Author Topic: Standardizing the data layout for the infobox  (Read 2632 times)

MLX

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Standardizing the data layout for the infobox
« on: December 29, 2019, 04:30:17 PM »
While writing some pages for Sachen games (and especially dealing with a few old, never updated pages) I stumbled upon various way of presenting the same data. I would like to standardize it slightly but I require some inputs as some choice aren't as obvious and should be discussed.

Adding the original name in the infobox header
That's something I've been doing for a while, mostly for games that have the title in non-latin alphabets. Since we wants the top line of the infobox to match the page name, I just add
Code: [Select]
<br/>*Original name using the original script*Example.
Now, I'm not sure if this is something that should be done for games that have a title screen solely in latin, such as Colorful Dragon.
The plus on adding it: completness, actually represents how it is called in the country of origin.
The downside: a proper title

The mousetext
I'm a bit conflicted about this. At first I thought it was nice but it there are a few notable flaws. The first is that it does not work on mobile phones, it's no big deal since it's usually just to show the romanization and I don't see it really missing with anyone, since nobody copy the romanizations from the mobile version (right!?).
The second issue I have is that there's no clean way of indicating the associated language, hence so in some rare case it may be confusing. Take for example with Mahjong Trap where both the Japanese and Chinese name use Kanjis yet they should be translated differently. The article makes it clear here (but in a rather lousy way). Some pages such as this one use the mousetext functionality and add the romanization used. I find it slightly confusing on my end but it can hide rather long and unecessary parenthesis in the first paragraph too.
The question stands also for games that use foreign script to phonetically (closely) match to the english name. Such as Hacker International (Hakkāintānashonaru), Black Dragon (블랙 드래곤 - Beullaeg deulaegon). For uniformity I want to say yes but in another way, is the romanization appropriate?

Misc
  • For games that were cancelled by a publisher and ended up released by another, I generally add the original intended publisher in <small> below the actual one. Example. Some people may find it confusing however and this fact could stay in the trivia rather than the infobox.
  • Adding <br/> to the alternate names list when they don't fit in the same line. Example

Unrelated
The Sachen page needs a serious clean-up. It should be updated to use tables for the games lists and also I would consider separating Joy Van from the Sachen page for clarity. And maybe even considering making a page for Thin Chen Enterprises? If we have proper things to say on each entities. I'm not too sure on the later but I definitely think we could have distinct Joy Van and Sachen pages, at the very least. I don't mind doing some of the layout but I'm definitely no Sachen expert so I can't do much regarding the games description & related commentaries.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2019, 07:29:55 PM by MLX »

guyzis

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Re: Standardizing the data layout for the infobox
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2019, 05:01:21 PM »
I have a suggestion. You mentioned the mousetext, right? Why not make a separate domain for the wiki optimized for mobile? Or like, make a script that detects if it's being run on a mobile device or on a computer, to change the view mode. In both cases, the mousetext would be displayed by clicking on the text to show a romanization, which i like. Both methods are complicated. Is anyone in favor of this?

MLX

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Re: Standardizing the data layout for the infobox
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2019, 06:59:15 PM »
I'm not too sure I follow, you mean a script that patches wikia mobile version and add back the mousetext functionality, by showing, for example, a pop-up when the user voluntarily press it with his finger? As I stated, I don't think it's really important for the romanization. It's nitpicking but I felt it was important to mention it, because yes that's a limitation with mobile device, and that's not wikia's fault.

guyzis

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Re: Standardizing the data layout for the infobox
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2019, 08:25:47 PM »
Yeah. The romanization depends on what game. Like you mentioned Black Dragon doesn't need a romanization because it's Korean name is just a phonetically equivalent. So, why not put it in some games and on others not?