overview of categories? How to find designs?

Is there some kind of overview of all library-categories in the wiki?
Or some kind of top-level page from wich I can navigate down to all designs that are in the wiki?

I find it hard to find things that are not repstraps.
I did find an unused "Category:Garget" and some categories about materials or tools used but no way of knowing all categories e.g. to add a new page to the "right" categories it belongs into.

Marcus

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[reprap.org]

there are lots of empty categories or one-offs that should probably be culled and condensed.

a lot of people haven't categorized their pages. I try to add a category every time i find a page without any categories (or you can look here if you want a more concrete task.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2011 11:45AM by Buback.

I'm actually not looking for pages that don't have at least one category but the other way around.
I'm looking for
a) the categories to give to a page and
b) the categories that exist, so I can find interesting things to build.

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http://reprap.org/wiki/Special:Categories

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Thanks.

So this is how the library is organized?
Or is there more to it?

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Well, we do need folk like you following
http://reprap.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges
doing up new pages (with photos, renders) and making sense of the wiki.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

No time for that.
I'm busy enough documenting my own designs, developing and maintaining my own and other people's software projects, actually using the printed designs, ...

And that only helps in adding newly entered designs into some categories.
The problem addressed in this thread however is how to navigate TO these categories
to a) find things and b) find the proper categories for your own things.

Starting at the main page, how do I navigate to...say...all milling-toolheads compatible with the Darwin and get an overview of what of these designs is derived from what other designs?
(So as not to print and work on one that is already made obsolete by an improved one.)
Overhauling the navigation is not something that requires a dozen people to constantly monitor the new changes.
It requires one library administrator with the right access permissions and a few hours
to actually think about page navigation in the wiki and what people may be looking for and how
to make it obvious and easy for them to find what is offered.

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Quote

No time for that.
[...]
It requires one library administrator with the right access permissions and a few hours

The usual attitude in open source is:

"If you want something to happen, make it happen yourself"

The RepRap wiki allows everybody pretty much everything you need to rearrange and categorize things, so please go ahead!

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

It requires one library administrator with the right access permissions and a few hours
to actually think about page navigation in the wiki and what people may be looking for and how
to make it obvious and easy for them to find what is offered.

Marcus, would you like to sketch out what you mean as a new wiki page?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2011 12:29AM by SebastienBailard.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

SebastienBailard Wrote:
> Marcus, would you like to sketch out what you mean
> as a new wiki page?

I don't know how you want your wiki to be organised.

Currently when entering
[reprap.org]
I don't see anything that would suggest that there is more in the wiki then assembly -instructions for
4 machines called "Mendel", "Prusa Mendel", "Huxley" and "Darwin".
With Darwin on the right it even suggests that Darwin is the newest of the batch
or that Mendel is newer then Prusa Mendel and newer then Huxley.

Finding that very small link "RepRappable Objects" in this large page,
I see "Available Files". Suggesting a trivial file-dump with no documentation to things.
(As opposed to "Available Designs" but changing that would mean changing the wording on half the wiki
to make things consistent.)
That page takes me to
[reprap.org]
and that's the end of it.
A dozen trivial objects, uncategorised and with a 1-3 word description.
No hint about a system of categories and many, many more designs hidden away, never to be found by anyone unless they already know where to find them.
(And even if they know a specific design exists they have not much of a way to find it unless they already know the wiki-page name as the fulltext-search will usualy hide it away in hundrets of irrelevant other pages.)

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With Darwin on the right it even suggests that Darwin is the newest of the batch
,
Ah ... yes. Some people were very insistent that we give a shout out to one particular entrepreneur, Bits From Bytes, using the front page, and Adrian didn't want to explain to them how it is highly unfair bias to demonstrate favoritism to one and only one entrepreneur yet, especially one who maintains a separate corporate identity and doesn't actually document with us, especially cad files, but so we added ... Darwin up there, in order to settle people down.

So, apparently we are telling people to build Darwins. (Yes, it is a little bit frustrating.)

I'd have stuffed Johnnyr, (nice guy, docs with us, most prusa mendels probably using his stuff) in that space, myself, and then realized that this is unfair to all the other entrepreneurs, tried to stuff all of
http://reprap.org/wiki/Official_Electronics
into that page, fussed a bit about who gets top billing, realized I was being silly, and then done up something cleaner and more elegant .

I think I'll have a go at the front page after my vacation.

I don't know how you want your wiki to be organised.
I tend to focus too much on helping folk with new pages and stuff like "five years and still no t-slot with usable, finished documentation!!!!!!!" and so on.

I really need your help here.

It is your wiki as much as it is 'mine', inasmuch as you're 'official', so it would be very helpful if you do up some wiki pages explaining your ideas.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2011 02:05AM by SebastienBailard.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

SebastienBailard Wrote:
> It is your wiki as much as it is 'mine', inasmuch
> as you're 'official', so it would be very helpful
> if you do up some wiki pages explaining your
> ideas.

I just explained my suggestion regarding the front-page
on it's talk-page. (Where such suggestions belong.)
The suggested links would also elaminate the issue
with the "Available Files" that I pointed out.

Now it's the turn of someone with write access to that page
and time for me to go on with documenting my own projects.

BTW, I don't see the reprap-wiki as "mine" as I am using
heavily modified RepMan and a Thing-O-Matics, post
my designs on Thingiverse and additional documentation
in my blog and my YouTube channel and keep my design
notes in my personal wiki.
I'm merely observing it to see when it may become a good
enough to invest the time to create pages for my designs.
I offer suggestions but I don't use the reprap-wiki to host
my projects until it has reached a point where it offers a
better (better organised, more possibilities, easier to find)
place to do so then the ones I am currently using.

If you want to attract developers, offer them something compelling.
Else will go elsewhere, where they feel it will benefit their projects
more then that wiki.
It's the same thing with every other plaform out there.
Be it Sourceforge vs. Github vs. Google Code or
the reprap-wiki library vs. Thingiverse.

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If you could edit
http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page/Sandbox
next time, that would make my job much easier.

SebastienBailard Wrote:
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> If you could edit
> [reprap.org]
> next time, that would make my job much easier.


Someone else has already edited it as it does not look like the main_page.
a) I did not want to destroy his work
b) I have no images for the suggested links.

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Hmmm ...
http://reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page/Sandbox_MarcusWolschon
would work very well next time, when you do have the time to help the project.

Thank you for your suggestions, Marcus. They've been very helpful.

MarcusWolschon Wrote:
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> The problem addressed in this thread however is
> how to navigate TO these categories
> to a) find things and b) find the proper
> categories for your own things.
>
> Starting at the main page, how do I navigate
> to...say...all milling-toolheads compatible with
> the Darwin and get an overview of what of these
> designs is derived from what other designs?

what i was doing at first was: from the main page, go to 'development' and then at the bottom of the page there is a list of all the projects people have tagged with 'development' (which should be most of the interesting ones). just above that is a list of all the relevant categories (so far). you can drill down through these categories to find the same projects listed at the bottom of the development page, but in more specifics. like extruder hot-ends for mendel.

but realize that most developers don't properly categorize their stuff. if you see something miscategorized, just edit it and throw some tags on there. it only takes a second. most of my contributions have been categorizing.

now that i know most of the projects in the development list, i only really look at the "recent changes" screen to see what's new and what's being actively worked on.

There is no link "Development", only "Developmet Index".
Noone wold follow that link unless they are looking for the
development methlogy, history, source-files, version-control, ... of the Reprap-printers themself.
Noone looking for parts that are not a reprap-printer would ever go there.

Consequently you don't see any designs that are not parts or or for a Reprap in the category:development or it's sub-categories, wich is correct.

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yep i agree that it's in a bad place with a bad name. it should be up in the top menu on the sidebar or in it's own box like 'Developers', i think. And 'random page' and 'all pages' should be removed completely.

'Main page' should be dropped as well, since the reprap logo takes you there. 'Translations' is kinda pointless, since it's in English. Translations should have it's own submenu, with the name of the language in it's native characters.

I'd also remove 'build a repstrap' since any new user isn't going to know what a 'repstrap' is. should probably say, bootstrap a 3D printer.

So yeah i agree with you, marcus. i can't edit the sidebar, though, and the mainpage sandbox has no impact on the sidebar.

I was frustrated by this a couple months ago, but am kinda resigned now since there's been no change and few people seem to care.