Portal talk:Cheshire

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Cheshire Portal
This article is supported by the Cheshire WikiProject, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Cheshire on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the Project Page, where you can join the project, see a list of open tasks, and join in discussions on the project's talk page.
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Contents


[edit] Stopping the portal going "Stale"

We need to try to update the contents of the boxes a bit more. Any suggestions for newer contents in things like "Selected Article" and so on?  DDStretch  (talk) 01:09, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Having browsed the "Category:Cheshire" I realise the enormity of the task facing the members of the project. There do not seem to be many substantial, well illustrated articles and, of these, many are not well referenced. Some possibilities may be Chester Shot Tower, Lovell Telescope and Chester city walls.
There are more images to select from. A bit incestuous, but you may like these: Peter I. Vardy 18:04, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

One of a series in the "Lewis Carroll" church with a Cheshire cat

Arley Green - but it's black-and-white again!
I like Lovell Telescope, but I think the parent article Jodrell Bank Observatory might be of more general interest. Chester Shot Tower was one of mine; I wouldn't suggest using it (bit short, references a little on the unreliable side), but I'm quite fond of the image. Chester city walls is a nice article on an important subject, but the 2nd image is a bit poor; it might be better to wait until really good images are available. I agree there are far more images to choose from. The stained glass is lovely, although it does repeat the Lewis Carroll theme, and so might be worth holding back a month or so.
As I mentioned on the WikiProject page, I think we should aim to update monthly, and then if we miss it doesn't go 6 mths before it gets updated. Some further suggestions below... Espresso Addict 15:40, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Main article

[edit] Biography

[edit] Picture

(A couple of these are mine.)

Or others in this lovely set

Or the cropped & brightened version, which I prefer

[edit] Some other thoughts on the portal

I've browsed the other UK portals, as well as some featured and featured candidates, and the portal guidelines. According to the guidelines, we're supposed to come up with 30 possible articles/pictures for each slot! I don't think it's even possible for biographies at the moment; I will try to have a browse around as I know there are people who can be tagged. I had a number of second & third choices for article and a few more biographies, so I will dig them out & post them. I have a few comments and thoughts on the content and layout...

  • I preferred the portals which put related portals across the very bottom (in two-column format) eg per Portal:Kent. Why invite readers to go elsewhere when they've only just arrived?
  • I think we should confine Topics to just general ones, rather than specific places, which are readily accessible via the various templates on articles. Perhaps we could categorise the topics eg per Portal:Kent & Portal:London?
  • I think we should replace the image with the Cheshire arms in the introduction. It would be nice to get a spot of non-green/cream colour high up (though generally I like the colour scheme) and it seems common in county portals
  • It would be nice to include a map, per most county portals
  • I think the quotes should be pruned to just a single one. A single rotating quotation seems to be the norm, and our quotations box takes up a lot of space without being very useful. I believe it's possible to rotate them automatically
  • I wonder if it would be interesting to include news, especially as we now have some with the proposed local government reorganisation? It might be a lot of hassle to update, though. At least with the rest, it's only obviously out of date if the reader visits twice
  • We need to set up archive subpages for the various boxes before rotating out the current content
  • The guidelines suggest not using thumbnail for the images -- I've done this for the featured picture, but can't figure out how to get the legends to work for the other two. Espresso Addict 16:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC) I've deleted the captions for now, using (pictured) as in DYK where appropriate. This seems to be the preferred solution on several Featured Portals (the lack of caption, I've not seen any that include the (pictured) note). If someone can work out how to include the captions without screwing the format go ahead, my mark-up skills just aren't up to it!
  • The DYKs don't need to have been featured on the main page, we can just make them up. Nor do they need to have been new articles, just anything with an interesting hook. I've been doing some work at DYK and could probably write some hooks for our articles if people were interested -- I've refreshed these now using main-page DYKs that hadn't been featured here. I suggest we leave this set for around a month, then refresh with a new set including Cheshire-specific ones that haven't been on the main page as well as any new main-page ones. Espresso Addict 07:47, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
  • I wondered if it would be interesting to include the total number of Cheshire articles (per Portal:Kent)? I've not seen it in a lot of places, though, and perhaps it's of more interest to WikiProjecters than readers
  • It might be nice to expand the things the reader can do, per eg Portal:Hampshire & Portal:Bristol I've taken items from the WP tasks list & removed the assess articles suggestion as we're currently up to date. We could probably do with creating a category of articles that require images by some magic with the Cheshire Wikiproject template to expand the list of requested images, as this is something that anyone with a digital camera can potentially help out with. Espresso Addict 09:32, 22 August 2007 (UTC)
  • A number of portals have a method for readers suggesting showcase articles/pictures, which might also give a hands-on feel. And who knows, someone might come up with a brilliant article that's been missed! Espresso Addict 22:20, 19 August 2007 (UTC) I've created a single page for all suggestions for now at Portal:Cheshire/Suggest, which anyone interested in the portal should probably watch. I've added some 'rules' to avoid getting too many clearly unusable suggestions. They could probably do with a once-over from someone else to make sure I haven't either missed something obvious or, worse, gone overboard in creating too many rules! Espresso Addict 09:32, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

A very good set of suggestions, and it shows what a fresh pair of eyes can do. My only comments are general ones that explain my "design decisions": First, I tried to make the portal columns balanced, and was able to do that initially by having more than one quotation. Now is the right time to trim that as you suggest. Second, at the time of constructing the portal, I had seen lots of instances where the Chesjhire Coat of Arms had been removed on some grounds to do with its use not being covered by the "fair use" rule: indeed, the userbox originally had the coat of arms in it, but had to be changed when the image was "removed" in its place in that userbox on those grounds. That is why I didn't use it here. If the matter can be resolved so that we can use it, then we should certainly do so. Apart from those comments, which don't affect your suggestions much at all, I would say go ahead. If you want some help to get the information and/or implement the suggestions, I can help where I am able. Thanks for the thought and work on it so far.  DDStretch  (talk) 22:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I'll give editing a go, when I get a minute, though I'm a touch overcommitted at the moment! Meanwhile, has anyone any thoughts on which article/bio/picture to go with? Espresso Addict 13:16, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Updating the portal for September

I suggest that we have the goal of updating the featured article/bio/picture on the portal for September. (I've already completely refreshed the New articles & partially refreshed the DYKs.) I've created a formal Suggestions sub-page, and copied the above suggestions there, so I'd suggest we try to come up with a decision somehow (voting?) there over the next week. I'll copy this message at the WikiProject for those project members who don't watch the portal page. Espresso Addict 10:02, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

How about we go with Jodrell Bank Observatory, Michael Owen & for September? Comments, anyone? Espresso Addict 10:22, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
I'm happy with those. Peter I. Vardy 11:24, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
Those seem fine to me. Thanks for the work you are putting into this.  DDStretch  (talk) 17:30, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
I've updated a day early, as I shall be away on holiday from tomorrow. Any early thoughts on what to have for October? Espresso Addict 11:17, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Updating the portal for October

Any preferences for articles to highlight next month? Espresso Addict 00:21, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

How about Runcorn, Adrian Boult and  ? Any thoughts? Espresso Addict 11:18, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
OK by me. Peter I. Vardy 11:22, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Sorry for the delay in getting back about this: real world concerns delayed me. I am happy with this, but think we need to identify potential future ideas more than a month in advance so that any looming holes could be filled in in time for them to be used. What do others think? (By the way, an article called Religion in Cheshire is now needed, I think, as we now have a lot of info about churches, and I just discovered an article Diocese of Chester, which had not been tagedd with our project, etc.)  DDStretch  (talk) 21:48, 30 September 2007 (UTC)
I've just updated the three main sections, assuming silence meant assent, DDStretch! I agree it would be good to get portal updates in train well in advance -- particularly as I've just condensed the Runcorn lead into a couple of paragraphs and written the other two sections from scratch in an attempt to get them updated by midnight ... Copy edits and corrections very welcome! (The Adrian Boult photograph is fair use so we can't duplicate it, unfortunately.)
For future updates, I'm seriously worried about the shortage of suitable biography articles, which is perhaps something we should discuss on the main project page? I get the feeling it's only the three of us watching this talk page. I wonder whether a monthly collaboration on a biography article in the portal queue would achieve anything? Espresso Addict 23:00, 30 September 2007 (UTC)
Now updated the 'Newest articles' section. I've used all the articles and the larger stubs from the project page lists, and padded with some of the longer articles that were already up there.
It would be good to update the DYK section, at least partially, but I don't think we've had any on the main page since St James' and St Paul's Church, Marton? Four items struck me as having potential 'hooky' facts in my very quick scan through September's new pages, but unfortunately three of them are churches -- suggest people comment on these & suggest others (not necessarily from new articles) on the DYK bit of the suggestions page, to keep everything a bit tidier. Espresso Addict 00:42, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
I've made a blank timetable for future updates, in the hope that all those blank cells will help in being a bit more forward thinking. I'll link it from the suggestions page if no-one thinks it's too bureaucratic! Espresso Addict 05:49, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Future updates

I've started three portal pages where we can edit the text/image for the next month's update ahead of the end of the month:

I've added the next items selected from the update schedule with a rough first stab at the text/image but they will all need further work before going live. Espresso Addict 09:30, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Updating the portal

I've just done a (very belated) update. I've suggested Halton Castle, Daniel Craig and for April, but do change if you can think of anything better. I think it would be good to get the timetable sorted out well ahead of time so that blurbs can be edited into shape ahead of time, rather than at the last minute -- so if someone else wants to have a go at future line ups... Cheers, Espresso Addict (talk) 18:58, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I've made some suggestions for May and part of June. Peter I. Vardy commented on Joseph Priestley (suggested for May) that he had relatively little connection with Cheshire; however, though the connection is indeed minor it is genuine and mentioned in the article, he's a well-known figure and the article is now very strong (featured) -- also we're running very low on decent-quality bios! The suggested May image is mine, so do replace it if you object. Espresso Addict (talk) 19:53, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
I've updated for April. Thanks to Peter I. Vardy's sterling efforts, we are currently getting more mainpage DYKs than will fit into the box, so these will need to be updated again midway through the month, and I'm wondering, as we now have so many, whether it would be a good idea to try out randomising the DYKs. Meanwhile, are there any objections to the suggested May line up of Lovell Telescope, Joseph Priestley and ? Espresso Addict (talk) 23:08, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Now updated for May. Any objections to the suggested June line up, of Chester Cathedral, John Douglas (architect) and ? Espresso Addict (talk) 21:04, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New box

I've added a new box to the portal to highlight our growing number of Good and Featured articles, as seen in several portals with Featured status. Potentially it could also be used to highlight other articles recommended by the project, as we've discussed elsewhere. I've also had to move around a few of the other boxes to accommodate the new one. I hope this is all ok -- as always, feel free to revert! Espresso Addict (talk) 20:49, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

I've added another new box for News, with Gwyneth Dunwoody's death and the HoL approval of the local government reorganisation. Please do suggest new items at Portal:Cheshire/Suggest#News. Espresso Addict (talk) 19:14, 21 April 2008 (UTC)