Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-15636815-20131111185541/@comment-15529092-20131123213324

And my last post (for longer time I hope) => list of ideas about your new Extensions (Workshop E) page which I have got during last days. Here are my insights:


 * 1. I like the current page's structure exactly as it is. However as it is very advanced (3 content levels with ca 20 chapters altogether) I would very much welcome to make its use Is it possible to keep the chapter numbering not only in TOC itself but in chapter headers as well? This would be nice step towards improving page navigation.


 * 2. One more navigation improvement proposal. As these tables contain so many data what about to help with some BOLD? Especially the 'Extension's designation' could use some bold highlighting - these information takes very few space (compared to space cost data) so it's hard to notice it. Therefore I suggest to use bold on it. I would also consider to highlight with bold required levels as well (same reason again = they take only small space compared to other things in table so it's very easy to overllok it).


 * 3. EXPAND - COLLAPSE feature ... well, the feature itself works perfectly! I am just thinking about it's graphis implementation (layout). I would say that THIS is exactly what should tear user's eyes (and I mean to tear eyes MUCH more compared to unconfirmed information conditional formatting). This should be exactly the first thing user will notice - otherwise we have a serious problem. Because if he / she doesn't notice that expanding link, he / she just says that there is nothing there (if he / she misses that expand / collapse link) and leaves that page and never returns back. So I would strongly advice to highlight this feature as much as possible. I propose to implement it via significantly highlighted button. Optimal placement would slightly above the table (as this is main table commanding element, it seems weird to put it inside the table itself) - e.g. the end of 'dual cost warning' row would to nicely as a spot for this button.


 * 4. Another table navigation issue. What about to improve navigation inside long tables (like Local train slots or Internationational train slots) with adding a footer at its end? I know that MediaWiki doesn't support footers however it is possible to implement it via new table (footer example is on Contractor Station Street Sizes page - obviously it has different reason but the principle is same). It makes sense to use these footers on long tables only (20 rows at least).


 * 5. Legend explaining condinitional information confirmation formatting. Legend itself is great - good to to explain what colours mean! I am just wondering about implementation again :) .... how it will look like after the new page layout is finished? I mean exactly this: is it going to be there at the beginning of each chapter or only once? I would welcome to display the legend just once (preferably in extensions introduction chapter). If it is necessary to have this legend at each chapter than let's put it at least at the end (as it takes quite a lot of space at the beginning and it also causes that 'Expand / collapse' feature can be overlooked very easily :/ ).

So these are my insights & feed-back I have collected during last week. I hope that it will help you to get another angle of view and you will make good use of it. Everything else on your template is great! My ideas are focusing just on feature's implementation & graphic layout than the features itself (which are definitely super).

Great job so far, I am looking forward to see your new layout on-line soon!

Best regards,

Rastislav.