Talk:Generating dynamic content with MediaWiki

Be bold
For those who came to Wikiversity from Wikipedia or other Wikimedia projects, the subject of dynamic content may have seemed too complex or enigmatic to become involved with. What this learning project is for, is to give average Wikiversity editors the chance to experiment with and learn some of the tips and tricks that can be done using MediaWiki. Most of the Activities and Exersizes are designed to help with content development that has everyday appeal and practical usage to make Wikiversity more fun and exciting.

This course has the term "Generating" in its title for a reason: To build from scratch a set of components such as Quote of the Day QOTD and Picture of the Month POTM. The templates were made as their corresponding sections were written, with the intent of fully disclosing how they work, what they are for and why Wikiversity needs them. It is very important for every member of the Wikiversity learning community to become familiar with dynamic content because we are a dynamic community and change is always in the wind.

Be bold. Edit and create dynamic templates, create places for them on Portals, the Main Page and even on your own Userpage. If you feel like your ideas are too large or too visible, just ask for some help somewhere. This is an open community-driven "learn by doing" environment. -- CQ 19:36, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

StringFunctions
For more interesting functions, vote for 6455.Hillgentleman|Talk 21:44, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Comment #19 From Simetrical "...Please do not comment on this bug just to say you support it; there's a "vote for this bug" link near the bottom of the page for that that *doesn't* spam everyone who's voted for the bug plus half the developers with your support." ... but you still must create and account and log in just to vote. I'm still studying StringFunctions. Thanks for the suggestion, Hillgentleman. CQ 12:59, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Queue
I've had an idea to make a "running queue" schema that can work for years, months, weeks, days, etc.. similar to the schema described in the Weekly maintenance section.

Using CURRENTWEEK with CURRENTDOW is buggy because Sunday is ambiguously either day 7 or day 0 of whichever week. "Yesterday, today and tomorrow" is more complex than one would think. Also I forgot about weeks 1 through 12 clashing with months 00 through 12, so to use weekly view for supages, you should use something like / which yields: /}}

Several applications for queue come to mind, such as the Bloom clock project, Test and Quiz and the Self Paced Reading Labs. I have a demo in my user space that works a little like a blog or journal. CQ 13:31, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Subst
What is subst? Can you explain it also? Why there in exc. 2.5 it is sometimes used and sometimes not? Why subst is used with some templates?--Juan de Vojníkov 08:37, 6 September 2009 (UTC)


 * subst is for "substitution" for either a template or a variable.


 * Example: is 09 only true for a maximum of 31 days. It "freezes" the CURRENT variable the first time it's evaluated and that value replaces the bracketed variable. July (July) although is 09 today is still dynamic and will change next month.


 * Example: gives us its current value which today is /|. At midnight queue will change, but its value for now is again "frozen" as part of the page. See m:Help:Substitution for a whole lot more. --CQ 22:27, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

"Template of the Month"
Template Presentation Format

Let me use *nix "man" pages as an example -- that is what NOT to do!

I was thinking a "template of the month" template, where the article shows an excellent use of the template, the template specifications, and then a simplistic use of the template with null (meaning neutral) examples of the use of each of the specifications. In the case of exceedingly complicated templates, two examples may be necessary: one to get editors started, one to describe the full scope of the template.

Time Traveling with Edgar
This Week, I was inspired to travel back to 1809 to the birth-week of Edgar Allan Poe .. See /2015/W04 -- CQ (discuss • contribs) 03:59, 21 January 2015 (UTC)