or NTS, so that any of the three could provide relevant contextual information. | |||
(It may also be worth including the meaning or meanings, or whether the word is e.g. a noun or a verb, provided that those don't flood the tooltip with too much information. Though I am less committed to those than I am to the basic romanisation and pronunciation.) | |||
==== Reasoning ==== | ==== Reasoning ==== | ||
This feature would make it easier to provide more linguistic information with less markup | This feature would make it easier to provide more linguistic information with less markup or effort on the part of an article writer. If implemented in the ideal way (see [[#Example|Example]] below), contributors would (for the most part) no longer have to remember how to write Dnifont. They would only have to remember the name of the corresponding <code>Dictionary:</code> page. | ||
Paradoxically, despite no longer having to remember how to write in Dnifont, this feature would actually make using Dnifont easier as it would be displayed within the tooltip on any in-page D'ni words. | |||
This would also avoid the potential confusion that might arise as to which of the romanisation styles is in use since all three styles would always be displayed. | |||
Having the IPA pronunciation would be | Having the IPA pronunciation code as well would be a nice little bonus considering how many pages feature rendered Dnifont and OTS-style words but lack any corresponding IPA. The presence of IPA would be incredibly useful for readers who understand it as it would help them to know how to pronounce the various D'ni words and names that crop up throughout the wiki. Particularly on [[Age]] articles, and on articles for characters with D'ni names like [[Aitrus]], [[Ti'ana]], and [[Gehn]]. | ||
==== Example ==== | ==== Example ==== | ||
A usage like <code><nowiki>{{D'ni | A usage like <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict page|Teledahn}}</nowiki></code> could appear as thus: | ||
<span title="Dnifont: teleDan, OTS: teledahn, NTS: teledan, IPA: /tɛ.lɛ.dɑn/" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted"><dni>teleDan</dni></span> | |||
Hence one would only need to remember the name of the dictionary entry | Hence one would only need to remember the name of the dictionary entry and the template could do the rest. | ||
Alternatively, a | Alternatively, a usage like <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict word|teleDan}}</nowiki></code> accepting Dnifont could also be permitted, as well as possibly a form that could accept either argument, such as <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict|page=Teledahn}}</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict|word=teleDan}}</nowiki></code>. | ||
Ideally the | Ideally the toolbox would be better formatted, more like the <nowiki>[[Has length::30 cm]]</nowiki> property from the Semantic MediaWiki addons: [[Has length::30 cm]], but I have yet to investigate how that might be achieved. | ||
==== Implementation ==== | ==== Implementation ==== | ||
As a proof of concept, I have implemented | So far I have been able to implement all the tooltip information and a Dnifont argument, as well as the ability to specify a dictionary entry name, but I haven't yet worked out a good way to create a template that supports both. However, it may actually be better to simply offer two different templates rather than one dual-purpose template. To avoid maintenance issues, one could be implemented in terms of the other. | ||
As a proof of concept, I have implemented both possible templates: | |||
* A template that accepts [[Dnifont]]: | |||
** <code>{{(}}{{(}}[[User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict word]]<nowiki />{{!}}teleDan{{)}}{{)}}</code> →{{User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict word|teleDan}} | |||
* A template that accepts a [[Dictionary:Full Word List|Dictionary]] page name: | * A template that accepts a [[Dictionary:Full Word List|Dictionary]] page name: | ||
** <code | ** <code>{{(}}{{(}}[[User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict page]]<nowiki />{{!}}Teledahn{{)}}{{)}}</code> → {{User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict page|Teledahn}} | ||
(Note that I am temporarily using subpages of my user page to provide templates that call the <code>dnifont2ots</code> and <code>dnifont2nts</code> functions exposed by the [[Module:Dict D'ni|Dict D'ni]] module as template wrappers are necessary for them to function correctly outside of the module. Only the former is needed as part of the implementation, but it may be worth providing both for future use.) | |||
I went through a lot of false starts before arriving at my final implementations because it took me a while to discover that the [[Property:OTS|OTS]], [[Property:NTS|NTS]], and [[Property:IPA|IPA]] properties already existed, as their existence was somewhat buried in the [[Module:Dict D'ni|Dict D'ni]] module and {{tl|IPA}} template respectively. | |||
In the case of the former, it took me a while to realise that the syntax <code><nowiki>[[Property::Value]]</nowiki></code> can be used to declare a value for a property in the same way as <code><nowiki>{{#set: Property=Value}}</nowiki></code>, and that consequently the following two lines of the D'ni Dict module are producing two properties: | |||
* <code><nowiki>output = output..'* [[OTS]]: [[OTS::'..dnifont2ots(args['dnifont'])..']]\n'</nowiki></code> | * <code><nowiki>output = output..'* [[OTS]]: [[OTS::'..dnifont2ots(args['dnifont'])..']]\n'</nowiki></code> | ||
* <code><nowiki>output = output..'* [[NTS]]: [[NTS::'..dnifont2nts(args['dnifont'])..']] '</nowiki></code> | * <code><nowiki>output = output..'* [[NTS]]: [[NTS::'..dnifont2nts(args['dnifont'])..']] '</nowiki></code> | ||
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In the case of the {{tl|IPA}} template, I simply hadn't peeked at its source. At one point I had separately thought of the possibility of including such a property in the {{tl|IPA}} template, but for a while after I had simply presumed that it wouldn't be there and hadn't thought to check until I ended up looking at the source by chance when editing my User page and noticing the property's presence. | In the case of the {{tl|IPA}} template, I simply hadn't peeked at its source. At one point I had separately thought of the possibility of including such a property in the {{tl|IPA}} template, but for a while after I had simply presumed that it wouldn't be there and hadn't thought to check until I ended up looking at the source by chance when editing my User page and noticing the property's presence. | ||
Fortunately, the fact the properties I had been intending to suggest be created already exist means implementing this proposal would be relatively straightforward and only require the creation of three templates, all of which have already been trialled... | |||
* <code>{{(}}{{(}}[[User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict word]]{{)}}{{)}}</code>, likely as {{tl|D'ni dict word}} or similar. | |||
* <code>{{(}}{{(}}[[User:Pharap/Templates/Dnidict page]]{{)}}{{)}}</code>, likely as {{tl|D'ni dict page}} or similar. | |||
* <code>{{(}}{{(}}[[User:Pharap/Templates/Dni to OTS]]{{)}}{{)}}</code>, likely as {{tl|D'ni to OTS}} or similar. | |||
Additionally, it may be worth implementing a wrapper template for {{tl|D'ni dict word}} and {{tl|D'ni dict page}} to permit using either as originally suggested. For example: | |||
* <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict|dnifont=teleDan}}</nowiki></code> → <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict word|teleDan}}</nowiki></code> | |||
* <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict|page=Teledahn}}</nowiki></code> → <code><nowiki>{{D'ni dict page|Teledahn}}</nowiki></code> | |||
This could be implemented as: | |||
<pre><nowiki> | |||
{{#if {{{page|}}}|{{D'ni dict page|{{{page}}}}}|{{#if {{{dnifont|}}}|{{D'ni dict word|{{{dnifont}}}}}|Error: D'ni dict template requires a 'page' or 'dnifont' parameter.}}}} | |||
</nowiki></pre> | |||
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