Talk:YWAM's Knowledgebase

Welcome to the discussion page about the YWAM Knowledge Base and its Main Page. Over the years of developing this website we had some good discussions on how to develop this page and the whole website. And we are still shaping it as we speak. Your comments are very welcome.

=Discussing the Main Page=

Change name of Main Page
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. I like Steve prediction of having 10.000 articles in about year time. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 14:33, 11 September 2014 (CEST)''

It occurred to me that we should rename the main page with our own name. I followed the following instructions. Let's see if it has mucked anything up!

1. Move "Main Page", and give it the name of your wiki.

2. Then, go to MediaWiki:Mainpage, edit that page, and put in the name of your wiki there. 3 Finally, edit your navigation links on MediaWiki:Sidebar, and put the name of your wiki in as the main page. Now, all of your pages will link back to your front page, using the name of your topic. Those are now high-quality links.

The only problem is that I didn't do step 2. Is that a problem?

steve-the-not-so-hasty 18:20, 20 December 2007 (CET)


 * I did step two for you. Go to Mediawiki:Mainpage. It renames Main Page to our new name. I also takes two lines in the side bar. Not sure I like these changes much. It might be a little hard to remove them too. But it is interesting. Other thoughts? --Kev-The-Hasty 20:24, 20 December 2007 (CET)


 * I think we need to work out what we are calling the site. On the main page there is "Learn more about this site on our new YWAM KnowledgeBase Guide", "YWAM Knowledge Base" and now "YWAM's Knowledge Base". We need to work out what is the definitive name... --Kev-The-Hasty 20:26, 20 December 2007 (CET)

Tada, and I just undid it and the main page is now on one line again. The main page is YWAM's Knowledge Base. I don't know about the name Kev, does it matter? steve-the-not-so-hasty 20:54, 20 December 2007 (CET)


 * Well that was a good experiment! I think we should ponder it. The name could be important - at least for consistency! To be honest YWAM's KnowledgeBase does put the ownership in the org. and says that we are not wanting control (which we are not).--Kev-The-Hasty 23:16, 20 December 2007 (CET)

The main issue is the name, the fact that I was successfully able to change the name of the main page, while rather spectacular, is irrelevant. It is good that we have come up with the discussion about the name. It may be that the best name might be, 'A ywam knowledge base focusing on....' However, my hope is that it may accelerate and become 'THE ywam knowledge base'. How do we proceed from here everyone? I think the best thing to do is keep going at expanding the kb and increase its usefulness. Our goal has always been to capture everything everyone has ever known about training, starting and running new teams and management/leadership. I am hoping for 10 000 articles by the end of next year! steve-the-not-so-hasty 23:48, 20 December 2007 (CET)


 * Hmmm - did your changes mess up the redirect on the main page? If I go to http://ywamkb.net (or www.ywamkb.net) the result is not what I would expect. An almost empty page I need to click on a link to redirect??? Mike-the-curious20:45 21 December 2007 (CET)


 * yes I have this too. Steve, if you want to do fine editing on the Main page then turn the wysiswg editor OFF. It is causing the problem by putting in html comments. Can we call a halt to this experiement as it is messing up the page and making things worse! --Kev-The-Hasty 20:49, 21 December 2007 (CET)

'''OK everyone I have reworked all the changes. This was a bit of a drastic experiment. But worth doing. Next time can we propose the changes and then we can modify things in a more controlled manner. Thanks''' --Kev-The-Hasty 13:17, 29 December 2007 (CET)

New Front Page
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. How to organise these discusions? Well, it is messed up a bit as you might notice when you read it. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 14:48, 11 September 2014 (CEST)'' Hi Kev,

A couple of things -- can we get rid of the logo discussion now? and,

I really like the new front page -- it is has more information in that first screen. I wonder if the font for the categories on the right is big enough?

And, what is the short way of inserting date and time?

Steve 15 November 2005


 * Do you mean adding your name with the time and date? Four tildes is the trick. --~ . As for the Logo discussion, I don't think we should get rid of any discussions. They are important to document the communities life together. However adding in a section like you have done is the right way to finish one discussion and do another! --Kev-The-Hasty 20:24, 15 November 2007 (CET)

Yes, I agree about keeping the previous discussions. Should we then encourage people to start a new discussion with a section at the top of the page rather than the bottom? I have the slightest problem in that my keyboard doesn't have a tilde key!!!! What a rubbish computer. steve-the-not-so-hasty 23:58, 16 November 2007 (CET)

By extraordinary coincidence Kev, our front page has become somewhat like wikipedia. I like it a lot. Um, can you get rid of the large-ish horizontal gaps between the top components? steve-the-not-so-hasty 13:33, 17 November 2007 (CET)

Also Kev, is it possible to rename the main page something like "YWAM's Knowledgebase" and then get rid of the top line saying "Main Page". It would give us a little bit more to work with. steve-the-not-so-hasty 13:40, 17 November 2007 (CET)

UPDATE: For more work on the frontpage - see this project page where we can work on a replacement page before actually replacing it: YWAMKnowledgeBase:New Main Page

Mainpage Layout
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. Is the page too much like Wikipedia? Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 14:48, 11 September 2014 (CEST)''

Yesterday I changed the main page (without WYSIWYG) to maintain the table structure of the list of categories even when the screen is at 1024 width.

Another Idea: The text "471 articles and 293 registered users and counting." is very wiki-like, but do you really need it at such a prominent place? You could put it at the bottom of the page. I don't think the new visitor is interested in the number of users, well, not at the first glance.

The Menu About - Help - FAQ went unnoticed for me. It would be easier to perceive it as a menu if it was above the "header" ("Welcome to ywamkb"-Box).

Similar comment to the "Administered by YWAM Brussels", this could be moved to the bottom.

The positive consequence would be: more of the oppurtinities list ("what can I get when I visit this site") would be visible before scrolling. --Pitpat 11:14, 4 September 2009 (CEST)


 * In my own humble opinion the Main Page can be formed in anyway. I did quite some work on it in the last years and it completly changed the look of the YWAM KB. But is it done? No, not at all. I will be glad when more people will improve it. You know like a make-up artist, or a sculpter.. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 14:48, 11 September 2014 (CEST)

Social Media Buttons on MainPage
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. These buttons are slowly dissappearing, due to the little use of it. But you never know what will come in return. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 15:01, 11 September 2014 (CEST)''

@Steve: I generally don't like social media buttons. I personally think it is fadish. If we need them they really need to be more site orientated and skinned. My efforts are poor! I will add some tracking info to them (just enough so we can see them in the logs) as I think we will get one or two clicks a month! --Kevin


 * I would second that: let us first test its acceptance before rolling it out for the entire site. Kevin, can you track twitter/fb etc., too? --Pitpat 17:53, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Start here
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 15:01, 11 September 2014 (CEST)''

Kevin, can we consider bringing back the button "Start Here"? I've showed a few people the site lately and it appears initially confusing to them, thanks Steve 27 november 2007 1419


 * Of course. I got rid of it because I didn't think the page it pointed to (the Help:Contents page was good enough). I have improved that page though and moved the videos back to the front page. I suggest that you take the Help:Contents page and make it how you want it as a "Start Here" page or make a new page Help:Start Here and then we will point the button to it. I wanted to make the front page more refined and focused and I thought the WP design worked best for that. --Kev-The-Hasty 10:01, 28 November 2007 (CET)

Thanks Kev, I'll do that as soon as I get a bit of time -- I've continued to be very busy. Just back from Belfast and Derby and Salisbury. steve-the-not-so-hasty 15:10, 28 November 2007 (CET)


 * The Start here section on the Main Page, needs to be renovated. The videos are out of date. And maybe the Tour the KB is partly replacing the introduction already. The name can also become 'Start Editing' to give a small course in how start writing and exploring the Wiki. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 15:01, 11 September 2014 (CEST)

Videos and pictures
''This discussion happened quite some time ago. This talk gives a good insight in development of the Main Page. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 15:08, 11 September 2014 (CEST)''

Kev, can we consider a further major topic on the front page -- outreach photos and videos. People can put their videos on youtube or google video or where ever and their photos on flikr or .... and then put the link on the kb. We could then build up an enormous collection of them and use the minimum of space. What do you think? If not here, then where can we do it? I think it is a great idea. steve-the-not-so-hasty 20:12, 18 March 2008 (CET)


 * I have started a page called My Outreach Story‎ and beefed up the help section including embedding video in it. hope this helps. Enjoy your time with the Luddites. --Kev-The-Hasty 22:20, 18 March 2008 (CET)


 * Dear KBians, at the moment we have one video on the mainpage. There was a moment that I thought of removing it, due to the fact it takes some time to load. But I changed my mind about it, when I introduced the KB to a collegue and she clicked right away on the video. So the video can stay. Pictures is still something that is needed on the KB Mainpage. I might take some time to develop, but we can have a special feature for picture of the day/month. I am looking at the possibilities by looking at other wiki's. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 10:17, 21 November 2012 (CET)


 * The Main Page has tons of pictures and videos rotating on a monthly schedule, which gives the Main Page a different look every day. These pictures and videos can be renewed once in a while and improved with supporting texts to link with other pages on the KB. Arnoud van Dillewijn (talk) 15:08, 11 September 2014 (CEST)

=Discussing the YWAM Knowledge Base=

General Discussion
Kevin and others, is this the page to discuss anything related to the wiki? Or should it be under 'Community Portal', or, indeed, should we have a separate page on the left over there &lt;-- under navigation entitled, 'current discussion'. steve-the-not-so-hasty 17:06, 31 December 2007 (CET)

Article Format
What should a general article look like? Are we ready to suggest a format. It may be that we can suggest a variety of formats for different types of articles. I ask because I'm not sure how I should write some things. steve-the-not-so-hasty 17:06, 31 December 2007 (CET)

We are beginning to write a Help:Style_Guide. --PitPat 13:48, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Help, where is the planet ywam stuff
Kev, crisis, the planet ywam stuff has disappeared from the main page, what ever happened? I love those lists. steve-the-not-so-hasty 01:37, 8 December 2007 (CET)


 * I removed it for a while - I thought we said we would clean up the main page and make it less cluttered. http://www.planetywam.net is still there! --Kev-The-Hasty 09:26, 8 December 2007 (CET)

ywamkb.net logo discussion
i was asked to begin a discussion about what kind of logo could be used on this website. i suggested that we simply use the original ywam logo (a.k.a. the "yo" man), but i was told that we need to somehow express community &amp; collaboration in this site's logo. keeping that in mind, i think it's vitally important that we consider the original intent of the "yo" man logo &amp; use it in its entirety in whatever logo is designed for this site. if you're not familiar with CRIT, please visit [ http://ywamcoms.net] &amp; read all about it there &amp; how the global leadership is initiating prayer &amp; work towards God's healing of YWAM's nervous system (communications). also to understand how the "yo" man came into being, please visit [ http://www.ywam.org/ywam21] &amp; view the presentation available there. also, please visit [ http://ywamit.com] &amp; get involved there, if you're not already.

please give your insights, ideas, suggestions &amp; criticisms into this discussion, as your thoughts &amp; opinions are valuable. thank you.

~chris bischoff, ywam latvia communications (Tofirius 10:58, 15 May 2007 (BST))

I tend to agree with Chris and have been thinking about this myself. While we have the freedom of expression we do need to maintain corporate identity... Let's talk in Herrnhut! Blessings Mike (flyingkiwi) I would like there the be some way of showing people connected together - perhaps a globe with logos edge to edge encircling it? I can see it in my head - producing it is another matter! See you at F of N!--Kev-The-Hasty 10:01, 21 May 2007 (BST)



What do you think of this logo? --Kev-The-Hasty 17:27, 4 June 2007 (BST)

The current logo does not meet the YWAM Logo guidelines (see the wiki page about the ywam logo guidelines) - I like the yellow logo above because at least you can see that it is the actual ywam logo. I think ANY ywam associated web site should have a valid ywam logo. --User:cforbes June 25,07

Good point - but does for whom are the guidelines written - the world out there or for us in YWAM? Plus I have seen some dreadful implementations of the YWAM logo (see: http://www.haystack.org/cms/)! Anyway I will probably make a few versions of the yellow logo here but in blue! Then you can vote!--Kev-The-Hasty 16:59, 26 June 2007 (BST)

Lets choose a new logo
Ok which of these do you like best? If you are more gifted than me (not hard) then you can edit this file:

I like 2 and 3 as they illustrate a standing on the shoulders of others idea! --Kev-The-Hasty 22:06, 26 June 2007 (BST)

Thanks for updating the logo - the current one (no 3) looks good. --User:cforbes July 6/07

Steve's view of the logo
I love the three-fold yo men and would like it to stay. I am also sympathetic to colin's advice and think perhaps we should use the ywam logo as well. If we do, then i prefer the third one indicating that we are on the upward path. steve

We could use the three men sans waves (or vagues as we like to call them here) as a watermark... sort of like the normal wikipedia flower. I like 2 best as it will fit better!--Kev-The-Hasty 16:26, 27 June 2007 (BST)

22:14, 30 August 2007 (CEST)22:14, 30 August 2007 (CEST)Belindaloo Belinda's 2 cents worth Personally I feel that the YWAM logo "in motion" is better than the static one. Whether it's vertical or horizontal doesn't make a difference. As a long term YWAMer I miss the actual globe. - Belinda


 * me too --Kev-The-Hasty 22:34, 30 August 2007 (CEST)

I think that if we miss the actual globe we could step outside our front door and there it is, we are surrounded by it! Although that is a silly thing to say, there is a more important point to make -- it really is about knowing God and making Him known. steve-the-notso--hasty 11:48, 10 September 2007 (CEST)

Not dead - yet!
The discussion may still be alive on the logo. Neo suggested a binary pattern on the logo - so here is my attempt (right)--Kev-The-Hasty 16:37, 3 September 2007 (CEST)


 * [[Image:Logotrans.gif|left]] Here is a variation (left) of the original that I made without the blurring. I really like the addition of the binary pattern in the one Kevin just posted as it gives the logo clearer meaning. - Bob


 * [[Image:Logotrnsbi.gif|right]] Here is a variation (2nd right) including binary. The binary spells "Jesus" several times. You can put any message here you want. There are lots of free text to binary converters online. - Bob


 * Finally, here is a variation (2nd left) including binary. The binary spells "Jesus" 1 time. - Bob




 * I like the one on the right (Image:logotrnsbi.gif) - can you make it into a png with a transparent background? --Kev-The-Hasty 12:08, 4 September 2007 (CEST)
 * I like the one on the right (Image:logotrnsbi.gif) - can you make it into a png with a transparent background? --Kev-The-Hasty 12:08, 4 September 2007 (CEST)

Job Descriptions
I am currently trying to put together an official job description for our base administrator. He does so many different things on base that it is difficult to simplify his official role. My hope is that someone out there has gone through a similar struggle and emerged with said description in hand. Has anyone else defined this role for your base? Or is there a YWAM-wide description of this common role? Thanks so much, Anna

We started an article about this: Job Description for a YWAM Administrator. --PitPat 13:53, 21 June 2010 (UTC)