Help:Books/Feedback/Archives/2009/May

Server issues and PDF link displays blank page
After successfully generating a PDF of Books/Dog I created this test book: User:84user/Books/Test4 in order to test whether plaint text gets rendered. The first PDF render reported some timeout error (but I have been getting those from wikipedia a few times a day lately), but my subsequent attempts at clicking the PDF link for my test book resulted in a blank page with the URL http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book/render_collection/&colltitle=User:84user/Books/Test4 and zero content in the html source (using Firefox). I report this in case others are seeing this same problem. If not, then is there something wrong with my test? 84user (talk) 12:42, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Update. I just tried to create a PDF from User:84user/Books/Test4 and received one of the Wikimedia Foundation "Our servers are currently experiencing a technical problem" error messages, but then I was able to re-render the Dog book (no errors so far). I then retried my Test4 book and get a blank.


 * User:84user/Books/Test5 is Test4 minus TOC and Intro and results in "technical problem."
 * User:84user/Books/Test6 is Test5 minus external link to Help:Books and results in "technical problem."
 * User:84user/Books/Test7 is Test6 minus main article and results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test8 is Test7 minus all text Notes and this worked
 * User:84user/Books/Test7 (retry) still results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test5 (retry) still results in no response (but no error message this time)
 * User:84user/Books/Test5again (copy and paste of Test5) results in no response
 * So, maybe there is something invalid with my tests that causes this reproducible lack of response?
 * 84user (talk) 13:01, 21 April 2009 (UTC)


 * More results.
 * User:84user/Books/Test4 (I edited it, see diff) now renders Ok!
 * User:84user/Books/Test4 (I reverted my edit, see ) results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test10 (Test4 minus the main article) results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test11 (Test10 minus the second text note) results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test12 (Test11 with shorter note) results in no response
 * User:84user/Books/Test14 (Test13 with even shorter note) results in "You have requested a special page that is not recognized by Wikipedia. A list of all recognized special pages may be found at Special:Specialpages."
 * I'll give up testing for now. 84user (talk) 13:22, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * You get this when clicking on the PDF link in the saved book template ? You should try using the "PDF version" link in your toolbox, I think that solves the rendering issues. It seems that the link to a PDF version without a specific oldid might be problematic at times. For testing purposes: PDF link from template for Test4 PDF link for a specific revision from toolbox --Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 09:28, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for those testing links, the first fails, the second works. Yes indeed, the PDF link in the template consistently returns a zero-size html response with my most of User page test books (Test8 works by contrast). The "PDF version" link works, at least for all books I tried. However, PDF link (in the template) works for a sample of other user's user page books, so it still seems there is a particular combination of wikitext and other unknown factor that will reproducibly create this problem. 84user (talk) 17:25, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for those testing links, the first fails, the second works. Yes indeed, the PDF link in the template consistently returns a zero-size html response with my most of User page test books (Test8 works by contrast). The "PDF version" link works, at least for all books I tried. However, PDF link (in the template) works for a sample of other user's user page books, so it still seems there is a particular combination of wikitext and other unknown factor that will reproducibly create this problem. 84user (talk) 17:25, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Bug: Boldface ever after
In a discussion on sv:WP:KAW, a user signature —  x e n u s  28 april 2009 — caused the rest of the book to appear in boldface. --LA2 (talk) 17:22, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I added a ticket for that. -- Volker.haas (talk) 13:31, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Arrows representing links
The arrows do not appear for piped links (I understand why), but this looks strange in long lists like at WP:Books/The Beatles. Is there any way to turn them off for an individual book? Den dodge T\C 19:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I think the arrows should be left out altogether -- they add little and are quite visually disruptive. (If links really must be represented, I should think underlining the way to do it.) —Christian Campbell 03:56, 24 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I guess this partly depends on the individual taste. I also don't really like the arrows. But when we implemented this we thought it would be a good idea to indicate that a referenced article is contained in the PDF. There has been a lengthy discussion about this. If you have any ideas, or if you simply want to get rid of the arrows please let me know. -- Volker.haas (talk) 14:44, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Design ideas requested: Indentation on talk pages
When trying to make PDF files from talk pages, the indentation (::::: at the beginning of a paragraph) is printed as indentation. While this is perhaps the most natural conversion, it doesn't look good in print. It's impossible to follow indentation levels across many pages. It wastes a lot of paper when 3/4 of the page (to the left) is blank. How could discussions on talk pages (and village pumps and other feedback pages) be better represented in print? --LA2 (talk) 18:09, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
 * This is a tricky issue. Indented text is often used in regular articles. It is no problem there, since usually only one or two levels of indentation are used. A special solution for talkpages is not really feasible. --Volker.haas (talk) 14:39, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Install PDF part only?
Is it possible to install only the PDF part only? Our wiki implementation has no need of the book printing functionality. Furthermore, I do not want to give users the possibility to make that mistake, since they could send confidential information to the printers! --Robinson weijman (talk) 12:12, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
 * There's no switch to turn it on or off. But you can adjust the file Collection.templates.php to your needs, e.g. completely remove the  element that contains the "Order as a printed book" box (It's the   starting in line 59 and ending in line 97 as of revision 50305 in SVN). Jbeigel (talk) 14:42, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Sounds good - as long as it is well documented. I can see a lot of people wanting that functionality for their own wikis.  Thanks for the update.  --Robinson weijman (talk) 15:07, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Proposal for changes to the interface
I have proposed some changes to the UI of the books sidebar. Please join the discussion if you are interested. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 20:36, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I have added warnings, including to the special page. The latter warning is located here. —Th e DJ (talk • contribs) 12:45, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Rendering Stuck
Rendering for a PDF copy is still stuck at 1% after more than 24 hours. This is the book that I am trying to download. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kfred35/Books/Stuff
 * I see the same issue for Books/Compiler construction. PDF rendering goes to "Progress: 77% Status: layouting (wiki page: Finite-state machine)" and then hangs. Andreas Kaufmann (talk) 21:46, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Have you had any luck finding a solution?---kfred (talk) 22:19, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

I was finally just presented with this: The POST request to http://pdf1.wikimedia.org:8080/mw-serve/ failed (HTTP status 404). ---kfred (talk) 11:44, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The rendering of User:Morten Haan/Books/The Simpsons stucks at 80% while layouting the season articles. --Morten Haan (talk) 10:48, 31 May 2009 (UTC)