Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/Workshop

Newsletter workshop

The purpose of this workshop is to explore ways to improve the format of the monthly newsletter. It was first introduced in March 2006 and the design has evolved gradually to its present style. Perhaps the time has come for a redesign, and a review of its content.

Practical considerations
Any new design will probably be governed by various practical imperatives.
 * 1) It should be reasonably compact (people probably don't want three or four screens of material dumped on their user page each month).
 * 2) It should be easy to produce, wherever possible pulling together or slightly re-arranging existing components. The more complex the newsletter, the likelier it will run late, not appear, etc.
 * 3) It should be a standard format, to avoid time-consuming monthly redesigns. This will also make it easier for anyone to edit or contribute to.
 * 4) For speed and convenience, the current newsletter uses a template which covers all the bases. It will probably be easiest to modify the existing template rather than reinventing the wheel.

I still think that it would be interesting to have it like a magazine, and instead of listing new FAs organize them so that they are like a magazine, but with just the abstract and then a link to the rest of the article (like today's featured article). JonCatalán(Talk) 18:24, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Given the volume of quality articles that we produce, I don't think that would work very well. We have to make sure that we keep it manageable and not too large. I know we don't have that many people who have the full-contents who would have the huge amount of text that we are suggesting, but I still don't think it should be huge. The Hurricane Herald is intermittently printed (with gaps of months to years!) primarily I suggest due to the sheer time and effort needed to produce it. Woody (talk) 19:08, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, in September 6 articles were promoted to FA class, and the same number were promoted in August. The highest amounts are June and July, where 9 and 10 were promoted, respectively.  In May, 7 were promoted and in April 8 were promoted, while in February and March 6 were promoted, while in January 10 were promoted.  So, it seems that the most FAs are promoted during breaks (Winter Break and Summer Break).  I will create an example of what I have in mind with the articles promoted in January and see what it looks like and see if it's too big.  If it is, well then I will drop the issue.  I just have a lot of time on my hands, and would like to see what it looks like. :p JonCatalán(Talk) 03:43, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually, you're probably right. I wanted to make an iframe, so you can click on a link and the abstract would load right there, but it would require to make a separate page for each featured article, so that only the lead would load as opposed to the entire article. JonCatalán(Talk) 03:55, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Since we only ever have three or four new FAs in a given month (on average), perhaps we could do a bit like what the portals or mainpage do. the portal always has the lead of the featured article, and then the link to the remainder of it, sort of with the intention of giving a taste of the article, without throwing two and a half pages of content at you.  It's a thought...Cam (Chat) 17:28, 12 October 2008 (UTC)

We could a bi-colour panel (like our nav box) running down one side, listing all the content. It's just presenting the info in a slightly different way. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 01:47, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
 * What do you guys think of something like this? Obviously, I took out a part which would have to be added back in (project news), but it was just to illustrate the "magazine and articles" idea.  It also adds some images, to make it look nice.  This is just an example of just that effect... I tried to alternate background colors in the A-class list, but I failed pretty horribly.  I have yet to get down wikicode for tables.  I think that the awards section could be moved to that empty space under the A-class articles.  What do you guys think? JonCatalán(Talk) 03:11, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I'll copy that from your sandbox to below.
 * I've been trying to imbed a two-colour table and it's beyond me. Picking up on your point, it also occurs to me that we should probably try to keep the layout fairly simple as it will be a nightmare to update monthly, with lots of scope for breaking it!?
 * Perhaps a solution is to add the freeform "magazine" content under the existing table. I'll put something together.
 * -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:11, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

To spark conversation on the topic, I think that the first layout is better (i.e. articles first). It's more attractive, and it offers the reader a reason to read the newsletter. Otherwise, the newsletter will still appear to be the same (because the reader will have to look down in order to see all the articles). This month we have a lot of featured articles, so maybe I would suggest something closer to a table of contents, with a sentence or two to explain each article (like the table of contents of a military history journal). JonCatalán(Talk) 19:38, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

New title and logo

 * Current new title candidates:
 * Military history Monthly
 * Milhist monthly
 * Drumbeat


 * So, it seems that nobody really has any other ideas to add to these potential titles. Perhaps we should choose from the three?  I'd hate to see progress stagnate.  JonCatalán(Talk) 22:55, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, we've got about twenty choices now :0 I too hate stagnation so perhaps someone with fewer name nominations than I could try to resolve the newsletter name? -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 07:22, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Once the new name has been decided, JonCatalán has kindly offered to design a logo.
 * Logo


 * Are there any basic ideas of what people would like the logo to look like? I can make the logo now, and add the title later. JonCatalán(Talk) 22:55, 15 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Are you sure that's possible? Wouldn't the title be an integral part? And, if say, we end up with The Bugle or Drumbeat wouldn't that have a bearing on the design? Incidentally I started a name competition here. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 05:19, 16 October 2008 (UTC)


 * You add the name as a layer, so I can just edit it out. This is an example logo, where I can switch out the text.  The logo needs work to be done to it to make it look better, but just to see what can be done. JonCatalán(Talk) 05:37, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Moved to gallery below.
 * Good start, Jon :) Perhaps if we go down that route we need more all arms, all periods symbolism? Anchors, propellors, spears, shields etc. We've got a horribly broad scope :))) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 05:48, 16 October 2008 (UTC)




 * }
 * }
 * }

We've got a title - "The Bugle" - so would anyone like to put together a logo? -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 07:02, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I have the second half of a test to attend to tomorrow and then I have an eight hour shift at work, but I am willing to try to get a better logo done between monday and tuesday (apart from working on the articles I've started). JonCatalán(Talk) 09:07, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Hopefully we can get input from the others too. There's also a guy at the American Civil War task force who may be able to help. I'll ask him. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 09:13, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I've invited Grayghost to chip in. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 10:07, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

The image at right, Image:Bugle_1.png, is a PD illustration of a British "modern service bugle" (c. 1911) available at Commons. The woodcut look gives it a historical feel, and the design is simple enough to be recognizable in a newsletter header. — Bellhalla (talk) 13:19, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Here's a thought:

Grayghost01 (talk) 05:57, 5 November 2008 (UTC)


 * That's a very good start! My main reservations are that it looks a bit like a pub sign and it's a bit too closely tidied to modern. The colors and figure perhaps connote US c. 1940. Given the enormously wide of scope of the project – all arms and all conflicts – perhaps we should focus just on the bugle itself. Newspapers and magazines tend to use the title image to the same height as the title name, so we're probably looking at an image 100px high butting against type which is 100px high. I suppose the typeface for "The Bugle" should probably emulate the Washington Post, New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Times of India etc to have a newspaper feel. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 07:39, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Next option along those lines:

Grayghost01 (talk) 01:22, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

"The Bugle" logo??


I have the will and skill to make a logo for you and I intend to do so by the end of this week. But I need a few answers to my questions.

1. What size in pixels should the logo be? (or an approximation)
 * About 600 (w) x 200 (d).

2. Are there any specific colours you want included?
 * Not really, though we tend to use Gainboro (#DCDCDC), lightsteelblue (#B0C4DE), silver (#C0C0C0) and whitesmoke (#F5F5F5) as house colours. RGB percentages are here and 'here.

3. What image format (.jpg, .bmp etc) do you want it to be?
 * Both .JPG or .PNG are popular.

I hope you will like my finished logo.

Thanks, Pingualot (talk) 21:24, 13 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank very much for the offer. Replied above. I am looking forward to seeing your ideas :) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 09:45, 14 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Just one more question:
 * 1. What kind of back ground do you want? Plain white or something else?
 * Pingualot (talk) 17:36, 14 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Transparent is best for this. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:37, 15 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Here is one for you to look at: http://www.upload3r.com/serve/140109/1232003257.jpg Pingualot (talk) 07:12, 15 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that! It is a very interesting idea but it doesn't look very much like a magazine/newsletter banner, which is the look we were hoping to achieve. Ideally the type should be as prominent as the device. There is also an old-fashioned style graphic bugle image:Bugle 1.png, which needs colourising but otherwise might work well. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 13:49, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

←This is an idea I threw together this morning. I'm open to any suggestions, requests, admonitions to go away, etc. (I used colors that complement the "lightsteelblue" background used for the newsletter header.) — Bellhalla (talk) 16:31, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Nice :) Any chance of the type being the same overall height as the bugle ie the top of the "The" aligning with the top of the bugle, and the bottom of "BUGLE" aligning with the bottom of it? That would make it more of a block .... Thanks !-- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:19, 25 January 2009 (UTC)


 * OK. I enlarged the type to line up with the top and bottom of the bugle graphic and still kept in within the 600 x 200 border. I've uploaded the newer version over the older one, so if it doesn't look updated, try purging. — Bellhalla (talk) 13:50, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Here it is on a light steel blue background: — Bellhalla (talk) 15:05, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

That's looking very good :) Perhaps laying the two lines of type – "The Military history WikiProject Newsletter Issue XXXV (January 2009) – over the panel to align with the bottom of The BUGLE. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 15:11, 26 January 2009 (UTC)


 * By the way, if there's not a specific limitation on how wide this can be, the words The Bugle, which are currently compressed horizontally a little bit (by about 15%, if I recall), can be made a little wider which will help with legibility at smaller sizes. (The height of the type as well as the top and bottom alignment would not change.) — Bellhalla (talk) 17:41, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, it probably would look better unexpanded. Is there any way, by the way, we can get the explanatory text up into the second half of the panel, aligned with the bottom of the logo, rather than sitting under it? My table formatting skills are limited :) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 18:50, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * The typeface is a condensed design already so the expansion didn't make a huge difference. I formatted the table to line up with the text; whatever size is eventually specified for the logo, set the "width=" parameter to about 45% of that to keep aligned (more or less) with the logo text. Have you thought about putting the issue and date on the line below? (Just add a .) — Bellhalla (talk) 21:37, 27 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks! The expansion has improved it greatly and I think we're almost there. What do you think about opening up the gap between the bugle and the type? It looks a bit tight to me. We are probably talking at cross purposes about the accompanying descriptive text. It currently looks like this, with the type under the logo:
 * LOGO GRAPHIC
 * The Military history newsletter etc
 * What I had in mind was positioning it in the right hand side of the panel, set on two lines, alongside the logo with the bottom of the text sitting on the same visual line as the bottom of the logo, thus:
 * LOGO GRAPHIC The Military history newsletter etc on two lines
 * That will help make some sense of the right hand side of the panel. What do you think? -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 10:54, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

← OK, now I get you on the text alignment. That's easy enough to fix: As far as the spacing between the bugle and the logotype, how much do you think would be good? Are you thinking just to give them a little breathing room, like maybe a gap the width of the T? Or more, or less? For any amount, the change will be easy and I can have it done quickly. — Bellhalla (talk) 15:42, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for sorting the type :)
 * Otherwise, just a little breathing space, I thought, perhaps twice or three times wider than it is now. (That's basing it on the gap between the right hand edge of the bugle mouth and the left hand serif on the T in "The". Then, i think we're there :) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 22:53, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * How's that? — Bellhalla (talk) 23:50, 30 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Perfick! Could I perhaps trouble you to add this lot to the January Newsletter header? I'm bound to make a hash of it :) Thanks in advance, -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 00:14, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I've tried, but with the current columnar layout, I'm not sure how toget it to look like it does here without breaking the rest of the newsletter format. :( — Bellhalla (talk) 15:06, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
 * That's the problem I had :) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 16:37, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I've taken a stab at adding it in; Roger, is that the placement you had in mind? Kirill 15:33, 1 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Yep. Perfect, Kirill. Thanks ever so much :) -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 16:37, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Articles of note

 * New featured articles:
 * New A-Class articles:
 * ?? New Good Articles??
 * ?? Other featured content?


 * We already show Featured Lists and Featured Topics when they come-up infrequently (what about Featured Portals?) -MBK004 19:29, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Click-able links to featured sounds? Thumbnails/gallery of featured pictures? -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:13, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Current proposals and discussions
Could this be renamed? Would this help?
 * What about something like "War Conferences"? I admittedly ripped the tile from a book with the subtitle of "The First... of the Military Situation Conferences...".  JonCatalán(Talk) 04:25, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * It's on the right lines ... -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:34, 8 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Perhaps "From the War Room"? Cam (Chat) 08:02, 15 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Maybe on the lines of "Dispatches"? Gaia Octavia Agrippa Talk | Sign 13:35, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Awards and honors
Again could this be renamed?
 * Maybe something like "decorations"? Just an idea. JonCatalán(Talk) 04:25, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I like this idea, gives it a military feel.  Gaia Octavia Agrippa Talk | Sign 13:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)


 * or something us sailors could appreciate...The Quarterdeck Cuprum17 (talk) 16:06, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * "Battle-Honours" Perhaps? Cam (Chat) 08:02, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

New items
Would it improved by including links/teaser feeds to notable or interesting content? Examples:


 * Milhist-related DYKs? These already exist. They could either be actual DYKs or DYK candidates that didn't make it onto the front page.
 * We don't normally keep track of DYKs, do we? Having to go through the DYK archives by hand may be a bit too much work for this. Kirill (prof) 23:17, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * We could suggest DYK editors to also add their DYK to a subpage in the MilHist space in similar fashion to how they are laid out on my DYK record page; it's simple, and it has everything already prepared to be added to the newsletter. Those that are interested can have their DYKs showcased on the monthly newsletter, and those that aren't ... well, that's too bad. JonCatalán(Talk) 19:40, 24 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Profiles: "Newcomer of the month", "Reviewer of the month", "Editor of the month". (Rotate these, I'm not suggesting one of each every month.) The disadvantage is that it will need preparing/writing.
 * Shouldn't take too much time. The GA-WP has a semi-standard blurb on the "GA-Reviewer of the Month" and "GA-Nominator of the month" that I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we borrowed a bit of.  I'll look into it. Cam (Chat) 17:25, 12 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Cartoons from the archives (ie Commons)? If we go down the gallery route, this could be one of the slots.