User talk:Jntg4

Welcome!
Hi Jntg4 -- we are excited to have Chicago Cubs Wiki as part of the Wikia community! Thanks for joining us, and we'd like to give you some tips to help you get started on making your wiki great.

Your first four steps:
1. Create your User Page - this is a great place to introduce yourself (and practice wiki-editing!)

2. Add a logo - learn how to create a logo image, then click here to add it to the wiki. Create an article on this wiki: width=30 3. Create your first 10 articles - use the box on the right to create ten pages, starting each one off with a few sentences. For example if you are starting a wiki on a TV show, you might create an article for each main character and for each episode of the show.

4. Edit your Main Page - add internal links to the ten articles you just created, and any other improvements you can think of.

Once you've done these four things, you've created a great starting point -- your wiki looks friendly and ready for visitors. You can then invite some friends to help you create the next twenty pages, and expand the ones you've built.

Keep going! The more pages you create and link to each other, the sooner that others who are searching for "Chicago Cubs Wiki" will be able find your project in search engines, read your content and join you in editing.

If you have more questions, we've provided a full set of help pages, or you can email us through our contact form. Don't forget to check out other wikis on Wikia for ideas on layout, organizing your pages, and more. Have fun!

Best wishes, Catherine Munro

Hi!
Hey Jntg4. Great work so far. My name is Joe and I'm with Wikia Sports. I noticed that you uploaded a logo. I specialize in making custom skins (example: Pittsburgh Steelers Wiki) and wanted to offer to do the same for the Cubs wiki. If that sounds good to you, just let me know and I'll get started. Also, if you have any questions or need help with anything, just ask. You may also see a few other members of the Wikia Sports team drop by as well and help out with things. Cheers. JoePlay (talk) 19:04, 10 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Since the custom skin of each wiki is controlled by a single file (MediaWiki:Monaco.css), there can only be one. I'll get started on a skin based on the Cubs' team colors. JoePlay (talk) 19:18, 11 February 2009 (UTC)


 * OK I just finished the custom skin and activated it, as you can see. =) If you would like for me to change anything about it, just let me know. Oh, I also uploaded a favicon and a new version of the logo. It's basically the same, but a little bigger and clearer. I hope you like the new look. JoePlay (talk) 20:42, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, is it possible to add Cubs signs in the background?

Oh, and I don't know if this has to do with the skin, but it keeps showing stuff like showchanges and preview twice overlapping.


 * I grabbed the background image used at the official Cubs website and added it to the skin. How's it look?


 * Also, I created Template:Player infobox. This is a great feature that we use on our sports team wikis. It makes finding the basic information about a player very easy. Using this template automatically adds the player article to the Cubs players category. I'll add the template to the player articles that you've already made, then you can add it to new articles in the future. I also created the Active Roster category as a way to further organize player articles. If you have any questions about the template or anything else, just ask. Oh, and about the overlapping thing, I think what you're seeing is actually a Wikia feature that allows the Summary/Save page/Preview bar to "float" so that you can click on it without having to scroll all the way down, which you used to have to do. If that's not what you're experiencing, let me know and I'll try to find out what's going on. JoePlay (talk) 20:01, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Awesome

Main page design
I also wanted to ask you about the design of the main page. An example of the layout that we've used on other sports teams wikis can be seen at the Steelers Wiki. Basically we have News at the top with images related to the news on the left, and on the right we put any other images you'd like to be featured. You're the creator of the Cubs Wiki, so it's up to you. Think about it and let me know if you'd like to use a layout like that. If you do, I'll take care of setting up the design, then of course you can edit/add to it. JoePlay (talk) 21:55, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Can I have these in order:
 * 1) News
 * 2) Standings
 * 3) Minor League Standings
 * 4) History (just the col 1 I am using)
 * 5) Team (the col 2 I am using)
 * 6) Create An Article


 * You bet... I'll get started on that ASAP. Oh, and I see that you tried to add the Player infobox to Milton Bradley. I forgot to mention that when adding anything other than plain text to an article, you have to disable the WYSIWYG editor by clicking the Source button in the upper left corner of the edit box. Sorry about that. If you're used to normal wiki code editing, we can turn off the WYSIWYG editor for this wiki, so that you won't have to remember to manually disable it. Of course, if you'd like to keep it turned on, that's fine too. Just let me know. JoePlay (talk) 01:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I got the main page design done. I tried to set it up like I think you wanted, but let me know if you want me to change anything. In the Curent News section, if you want it to only include Cubs news, you can remove the Wiki News part and use MediaWiki:Sitenotice and MediaWiki:Anonnotice to post news or announcements about the wiki. When you create those files, they display the message you enter at the top of every page. Sitenotice displays the message for registered users and Anonnotice does for anonymous users. You can see an example at Halopedia. JoePlay (talk) 20:18, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, it is perfect how you have it. What is your favorite baseball team? is it the Cubs?


 * That's a lot of information you have on the main page.. maybe too much. I would suggest two things: (1) make separate pages for the minor league standings and link to them from the main page, while keeping only the major league and spring training standings there, or (2) if you really want to keep the minor league standings on the main page, then balance how they're displayed so that col 1 and col 2 have about the same amount of text.


 * As for the right side, it's totally up to you. You can add more images of things related to the Cubs, such as a specific player's jersey or a magazine cover featuring a Cubs player, just to name a couple things that I can think of. You could also make a section (called Featured Player or similar) where you can pick a player to be featured and have a short article about him. If that player's article page is complete with plenty of information, you could just put one paragraph from the article in that Featured Player section and link to his main article. Those are just a couple ideas to get you thinking. Feel free to use them or come up with something even better! JoePlay (talk) 19:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I think I will just add scores from the latest games.