Proposal: Info Panes

Summary:

A proposal for the addition of an optional Info Pane next to the rating module to provide a place for authors to put out-of-universe information without affecting immersion in the article.

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Proposal: Info Panes

Croquembouche 15 Nov 2018 17:01

TL;DR: I'm proposing the addition of a new component to optionally replace the rating module with this:

Clicking the little "i" opens an information window that the author can fill with whatever they like. Demo here. Completely optional - authors get to decide if they want it. It works and is ready to be implemented. Credit for the original implementation goes to the Japanese wiki.

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Context

Rimple and myself (and a few others) were discussing Content Warnings and the More From This Author¹ module that a few authors had been using. There was some disagreement: some authors (like Rimple) were okay with articles containing out-of-universe information, while others were strongly against it (like myself).

I recalled something I'd seen on the German wiki, an addition to the rating module that contained information about the article. This addition had been created by the Japanese wiki, and copied onto the German wiki.

Myself and Rimple worked to translate, update and modify an English version of the component, and tested it out on several of our articles. Both of us were happy with the result.

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What I'm proposing

I'd like to propose that we move this module onto the English wiki proper.

The groundwork has already been done. The Japanese have worked to create a technical masterpiece, the Germans have improved it, and now Rimple and myself have tweaked it more and translated it. Moving this across to the English wiki would take minutes.

This proposal is not proposing that the component be placed onto any articles. It is not the new default rating module - it is completely opt-in, authors will have the option to place it on their articles themselves. It is opt-in, not opt-out. This proposal is simply to have the code for the components moved onto the main wiki such that they're easier to use for those who already want to use them.

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Demonstration

A demonstration of the Info Pane in action on the wiki is available on SCP-3939, SCP-3772, ListPages Magic and You.

The code for the demonstration is hosted at http://topia.wikidot.com/credit:start, and those components are currently able to be used on any wiki.

On account of the translation, these components are currently named "credit". When moved to the EN wiki, they would be named "info", and would be imported onto a page using:

[[include info:start]]

instead of:

[[include :topia:credit:start]]

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Reception

Rimple and myself showed our demonstrations to a few other users on IRC. Reception has so far been extremely positive. Some users suggested tweaks and improvements, most of which have been implemented, others mentioned that they would be interested in using the module once it had been moved to the wiki, and some others went ahead and added the testing module to their articles right away.

A full list of articles that are using the Info Pane can be seen on http://topia.wikidot.com/credit:start, in +Options under "Backlinks".

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Requirements

For authors:

+ Author requirements

For authors, requirements for using this module are fairly simple. Detailed instructions can be found here, but the TL;DR is that they take the current rating module:

[[>]]
[[module Rate]]
[[/>]]

and replace it with the following:

[[include info:start]]
Whatever they want in the info pane
[[include info:end]]

and that's it.

For this proposal:

+ Proposal requirements

This proposal requires a total of 8 pages to be created on the wiki. Implementation of the Info Pane will be considerably easier if these pages have their own Category² - in this case, the category would be called "info".

A list of the pages that would need to be created can be found in the collapsible on http://topia.wikidot.com/credit:start. In each case, replace "credit" with "info".

The "info:" pages would look and act identically to their ":topia:credit:" counterparts.

---

Why this is a Good Thing

There's a clear push in the last few months to increase the information available to readers, especially ones who aren't savvy to the wiki's layout, and this would act as an unobtrusive catch-all that everyone could be happy with.

The Info Pane provides a place for the author to pass to the reader any out-of-universe infomation they feel is important. For example their name, any content warnings, image credits, whatever they like. Critically, it's also a very convenient place to put the SCP's title, which is otherwise woefully inaccessible.

Anything that could go in an author comment could go here. The difference is that new and/or uninformed users will be aware of the Info Pane, and know how to find it.

Also, it looks sexy af.

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Downsides

Five potential downsides have been presented.

1. Immersion

It's been argued that the little "i" next to the rating module will break immersion.

I argue that this is a null point - the rating module already breaks immersion, but we're all used to it enough that it doesn't matter any more. The most logical place for an information button to be, therefore, is within the rating module itself. When users look for out-of-universe information, they will either go there or to the links at the bottom of the page.

Keeping all out-of-universe information in one place doesn't break immersion. Here are some screenshots to support this:

+ view screenshots

Using SCP-3772 as an example:

BEFORE

Top of the page

Bottom of the page

AFTER

Closed info pane

Open info pane

Open info pane with collapsibles opened

More Information window

2. Load times

I ran some tests to determine the impact of the Info Pane on the load time of a page.

+ Pre-optimisations

I used SCP-3939 and used Chrome's "Empty Cache and Hard Reload" for each test. With and without the Info Pane, in seconds:

Empty Cache and Hard Reload
with	without
4.43	2.85
3.84	2.5
4.43	2.53
3.78	3.26
4.01	2.45

This resulted in an average increase in load time of 1.38 seconds, or 50.7% of the original load time. I was only able to test it on one internet connection.

+ Post-optimisations

Standard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
1.90	1.92
1.65	2.80
1.72	2.68
1.59	2.38
1.39	2.02

Longer times are to be expected if an author's Info Pane contains a ListPages module. I deem this time increase acceptable, especially seeing as many articles these days use giant images without regard for loading times.

3. Complexity of inclusion

Many new authors are confused enough by the standard rating module, so it makes sense that many more would be confused by this more advanced version - especially seeing as this component asks authors to remove their rating module.

This can hopefully be offset by the fact that it's just a copy-paste to add this to your page, and also that it's completely optional - this is not replacing the default rating module altogether.

Additionally, it may be useful to consider changing the category name to something more explanatory - for example voteinfo or ratinginfo.

4. Subtlety

When readers go to rate the article, they'll see the Info Pane button - you can't miss it. However, it may be missed by users who would not normally rate, especially those who specifically avoid looking at the rating until they're read the article.

An alternative style has been proposed in which the Info Pane button is separate and to the right of the rating module. This can be mocked up if needed, but I don't personally believe it's necessary. It may be worthwhile experimenting with non-readers.

5. Themes

The Info Pane button does not accommodate CSS themes, except those which style it specifically. As of this writing, only the Anderson Theme does this. The button still works, it just looks sort of weird to have the red button next to a blue rating module. I would push for CSS themes to be updated to include the Info Pane button:

.rate-box-with-credit-button {
background-color: <match rating module>;
border: <match rating module>;
border-radius: <match rating module>;
box-shadow: <match rating module>;
}
.creditButton p a {
border-left-color: <match colour of X button>;
}

6. History confusion

This downside is only present when using the optimisations mentioned in my response to tretter's comment. As it is not currently present, it is collapsed for brevity

+ Downside #6

Using the Info Pane adds pages to the user's browser history which may present confusion when they press the Back button on their device.

As an example:

User navigates to a page, opens the Info Pane, and then closes it. They then press Back.

Pre-optimisation: they go back to the page they came from.
Post-optimisation: the Info Pane opens. Pressing Back again will close it, and pressing Back again will go back to the page they came from.

Many thanks to stormfallen for pointing out this issue. I personally do not feel that these loading speed optimisations are worth the decrease in usability.

+ More detail on why this downside exists

The info pane cycles between three different states. Closed, Open, and More Information. It starts off Closed, and becomes Open when the user clicks the "i" button. This works by changing the page URL, which adds the new Info Pane state to the browser's history.

Pre-optimisation, the links to send the user to the previous info pane state (for example, clicking outside the box sends them back to the main article) worked by using an externally-loaded iframe from the Japanese wiki and executing Javascript to make the browser go back a step in history - essentially equivalent to hitting the "back" button. This results in the previous entry in the user's history (ie the previous info pane state) being deleted.

Post-optimisation, the iframe and its Javascript were removed to decrease the load time, and replaced with hyperlinks. Each link creates a new state, adding its state to the browser history, and nothing from the history is deleted. When the user presses "Back", they simply go back to the previous state. They will have to press Back multiple times in order for all of the Info Pane states to be cleared, and only then will they be able to go back to the page they were on before.

Footnotes

1. which lets authors list their other articles in a collapsible at the bottom of their page, as seen in SCP-231

2. A list of all categories on the site can be found at the bottom of Crayne's Workbench

Last edited on 18 Nov 2018 01:06 by Croquembouche Show more

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Shaggydredlocks 15 Nov 2018 17:29

Let me just preface this by expressing my undying adulation for everyone responsible for the creation of this code. This feels like the perfect answer to what were solid objections to the wikiwalk project, and other similar ventures, when it was proposed: It very neatly balances functionality and unobtrusiveness, being tightly woven into a component in a page's display that most everyone has already accepted as a needed out-of-universe element.

Beyond simply moving this to the wiki, I'd like for us to kick off a second wikiwalk project to implement this on our extant body of work.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

DrBleep 15 Nov 2018 18:28

I'm not entirely sure this would be necessary. The basic template with the title, and authors name/link to their author page could be done with a bot like Jarvis or Helen. Then we can leave it up to the authors to include whatever information may be pertinent to what they want in the module other than the title and the author credit.

That said, if you want to include in this template links to SCPs of a similar nature, etc. (Which I think might be what you were getting at) then I'm in total agreement that we could kickstart a second venture to do that. It might also be a good idea to encourage authors who build SCP's under a canon's banner to include relationships to other pieces within their canon in this template. This would allow a modicum of worldbuilding that's, otherwise, relegated to the Author's headcanon space, or author post.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Shaggydredlocks 15 Nov 2018 19:11

if you want to include in this template links to SCPs of a similar nature, etc.

No, I just meant an long-term editing project ala wikiwalk for the basics, but if the bots can handle it all the better. Everything else can be handled on an author-to-author basis depending on their preferences.

I do suppose some users will want to opt out regardless as it's not 100% compatible with each theme, for those who are particularly concerned about such things.

Last edited on 15 Nov 2018 19:11 by Shaggydredlocks Show more

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

(account deleted) 15 Nov 2018 18:52

I’m in support of this - but I think we should leave it up to the authors to put it on their articles. Once the active community knows it exists, then they are free to add it to their articles, and I don’t think we need to launch another Wikiwalk project to add these to articles. That’s just more work than this is worth, because ultimately people will read articles if they want to, regardless of the author.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

dankaar 15 Nov 2018 20:35

I'm not 100% sold on the idea. Even after reading the "why this is a good idea" section, I'm still under the impression that this is one of those "nifty doodad" functions rather than, say, a necessity that needs to replace the older module. Especially since there are 5 potential "downsides" as opposed to the one to two "upsides" that would result from implementing this module (specifically, the ability to put an Author Post on the article itself instead of in the comments, as is tradition).

If it was an optional thing; that authors can have the option of using the standard voting module or the nifty information version of said module, I could get behind it. And by optional I don't mean "well, they can leave the info pane blank."

Last edited on 15 Nov 2018 20:36 by dankaar Show more

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Rimple 15 Nov 2018 20:45

From the second paragraph:

Completely optional - authors get to decide if they want it.

Others in the comments have mentioned that it could be a good idea to apply this across the board, but this proposal is simply to implement the functionality officially.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

dankaar 15 Nov 2018 21:13

Ah. Clearly, I missed that part, especially since the post starts off with…

TL;DR: I'm proposing the replacement of the rating module with this:

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Bouncl 15 Nov 2018 20:58

I think over a second of increased loadtime is pretty huge and would, in aggregate, negatively impact the wiki experience. However, I'm curious— did you test without the info pane but with the voting module?

e: to be more clear, is the increase in load time the difference between no module and info module, or between voting module and info module.

Last edited on 15 Nov 2018 21:20 by Bouncl Show more

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Croquembouche 15 Nov 2018 21:31

I tested two conditions five times each - the first was using the info pane; the second was using the default rating module.

The extra second of loadtime would be different on different internet connections, but I've yet to test it on more than one.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

pxdnbluesoul 16 Nov 2018 02:11

I can't back anything that incurs 50% load time increases across the board. It reflects very badly on us, and I cannot endorse making this the recommended module to use.

However, since we also can't really stop people from doing such things, I believe it could be included in formatting guides as an alternate presentation. I like the idea of it as an Author's notes thing, that's probably what I would use it for, explaining the inspirations and so on.

But a 50% increase in load time is really bad, is there anything that can be done to optimize this?

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Croquembouche 16 Nov 2018 04:08

Best thing to do first would be to establish whether or not the effect is as severe as my original test (which, in the case of Empty Cache And Hard Reload, is a worst-case-scenario). Most browsers would (hopefully) cache the files needed, and the wait times listed above would be reduced.

I've prepared two test pages:

With a rating module
With an Info Pane

If those with the know-how could test the two pages and compare the load speed, I'd be very grateful.

+ My results

Times are in seconds, taken from Chrome's dev console's Network tab. I'm using the Load time, not the DOMContentLoaded time.

Empty Cache and Hard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
2.31	3.38
2.92	3.60
1.91	3.48

Hard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
2.03	3.48
1.92	3.70
1.95	3.32

Standard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
1.77	2.67
1.98	3.19
2.23	3.64

Contrary to my expectations, my sets of results are very similar.

I took a look at the network log and noted that some files were being called twice (calling /page:name/code/1 redirects to /local—code/page%3Aname/1 for a total of two pages being fetched). I went ahead and eliminated those redundancies, but before I could test it out my internet speed took a hit (blame the housemates) and my results would be way off wack. I'll re-test tomorrow, but I expect load times to be reduced by about 0.5s.

In the meantime, any further data would be very helpful.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Modern_Erasmus 16 Nov 2018 04:21

Any ideas as to why this module increases load times so much? It seems to take longer than even most pictures.

If this can be sorted out I'm 100% on board, but like Bluesoul said 50% extra load time seems pretty crazy. Fantastic work on the module itself though, It would be a huge boon to Roget's out of universe element consolidation.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

MayD 16 Nov 2018 10:44

I’d have to test it (or someone else can), but could it possibly be due to the fact that it’s a module being loaded from another site?

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Croquembouche 16 Nov 2018 18:44

You might be right - I created two test pages on The Topiary (with rating module and with Info Pane and ran a standard reload test there.

Standard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
1.90	1.92
1.65	2.80
1.72	2.68
1.59	2.38
1.39	2.02

When on the same site, the difference in load time ranges from "less than before" to "barely present at all". This is more representative of the loading times that we'd experience on the wiki.

That being said - I was able to make some further optimisations, and at the cost of a new Downside (see Downside #6) the load time was further reduced:

Standard Reload
module Rate	Info Pane
1.50	1.59
2.14	2.27
1.18	1.46
2.06	1.79
1.33	1.42

In one case the load time for the Info Pane was faster than the rating module, so at this point the loading time difference is well within the margin of error and probably not that significant. However, the Downside may present a difficulty in user comprehension, and I feel that this is not worth the decreased load time.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

ChaoSera 17 Nov 2018 10:37

Changing the behaviour of the back button is unacceptable, it completely breaks everyone's expectation of site navigation.
That being said, personally I am fine with the slight increase in loading times here, tho other people's opinions may differ. I don't think an increase of ~0.5 seconds on average will be very noticable to anyone who isn't paying very close attention to loading times.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Captain Kirby 18 Nov 2018 05:06

For what its worth, this problem is similar to how site navigation currently works on mobile with regard to how you access the sidebar. There's a button you press to make the side-bar pop out, and this version of the page gets stored in your browser history, so if you hit back, then it just brings you to the same version of the page, but without the side bar sticking out.

This is also similar to how the back bar works with respect to how the table of contents module works. If you click one of the links on the table of contents, and then go back, you're just brought back to the top of the article, because that's stored in the history.

While I don't have much opinion on the loading times myself, I just wanted to point out that we currently use other features on the site that change the behavior of the back button in a way similar enough to how this would change that behavior, which makes it less of a problem in my eyes.

Last edited on 18 Nov 2018 05:07 by Captain Kirby Show more

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Jacob Conwell 16 Nov 2018 21:12

I'd support this as an optional toy to let the authors tool around with and think to provide them with instructions with how to do the thing would be just dandy.

I'm hesitant to have this be mandatory on a grand scale for two reasons:

1) Not even with Wikiwalk did we make it so all the articles were included, and I think someone wanting to opt out has every right to do so, especially if they feel their works are just fine without additional bells and whistles.

2) Implementing this across all works, as shaggy mentions up thread, would be a pretty significant time sink. I'd want to know that by the time we finish, PF wouldn't begin and make the whole effort a moot point.

But yeah. A neat thing you have here.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

DrMagnus 18 Nov 2018 03:19

This is something I would support being part of a section of an official guide called like… "useful optional components"

I would not support this as a mandatory component, with the added work of it. Ithink most people will be okay with it., but it becomes something that newer users would struggle with, and it's not something that I can really get behind as a mandatory component right now.

As for loading times, if this isn't mandatory, I feel this is a non issue. If it becomes a mandatory component, I also think that the increased load time is not a significant factor.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but our site isn't really optimized for mobile beyond the view anyway; having a decent connection isn't a requirement, but we're not exactly prioritizing performance of the site since most of our content is static anyway.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Modern_Erasmus 18 Nov 2018 04:58

Sounds good to me. If you're not concerned about the load times then neither am I.

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

Modern_Erasmus 18 Nov 2018 05:14

So uh, not to open a can of worms but there is one other thing we need to decide on. It seems that the obvious way to use these modules is to link stuff from authors pages, as in the example demo. Are we going to allow people to link patreons or other donation links from their author pages in these? Given the existing policy decisions on the subject this module would be a bit of a grey area. (Personally I'd be fine with that, especially since none of the horror predictions about donation links came true)

Re: Proposal: Info Panes

AdminBright 18 Nov 2018 15:43

I'd be in favor of this being an option, as long as people don't go around trying to tell those who don't use it to use it. Like, if someone wants to put a trigger warning at the beginning of their article or tale, I'd be rather upset if people were to disparage them for not using the i format instead.

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Admin, SCP Wiki

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