Template talk:Navigation
What should be in this template?[edit]
I really like this template, but I think its contents could be changed. It is a core navigation template, intended to provide easy access to many important articles from the main page. As such, it should contain the most important articles. Currently the selection is pretty good, but it could be better.
The main issue I see with it is that some links go to categories, while others go to articles. Currently, the articles linked are Pikmin family, Area, Enemy, Controls, DLC, Music, Merchandise, Challenge run, and Glitch. The categories linked are Category:Games, Category:Collectibles, Category:Characters, Category:Game modes, Category:Technical, and Category:Categories. I think that links on this template should go to articles instead of categories whenever possible, because that would make more sense for people new to the wiki.
I'm not quite sure how this could be fixed, however, as some categories that deserve to be in the template are hard to make into articles. Collectible would work as an article, but Character wouldn't. I think bringing back the list of games from the previous version of the template would be a good idea, but a link to Category:Games would still be useful for seeing the minor games not shown. As for the smaller links below the boxes, DLC should probably go, as its importance has lowered greatly with the release of Pikmin 3 Deluxe. I also think that Category:Technical isn't really notable enough for the main page as it doesn't have many articles. However, some other important articles could be added to the template. Menu, Obstacle, Leader, and Hazard are good candidates.
As for game modes, it would be interesting if 1 or 2 modes were randomly shown from a set. In fact, randomly selecting articles from a category could be an interesting way to implement categories into the template, though I'm not sure if that's feasible. It would be cool to have 3 random articles from the Enemies category or the Treasures category appear in a row, though that could make the template too large. Anyway, what do you think of these ideas? — Botanist(talk) 03:14, January 5, 2021 (EST)
- Like you said, some important navigation subjects really have no choice but to be categories. It's a bit uncomfortable, but since the idea of the template is to give readers a way to navigate to other articles, categories aren't really that bad.
- I had tried making the template include Pikmin 3 Deluxe, but the logo for that game is just too massive, and unlike the other rereleases, this one can't be summed up in one quick icon like the "New Play Control!" badge. When we restructured the wiki, we also reached the conclusion that all of those games were bloating the navbox tremendously, and would only end up worse after the new CSS that makes the wiki more snug and full. Adding some of them and then a link to other games even seems like the worst of both worlds to be honest: we'd have unwieldy game icons taking up a good deal of the box, but still force users to click off if they wanted a secondary game. Plus with a franchise like Pikmin, that has like half representation in standard games, half in spin-offs, rereleases, and other franchises, it's hard to pick which titles deserve to be in the box, and it's easy to hide some important entries from casual readers that think only the games on the box exist.
- I agree DLC can go.
- The Technical category is a good way for readers to sink their teeth into the less superficial aspects of the franchise, and Pikipedia's pretty good at that. But yeah, the category is a bit small right now. I think some articles may be missing... Either way, it's an important aspect of both the wiki and the franchise, so I'd like to see it remain.
- Menu, obstacle, and hazard can work, though they're not very important and are a bit specific. Sure, they are articles that link to other articles, but whereas the rest of the box leads to entire branches of knowledge, these three are only about one specific topic and its offshoots. Iunno. Leader is mostly redundant when the characters category exists, though.
- The random links would probably work better elsewhere, not here. The idea of this template is to serve as a starting point for a specific subject a reader wants, or for readers wanting to learn more about a certain area of the franchise. Having links to specific subjects defeats the purpose, and making them random means readers could be presented with really unimportant stuff, in the middle of all of the big articles. I also think it could have a bit of a negative performance impact on the wiki proper, if every time somebody uses the main page, it's forced to go behind the scenes and scan categories in search of random titles. — {EspyoT} 14:40, January 6, 2021 (EST)
- Alright, I understand. I did a small change to remove DLC and change the order of points, but I realized in doing that that Category:Gameplay has so many of the most important articles. It describes the core game mechanics and some additional mechanics, and should be one of the most important categories. I renamed it to "Game mechanics" on the template to add prominence to it, but it could potentially be promoted more. I notice that Controls is in the template and also in the category, and if it's in both places, then potentially other important mechanics like days and obstacles could be in the template? Actually, that wouldn't be a very good idea.
- Alternatively, would it be a better idea to make important categories linked in the template function more like articles, like Category:Games and Category:Collectibles? All of the categories in the template could have a slightly longer opening section that has links to some of the most important articles in the category and explains its topic, and then have the standard list at the bottom. Would it be a good idea to do that? — Botanist(talk) 16:19, January 6, 2021 (EST)
- Hm, glitches is also in the gameplay category. I think since the category is so inclusive, we can afford to highlight in the box some of the more important sub-categories, as is currently being done for glitches and controls. Otherwise the list would be pretty small, since most of the important subjects would be hidden inside the gameplay category.
- For something like game modes, making the categories more article-like is fair, since they're finite and definable. But for something like technicalities, it's probably impossible. I'm not sure if it makes sense to do that for almost all, and then just not do it at all for others. — {EspyoT} 13:57, January 7, 2021 (EST)
- Potentially another way of fixing the imbalance of articles and categories would be to link to articles that redirect to the categories. Let me explain: When you hover the mouse over a mainspace link, it will give a preview of the article, and this is useful in seeing what it is about. However, non-mainspace pages do not do this. However, if a mainspace page redirects to a non-mainspace page, it will still show a preview of the non-mainspace page. For example, Louie has a preview, but Category:Characters doesn't. But Character, which redirects to Category:Characters, displays a preview of the category. Should we create cross-namespace redirects for most of the category links in this template, allowing all the links to have previews? — Botanist(talk) 05:20, July 22, 2021 (EDT)