Help:Books/Feedback/Archives/2011/January

Contributing to Book Tool

How can I contribute to development of the book tool? Is this a private/internal Wiki project? I have a experience with dynamic printing and I would love to help improve the design and performance of the layout builder. Ivionday (talk) 01:51, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

See http://code.pediapress.com. I would also recommend logging on IRC (freenode, #pediapress) and talk to the devs (v0lk3r, jojob, schmir, hejko) which are usually online during German work hours, they would be able to guide you. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 08:03, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

argh

Everytime I try to make a book, as soon as I get going and have the pages as I like them and am just nearly finished adding more, it disappears. Everytime. 67.68.197.211 04:43, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

Could you be more specific about what causes this? It happens to me from time to time, and it's a known issue, but it seems very random to us so far and we just can't pinpoint the problem. Even something like a list of articles could be useful. Was the book lost after deleting an article, renaming a chapter etc.... ? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 04:43, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

I am having the same problem. I get up to about 50 articles, and the next page does not have the book link. When I try to go back and click on view book, the page is empty and it erases everything. This is soooo annoying!

I am FAIRLY sure that, (gathering from my own experiences) this may have to do with browser cookies and the use of its own navigation. (like the "back" button) I'm not 100% positive, but modifying the book through multiple simultaneous tabs ALSO appears to frequently cause a "blanking." Hopefully this might help in discovering the root cause. As for the rest of us, I've figured out a few work-arounds that appear to make do:

1. Do not work with the book on multiple tabs/windows. Deal only with a single tab of Wikipedia (or whatever Wiki is using the app) until you are finished working on the book. (either by saving it, starting the render process, etc.) At that point the book process has been handed-off from the browser's cookies. Note that this only applies to Wiki browsing: Having an arbitrary number of other tabs that never go to Wikipedia appears to have zero effect on this glitch.
2. Similar to above, do NOT make use of the "back" and "forward" buttons while working on an open book: only use on-page hyperlinks and other buttons for navigation. (i.e, only click/search to navigate) Similar to above, this only applies to the tab used for Wikipedia: feel free to continue using these buttons for the tabs you've got open to other sites.
3. In the event of the book toolbar vanishing from the top of the page, navigate (using only the above ways mentioned above) until you can find the "create a book" option again. Select it, and start the book creator: it SHOULD mention you have an existing session open, and ask if you want to open it again. Do so: it should have your "lost" session.

Hopefully this will help ease out some of the headaches people are having. Nottheking (talk) 04:52, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Configuration of collection extension

Hello!

You may want to comment at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Configuration_of_collection_extension. Helder 15:03, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Adding True Support For Re-Directs?

There is a ticket for this issue.

While perhaps the inclusion of hyperlinks has proven to be one of the handiest features of this extension (especially on larger books) it has had its weaknesses. The main one I've found is that the extension is utterly blind to if a link leads to a re-direct: in the output, the "article" will instead yield whatever article it re-directs to, but with the title given in the original link. This is frustrating for the reason that not all links on Wikipedia are consistently named: that's why we have re-directs.

However, this yields trouble for a book should you have multiple different names that link to the same article: you either must have redundant articles to cover the different names (hence increasing the load on the rendering servers) or you have to deal with having a portion of your links, that would normally lead to a real article that's in the same file, being broken.

This is somewhat related to Ticket #765, though that merely deals with "recognizing duplicate pages," that could arise from adding linked articles; this feedback deals strictly with internal hyperlinks, not the actual contents list. A suggested solution would be to incorporate support for "re-direct articles" that would be held separate of the main article list: all of them would have to be re-directs that go to articles already in the book, and hence, upon rendering, would parse any such hyperlinks to go to the proper article, with the correct name, much like Wikipedia proper. Nottheking (talk) 05:13, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

I think Ticket #909 more adequately covers this. Is something like this what you had in mind? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 09:46, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I had somehow over-looked that ticket. Ideally, perhaps there should be the option selectable for downloaded PDFs; in most cases, I'd think it preferable if the otherwise-duplicate pages didn't just have the "see (other page)" option, but outright did a linked re-direct. However, I do agree that that ticket does adequately describe/address the issue. Thank you. Nottheking (talk) 01:46, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Initial feedback

I discovered this feature yesterday when I noticed that there is a ‘Book’ button on the Lennon/McCartney page. Here are some comments.

User interface

• The generated book had 851 pages—it took a long time to render and download. I feel that some warning of the size of the book should have been given along with an opt out-out mechanism.

• There should be a progress percentage displayed, which updates overtime. Maybe a progress bar could happen for the more visual people. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 09:44, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• There was a progress percentage displayed, but the point is, I would have probably chosen not to generate the book had I had a clearer indication of its size in advance. — Wrapped in Grey (talk) 10:50, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Book design

• The book was rendered at A4 size (roughly the same as ‘letter’ size) with a single text-measure resulting in lines of text much longer than is comfortable to read. Many A4-sized publications utilise multiple columns to avoid this problem.

• Not sure I understand what the problem is exactly. In any case multicolumns have loads of problems and overall a worse choice.

• The problem is that “Psychologists have shown that the optimal number of characters per line for normally sighted people lies in the range 40–70, and peaks somewhere near the upper bound of that range”; we fail, others don’t. — Wrapped in Grey (talk) 10:50, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• Use of typewriter-style apostrophes and quotation-marks is ugly (at odds with common book design practice).

• See ticket #717. Basically it comes down to a font-issue, but I agree that it's ugly and should be fixed.

• Tables are over-used (edit style problem) and are rendered in an ugly way; not displaying table grid-lines might not be a complete solution, but would constitute a significant improvement.

• See ticket #649 and ticket #787. This is a known issue.

• Bulleted lists are also over-used (again, an edit style problem, not a print-rendering problem).
• Rendering audio samples and collapsed templates on the printed page seems pretty pointless.

Collapsed templates should be rendered, as it is part of the articles content. Audio samples however, should be excluded. This can be done through placing Category:Exclude in print on relevant templates (make sure that the categories aren't transcluded with the rest of the template however). I can help with that if you point me to the the problematic articles. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 09:44, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Copyright

• In this context, including ‘fair use’ images is not fair at all: there is a market for similar collective works in which copyright fees must be paid or permission given. — Wrapped in Grey (talk) 09:27, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• Fair use images are only rendered with the "download PDF" feature, since these are for personal use, and no different that what would happen if you printed the HTML-based version yourself. Printed books omits fair use content. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 09:44, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• The printed book saves me having to print and bind the material; it does not change my personal use of the book in any intrinsic way. Printing a single HTML page is unlikely to affect my decision on whether to buy a book on the subject; being able to download (and, if I want, print) a complete PDF book containing copyrighted material may well affect my decision to buy a similar published book and is thus stealing from the copyright holder(s). — Wrapped in Grey (talk) 10:50, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• Printed book do save you that trouble, and they do not feature any fair use content. Downloadable PDFs do have the fair use content, but so do Wikipedia pages which you could print yourself. Users are ultimately responsible for the use they make of Wikipedia content, offering it in HTML or PDF form has no bearing on copyright or licensing. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 11:03, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

• If Wikipedia violates copyright law then Wikipedia will be held responsible. As I understand it, ‘fair use’ is intended to cover things such as reviewing a product for a magazine, newspaper, etc. (and arguably, individual Wikipedia HTML pages lie in this category). It does not cover large collections of copyrighted material presented as a body of work such as in a book. On this basis, the decision to exclude copyrighted material from Wikipedia printed books seems judicious, but why not from PDF books (which can, of course, be printed at the click of a button)?— Wrapped in Grey (talk) 13:11, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

For exactly the reason given above, offering Wikipedia content in HTML or PDF form has no bearing on copyright or licensing, regardless of whether things are bundled in books, HTML, or raw source form. In US law, fair use allows for copyrighted materials to be used in non-commercial endeavours (such as Wikipedia, and these PDFs), provided they are used for commentary, criticism, academia, etc... If an image complies with WP:NFC in articles, it also complies with WP:NFC in PDFs. Printed books do have a commercial aspect, so fair use cannot be claimed for them. I hope that helps / answers your questions. If not you should probably contact the Wikimedia Foundation directly, as they have lawyers and other people more well-versed in copyrighted law than I am. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 20:54, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Also in case I come across as "ungrateful" or something, this feedback is very much appreciated. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 20:55, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Are you saying that the Wikimedia Foundation have stated that soft-copy WP books are not subject to the same copyright laws that apply to hard-copy WP books? If so, so be it; I don’t need a detailed explanation as to why. If not, a reasonable assumption would be that the hard- & soft-copies of copyrighted material are subject to the same restriction (per common-knowledge of such issues as they pertain to CDs & DVDs, for example). — Wrapped in Grey (talk) 15:22, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

How to I get pages from clicking on a chart in the iPhone topic page and adding to a book for PediaPress?

There is a ticket for this issue.

How do I add pages from the content of an svg file to my book in the create a book feature? I am on the iPhone page and want to add information from a chart to my book. If I hover over it, It gives me the option to save but when I check whether it is added or not, it adds a page entitled "Enlarge" with definitions of enlarge and not the svg file info. How do I get it to function properly so that I can send the book for printing to PediaPress?

Thanks SignifyMysunshine67 (talk) 19:28, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I don't understand exactly what you mean. What do you mean adding the content of an .svg file to a book? Do you have an example? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 19:38, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I created a book and added the page: iPhone. In the section: History and Availability, there is a bar graph of sales and a picture of the world showing iphone rollout. I want to add both of these to a book for PediaPress and when I hover on the little gray squares, I get the "Add linked wiki page to your book. I did this and then clicked on "Show Book". It adds a page called "Enlarge" which not the right information. I does this for both items.

How do I get the right information added to my book?

Thanks! SignifyMysunshine67 (talk) 21:58, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

...mmm these links should be disabled. You can't add images to books (only articles). I'll file a ticket. (See box on the top right)

However, if your concern is that these images won't be printed, fear not. When you order books, the articles are illustrated with all the free images in them, such as these two charts. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 22:06, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I understand what you said, however, when you click on either picture, it takes you to a page that has more information than just the picture. There are articles interspersed with the pictures. The owner of the svg file said at the bottom of the page that it is free to be copied. It would be great if I could add this information to the book as it gives sales figures for the company.

SignifyMysunshine67 (talk) 22:16, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

If you add iPhone to your book, these images will be included as well. For now, it's not possibly to add single images like that. Although if you save the book to your userspace, you can create a page with only that image, and at that page to your book. See User:BlanchardJ/Books/Unix for an example (bottom of the book, appendix section). Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 22:25, 20 January 2011 (UTC)