Wikiversity talk:Main Page/Archive 9

Wikiversity Language
Why there is no [[Bangla[|Bangla] language in wikiversity? If there, where is it??


 * See http://beta.wikiversity.org and the guidelines there for creating a new Wikiversity site. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 16:59, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

Wikiversity App
Dear Wikimedia, I installed wikipedia app but I don't need it as I can go to wikipedia to get the same thing. But I believe the wikiversity app should be something more required. A neat app to study and keep track of progress and help adding new topics. [ I would love to volunteer in any programming side of things for app.]

What we should be writing in wikiversity is the words as a lecturer would speak with examples and contents like diagram and stuff to describe it. Otherwise there is no difference between wikiversity and wikipedia.

These words could be read by Text-to-Speech (Easy to do in android) on a mobile app, with diagrams on screen and a flowing texts like subtitles. Mobile app can also have speech-to-text engine for lecturers to add new topics.

There should be comment or discussion or FAQ part on each topic of the page for people to discuss confusing part about the topic.

There could be many more stuff done with app.

Some more suggestion: I think 'Explore wikiversity' should have "Content by Subject", which is in Catalogue page with ability to explore subcategories within it.


 * I've never seen any evidence that Wikimedia follows this page, or most of the other pages here. See Newsletters/Tech News for links to the developer team. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 12:24, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

heredity and variations
what is the relationship between heredity and variations ?


 * Try http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+the+relationship+between+heredity+and+variations+%3F -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 03:32, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Trial page
Helo, am Yohana from Tanzania MoEST department of SQA


 * Hi Yohana!


 * Welcome to Wikiversity! Please feel free to register! You can have your own User page to experiment on! Also, when your ready to leave a page put four ~ after to sign your user name or click on the lower pen icon. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 17:01, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

Needing language box
The Wikiversity Main Page should have a language design entitled "Main Page/Languages" in case they want to surf to another language. Yes, there are language sites at the left side. However, a separate box is more visible and attractive to many desktop readers. Thoughts? --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 07:57, 21 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Take a look at Main_Page/Sandbox/Wikimedia and Main_Page/Sandbox. Will this approach work? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 13:58, 6 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Hmm... Whether to add the "WikiJournal" somewhere in the bottom line (categories) of the top banner is your decision. However, I saw great support for spinning WikiJournal off, making the link nearly redundant. Moreover, I like the newer look of the top banner. However, having the language line at the bottom of Main Page/Sandbox/Wikimedia seems off. "90 languages"? There are 16 languages plus Hindi one coming soon; the rest are in Beta Wikivesity, which is proposed to be merged into the Incubator. Main Page/Sandbox/Languages would be more visible and helpful to all desktop readers than a one-liner. Also, the "Wikimedia" box is still the same as the current one: plain outdated. However, I noticed that Template:Robelbox is used, which is fine for the rest of the Wikiversity Main Page, so I'll hold off the redesigning for now. We should ask some others first before overhauling it. I'll ping Marshall for his opinions on this. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 15:51, 6 July 2017 (UTC); edited, 15:52, 6 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Pinging Dave. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 06:36, 8 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure what to say at this point. I don't see the benefit to en:wv of using main page space for advertising other languages when the links are already available on the left. But you've noted that you'd prefer a different solution for languages and want to ask others. So ask others. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 21:57, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
 * All right, Dave. If Marshall doesn't agree with the separate Language box suggestion, then I'll strike out that suggestion. Fair? --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 22:01, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
 * To me, however, I have used the left side for mainly the "Tools" and "Community" section. Some or many users would rarely use the left-side menu and find something at the bottom instead if they want to surf to other languages. But then again, if it's unnecessary, then I'll redact the suggestion. BTW, the Main Page draft looks good for now. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 22:06, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
 * At present there are fourteen non-English Wikiversities with a 15th on the way. That's a one-liner across the bottom below our sister projects, if that's the plan or something similar, which may be helpful to multilinguists, e.g., seems okay to me. BTW, the Arabic Wikiversity is missing from the current list on the left. Would it be a good idea to also list the eligibles on Beta Wikiversity to help them? --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 23:28, 8 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Hmm... I am not thrilled with putting one line of Wikiversities in the Wikimedia projects box. However, I don't object to expanding the line in the box, Marshall. I would support the separate section of the list of available languages of Wikiversity, but I'm unsure whether RobelBox is necessary. Compare the WV Main Page to that of Wikiquote, Wiktionary, and Wikisource. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 00:18, 9 July 2017 (UTC); struck comparison, 03:11, 9 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Each of those you listed has a large number of other languages! Another alternative is a language box on the left side, see (it.) the Italian Wikiversity. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 01:06, 9 July 2017 (UTC)

Okay, Marshall and Dave, bad comparison. How about that of Wikivoyage, though it has more graphics? --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 03:11, 9 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I've already created what I would recommend. If you want something else, create something else and then put links to both in the Colloquium and let the community vote. If others want additional options, let them create their alternatives. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 03:37, 9 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Dave's option does provide a way to link to the other Wikiversities on Beta! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 04:27, 9 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Missing from Dave's layout are the Community, Development, and Help boxes. Community and Help are in the left column. Unless there are other alternatives we could test Dave's version to see if the mf- and mp- command structure is no longer a hindrance. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 04:48, 9 July 2017 (UTC)


 * According to Media-Wiki the mobile issue has been resolved; i.e., mobile view now shows everything! Great! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 20:31, 9 July 2017 (UTC)

The Wikiversity Hilbert Book Model Project supports several language versions. The project is originally written in English. The main page and the sub-pages contain links to translated pages. These translated pages keep as close as possible to the English version. Currently, a Dutch translation and a German translation are available. Close translation of scientific text is a tedious job. The translator must be fluent both in English and in the target language AND must comprehend the scientific content. Maintaining the construct becomes a burden when several scientists cooperate on the same project. This will occur in research projects.HansVanLeunen (discuss • contribs) 18:43, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Additional Main Page sister projects box
I'd like to ask what others think about adding a second sister project box in a non-English language as a way of advertising fledgling Wikiversities and other such projects. Most of the links take the interested editor to that language's sites. I may be able to add a new one each month or perhaps more often. What do you think?

Here is a first example in Lithuanian (lietuvių):



Vikipedija Laisvoji enciklopedija



Vikižodynas Laisvasis žodynas



Vikicitatos Aforizmai, sentencijos



Wikinaujienos Naujausios žinios, aktualijos



Vikiversitetas Mokomoji medžiaga



Vikirūšis Rūšių katalogas



Vikiknygos Vadovėliai, knygos



Vikišaltiniai Įvairūs tekstai



Vikiteka Mediateka



Metaviki Vikimedijos projektų koordinavimas



MediaViki Viki programinė įranga



Vikidata Žinių bazė



Vikikelionės Kelionių vadovas



Inkubatorius Inkubuojami vikiprojektai



Beta Vikiversitetas Beta Vikiversitetas vikiprojektai



Phabricator MediaWiki klaidų taisymo svetainė

--Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 01:08, 16 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Are there any examples of other wiki projects that do this? My first preference is a single link to other languages, followed by a box with links to each of the other languages. Selecting one a month doesn't seem to add value to the others.
 * Regarding design, please note that tables are no longer considered appropriate (valid) for layout. See Main Page/Sandbox/Wikimedia for a  approach.
 * Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 03:31, 16 July 2017 (UTC)


 * The Korean Wikiversity, for example, has a sisters box at the bottom containing only 9 project logos only for the Korean versions. They are making no attempt to advertise any other Wikiversities or other fledgling projects. The Lithuanian Wikiversity on Beta Wikiversity has a sisters box that contains some Lithuaniam projects (not even the latest) and the rest direct to the English version. We would be the first to try this as a cross wiki advertisement to help other projects. In fact your proposed link is the first I've seen that can take potential contributors to, for example, the Lithuanian Wikiversity on Beta Wikiversity. I believe I can convert this table to the  approach. Ideally, a new one each week would be great! But I'd have to practice composing the wikilinks that work to make them that fast. The above example advertises all the current Lithuanian projects whether on Beta Wikiversity or on the Wikimedia Incubator. Ideally, the Main Page on beta should be updated to these, but so far their Main Page gets only 1.6 hits per day, we get some  3,500 per day. Most of the other Lithuanian projects are on the Incubator. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 04:14, 16 July 2017 (UTC)
 * And I am in favor of your modification to the Main Page! Depending on what you'd like to do, we could issue a site-wide request for comments, or go ahead and test the modifications maybe for a week to see what comments result, if any. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 23:14, 16 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm okay with the one-week trial/test thing. I wish for more input from others, but I won't mind going ahead. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 21:25, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

I am in favor of whatever you both decide. I need to continue to supply relevant research supplying more information to support the hypothesis. Please let me know what you are thinking. RAYLEIGH22 (discuss • contribs) 17:46, 19 July 2017 (UTC)


 * The above box has been changed to a  approach! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 04:48, 18 July 2017 (UTC)

Proposed Main Page changes

 * 1) Wikiversity's Main Page sisters projects,
 * 2) Main Page redesign, and
 * 3) Advertisement for projects including Wikiversity in another language. --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 02:54, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

Some discussion can also be found in the section Needing language box! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 03:04, 19 July 2017 (UTC)

I have no objections to anything that you feel will improve this project. Could I see a preview?

RAYLEIGH22 (discuss • contribs) 02:04, 26 July 2017 (UTC)


 * See Main Page/Sandbox. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 02:57, 26 July 2017 (UTC)


 * For the first part of the test, I've replaced our older sisters robelbox with Dave's suggestion! Feedback is most welcome! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 18:42, 26 July 2017 (UTC)
 * For the second part of the test, I've added a sisters robelbox in Lithuanian! Feedback is most welcome! --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 18:49, 26 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't like the addition of the Lithuanian sister projects. It doesn't make sense on an English wiki. If we're going to do this at all, I'd much rather implement it as a single line, such as Main Page/Sandbox/Wikimedia. The featured language can change daily, just as the featured project and picture do. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 19:10, 26 July 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Dave! I hope that the ideas I have expressed regarding Atlantis gain wide-spread acceptance. RAYLEIGH22 (discuss • contribs) 13:16, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Wow! Nice transition, Dave. However, what do we do with the "Mobile view" edition? The layout displays just the same as the desktop view and is not consistent with those of other projects. Ideally, the mobile edition of the WV Main Page can display just the Today's Featured Project. Thoughts? --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 22:46, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Maybe we can ask the mobile developers and/or Marshall. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 22:47, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * The design was intentional so that mobile users see the same content as desktop users, and the parts that were updated adapt to either a smartphone or tablet screen size. If we're going to reduce mobile content for some reason, the parts I would eliminate are the featured content. Featured articles are relatively low on the statistics count. Schools and courses are the big draw, and hopefully the major portals will start to see more interest. Do have any data that supports reducing what mobile users see? Does Wikimedia have statistics supporting the different wiki layouts, or is this something local to each project? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 23:41, 29 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Oh... no, no, no. I don't mean to reduce, Dave. Each project has different mobile and desktop editions. Look at the difference between desktop and mobile versions of Wiktionary. Same for desktop and mobile versions of Wikisource. Maybe we can discuss this with WMF tech people or Mediawiki devs, can't we? As for the three questions, I don't know how to answer those. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 04:42, 30 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Please create a sandbox example of what you are recommending. Regarding data, shows mobile main page views at Wikiversity last month were 12% of use, and almost all of those mobile views were mobile web rather than mobile app. Regarding resolution statistics, I'm not aware of any way to obtain specific Wikimedia statistics, but  shows worldwide trends. From this, we can estimate that perhaps 15% of our 12% have screen resolutions of 640x, and maybe 45% of our 12% have screen resolutions of 750x or less. I would advocate that we continue to design pages that automatically adjust for screen size, but that we not invest significant effort in developing a different layout for 5% (and decreasing as devices are upgraded) of our viewers. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 14:07, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Umm... I don't think any sandbox version of Main Page on mobile can help. I tried a few of them on Wikinews, but they display differently from the actual Wikinews Main Page. I bet the same can be said for any sandbox version of the Wikiversity Main Page. I guess we'll leave everything as is for now. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 20:20, 30 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Dave, I see that you modified the "Wikiversity's sister projects" box. It looks awkward when used as a horizontal style ("flex") or something. May you change it back? Thanks. Also, maybe we'll give the new look a few or several months and see for ourselves. In other words, I'll give the whole newly designed WV Main Page a chance. Thoughts? --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 04:03, 31 July 2017 (UTC)


 * What screen resolution are you viewing with, and what, specifically, does "awkward" mean to you? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 14:50, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Widescreen monitor, "1680 x 1050" landscape. When I said awkward, I should have specifically said that the box widens and crosses the right border of the screen. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 15:59, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I should have also asked, what browser and version number? -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 16:14, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Internet Explorer 11. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 16:17, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * But the "flex" works well at Google Chrome. --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 16:54, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Now corrected. It looks like we need to update our Robelbox templates as well. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 17:01, 31 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Dave, I found something that can help you configure the mobile web of WV Main Page: mw:Mobile Gateway/Mobile homepage formatting. There are more pages about mobile readership: mw:Category:Mobile. Check them out! --George Ho (discuss • contribs) 03:24, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Add new language wikiversity
Now Hindi Wikiversity has been created. Please add them in Main page Interwikilink. The language code is hi and Main page name is मुखपृष्ठ. please do it.-Jayprakash12345 (discuss • contribs) 16:45, 3 August 2017 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, the Hindi Wikiversity is not yet active. Please let me know when it is listed at Wikiversity and I'd be happy to update our main page. The other interwiki links should update automatically based on Wikidata entries. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 17:34, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

adding a statement about certification on main page
I think it would be very useful to add a sentence to the welcome message that mentions that courses on Wikiversity are meant for personal enrichment and do not lead to certification. This might be mentioned somewhere else, but after receiving messages requesting certification, perhaps it should be more prominent. NSaad (WMF) (discuss • contribs) 18:36, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * We have a fair number of courses that are geared for personal enrichment which can enable the student a higher likelihood of passing certification examinations which are often industry or state administered. Perhaps something like "Courses on Wikiversity are meant for personal enrichment which includes some that can enable the student a higher likelihood of passing certification examinations." What do you think? --Marshallsumter (discuss • contribs) 19:51, 2 October 2017 (UTC)


 * At the moment, Wikiversity has 271 active users (not counting blocked accounts), of which approximately 50% are students actively enrolled in real-world courses. That is not personal enrichment. Wikiversity supports all types of learning, including formal and informal. Wikiversity does not award degrees or certificates, but Wikiversity courses may lead to credit or certification elsewhere. This is documented at What is Wikiversity? and What Wikiversity is not. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 21:27, 2 October 2017 (UTC)