Sarah Manley's blog

Updates to the Related Videos Module

2012-09-19T23:38:52Z

Hi All!

Last year, we began experimenting with some video features on a certain set of test wikis. Our goal was to gauge our visitors' interest in watching videos. Our findings were not surprising: people love to watch on-topic videos.

The main tool we used to test this was the Related Videos module (which you can see in the right rail). It was built as a proof-of-concept feature and we knew it wasn't scalable to launch on many more wikis. We've reached the point in our Video project where we're confident enough to turn on for more wikis (release plan TBD). However, this requires some functionality changes.

1 How it used to work
2 How it works now
3 How it will work as of Oct 3rd
4 How it will work in the near future
5 Why are we making these changes?

How it used to workEdit

The module was customizable on a page-level. For example, for the "Janitor" article on Scrubs, I could add many videos solely about the Janitor on the Janitor article. They would not appear on any other article. All modules would use a global "backup" list so they wouldn't be empty on other pages.

How it works now Edit

We've changed the button so it posts all videos directly to the global list. The existing page-specific video lists are still being respected and only appear on that specific page. I am posting this because this behavior is going to change.

How it will work as of Oct 3rdEdit

The page-specific video list will be merged into the global list. That means that anything you have programmed specifically to a page will be seen not only there, but accessible from the Related Videos module on every page. We will no longer offer page specific videos. The RelatedVideos pages will become non-functional pages and anything you add there will not be seen in the Related Videos module. Some people have customized their modules on their wikis and we appreciate their hard work. The lists of pages that have page specific video programming are still accessible by visiting Special:AllPages?namespace=1100 on your wiki. You can copy the videos listed there and paste them in a gallery on the related article.

How it will work in the near futureEdit

The module will automatically pull in high quality, licensed, relevant videos from the Wikia Video Library and automatically add them to your module so you will have the latest and best video content from our content providers. Only Admins will be able to edit what appears in the Related Videos module so you can remove what you feel is not appropriate. The "add a video" button will remain so that you can continue to encourage your community to contribute relevant videos to your wiki.

Why are we making these changes?Edit

We're shifting the module to perform as a discovery mechanism like the rest of the right rail. Our statistics show that people are six times more likely to watch videos that are embedded into articles than they are to watch videos in the Related Videos module. This is true of images and links as well. If you have videos related to an article, we encourage you to add them directly into the article.

Thanks and please let us know if you have any questions.

New video module testing

2011-10-19T18:01:47Z

I am excited to announce that twilight saga wiki has been chosen as a test wiki for our new video project. Starting tomorrow (Thursday October 20), you will see a video module at the bottom of each page, that allows you to watch, add (and remove) twilight videos from a selection of our new video partners. We are continuing to work on acquiring legal, high quality content for your use and we hope to have more added soon.

You can watch any of the videos in the module by clicking on the thumbnail of the video. To add a video to a video module, simply click on the add a video button and input the url from the http://video.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Twilight. If you want to remove a video from a video module, click on the x on the video to remove it.

You can see all of the Twilight related videos that are currently available here. We have also added a feedback link - so please click it to let us know what you think of the modules, the quality of the available videos and your thoughts on video on your wiki in general. If you have any questions, please post them below. We hope to hear all about your likes, dislikes and future requests. Thanks!

You've Been Chosen to Beta Test the New Wikia Editor

2011-06-09T22:04:05Z

Wikis are all about editing, and having a great editing tool makes contributions easy, fast, and fun. To improve your editing experience on Wikia, we have been upgrading our editor's layout and design.

This wiki has been chosen to test the new design, making you among the first to see and use it. The new editor will be enabled here Monday June 13.

What has changedEdit

We've redesigned the experience from the ground up, so there are many updates across the board, including improvements to both the visual and source mode editing. The main changes you will see are:

The media features have been moved from the top toolbar to the right rail. Note: On the main page, which has no right rail, these items remain in the top toolbar area.
The feature list is expandable — you can see more or less depending on your preference.
We now have only one scrollbar on the page in the edit window.
Messages (such as warnings, notices, license text, etc.) have been updated and moved to more obvious and consistent locations. Note: Some messages have content updates planned.
We have removed the unlink toolbar button —you can still undo a link by using the right click context menu.

What hasn't changedEdit

The functionality of the editor itself has not changed.
Source mode still works the same (but uses the new design), and the preference to disable visual mode is respected.
You can still switch to widescreen mode in source mode.

Future development plansEdit

This is just our first iteration of the new editing experience. Here are a few areas we want to focus on next:

Faster loading
A spellchecker for visual mode
Working on interaction design — fewer fallbacks, fewer puzzle pieces, more drag-to-resize functionality
Your requests!

What we would love to hear aboutEdit

Please leave a comment below if you notice any of the following issues:

General edit page bugs
Browser failures (e.g. feature X is broken on browser Y)
Missing important features (or if something exists but took a long time to find)
Confusing experiences

Thank you in advance for being one of the first wikis to use our new editor. We will be releasing the editor across Wikia in a series of stages over the next month as we work out any issues you come across. Stay tuned to the staff blog for further announcements.

If you have any questions - please post them below!