Talk:Main Page

IMPORTANT: Offline discussion

There is a Google group for discussion of the site: https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/wikemacs so we should probably favor posting there. PhilHudson 16:16, 26 March 2012 (EEST)

Structure

I would like to structure the Main Page in boxes like here [1] the Featured Article/Project. Any objections? And maybe User:Bozhidar should write some lines about the relation to the "old" EmacsWiki?--Kenda 19:58, 24 March 2012 (EET)

This seems like a good idea. Might help us utilize better the screen estate. As for the relation to the EmacsWiki - it is more or less non-existing. We have the permission from Alex (kensanata) to migrate any content we choose to, but they won't be supporting us in any way. Bozhidar 20:28, 26 March 2012 (EEST)

Markup Conventions

Info link markup

Could/should we have some standard way of marking up links to Info sections? PhilHudson 22:10, 24 March 2012 (EET)

I've created the template Template:Manual as a start. I've used it a couple of times in Keyboard macros, for reference. damd 19:59, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

I have introduced Template:Variable, Template:Command, Template:Function and also improved upon your template for Template:Manual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.63.150.116 (talk • contribs)

I'm afraid your changes to the Manual template broke a few things, e.g. Unit testing. Could you take a look at that? damd 10:28, 26 March 2012 (EEST)

Wikipedia linking convention

Could/should we have a convention for formatting and placement of wikipedia links on pages? PhilHudson 22:37, 24 March 2012 (EET)

EmacsWiki linking convention

Similar question to Wikipedia wrt EmacsWiki PhilHudson 23:06, 24 March 2012 (EET)

Key sequences

Should we have a convention for marking up key sequences? I already see `C-x a` and C-x a GregLucas 17:13, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

+1 for any convention, I favor the latter over the former (but I'm using the former since that matches the first samples I encountered). PhilHudson 17:23, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

I think C-x a is better because it adds semantics to the text which web browsers understand. It's basically more accessible than `C-x a`. I'd like it if we could make a plugin for MediaWiki which allows us to use `C-x a` or `C-x a', with an apostrophe at the end, to become C-x a, since they're both pretty common notations. I think `this' notation is especially common in Emacs. damd 20:02, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

Describing Modes and Packages

Naming Conventions

I'd like to suggest *not* suffixing (links to) modes with "-mode". Thus: "org" not "org-mode". For consistency I've been adding links titled "org-mode" until now, since that one was already created when I started. PhilHudson 22:09, 24 March 2012 (EET)

Agreed, let's use the "friendly" name of a package. I'd say "Org", "Gnus", "YASnippet", etc. GregLucas

I actually disagree. E.g. Java could be a page describing the different Java capabilities of Emacs, with links to the different JavaScript modes. This is especially true for JavaScript, where the js-mode shipped with the latest Emacs is completely different from the other widely used js2-mode by Yegge. Damd 18:20, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

Hm, good point about disambiguation... I still like the idea of using "titles" vs "commands", though. E.g. a Java page describing the built-in support (Java Mode) and then linking to articles on related packages (JDEE, etc) and why you might consider them instead. GregLucas 19:32, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

How would we handle e.g. Haskell? Emacs doesn't ship with any Haskell mode as far as I know... damd 19:58, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

Built-ins vs Add-ons

An article on a mode/package should indicate whether it is part of the Emacs distribution. When there is a list of packages, maybe we group the built-in ones first and then the add-ons? GregLucas 00:53, 25 March 2012 (EET)

Good idea. PhilHudson 17:25, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

+1. Maybe we can use something like wikipedia's infobox for pages dedicated to a single mode. How does that sound? Bozhidar 20:29, 26 March 2012 (EEST)

Template for mode-with-github-source pages?

Can Wikimedia do page templates? I'm sure the answer is yes. PhilHudson 23:07, 24 March 2012 (EET)

Issues

• The "Editing Help" link goes to a virgin page, not the full help page.
• Add Mediawiki Cite extension to enable footnotes.
• Add Category Tree extension to explore various categories like Category:Programming languages.

Syntax highlighting

Could we install a MediaWiki plugin which lets us do proper syntax highlighting of different languages? SyntaxHighlight GeSHi looks like a good alternative. damd 20:07, 25 March 2012 (EEST)

I've already installed it, but it doesn't seem to work properly (the fonts seem terribly small) and it doesn't support Emacs Lisp. Bozhidar 20:24, 26 March 2012 (EEST)