Character Pages

[Halfhand]

I think we need to come up with a standard format for the character pages. They seem to be a bit disorganized currently. Once we get the standard format down, we can start updating all the current articles and any new ones should follow the accepted format.

I like the info box that Scafloc came up with and I just added it to all the POV characters. Anyone think this should be changed or expanded at all?

What should be included in the main portion of the article? IMO we should definitely include the sections Appearance and History, as well as the general info at the top. It may be beneficial to further break down the History section into what happened in the books and what happened prior to the books. Although this may only make sense for those who have a lot of history prior to the series (see the Jaime article for example).

What other sections should be included? I've seen articles that have Immediate Family Members, Quotes, etc. all on there. Are these necessary?

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Scafloc]

Should we use the template just for the POV characters or for all?

For of POV character it is more important to know in which book he / she has chapters then for an other character I guess. But the other aspects (place of birth, allegiance ect) are for all characters relevant.

My ideas about the content:

-Events & history of the character before the books in a section "Youth" or "Before the books"?

-Appearence as a separate section seems like a good idea

-For what happens in the books:

-if it is a lot multiple sections and give them a good name

-if it is not a loot, then just a "Book" section?

Quotes only if the character has a really good one; Darkstar should have one I think!

Family member as a section only if relevant. The article about Robert Baratheon should contain this section. Gendry's article should not

[Halfhand]

I think the template is good and should be used on all pages. It not only gives you some quick info about the character, but it helps make the page look a bit more fleshed out. Some of the character pages are pretty bare bones.

I like your ideas. So if we go that route the character page would look like this:

-General Info & Template box

-History (Before the Books)

-Current Events (During the Books)

-Appearance (maybe we can include approx. age, if known? Would be helpful for the potential casting of the HBO series :) )

-Quotes (if necessary)

-Family (if necessary; this might work better as a Family or House template at the bottom of the page)

What does everyone else think?

[Evrach]

I think the template is good and should be used on all pages. It not only gives you some quick info about the character, but it helps make the page look a bit more fleshed out. Some of the character pages are pretty bare bones.

A few esthetic humble considerations :

-You should set table width to make the "Place of Birth" & "Place of Death" on the same line

-Maybe " : " after "alias", "title", etc.

-Maybe <br> tags in the "book(s)" section ?

-Maybe put a bigger space between character's name & the top border of the table ?

-General Info & Template box

-History (Before the Books)

-Current Events (During the Books)

-Appearance (maybe we can include approx. age, if known? Would be helpful for the potential casting of the HBO series smiley2.gif )

-Quotes (if necessary)

-Family (if necessary; this might work better as a Family or House template at the bottom of the page)

What does everyone else think?

- Sources & references ?

[Halfhand]

A few esthetic humble considerations :

-You should set table width to make the "Place of Birth" & "Place of Death" on the same line

-Maybe " : " after "alias", "title", etc.

-Maybe <br> tags in the "book(s)" section ?

-Maybe put a bigger space between character's name & the top border of the table ?

I think all of those suggestions make sense to me. I don't know how to edit table properties though, so I will leave it up to someone else!

[The hairy bear]

I would suggest that we choose a random character; then we devote our efforts to structure and flesh out the wiki for this particular character in a way that we are all happy with.

Then we agree to use it as a template for further character pages.

[Halfhand]

I would suggest that we choose a random character; then we devote our efforts to structure and flesh out the wiki for this particular character in a way that we are all happy with.

Then we agree to use it as a template for further character pages.

Works for me. I suggest the Jaime page. He has quite a bit of back story and a long character arc within the books themselves. If we can agree on a format for his page that should cover just about any other character.

[Callum]

What's the go for spoilers on the wiki? Could the 'books' bit give away a bit too much info? (Can anyone say Ned :P)

[Halfhand]

I don't think we should have to mark certain sections of articles as spoilers. That would be too time-consuming. It is a wiki, so spoilers come with the territory.

I believe there is a warning on the front page that some articles may contain spoilers. Maybe we can make that bigger, in case someone thinks they can safely browse the wiki with fear of being spoiled. I do think that most people know by now that wiki's contain tons of spoilers.

[Callum]

I wasn't suggesting having sections spoilered, just wondered if spoilers were all good, or to be completely avoided. Thinking back on it, it really couldn't be a good wiki if spoilers were avoided, so everything's fair game. Although that spoiler warning should probably be more prominent, I only noticed it once you said there probably is one.

[Scafloc]

-Family (if necessary; this might work better as a Family or House template at the bottom of the page)

What does everyone else think?

Great idea!

We could set the familytree of the noble houses in a separate page and then use that page as a template in the pages of the familymembers.

Edit: I just tried it out for the Jaime Lannister article. Let me know what you think!

[Scafloc]

I wasn't suggesting having sections spoilered, just wondered if spoilers were all good, or to be completely avoided. Thinking back on it, it really couldn't be a good wiki if spoilers were avoided, so everything's fair game. Although that spoiler warning should probably be more prominent, I only noticed it once you said there probably is one.

I made the spoiler warning a bit larger.More easy to notice don't you think?

[Scafloc]

A few esthetic humble considerations :

-You should set table width to make the "Place of Birth" & "Place of Death" on the same line

-Maybe " : " after "alias", "title", etc.

-Maybe <br> tags in the "book(s)" section ?

-Maybe put a bigger space between character's name & the top border of the table ?

I made a test version. Can you give me your comments?

The space between character name & top border is difficult. I don't know how to do this.

[Callum]

The test version looks great, I didn't notice anything wrong around the character name. The spoiler warning is also a lot better, but now it pushes the "To contribute to this wiki..." over and extends the page (atleast in Firefox for me). Couldn't figure out how to fix that myself.

Will check the Jaime page soon, just playing with the skinchanger article to test things out. Will need some editing later, but fun trying things out.

[Halfhand]

Great idea!

We could set the familytree of the noble houses in a separate page and then use that page as a template in the pages of the familymembers.

Edit: I just tried it out for the Jaime Lannister article. Let me know what you think!

Looks great. I also did some editing to Jaime's page. I separated the main section into History and Recent Events with minor headings within each. The minor headings within History are summations of the events under that heading. The minor headings within Recent Events are the titles of the books with the summary of his character arc under that heading. I also had to add a quick summary for AFfc, if any one feels like expanding on that, feel free.

With those changes and Scafloc's family tree, I think it is coming together nicely. What does everyone else think? Should this be the format used for all other characters?

I made a test version. Can you give me your comments?

The space between character name & top border is difficult. I don't know how to do this.

Nice changes. Hopefully someone can help you with the spacing problem. Unfortunately I'm not sure how to do it. Once it is complete, let me know and I will start adding it to all the characters.

[Evrach]

I made a test version. Can you give me your comments?

The space between character name & top border is difficult. I don't know how to do this.

Much better. :cheers:

The space between character name & top border is not difficult. I just added the command line in your sandbox template. :thumbsup:

http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Sandbox

You can change the value of the space ; I put 10 pixels just for the example.

[Scafloc]

Cool! I changed it in the template

[Halfhand]

Cool! I changed it in the template

Looks like not all the changes imported over. The spacing between the name and the info box is there, as well as the colons. But the "place of birth, place of death, etc." are still word wrapping to the next line and the book titles are not breaking to the next line. Do we have to edit each character page to get the newest template?

[Evrach]

Looks like not all the changes imported over. The spacing between the name and the info box is there, as well as the colons. But the "place of birth, place of death, etc." are still word wrapping to the next line and the book titles are not breaking to the next line. Do we have to edit each character page to get the newest template?

It's because of the "book(s)" section. When <br> tags aren't used between volume titles, it extends the second culumn of the table at the max ; example : http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Catelyn_Stark ; When ths <br> tags will be included in the articles, it'll be fine ; example : http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?title=Bran_Stark .

Hope my explainations are fair :rolleyes: Sometimes my english really sucks >_<

[Halfhand]

It's because of the "book(s)" section. When <br> tags aren't used between volume titles, it extends the second culumn of the table at the max ; example : http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Catelyn_Stark ; When ths <br> tags will be included in the articles, it'll be fine ; example : http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?title=Bran_Stark .

Hope my explainations are fair :rolleyes: Sometimes my english really sucks >_<

Ah ok. That makes sense. I will change all of them now. :)