Main Page

This wiki is for testing purposes only. If you edit pages those edits will be lost when the site moves to its permanent home.

Things To Test

Create and edit books. This is the main activity so we need to make sure it's working well. Bang on it! Report bugs, crashes etc. here.

A Test Book

We need a test book to work with so here's one to start:

Species Do Not Exist

Make some more and link them from here.

The return of the Genus

LifeTM: Bioethics, Biopolitics, Bioeconomics

Things To Do

Customize MediaWiki

Customize look

This is in progress but there is still lots of tweaking that needs to happen, especially on administrative pages. I'll keep tweaking as we go, but make a note here if you find something that looks off

Customize Options

I think this thing should be much simpler than Wikipedia so I am going to start by hiding most of the functionality. Make a note if something seems weird or you can't find something you need. There are some functions that are only available to you when you're logged in as admin

Customize Navigation

I'm thinking we'll have a simple homepage that gives links to all the books. Should this page be static deep linking to the wiki and blog, or should the wiki or blog host this page too

Depending on which functionality needs to be included, I may need to rename and rearange the navigation section. This can be done through the wiki itself, for more information see:

www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interface/Sidebar

Customize editing experience

How about customizing the FCKeditor, for instance can we:

  • Make it load by default? Works for me, let me know if it doesn't work for you.
  • Simplify the toolbar?
  • Make custom formats?
  • Use only preset formats?

Gripes

If you notice anything that looks like it 'works' but you don't like the way it works, make a note of it here.

Can we change the names of the nav links? (I don't know what Page means). Yes we can. I've changed 'Page' to 'Read' and a couple of other things. Mention other obscure language here.

I just made a test book! But I made new pages for each chapter instead of just one page with links at the top to anchors to the different chapters.How are we thinking the content will be displayed - will each chapter be a link to an external site? Or are we importing HTML text from OA repositories into Living Books About Life, so each book is a self-contained unit?

It will be a combination of both (a hybrid approach)? For the most part we have encouraged editors to import HTML text from OA repositories into Living Books About Life. However, for those instances where this is not possible - because of certain licensing restrictions, or because they cannot get the permission to do so - then we have said they can include a link to an external site. We have done this so the books do not consist merely of a collection of links, with a view to ensuring they are 'books' rather than resembling portals. However, we have also said that around the 10 main articles, editors can include a variety of links, sound files, video clips etc. precsiely so they books do not become -self-contained units, part are more themselves part of a liquid, living, constantly unfolding network. (gh)