I have changed our 'ideal' comic cover image size, from 350 pixels wide, to 300 pixels. The reasoning for this change was the introduction of about 50 pixels of advertising on the right hand side of every page. -->
Does anyone disagree with this change, or does it seem to better fit the new size of our pages?
Cheers,
--JamieHari 19:57, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
Naming Conventions[]
As many will soon see, the new comic template is going to alter the way we name comic title pages. To format things correctly, all comic titles will need to be moved to reflect the current format. Individual issue page names remain the same. Comic title pages should be created using the following naming convention:
Comics:Title Vol #
Example: Comics:52 Vol 1
(Take note that there is no space between the colon and the comic title)
See Naming Conventions discussion at the MDP for more details.
--Brian Kurtz 20:35, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
Tips for Editors[]
The current template includes a field which automatically generates an appearances category for listed characters. This category is distinctive from the Appearances page, as it lists appearances alpha-numerically rather than chronogically. Also, the categories do not allow for special qualifiers such as cameo appearance, behind-the-scenes, etc. The benefit of these categories is to give users a quick-find guide for issues that a certain character may appear in.
Naming Convention[]
Here's where it gets tricky
Because these are category pages and not article pages, they cannot be moved, renamed, or otherwise altered. When adding the name of a character to the "Cast" field, the value should be the same as whatever identity the character is either currently using, or is otherwise best known by. For example, if Dick Grayson appears in an old issue of Batman, his value in the Cast field should be "Richard Grayson (New Earth)", regardless of whether he was actually using the alias the New Earth or Earth-One version in that issue or not. We want to eliminate the need for creating multiple appearances categories for the same person.
Some characters have been through so many name variations, that it is best to refer to them by their actual name, such as Donna Troy. These instances should be rare, and hopefully, kept to a minimum.
All parallel reality counterparts to mainstream characters should be identified by their real-name, followed by their reality designation in paranthesis. Example: Kal-El (Earth-Two). Mainstream counterparts to these characters should have the same category name as their article page names. Bruce Wayne (New Earth), Kal-El (New Earth), etc.
Characters who change their identity from this point forward presents a real problem, however. See the discussion page at the Marvel Database Project for more info.
--Brian Kurtz 21:00, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
- modified by Roygbiv666 22:35, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
Exceptions:
- Renée Montoya: Although she is now adopting the identity of the Question, Renee is more universally known by her real name (note the accent). I am creating her appearances category as Category:Renée Montoya/Appearances.
More Tips[]
Currently, the new template allows for five additional stories following the main story. Attempting to add any back-up features beyond six will not be viewable on the main page. While additional stories can certainly be added to the template, this would unfortunately create an even larger white space between the Synopsis and Notes sections of the article, which would look rather unattractive. For comic issues that include more than six stories (mostly Golden Age stuff), I would recommend using the old comic template (provided below). Make changes, exitions as needed. Hopefully, a more user-friendly solution to this will present itself in the future. --Brian Kurtz 16:53, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
Old Template[]
[[Image:Smalldclogo.jpg|right|DC]]
__NOTOC__
==Summary==
'''Volume:''' Volume unknown
'''Issue:''' Issue unknown
'''Month:''' Month of first print unknown
'''Year:''' Year of first print unknown
==Credits==
'''Editor in Chief:''' Editor in Chief unknown
'''Head Writer:''' Head writer unknown
'''Writers:''' Writers unknown
'''Cover Artists:''' Cover artists unknown
'''Pencilers:''' Pencilers unknown
'''Inkers:''' Inkers unknown
'''Colorists:''' Colorists unknown
'''Letterers:''' Letterers unknown
'''Editors:''' Editors unknown
==Synopsis==
'''Cast of Characters:'''
*
'''Locations:'''
*
'''Items:'''
*
'''First Appearances:''' No first appearances
'''Final Appearances:''' No final appearances
'''Synopsis:''' Synopsis not yet written
==Story Title 2==
'''Story subtitle'''
===Credits===
'''Head Writer:''' Head writer unknown
'''Writers:''' Writers unknown
'''Pencilers:''' Pencilers unknown
'''Inkers:''' Inkers unknown
'''Colorists:''' Colorists unknown
'''Letterers:''' Letterers unknown
'''Editors:''' Editors unknown
===Synopsis===
'''Cast of Characters:'''
*
'''Locations:'''
*
'''Items:'''
*
'''First Appearances:''' No first appearances
'''Final Appearances:''' No final appearances
'''Synopsis:''' Synopsis not yet written
==Story Title 3==
'''Story subtitle'''
===Credits===
'''Head Writer:''' Head writer unknown
'''Writers:''' Writers unknown
'''Pencilers:''' Pencilers unknown
'''Inkers:''' Inkers unknown
'''Colorists:''' Colorists unknown
'''Letterers:''' Letterers unknown
'''Editors:''' Editors unknown
===Synopsis===
'''Cast of Characters:'''
*
'''Locations:'''
*
'''Items:'''
*
'''First Appearances:''' No first appearances
'''Final Appearances:''' No final appearances
'''Synopsis:''' Synopsis not yet written
==Story Title 4==
'''Story subtitle'''
===Credits===
'''Head Writer:''' Head writer unknown
'''Writers:''' Writers unknown
'''Pencilers:''' Pencilers unknown
'''Inkers:''' Inkers unknown
'''Colorists:''' Colorists unknown
'''Letterers:''' Letterers unknown
'''Editors:''' Editors unknown
===Synopsis===
'''Cast of Characters:'''
*
'''Locations:'''
*
'''Items:'''
*
'''First Appearances:''' No first appearances
'''Final Appearances:''' No final appearances
'''Synopsis:''' Synopsis not yet written
==Notes==
* No special notes.
==Trivia==
*
==Recommended Readings==
*
==Related Articles==
*
==External Links==
*
==References==
*
----
{{nav|
previous = [[Issue]]|
title = [[Title]]|
note = Qualifier|
next = [[Issue]]|
}}
[[Category:Comics]]
Categories for minor characters[]
So far, for minor throwaway characters that don't appear outside a handful of issues, I haven't bothered putting them in the Cast# fields to create an appearance category for them, even if they have their own character page. Any thoughts on this? Am I correct, or should we be giving everyone a category, no matter how minor? -Profzoom 20:04, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
- I'd ask this in the forums to get a wider audience, but my person opinion is include them in the cast variables, if they have their own articles.
- If they are 'joe #1' with no article, of course they can be left out...
- Caveat: I LOVE data. The more, the better.
- Database space is free... it's only a matter of whether editors are willing to do it.
- Originally, there was a lot of discussion whether eye-colour categories were too much effort. :)
- Let's discuss it more on the forums.
- --Jamie 01:01, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
Template Format[]
Now that it's too late, is there any way to put the synopsis before the cast? Does anyone really want to see a multi-screen list of people before the synopsis?
- --Roygbiv666 12:22, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
- I don't believe it is too late at all...
- Could you repeat this question on the forums to build a discussion about this? (If you haven't already)
- If we change it, I would like to change it on both MDP and DCDP. :)
- --Jamie 13:13, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
Adding Event Information[]
I tried doing this myself, but I'm reverse engineering code that doesn't seem to like spacing things in sections ... Anyway, would anyone be able to set up a test template to add Event information? I almost got this to work, but lost track of the }}} parts. you kids today, with your non-FORTRAN code - crazy!
Ideally, I'd want to have the Comic Template updated with a field like this:
| EventName = FILL IN ANY EVENT THIS ISSUE IS A PART OF
That auto-categorizes that comic in "Category:EventName". That way all issues are listed in one place (albeit alphabetically). Would it then be possible to maybe auto-populate the "EventName" into Recommended Readings?
And if that EVENTNAME is filled in, then immediately below the "Previous Issue"/"Next Issue" fields displayed in the InfoBox are these:
| Prev Event Issue = LINK TO THE LAST ISSUE IN THE EVENT (IF NOT PART OF SAME COMIC TITLE)
| Next Event Issue = LINK TO THE LAST ISSUE IN THE EVENT (IF NOT PART OF SAME COMIC TITLE)
Since some Events go from title to title (See the Sinestro Corps War for an example).
Does this make sense? --Roygbiv666 14:53, 1 February 2008 (UTC)
- Makes sense to me. Though I'm certainly not the one who would be able to help with this. Whenever I try to do something involving code I get attacked by the Flying Monkeys. Seriously. It's friggin' weird. They fling poo.
- On that same note... mebbe there's a way we can add another auto-nav option to comic pages. Specifically, Superman issues that used that secondary triangle numbering system from a few years back. That way, we can direct users from the prev/next issues of the corresponding title, as well as the prev/next issues in the Superman continuity line. Thus far, I've been using the old school nav box for this. --Brian Kurtz 02:32, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
- That's why it's kind of frustrating - I have a vague idea, but lack the knowledge to code the stuff. If the code had better/more spacing I could probably figure it out. --Roygbiv666 02:53, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
- Definitely possible. This code isn't all that easy to design, but almost anything can be done. I do have a couple questions on how it would come together:
- Are you planning on having multiple events in the same block? Like would the EventName field have a bunch of events in it?
- Would having a link in the Recommended Reading to the Event Category be ok instead of listing the individual pages?
- Previous and Next would really be trickier to make happen automatically, especially if the pages are listed alphabetically in the Category. If we listed them by release date, that would put them in chronological order, which might make things easier as far as automatic previous and next. Otherwise, they'd just have to be fields that people entered the next and previous manually.
- I'd also like to see what you had when you almost had it working. I can't promise anything, (timelines as well), but I'm about 90% sure I could make this happen. :)
- --Your Friendly Neighborhood Peteparker (talk • contribs • email) 22:19, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
- Apparently, I have an example here - it looks right, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. At any rate, I just see an extra line with the previous/next issues of an event. They would have to be manually entered, because some events jump around between titles (See Sinestro Corps War for an example). Ideally, I'd want to fill out the individual comics via the template and automagically have an Event page made with some kind of automagic connection to all the comics part of the event. I guess that would require DPL though.
- I don't think there would be comics part of multiple events.
- Not sure what you mean about the Recommend Reading aspect of it. On the Event page, I would ideally want to have synopses of each individual issue. See this for an example. Again, it would be nice to be able to automate that, so that by creating the individual comics/synopses/bread-crumb-trail-of-comics-in-the-event creates the Event page, but hardly required. I think I made a template that could be put in each issue of an event, but it seems redundant.
- Thanks for all help. All of the silly DC versus Marvel fanboy stuff shouldn't keep us from working together on things. We're all comic nerds, right? Roygbiv666 23:57, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
Previous/Next Issue?[]
Am I missing something? When I hit the "Insert comic template" when creating new pages, there isn't a section for Previous/Next Issue anymore. Do we have to manually input this now? No biggie, just wondering. GeorgeMcBain 03:13, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
- The Previous and Next are now optional fields, meaning they will be automatically filled in by the template for one minus and one plus the current issue. You are still able to override the Previous and Next Issues for those situations like Issue #1000000, where the previous was like 468 and the next was 469.
- — Nathan (Peteparker) (Earth-1218) (talk • contribs • email) 19:25, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
Previous/Next[]
I love that we don't have to type these things in anymore. But can we add them back to the standard options anyway, so they appear when I click the little button on top of the editing space? I think seasoned editors will know enough to just delete it when useful, and I would rather erase it everytime I didn't need it then have to add it in every time I do (which is a lot of times). It's particularly important for last issues, one-shots, and weird issues. And... there are a lot of those at DC.
- - Billy Arrowsmith (Talk), 16:13, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
Multiple story lines[]
Is anyone else noticing multiple synopsis lines in the template recently? -- SFH 22:52, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
- Yeah. I brought it up on the forums, and it looks like Nathan just took care of it with his powers, which I can only assume are magical in nature.
- - Billy Arrowsmith (Talk), 02:15, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
- Yeah. I brought it up on the forums, and it looks like Nathan just took care of it with his powers, which I can only assume are magical in nature.
1000 Character Limit problem[]
I'm sure everyone is noticing about that "Error: String exceeds 1,000 character limit" crap that has been bugging the site. Is there any way to get rid of this???--Drgyen 05:04, February 3, 2011 (UTC)
- to be honest, I haven't a clue of what this limit is, and what it is use for.--Drgyen 22:22, February 3, 2011 (UTC)
Solicitation[]
I thinking of adding a solicitation for the comic template as there are some comic pages with solicits and it been done before on the Marvel Wiki. What do you guys think?--Drgyen 04:48, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
How Big is Too Big?[]
It looks like our maximum number of stories right now is 50 in the template. I'm currently writing up 9-11 #2 which is certainly an outlier but has 74 unique stories. Does it make sense to double the amount of stories in the template? I mean I can't think of another good solution here but also it seems weird to add that much code to the template when most of it is only gonna be used by maybe one page. - Billy Arrowsmith (Talk), 07:28, June 7, 2019 (UTC)
- It's way easier to expand the number for StoryTitle/Synopsis/Credits/etc than one would think. It just takes a bit of time and I'm not sure I have it this weekend. As for "too much"... there's currently room for 104 alternate covers.--Tupka217 07:34, June 7, 2019 (UTC)
Colorist[]
Why would we use the British spelling when DC is an American company? --Khajidha (talk) 18:09, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
- The founder of this site was Canadian. Kyletheobald (talk) 18:23, 18 November 2020 (UTC)
Cover price[]
What do community members think of adding cover price to the intro sentence?
For example, the current: "Detective Comics #141 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1948."
...would become: "Detective Comics #141 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1948 and price of 10¢."
The preceding unsigned comment was added by Adaaaam (talk • contribs).
- We experimented with adding cover price to the infobox for a while and there probably is still a vestigial parameter in the templates, but there are only a (relative) hanbdful that have that and it's not tied to any category magic. IIRC we dropped the idea because it's usually on the cover image anyway. The intro blurb is automated based on certain infobox parameters, and it's already a parser function nightmare. There's a publication date function in there as well that's in a separate sentence, so this particular suggestion is a no. Maybe tacked on as a separate section, that's easier with an #if. I've thought of other things to add to the lede in the past, like storytitle, event or maybe a free input field, but there are too many anomalies to make that work consistently. --Tupka217 (talk) 15:10, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
- I wasn't asking you Tupka12. Besides, your logic against it (that it's on the image where you can't even see it without zooming) is very poor, because by your reasoning, the many other attributes such as Title, Issue No., Cover Date, etc. have no use in the lede, yet there they are. Additionally, I can make the parser function which is a nightmare to you but not to me work easily by incorporating logic such as whether cover date exists to revise the grammar. Anyway, I didn't realize this Talk page was only for Admins to respond to. I shall instead pose my question on the forum instead. Feel free to present your reasons there for all to read.The preceding unsigned comment was added by Adaaaam (talk • contribs).
- This talk page is open to everyone to discuss, and as an admin template maintenance is one of my tasks, I respond. The CoverPrice or Cover Price parameter currently does not exist so adding it does nothing to the displayed page.
- And it wasn't as much my logic but more my recollection as to why we didn't go through with it. I'm not opposed to adding it, but it's going to require a lot of work and essentially just create another maintenance category that will never get finished.
- The automated lede is just stuffing. "Pagename is X from so and so date", something for Google to latch onto. The whole reason the publication date is there was because that was previously used as a trivia point, the code was just moved up there. For its purpose - SEO - a free input field makes more sense than just another number. I'll probably look into it when I have some more time or coffee in me. Or both. --Tupka217 (talk) 15:53, 17 July 2021 (UTC)
- This talk page has no mechanism for non-administrative contributors to respond to other non-administrative contributors, as demonstrated by my creation of entire sections everytime I add a reply (which you are merging manually), so it is false that it is open to everyone to discuss amongst themselves, unlike Wikipedia pages (this can be easily fixed by allowing non-admins to respond just like you are able to).
- I am well aware the CoverPrice parameter does not currently exist, however I will continue populating them when I free time so that the parser function may one day utilize it. Also, once that day comes, it doesn't matter if every single issue does not include it in the lede, the purpose of a wiki is for the entire community to contribute. If someone sees other pages missing it, then it is their prerogative to fill it in as desired. It is not up to you to dictate whether a category needs to be "finished" in order for it to be a good idea (very similar to how you strangely think adding 2nd+ appearances entailing too much work is somehow not precisely what wiki's are created for)
- Your recollection of why it was not included in lede was certainly presented as your own logic. Whether it is your own or not, you still participated in the decision, so it would seem decision-making is not based on sound logic on this wiki (again, because some things in image like title are included while others are not).
- This is evident again as you present the SEO angle behind the poorly reasoned decision, since there is nothing to truncate if fields are forgone as google just shows whitespace (so there is no opportunity cost): https://i.imgur.com/2WVhpqp.png