User:CommodusIV

For the user on TWC, see CommodusIV

Moi. Back in the swing and marked with unhealthy bounds of ambition once again. This page mainly gives a gist of my editing priorities, my thought process, and all things I consider on the menu at some time or another, some of which may be ported to the TWC Wiki:Things to do page as they take form. Among other things my eyes are set on the Discord, the YouTube, and the possibility of overhauling forum sections with wiki integration pending discussion with the parties involved, not least of which being the wiki director herself. No, this is not the Scriptorium thing again.

So. As all of this is taking place, I am completely open to conversation, critique, reframing, whatnot; I can only really go based on the scopes I'm given, and if not given one, I tend to branch out or escalate. Poke me on the talk page, through DM on TWC, or through the discord server. I also take a peek at the wiki's Q&S thread forumside. Perhaps when I complete something I'll earn that badge they insisted on giving me. I'd prefer any direct editing on stuff I have in my user pages (ie, this) and in any pagename/CommodusIV be discussed with me first, but drawing from my ideas and any splinters of my work (ie, through your pages based on my outlines or through pagename/yourname) are all cool. Rip off what I'm doing if it helps you. Just remember, teaming is great.

Perhaps at some point when I've rebuilt my routine I'll put it here in the hope that it helps out someone looking to do their thing.

Driving Goals

Much of this is beyond my individual power and requires a good bit of collaboration and hearing from main parties as far as how they work if all I need is an answer and not a bold initiative. They're also longer term broadly scoped ideas, see The Menu for things I consider more immediate priority that I know I can tackle.

• Establish the Wiki's role. In my mind, it can play toe-to-toe with site functions; a mostly open editing source for static information on subjects drawn from forum sources, where the forum makes up those sources and their discussion. Project wise this means I'm gearing for 'a page for everything' relative to TWC specific stuff and knowledge with a slight shift away from the nitty gritty individual units of particular games.
• Clean up and standardize. Each page should have function and clarity. Sections with pages that are too minor to be independent can be put together, while excessively bulky pages can be splintered into their appropriate subjects or link elsewhere. This would first entail getting an idea of the top-down category setup so all things can be organized in that frame and completely up to 2020 awareness on what pages serve what, organizing portals/sections accordingly based on this review, and finally ensuring the page structures remain consistent to those categories, sections and have a place in the portals. Top-down design, focusing on what lies in front and winding down segment by segment.
• Encourage wiki activity. When in a good spot, I intend to achieve this through bits of promotion on the site, not-terribly-subtle hints, offers to train, offers to get people into specific areas (once the above is all clear to me) to do their thing without having to worry about the majority of pages or having to grasp the scope of the platform, and ideally lighten things up on the Wiki Staff so they can easily take a more managerial role when desired of the people set on sections rather than be forced to do, well, everything. After all, and this is my philosophy, a wiki open to all has the general membership as editors and contributors, and staff's niche in such a platform is organizing, guilding, and reviewing alongside their approaches of protected pages/work, upkeep on the most important sections and spreading drive where it's most needed.
• Pretty colored names in forum signature. I like dark green, but since that's commandeered by modding staff, I'll settle for some off-brand color. I just like that kind of bling over, like, badges and stuff.

The Menu

TWC FAQ

TWC FAQ. As one of the most integral pages of the site given its name and its placement on the forum header, it is imperative that the page is relevant to today, clear, and informative while retaining a quintessentially wiki size that isn't overbearing. Basically the opposite of how I write. I digress. I'm performing various structure tests here, pitching the edited text here, and will propose a final deal to Mak to be presented to hex on that page once it is complete. If someone else wants to offshoot my stuff because my quirks are getting the better of me, excellent. There's a few goals I'd like to be in mind if you do.

• The About section and the New User FAQ overlap a good bit, but there's a reason - About is intended to present what the platform is in its entirety in so many words, and the New User FAQ's scope is between registration and introducing people to how the forums are laid out so they can move around without being too overwhelmed by a still massive index by modern standards.
• Site Features is intended to introduce odd things not necessary to a new user's immediate understanding (reputation, rank bling, and so on). The point by point breakdown should either be in a hider or split to another page as far as every rep checkpoint and what kind of bling text you get for it. I'm attempting to use my forum experience to add odd quirks to these sections as well so maybe an established user can get something new (ie, double click on an icon from the index and you mark the forum/subforums as read). I imagine the Opportunities section will require the greatest level of review as I'll be attempting to suggest things that users can do to help out or join particular staff branches. Will also cover citizenship and the like, with less overall prominence as a category than it had before (but still present, not going to wipe it out completely). Wiki also gets its own header. I'd hope so, given where all this is happening and the above on Goals.

TWC Skin

I'll be honest, this is a little by the wayside. The time I spend on this one needs to be routed to another platform for a real life hobby where I'm reworking the website, and all of this is from someone who is not an actual webdev and only has an understanding as an appendage of platform admin experience and doing more dedicated small scale site work. That said, it's still on the menu for a rainy day, not ready to call this backlog just yet.

• The idea for my part is making the skin look like a combination of the forum and the front page while still being unique. Distinctly seek to avoid looking like a lesser clone of Total War Heaven for m2. My role is mainly suggestion in this as I make occasional updates to my user skin and see how they work with the site.
• I am mobile incompetent, and nothing I do here accounts for it. Anyone with mobile experience would be massively appreciated. It's my intent to eventually look at mobile if something nice is settled on for a more desktop layout after hacking through MonoBook to do what I like.
• I have a passing grip on HTML, CSS and JS to the extent I know vaguely what I'm looking at sifting through source. I'm still prone to just throwing CSS things in to see if they work and making pretty damn sloppy code in this project. Nothing in my skin work should be taken as authoritative CSS design, quite the opposite. There's a huge project niche for someone who actually cares about web skinning as a hobby and will make the stuff look good, mobile compatiable, and clean to read in the css page.

The Backlog

Total War Game Presentation

This has since fallen off the radar as I've more prioritized on the link between the forum and the wiki over presenting good info on individual game stuff (frankly, we're far, far outmatched in this field, and are better served looking at what we do uniquely for the time being). Still interested in this, however. The idea is thus.

• Standardize the layout of main pages for each game so they read similar, play into each other and highlight what each entry does, doesn't, and is for the series
• Review and possibly rework the links to other sections, such as making the portals prominent and linking to important forum sections for each
• Account for expansions and DLC with the same sort of organized approach

At the scope I'm thinking of this is a very big project, and not looking at this properly served as a downfall during my last attempt. It's a sticky thing to step into, and nobody should be gunning for it alone. Honestly, if Wiki Staff consider it something for the to-do list, it's the kind of thing they'd want high oversight and collaboration on to pull off. I consider it important because it is the first line of knowledge for the wiki to present and is a notable foray into the whole top-down goal that I mentioned above. But perhaps the scope is too big for something that doesn't achieve much in that bigger picture. So it's pretty much just a big maybe.

Hotseat Campaign Page

There's a total lack of this on the wiki, anywhere. I'm not going to push until other things are done like the FAQ, but this could use a decent, detailed page about hotseating, with at least some sort of review from a true hotseater. Head-to-head/Co-op are logical next steps of this. The difference between them should be prominent. The site index could use a small update for scope on this. But I digress. It's fairly achievable and works great as a project without having to worry about the scope nonsense I go on about above. Might add it to the to-do list as well if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Badges

As much as the 3k badges honestly don't do anything for me, they're what the site is using, and it doesn't appear the wiki has a consistent structure to identify what is current vs the various generations after taking a peek at King Athelstan and Chim's pages. My suggestion here would be an initiative to have all links point at the current badges that are 3k based (done on the original files so updates are homogeneous as far as possible) and identify prior generations as their own uploads for people to go for if they specifically want to reference it.

Help:HotCat

Red links are a bane, and this one shows up all over in the recent changes tab. I figure this could be a useful page, even as a redirect, to HotCat's use and quirks for anyone just stopping in and having no idea how to work with it.

Category:M2TW_Modding

1. Review for professionalism, 2. Review for usability, which would probably entail an overhaul of some sort, especially in the pursuit of splitting wiki-best material from forum-best stuff.