The RT Wiki - Restructure (start using categories?)

RT Users
1

Hi,

I’ve created an account on Wikia in order to do some editing on the RT wiki:

There are a few things that I want to add, but I’m kinda confused by the
structure O_o

I’ve noticed that only a handfull of articles contain a categorie, these
categories are viewable on this page:

These categories are a nice way of structuring content, people only have to
add a page with the proper categorie and it will be displayed on the
categorie page.
In addition you have the ability to add specific information/explanation to
each categorie page as shown on this page:

The thing I’m missing on the main page is a link to all categories, this
would make browsing the wiki allot easier.
In addition what I’m missing is a structure of the categories + allot of
pages aren’t categorized.

I feel that the structure could be better, and with a better structure it
would make adding articles allot easier + they will become visible by
simply viewing a categorie specific page where everything is alphabetized
(no need for creating a link to article X on certain pages).

If I were to think-up a structure and start to re-organize the categories
(edit pages to point to the new structure), would this upset someone (I
hope not ^_^)?
I’d first want to roughly draw the categorie structure and verify it with
the mailing-lists before starting to edit anything. (basically think before
act)

Let me know your thoughts, I feel that I have some time to work on the wiki
so hopefully with some input from others it will be possible to freshen up
the wiki.

– Bart

2

Hello Bart,

It would be great to see more structure on the wiki. I think “wiki
chief editor” position is vacant, unfortunately it’s not paid, but
much appreciated.On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Bart bart@pleh.info wrote:

Hi,

I’ve created an account on Wikia in order to do some editing on the RT wiki:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/HomePage

There are a few things that I want to add, but I’m kinda confused by the
structure O_o

I’ve noticed that only a handfull of articles contain a categorie, these
categories are viewable on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Categories

These categories are a nice way of structuring content, people only have to
add a page with the proper categorie and it will be displayed on the
categorie page.
In addition you have the ability to add specific information/explanation to
each categorie page as shown on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Category:3.8.9

The thing I’m missing on the main page is a link to all categories, this
would make browsing the wiki allot easier.
In addition what I’m missing is a structure of the categories + allot of
pages aren’t categorized.

I feel that the structure could be better, and with a better structure it
would make adding articles allot easier + they will become visible by simply
viewing a categorie specific page where everything is alphabetized (no need
for creating a link to article X on certain pages).

If I were to think-up a structure and start to re-organize the categories
(edit pages to point to the new structure), would this upset someone (I hope
not ^_^)?
I’d first want to roughly draw the categorie structure and verify it with
the mailing-lists before starting to edit anything. (basically think before
act)

Let me know your thoughts, I feel that I have some time to work on the wiki
so hopefully with some input from others it will be possible to freshen up
the wiki.

– Bart

RT Training Sessions (http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston — TBA

Best regards, Ruslan.

3

Hi,

Not sure if I should be in such a position, I’m just “teh new guy” ^_~

Maybe when I’ve actually done some work on the wiki, but for now I wouldn’t
feel qualified for that title (need to prove myself first I guess).

But I do want to help think of a way to structure the wiki and modify it so
that everyone can easily add a new page. (and do the work where needed)
Where they only have to add the proper category for that page to be shown
in a certain listing. (ease of use being the key)

I’ve also noticed that Wikia has some features to help a community
(achievements, etc.), might be nice to add those to the RT wiki in order to
motivate everyone to submit/edit content.

– Bart

Op 29 november 2011 12:31 schreef Ruslan Zakirov
ruz@bestpractical.comhet volgende:

4

Here’s some info on categories:

And an example of how a proper categorie page would look like:

Mind you that both the sub categories + the pages are automatically
displayed. Only the text in the beginning is custom (since the category
page is also just a wiki page with some special features).

In general categories are flat (only one level) but when you make
sub-category by making a category page member of another category. (as you
can see in the above help page, you’ll notice at te bottom of that page
that category pages are also member of other categories)

This in general allows you to create a decent structure + a simple main
category page where people can browse the content.

With that in mind you can make a nice structure which will make adding new
content quite easy.

– BartOp 29 november 2011 12:50 schreef Bart bart@pleh.info het volgende:

Hi,

Not sure if I should be in such a position, I’m just “teh new guy” ^_~

Maybe when I’ve actually done some work on the wiki, but for now I
wouldn’t feel qualified for that title (need to prove myself first I guess).

But I do want to help think of a way to structure the wiki and modify it
so that everyone can easily add a new page. (and do the work where needed)
Where they only have to add the proper category for that page to be shown
in a certain listing. (ease of use being the key)

I’ve also noticed that Wikia has some features to help a community
(achievements, etc.), might be nice to add those to the RT wiki in order to
motivate everyone to submit/edit content.

– Bart

Op 29 november 2011 12:31 schreef Ruslan Zakirov ruz@bestpractical.comhet volgende:

Hello Bart,

It would be great to see more structure on the wiki. I think “wiki
chief editor” position is vacant, unfortunately it’s not paid, but
much appreciated.

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Bart bart@pleh.info wrote:

Hi,

I’ve created an account on Wikia in order to do some editing on the RT
wiki:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/HomePage

There are a few things that I want to add, but I’m kinda confused by the
structure O_o

I’ve noticed that only a handfull of articles contain a categorie, these
categories are viewable on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Categories

These categories are a nice way of structuring content, people only
have to
add a page with the proper categorie and it will be displayed on the
categorie page.
In addition you have the ability to add specific
information/explanation to
each categorie page as shown on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Category:3.8.9

The thing I’m missing on the main page is a link to all categories, this
would make browsing the wiki allot easier.
In addition what I’m missing is a structure of the categories + allot of
pages aren’t categorized.

I feel that the structure could be better, and with a better structure
it
would make adding articles allot easier + they will become visible by
simply
viewing a categorie specific page where everything is alphabetized (no
need
for creating a link to article X on certain pages).

If I were to think-up a structure and start to re-organize the
categories
(edit pages to point to the new structure), would this upset someone (I
hope
not ^_^)?
I’d first want to roughly draw the categorie structure and verify it
with
the mailing-lists before starting to edit anything. (basically think
before
act)

Let me know your thoughts, I feel that I have some time to work on the
wiki
so hopefully with some input from others it will be possible to freshen
up
the wiki.

– Bart

RT Training Sessions (http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston — TBA

–
Best regards, Ruslan.

5

Not sure if I should be in such a position, I’m just “teh new guy” ^_~

Maybe when I’ve actually done some work on the wiki, but for now I wouldn’t
feel qualified for that title (need to prove myself first I guess).

Perfect candidate. Candidate should be newbie and be always in need
for help and figuring out things about RT constantly, so you end up
using wiki a lot. Only one rule: don’t destroy work other people have
done. Move it around, re-organize, bring fresh info closer to the top
of the page and do other refactorings, but don’t destroy work. That’s
it.

Best regards, Ruslan.

6

I was one of the early contributors in that post, about 5 years ago, and
while I’m about to redeploy 4.0 as a test, I haven’t been using RT much in
the interim; I admit I spent more time on content than categorization,
though.

Categories are handy.----- Original Message -----

From: “Ruslan Zakirov” ruz@bestpractical.com
To: “Bart” bart@pleh.info
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:31:07 AM
Subject: Re: [rt-users] The RT Wiki - Restructure (start using categories?)
Hello Bart,

It would be great to see more structure on the wiki. I think “wiki
chief editor” position is vacant, unfortunately it’s not paid, but
much appreciated.

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Bart bart@pleh.info wrote:

Hi,

I’ve created an account on Wikia in order to do some editing on the
RT wiki:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/HomePage

There are a few things that I want to add, but I’m kinda confused by
the
structure O_o

I’ve noticed that only a handfull of articles contain a categorie,
these
categories are viewable on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Categories

These categories are a nice way of structuring content, people only
have to
add a page with the proper categorie and it will be displayed on the
categorie page.
In addition you have the ability to add specific
information/explanation to
each categorie page as shown on this page:

http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Category:3.8.9

The thing I’m missing on the main page is a link to all categories,
this
would make browsing the wiki allot easier.
In addition what I’m missing is a structure of the categories +
allot of
pages aren’t categorized.

I feel that the structure could be better, and with a better
structure it
would make adding articles allot easier + they will become visible
by simply
viewing a categorie specific page where everything is alphabetized
(no need
for creating a link to article X on certain pages).

If I were to think-up a structure and start to re-organize the
categories
(edit pages to point to the new structure), would this upset someone
(I hope
not ^_^)?
I’d first want to roughly draw the categorie structure and verify it
with
the mailing-lists before starting to edit anything. (basically think
before
act)

Let me know your thoughts, I feel that I have some time to work on
the wiki
so hopefully with some input from others it will be possible to
freshen up
the wiki.

– Bart

RT Training Sessions
(http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston — TBA

–
Best regards, Ruslan.

RT Training Sessions (http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston TBA

Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com
Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates http://baylink.pitas.com 2000 Land Rover DII
St Petersburg FL USA http://photo.imageinc.us +1 727 647 1274

7

I’ll make an initial concept of a structure with some
additional explanation on what I have in mind.

Should be done tomorrow I think.

– Bart

Op 29 november 2011 15:41 schreef Jay Ashworth jra@baylink.com het
volgende:

8

Hi,

Jay, thanks for your input. I do feel that approaching it with a blank
sheet of paper will be the best approach.

Though we’ll have to use Wikia’s abilities/structure, the below is aimed at
just that with a slight eye on “structuring from scratch”.

— A rough sketch of the idea —
The idea I have relies allot on the categories within Wikia.

A categorie page can contain content, thus e.g. the contributions page
could instead be a categorie page with some specific information on what
you can expect, maybe some extra links to other stuff, etc. But the
difference would be that since it is now a categorie page, that all
scripts/contributions that have the categorie set to contributions would be
automatically listed on that one page. (alphabetized)

With that in mind you can quite easily create “general” categorie pages for
all major topics and have any page regarding that topic being linked to
that categorie.

The front page would then contain a hierarchical structure with links to
all the “sections” (a.k.a. categorie pages). And obviously information on
what RT is, latest news/updates/etc. Another thing which you can easily add
to the front page is an RSS feed of the Bestpractical blog, and maybe add a
feed of the RT wiki itself showing the latest updates & newest pages.
(should both be doable I think)

Other things that might be nice to add are some Wikia features for the
community to promote the usage of the RT wiki (achievements and other fun
stuff).

— The structure (concept) —

Since the above shows what categories and categorie pages can do for you
it’s important to create a structure (at first on paper) which will make
sure that all major topics regarding RT are covered so that any new article
can add a categorie appropriate for that specific article. (I assume that
the structure will eventually grow naturally)

Since this is just a concept I’ve sort of just looked at the current wiki
and tried to gather some basic topics, what I want to achieve with this
concept is to get input from others so that we can improve it further:

  • RT Basics
    • User Manual
    • Custom Fields
    • Articles
    • REST
    • RT Tool
    • RT Cron Tool
  • RT Installation (rough categories so that people can link install
    guides to an OS categorie, no more/no less)
    • Linux
    • FreeBSD
    • Other
    • Manual
  • RT Config: (a categorie for each major release)
    • RT 4
    • RT 3.8
    • RT 3.6
  • Plugins:
    • A categorie page for all plugins! This way you can link
      scrips/configs/other goodies for a plugin to that specific categorie page.
  • Scrips:
    • Basically a summary of all scrips available for RT.
  • Automation

At this point I’m blank on ideas, I’ll just leave it at this and see what
responses there are. I’m pretty sure this list can be better/structured
better, but you have to start somewhere ^_~

— Rough plan of action —

This is a rather rough plan for setting up the structure:

  • Remove all current categories (double check that the categorie pages
    don’t contain content of any kind).
  • Add every single page currently in the wiki to a new categorie called
    "Archive".
    • This sounds ugly but it’s an easy way of keeping track of all the
      wiki pages that still need better categorization.
    • Basically a todo list, anything still in there needs to be
      categorized.
    • The idea is to do a few articles each day and eventually everything
      will be nicely categorized.
  • Create all the categories which have been though of, make sure that
    theres’s at least some basic information on the categorie page.
  • Modify the home page to, at first, also contain the new categorie
    structure (keep the old links for now).
  • Start categorizing anything that’s still in under Archive.
  • And last but not least, at a certain point modify the front page to
    only contain the new categorie structure.

So, those are some ideas.

Time for everyone to shoot at them ^_~

– Bart

9
  • Add every single page currently in the wiki to a new categorie
    called “Archive”.
    o This sounds ugly but it’s an easy way of keeping track of all
    the wiki pages that still need better categorization.
    o Basically a todo list, anything still in there needs to be
    categorized.
    o The idea is to do a few articles each day and eventually
    everything will be nicely categorized.

There’s no need for this type of category since Wikia gives us the page:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:UncategorizedPages

You can find a list of special pages here:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:SpecialPages

Thomas

10

Hi,

Idea is good. Here are some ideas about categorizing and where people
with MediaWiki experience can help kickstart content improvements.

I think good and easy point to start is to organize installation guides.

There are lot of pages that are sort of user profiles. They should get
particular category, for example OldStyleUserProfile. Some of them are
linked from http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/RTUsers. May be we
can replace this page with generated page that links to wikia’s user
profiles.

User Manual is a special beast. It should be continuous reading and at
the same time splitted into smaller topics. I believe MediaWiki has
some tools to include content of pages into other pages.

Every config option and right should get a page matching its name,
however they should get included into other blocks. For example
WebDomain, WebPath, WebPort and couple of options should be described
as one thing. For example OwnTicket and ownership related rights
should be described as one thing. I don’t know media wiki best
practices to organize such thing.

FAQ may win from better structure. At this moment it’s not very managable.

There are more, but enough for today. I think that if you find a good
solution for some particular problem and describe how it should be
done then people would help you clean cages and normalize content.
Just split things into smaller steps.On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Bart bart@pleh.info wrote:

Hi,

Jay, thanks for your input. I do feel that approaching it with a blank sheet
of paper will be the best approach.

Though we’ll have to use Wikia’s abilities/structure, the below is aimed at
just that with a slight eye on “structuring from scratch”.

— A rough sketch of the idea —

The idea I have relies allot on the categories within Wikia.

A categorie page can contain content, thus e.g. the contributions page could
instead be a categorie page with some specific information on what you can
expect, maybe some extra links to other stuff, etc. But the difference would
be that since it is now a categorie page, that all scripts/contributions
that have the categorie set to contributions would be automatically listed
on that one page. (alphabetized)

With that in mind you can quite easily create “general” categorie pages for
all major topics and have any page regarding that topic being linked to that
categorie.

The front page would then contain a hierarchical structure with links to all
the “sections” (a.k.a. categorie pages). And obviously information on what
RT is, latest news/updates/etc. Another thing which you can easily add to
the front page is an RSS feed of the Bestpractical blog, and maybe add a
feed of the RT wiki itself showing the latest updates & newest pages.
(should both be doable I think)

Other things that might be nice to add are some Wikia features for the
community to promote the usage of the RT wiki (achievements and other fun
stuff).

— The structure (concept) —

Since the above shows what categories and categorie pages can do for you
it’s important to create a structure (at first on paper) which will make
sure that all major topics regarding RT are covered so that any new article
can add a categorie appropriate for that specific article. (I assume that
the structure will eventually grow naturally)

Since this is just a concept I’ve sort of just looked at the current wiki
and tried to gather some basic topics, what I want to achieve with this
concept is to get input from others so that we can improve it further:

RT Basics

User Manual
Custom Fields
Articles
REST
RT Tool
RT Cron Tool

RT Installation (rough categories so that people can link install guides to
an OS categorie, no more/no less)

Linux
FreeBSD
Other
Manual

RT Config: (a categorie for each major release)

RT 4
RT 3.8
RT 3.6

Plugins:

A categorie page for all plugins! This way you can link scrips/configs/other
goodies for a plugin to that specific categorie page.

Scrips:

Basically a summary of all scrips available for RT.

Automation

At this point I’m blank on ideas, I’ll just leave it at this and see what
responses there are. I’m pretty sure this list can be better/structured
better, but you have to start somewhere ^_~

— Rough plan of action —

This is a rather rough plan for setting up the structure:

Remove all current categories (double check that the categorie pages don’t
contain content of any kind).
Add every single page currently in the wiki to a new categorie called
“Archive”.

This sounds ugly but it’s an easy way of keeping track of all the wiki pages
that still need better categorization.
Basically a todo list, anything still in there needs to be categorized.
The idea is to do a few articles each day and eventually everything will be
nicely categorized.

Create all the categories which have been though of, make sure that theres’s
at least some basic information on the categorie page.
Modify the home page to, at first, also contain the new categorie structure
(keep the old links for now).
Start categorizing anything that’s still in under Archive.
And last but not least, at a certain point modify the front page to only
contain the new categorie structure.

So, those are some ideas.

Time for everyone to shoot at them ^_~

– Bart

RT Training Sessions (http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston — TBA

Best regards, Ruslan.

11

Hi,

I’m not yet entirely familiar with Wikia’s options, will look into the
special pages :slight_smile:

Having an uncategorized page would make things pretty easy.

– Bart

Op 30 november 2011 16:55 schreef Thomas Sibley trs@bestpractical.com het
volgende:> On 11/30/2011 06:44 AM, Bart wrote:

  • Add every single page currently in the wiki to a new categorie
    called “Archive”.
    o This sounds ugly but it’s an easy way of keeping track of all
    the wiki pages that still need better categorization.
    o Basically a todo list, anything still in there needs to be
    categorized.
    o The idea is to do a few articles each day and eventually
    everything will be nicely categorized.

There’s no need for this type of category since Wikia gives us the page:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:UncategorizedPages

You can find a list of special pages here:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:SpecialPages

Thomas

RT Training Sessions (http://bestpractical.com/services/training.html)

  • Boston TBA
12

Hi,

To summarize:

  • Category page for user profiles (in order to automatically link to RT
    users)
  • User manual needs special treatment (needs some pondering)
  • For the RT config, a separate page for each configuration option. But
    they need to be grouped based on a specific topic.
  • FAQ category page, listing all FAQ items as an option. (makes it easy
    to add just about any page with a brilliant explanation to the FAQ)

And last but not least, make sure to chop things into smaller pieces.
(basically approach this as a project with milestones, etc.)

For the pieces, I believe we’re already kinda working towards it :slight_smile:

  1. Think of a structure with the categories in mind.
  2. Think of other things that will help make the wiki better. (usage of
    Wikia special features, RSS feeds, etc.)
  3. Create the steps in which we’ll transform the current wiki towards
    what we want it to be.
    1. First step could/should be to clean all current category pages
      (fresh start).
    2. Create the new categorie pages & structure.
    3. With the “Uncategorized” special page, work towards categorizing
      all wiki pages:
      1. With the goal to categorized everything.
    4. Modify the front page to display the new structure/category pages.
    5. . . .
  4. And once the steps which we should take are clear we can start doing
    stuff :slight_smile:

Something like that at least.

– Bart

Op 30 november 2011 18:48 schreef Ruslan Zakirov
ruz@bestpractical.comhet volgende:

13

Hi,

People already started work on installation guides.

A few templates:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Special:UncategorizedTemplates

Every installation guide on the wiki should use:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Template:UnofficialInstallGuide

All pages that use this template:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/index.php?title=Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:UnofficialInstallGuide&limit=500

Most are marked with UnofficialInstallGuide:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Category:UnofficialInstallGuide

Best regards, Ruslan.

14

Hi,

So far it’s been a busy week for me O_o (lots of small things to-do)

I’ll make a wiki page which will represent [the|a] “new” front page and
start creating a structure, or somewhat a structure, on it so that everyone
can help work on it + so we have a starting point.

The page should be done tomorrow (day off ^_^).

– Bart

Op 1 december 2011 15:40 schreef Ruslan Zakirov ruz@bestpractical.com het
volgende: