Idea for catagories stickers - a link

+5 votes
267 views
Suggestion I think stickers and categories would be more helpful if you could link direct to that category from the profile. I probably can add it myself but it could be integrated somehow.
in WikiTree Tech by Anonymous Chizlett G2G6 (6.8k points)
edited by Anonymous Chizlett

Well, the one for categories is not there unless there is at least one category added to the profile.  And that button / those buttons pretty much came about due to complaints regards the teen, tiny, itsy, bitsy, link that was what we got when categories were first moved to t he bottom of profiles. 

Full size on click.

I thought, I should actually go click on a sticker and see what happens. At present, nothing. Unless you click on the picture on the sticker, and that takes you to a photo page for editing photos. (Putting them on other profiles etc) Possibly not the most useful page to have a sticker link you to. I would propose, that the sticker take you to a page on the topic of the sticker. With the picture of the sticker at the top, so you can then click on the picture if you need it. And the page is able to link to relevant profiles. OR below the description of the page, a list of letters of the alphabet, so you can select one, to narrow down a list of surnames. Some of the stickers would have many thousands of names under them, such as born in England. This is when it comes in handy to have more specific stickers, such as born in the Shire of ....... .

I would propose, that the sticker take you to a page on the topic of the sticker. With the picture of the sticker at the top, so you can then click on the picture if you need it. And the page is able to link to relevant profiles. OR below the description of the page, a list of letters of the alphabet, so you can select one, to narrow down a list of surnames.

Ben, I know this discussion is a bit dormant now, but the functions you are describing are features that are already available, they are just not linked from the stickers as you are suggesting. The suggestion also introduces an overlap in functions, which would create a bit of a nightmare to manage.

Some of the stickers would have many thousands of names under them, such as born in England.

In addition to this, some stickers are very generic, such as the Died Young sticker Melanie mentioned previously. Seeing all profiles using that sticker would not be the most useful (since many will not be related to each other). If we were to force all stickers to accommodate these types of links, it would ultimately take away from the purpose of a sticker and introduce unnecessary clutter.

Stickers are also not meant to serve any unique purpose, but rather are used for honoring a person or otherwise highlighting something that's deemed to be important about them.

This is when it comes in handy to have more specific stickers, such as born in the Shire of ....... .

While some stickers do provide this level of detail, it is ultimately the categories that provide the information you are looking for since they provide the relevant grouping of profiles. For example, to see all profiles currently associated with Luton, Bedfordshire, you would go to Category:Luton, Bedfordshire.

---

Now, with all of that said, it is still possible to see all the profiles using a template, whether or not categories are used with them.

When you go to Template:Died Young, look in the Info box. There is a link to "Pages using the template" which will show you all the profiles that use this sticker (roughly 52,000 as of this message).

Not that I was necessarily expecting change, but I still think my suggestion has merit then, especially as you say, most of those functions are already available.

Now, not that I want to slight Wikitree, because I think it is fantastic. But, it comes across, like it is. A program that has been added to, bit by bit, through the years, looking a bit of a disorganised mess. Whereas, if you had all the concepts that we have now, from the start, it would have been organised better. As I said, don't get me wrong, I think Wikitree is fantastic, and I'm not actually seeking change, but other programmers have gone through the same thing. Windows has done this several time, added so much bit by bit, that new versions have endeavoured to go back to the start and reprogram the whole lot from new. If only Wikitree had that sort of budget, and was still free. Oh well, bit by bit is great.

As for the stickers, if the function is already available, I would maintain that it would make sense that the stickers became buttons, to make it easier and more intuitive to get to that function. I understand that it then becomes a headache. Perhaps it would be easier, if stickers were forced, to be incorporated back into categories. Not to suggest that every category should have a sticker, but that the categories seem to be a better arrangement, with descriptive pages of what lies underneath, and an already available structural tree of categories and sub-categories. I realise that even the suggestion of getting stickers back into categories, would be a bit of a nightmare. I'm just brain-storming how Wikitree could be just a little better. I'm not demanding or seeking change.

Having said that, I think that those who do do the programming for Wikitree, would be disappointed, if they looked back in years to come, and considered that Wikitree had settled for less than best, and had never looked at the whole picture through fresh eyes every so often, to reorganise how the whole program works. And Wikitree is amazing, that on the other side of the world, we can brain-storm ideas too, and that through G2G, those who run Wikitree, actually do actively consider such ideas. Of course, not being a programmer, I am unaware of the complexity of how much of an issue it is to make the changes, but I understand it is big. I personally think that Wikitree should look toward having an Android and Apple App, at least for allowing people to view Wikitree, if not for editting at first. Something like that, would actually allow Wikitree to take a step back, and consider holistically, how they ultimately would like this platform to look. Brain-fart over.
Did I open a can of worms I seem to have a knack for that!

Interesting points by all.

I will end up looking at the info box to see what profiles have stickers, as suggested by Steven, so stickers are categorised already in that respect, so there is a link there that could possibly be utilized. I have to see how I use catagories in the future.

Also noting for badges are like stickers except you get a list of people who received the badge.

Problem stickers for me do not show up on a mobile is that normal?

There are many more catagories than stickers, and catagories can be expanded pretty easily the way it is. Although I don't always know instantly what to use, just seeing what other's have already done I am getting more familiar.
A template idea like a County sticker which leads to the County catagory page with subheadings as they are. So lead you to other aspects without over complicating the whole concept for all catagories / stickers. Unless some other useful big catagories follow. I need to look more into catagories myself.
Looking at England sticker I clicked the flag and I see a lot of profiles have been added to the title: in this image - so it does confuse people to start with that they didn't use categories or used that as an image and not a sticker as seen some now that have used both.
Some people just like to use flag images for the primary image on a profile or space page.

As for the stickers, if the function is already available, I would maintain that it would make sense that the stickers became buttons, to make it easier and more intuitive to get to that function.

That still poses the problem of overriding the default behavior/links that stickers provide already. For example, look at the link options available at Template:Descendant, Template:GOONS, Template:PGM Descendant, etc. If we were to turn a sticker into a 'button', those links would cease to function.

Perhaps it would be easier, if stickers were forced, to be incorporated back into categories. Not to suggest that every category should have a sticker, but that the categories seem to be a better arrangement, with descriptive pages of what lies underneath, and an already available structural tree of categories and sub-categories.

I'm not sure I understand this comment. Stickers can already generate categories and link to categories if they are designed that way.

That's alright. Thank you. The inner workings of how Wikitree is programmed is beyond me. I'm happy to take someone elses word for it. But thank you for considering the suggestions and responding.

1 Answer

+1 vote
Quick comment in regards to something that was said: categories are added at the very top of the profiles, above the biography heading, and above any templates that are there. Please do not add categories at the bottom of the page. Please see the following link for how the profiles should be structured:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Biographies

I think the idea of the sticker linking to the category page is interesting.

Best, Sarah
by Sarah Grimaldi G2G6 Mach 2 (21.3k points)
You are correct. But the reference to categories being at the bottom of the page, is not in edit mode. In Edit mode, they are definitely placed at the top. In view mode, they appear at the very bottom of the page, below Connection Finder.

Categories are at the top of the page not the bottom. See Horton-911 for a recent profile I edited that shows categories at the top. The category links are small. 

Strange. Maybe OS makes a difference or something. Bottom of my page still. 

I see only the  "button" at the  top, no link.  The categories themselves are at the bottom of the page.
That is strange Ben. The categories moved to the top as per my picture about a month ago. My main browser is the Opera browser. When I just looked on Chrome for the Horton-911 profile the categories were at the bottom like Opera used to be.
Yep. Might be an Apple thing. Hasn't been pushed through to other platforms yet. Certainly not for the internet platforms that I have on Android and Win7. It will probably catch up later. I think it makes more sense being up the top.

Even on Opera I do not see a link to categories at the top, just the categories at the bottom.

I also do not see the "button" at the top unless I am logged in.

It can make a difference, whether or not you have updated your internet browser to a newer update.
Darren, you are probably using my Chrome extension. There is a setting that users can turn on to revert categories back to the top of the profile.

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