Community Wishlist Survey 2022/"Templates" for newly created wikis

Proposed by Anpang

Proposal summary: A wiki will be created with a default "template" depending on the category the person who requested the wiki has selected.

Full proposal: In the create wiki form, there is a "Category" dropdown. I'd suggest that when a wiki is created, instead of having the normal "Main Page Seems like the bureaucrat hasn't created the main page yet!", it would have some default pages depending on the wiki category.

For example, a qualitipedia like wiki would have a main page of some content and a few galleries and highligted pages.

A wiki about animals (animals will probably be a subcategory from Science) would have a favicon of an animal like a monkey, the main page would be jungle themed, and there would be an example page of an animal.

The wikis would also have some important templates like infobox and userbox preinstalled (along with the modules that make them work). Also, the user can select the template they want if they don't want the template matching their wiki's category.

Support

 * 1)  as proposer  Anpang 📨  03:01, 2 January 2022 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1)  I like the idea of being able to select prefabricated structures and bring them in, as indicated on other wishlist entries; the issues come down to how, and the how in this case is putting up default and frankly quite imperfect structures for wiki types where people have any number of intentions how to design it, ie, a QP type wiki which takes a different technical approach. The time it would take to develop this, I'd rather see funneled into documentation for users to relatively simply build this with their own twist themselves. The examples are also quite rigid and feel off in their suggestions (predefining any specific favicon and background theme would make me weary), and so the spirit as presented I can't say I care for. Perhaps instead we could consider allowing a selection of commonly used plugins and themes to be preloaded/enabled as default from wiki creation, ie, a wiki preconfigured to have cosmos, StructuredDiscussions and whatnot. The technical opportunities, but leaving the thematic to the wiki designers. --Raidarr (talk)
 * 2)  Good idea, but wrong venue. This has been suggested to create a "starter pack" of templates on Miraheze Template Wiki, which is definitely the better venue here. Combine that with accompanying how-to guides on said wiki, and you have a fantastic idea. However, automatically importing these templates on newly created wikis goes against the Miraheze ethos of local control, adds unneeded clutter many Miraheze wikis will not need and likely want to delete, and creates a magnet for vandalism magnet by nefarious users. Dmehus (talk) 21:12, 1 January 2022 (UTC)
 * 3)  My comments below, and above --YellowFrogger  (Talk — ✐) 23:06, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

Discussion

 * It would be interesting. Below is a link to all the module templates we would need for this (including making infoboxes work perfectly or nearly). I consider all of these:


 * Template:Lua
 * Template:Main other
 * Template:Nobold
 * Template:Nobold/styles.css
 * Template:For
 * Template:Parameter names example
 * Template:Sandbox other
 * Template:Sidebar
 * Template:TemplateData header
 * Template:Template link
 * Template:Template link expanded
 * Template:Template link with link off
 * Template:Template other
 * Template:Template parameter usage
 * Template:Tl
 * Template:Tlf
 * Template:Tlx
 * Template:Yesno
 * Template:Yesno-no
 * Module:Anchor
 * Module: Arguments
 * Module: Check for clobbered parameters
 * Module:Check for unknown parameters
 * Module:Citation/CS1
 * Module:Citation/CS1/COinS
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities
 * Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist
 * Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css
 * Module: Collapsible list
 * Module:Coordinates
 * Module:Coordinates/styles.css
 * Module:Documentation
 * Module:Documentation/config
 * Module:Documentation/styles.css
 * Module: ISO 3166
 * Module:If empty
 * Module:Infobox
 * Module:Infobox/styles.css
 * Module:InfoboxImage
 * Module:Lang
 * Module:Lang/ISO 639 synonyms
 * Module:Lang/Date
 * Module:List
 * Module:Lua banner
 * Module:Math
 * Module:Message box
 * Module:Message box/configuration
 * Module:No globals
 * Module: Side box
 * Module:String
 * Module:TNT
 * Module:TableTools
 * Module:Template wrapper
 * Module:URL
 * Module:Unicode data
 * Module:Uses TemplateStyles
 * Module:Uses TemplateStyles/config
 * Module:Uses Wikidata
 * Module:Yesno


 * We can also use Special:Import from Wikipedia and Special:Export from our wiki YellowFrogger (✉ Talk  ✐ Edits ) 20:08, 21 December 2021 (UTC)


 * *Is this something don't need? Users are freed to modify both Cascading Style Sheets and changing themes and would not need a "pattern for this". If users want an animal wiki this will have normal. I discard it. Now imagine a bunch of wikis with repetitive themes? The MH icon has always been the default for this; with this standardization imposed here by you, probably the wikis would be just a copy of the others. Besides, the work it would take to organize everything properly; Miraheze is multilingual. Update: Not everyone needs an infobox on a wiki: just imagine someone who only needs a particular wiki to study, etc.? A guide/manual on adding infoboxes would be better instead. YellowFrogger (✉ Talk  ✐ Edits )</b> 01:26, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
 * But new users would still have trouble adding infoboxes, trust me. For the "Now imagine a bunch of wikis with repetitive themes?", this actually makes that point better, if this isn't added all wikis would have the same "Template", the Seems like the bureaucrat hasn't created the main page yet! <span style="display:inline-block;border:2px solid #bfff00;border-radius:8px;background-image:linear-gradient(to bottom right, #75ff75, #ffff80)"> Anpang 📨 01:47, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Imagine almost everyone on the same subject with the same main page, and the little work it would take to build. It would be a copy of the other. This current one is just to flag something like you installed MediaWiki now --YellowFrogger (Talk — ✐) 14:16, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Please note that substantive discussion should be avoided until the voting period begins. Discussion should be limited to whether it's in scope. Reception123 (talk) ( C ) 14:20, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Technically speaking I think this would be ideal as an opt-in option to import using an interface where you can select prefabricated options and just get what you need as a boilerplate, of course presenting and encouraging the typical import process especially in cases of something that can't or shouldn't be an automatic option. But where the line of this thought is drawn, is when they are imported automatically. That's where the conceptual concern comes in, as raised above. --Raidarr (talk) 22:29, 31 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Decent idea, but even as an opt-in option, I'm not inclined to favour this as it would negate the purpose behind Miraheze Template Wiki. Really all that needs to be done here is to create a new wiki suggested template "starter pack," with easy-to-read instructions on to import them, on Miraheze Template Wiki. Dmehus (talk) 22:32, 31 December 2021 (UTC)