User talk:CBecker

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[edit] Automotive templates

Hi,

I think that the issue of templates is more of a personal discussion, so I decided to continue it on your user page. As concerns Lancia, it contains features that were specifically related to Lancia as a a brand, including the colors cooridinated by the ones currently used in Lancia marketing (copied from Lancia's coporate site), Times New Roman script in the heading (similar to the one used in the Lancia logo), reference to the article on the founder and the way the image is incorprated (I was fortunate enough that there was a Fair Use image that fit perfectly with this theme). Other things, like the relatively small number of models or facts that sections like engines, transmissions and other like that are too underdeveloped to link to them at the moment also had an impact.

There is also a lot of formatting used in this template, it was done to make this particular article look good. You might find it a bit confusing if you start out with that, or perhaps by experimenting you might learn how some of those options work (like I did). But please do note it is one of the more complex and "taylored" templates. Any changes to it would require extensive refurbishment, I believe.

Have fun,

Bravada, talk - 01:43, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Now you do answer quickly too. As concerns "infringing creative and technical efforts", Wikipedia is all about free content and eschewing any copyrights or claims to intellectual property. Beg, steal and borrow! Happy editing :D Bravada, talk - 02:21, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

All pages I edit are added to my watchlist, so by default I had your page added (I forgot to "unwatch" it) and saw the new developments concerning the VW template. It is very nice, but please note that:

1. the original image you started off making the one in you template was presumably VW's promo image, and as such it is only "Fair use" and can't be used in templates
2. if I can be frank with you, it is also not that good looking - what I would go for in our templates is either a really nice and artistic shot of the logo on a car's bonnet or trunk cover (but I doubt it many of us can even come close to what the person who did the Lancia one did), OR a good shot of the VW logo on a dealership, preferably on those pole stands (I don't know how to call them, see [1] - not a good pic, but shows what element I mean)
3. you might consider further splitting/rearranging models in the template for easier navigation
4. you also included your user page into the Automotive Navigational Templates category accidentaly!
5. on the one hand you want to split Polo and Derby, on the other - merge Santana and Passat. I'd say it's better to have Derby included with Polo (it didn't have too much life of its own)
6. Caddy is a separate model line, it should not be merged into anything
7. I agree with Citi -> CitiGolf and separating Golf Plus, but separating CrossFox would also mean CrossPolo, Combo Tramp and all such versions should get their own pages. IMHO, the rule of the thumb should be the amount of information, and currently the info on the Fox page regarding SpaceFox and CrossFox does not merit separate articles. Time will tell.
8. btw, the Country Buggy was a very different vehicle than the Beetle, you don't have Kubelwagen merged into the Beetle do you?

Count on me regarding unsolicited comments :D Bravada, talk - 11:25, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Well, let me be sombre for a moment here - it's generally the sad reality of the automotive Wikiproject, that we rarely ever do collaborate in full meaning of the word, it's rather that each member does his shady stuff in some corner of WP, sometimes we bump in each other's articles and correct some minor spelling mistakes and such. No reciprocal motivation, no sense of unity. I now seriously don't know whether I did anything sensible or just a pile of rubbish. So, if you won't mind I will gladly watch the progress of your work on VW!

OK, let me start with my view on the articles - this is not a place to "honor" automobiles, this is an online encyclopedia. If there is enough stuff to form an article, there should be one and conversely - not enough material = no article. Especially if you can have all the info for a few "potential subjects" group conveniently in one entry with some appropriate redirects - like in the case of VW Fox. When can grouping be inconvenient (automobiles) - in case of models that have quite different history (like only a part overlaps) and in case of actually very different models (would require too much expalining in infobox). No "merit" criteria should be used. If one day Ford Escort Ghia gets a 50kB of stuff alone, let it have its own article. If all the Proton models have three sentences each, why not lump them into one article?

I don't really know why the Germans separated the Derby from the Polo only to say it was indentical save for the trunk. Perhaps this was due to some vague "criteria". As concerns the Santana, it enjoyed a quite different history than the Passat around the world (and this was/is the majority of Santana's life), so splitting them with prove more convenient for the reader and authors.

The Caddy was a distinctive model line from day one, just like the Opel Combo or Citroën C15. It did share the platform with Golf, as well as some body parts, but it had a longer and slightly different chassis, a different body and served a totally different purpose. It was even marketed as part of the LKW lineup, so you can see that it is much more than just a "version of the Golf".

The bottom line is - if there is enough material for a separate article (like 10k or more), consider splitting. If keeping them together is cumbersome and inconvenient for either readers or authors - split. Otherwise - keep. There are still stubs that do not comply to well with this rule of a thumb, because they are, well, stubs :D

OK, onto the template. Text is OK, though I think that VW uses a less thick type and puts more spacing in between characters. Also when I think of VW, I see black letter on white with slight touches of colour (grey, some blue) here and there. That's in case you wanted to work on i9t even further :D

Yes, the new one is an improvement over the old one, but not in the respect that is its the biggest problem - it is not really that easy to navigate with it. It contains long lists of vehicles, and if you arrange them according to production dates, it's going to get eve more confusing - alphabetical list would at least enable easy finding. I would subdivide those lists further, either into classes or "eras" - see the templates @ Wikipedia:WikiProject_Automobiles/Templates for examples. Ford and Chevrolet are not bad, though I think there are still new doors to be opened. Anyway, have fun :D Bravada, talk - 21:31, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Now I am not staying true to what I said about the spirit of collaboration. I apologize for that, I am having a pretty busy period now but somehow still can't leave Wikipedia totally :D Regarding what you wrote me on the 29th May - no, I don't have the VW font of course, besides it's copyrighted so we couldn't use it anyway. I guess the Futura here is a good starting point, I only think VW use a little less "bold" script and more character spacing. I think there was an option to regulate this within the Corel package, don't know what you are using. I was able pretty much to recreate the font Ford of Europe used in advertising with such tweaks, starting from one of the Futuras too.

As concerns Audi, Skoda, SEAT etc. templates - their marketing uses quite different fonts, layouts, colors etc. so it might be hard to simply switch the VW template into a Skod template. I am afraid we have to think about them as separate projects.

I have an idea here - perhaps the list of models could be modelled after the quite clean and represenative for "VW style" Brazil site -> [2]. There could be a list beneath each decade (in case of VW, it's six of them) like the one on the left of the page there. One problem would be with following the black/grey link scheme, but I think an experienced WP graphic editor might help here with some CSS skills. I think the revered User:Sango123 or one of her friends might be a good person to ask for assitance. Then, there is the hide/show function which could be used to switch between e.g. Latin American, European, Chinese and US lineups. But these are simply my suggestions :D Bravada, talk - 14:57, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikiproject Automobiles Notification

Hi CBecker, you were on the list of members at WikiProject Automobiles and we are introducing a new way of listing members, as the old list was becoming too long. Our new method involves having all of our members in a category.

To add yourself to the category just add the userbox to your user page by putting {{Wiki Auto Project}} where you want the userbox. Alternatively if you don't like the userbox you can add [[Category:WikiProject Automobiles members|CBecker]] to your userpage.

If you no longer wish to be a member of the project, simply don't add the userbox or category, there's no pressure. Thanks for your time, James086^{Talk | Contribs} 04:59, 15 December 2006 (UTC)