Portal talk:Current events/Sidebar

Which event?

GWA88, this edit now puts a link to a disambiguation page on the sidebar, this one: 2021 United Kingdom gas crisis. That article was moved to 2021 United Kingdom natural gas supplier crisis - is that article about the plight of a handful of minor UK natural gas retailers really that important to you? If it is, you'll need to fix the link. -- DeFacto (talk). 14:22, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Hi. I've added both links to the sidebar. Also, it doesn't really matter if it's important to me or not. The fact is the sidebar is for notable current events and this is what is in the news right now, perhaps it won't be as protracted or severe as the Lebanese economic crisis but in terms of current notability there is far more international attention on the gas crisis in the UK than Lebanon. Also, it's not as minor as you might think. This is impacting almost 2 million homes in the UK, which is quite unprecedented and could even get worse. There are serious talks of another potential Winter of Discontent. GWA88 (talk) 21:55, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

@GWA88, I think there might be a confusion with US/UK terminology here. When you say "there is far more international attention on the gas crisis in the UK", do you mean the problem that a few small natural gas retailers are having with wholesale natural gas prices (dubbed a 'gas crisis' in the UK) or the panic buying of petrol (called "gas" in the US but not in the UK) and diesel fuel? The two are unrelated - the first is due to the increased wholesale price of natural gas on the European market resulting from increased demand from Asia and elsewhere, the second is panic buying triggered by exaggerated and sensationalised news reports based on data leaked from a private meeting about the long-standing delivery driver shortage in Europe. -- DeFacto (talk). 07:38, 29 September 2021 (UTC)

Depp v. Heard

Farolif Can you please point out to me where the consensus/precedent is to only include criminal trials? I'm not aware of any and I see I'm not the first editor to attempt to add Depp v. Heard only to be reverted by you so I believe this warrants an explanation. -"Ghost of Dan Gurney" 04:37, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

The immediate precedent is that Depp's defamation case against The Sun was not listed for the same reason. Wikipedia is not a tabloid, as we are all aware, and the Depp/Heard civil trial is certainly a trending favorite of that kind of media. If we allow its inclusion, then we also open up the excuse to add others such as Sandy Hook families vs Alex Jones, Blac Chyna vs Kardashians, Sarah Palin vs NYT, etc. (Add: Not to mention the impending suits from Dominion Voting and Smartmatic, as well!) Farolif (talk) 12:03, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Understandable. Thanks for the reply. -"Ghost of Dan Gurney" 22:02, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

Bringing discussion from talk page

@Farolif: I brought the discussion here because this is a much more appropriate place to talk about our issues with the sidebar than my talk page. First of all, I DID NOT call or email User:Carter00000 or contacted them in any way. But I am glad you contacted me to discuss our edits, and hope we can reach an understanding.

I’m not “pushing” any edits, I’m just asking for consistency. Wikipedia uses the titles Tom Jones (writer) and Michael Boyd (theatre director) to differentiate them from other people with the same name, people such as Tom Jones (singer), Mike Boyd (police officer), and Michael T. Boyd. All three of these “Michael Boyds” are identified as such in their own articles. Yes, they could be “differentiated from the theatre director - by either having a middle initial, or from their first name shortened as 'Mike'”, but the community still thought it necessary to title Boyd’s article Michael Boyd (theatre director), not just Michael Boyd, to differentiate him from the others. So in the sidebar, for the sake of consistency, we could either use the Wikipedia title for both Jones and Boyd, or we could follow your advice and be more specific with their names. The Boyds could be referred to as “Michael Boyd”, “Michael T. Boyd”, and “Michael J. Boyd”, while Tom Jones could be referred to as “Tom C. Jones”, “Tom Collins Jones”, or “Thomas Collins Jones” to differentiate him from Thomas Jones Woodward. Or we could just write Tom Jones and Michael Boyd, and if anyone wants to know which specific Tom Jones or Michael Boyd died, they can just click the link. I’ll accept any option you choose, so long as it’s the same one for everyone involved. Brainiac242 (talk) 13:54, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

@Farolif: As for the Template:Resize, I used it last month to prevent long names from taking two lines because the “Recent deaths” section (unlike the “Elections and referendums” section) uses a gridlist, so when an item takes two lines, an empty line shows up next to it, and, as you said, “such a thing looks terrible”. Shortly after, however, I opened Portal:Current events in another computer and realized that a few items that took only one line in mine, took two lines in that one. If I had known that back then, I wouldn’t have used it; I can’t resize text just so that it looks better in MY display. Right now, for example, Howard James Hubbard and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi take two lines in my display, and it looks terrible. So I would welcome any proposal on how to make the sidebar look better that isn’t just resizing text so that it takes only one line in OUR displays. And using Template:Nowrap on an item that takes two lines doesn’t make the sidebar any wider, it just makes the text continue beyond the sidebar, which also looks terrible. A permanent solution may require changing the code behind the sidebar, so, in the meantime, I propose writing long names in a shorter format (e.g. Howard J. Hubbard and Delwar Sayeedi) in the “Recent deaths” section (which I think we can agree is the section where two-line items look the worst), and just letting items take more than one line in other sections in the rare cases in which they do. Brainiac242 (talk) 16:22, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

@Brainiac242: That sounds like the issue is somewhere in the setup of your apps. I can create the same line wraps and text overflow problems which you have described when I increase my browser's minimum font size to 12. That setting really shouldn't be higher than 11 for the Sidebar; the ideal is probably closer to 10, which usually allows the midsize fonts (ie - election rounds) to clearly show. Of course, you would need to try some tests on your own devices to find the appropriate remedy. Farolif (talk) 19:23, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

@Farolif: I already tried some tests on my device. If I increase the web browser’s font (increase, not decrease for some reason) the two items I mentioned above take only one line. But my web browser’s default font being different than yours isn’t an “issue somewhere in the set up of my apps”. Different people use different web browsers on different devices with displays of different sizes. Websites are supposed to be responsive. If the sidebar is functioning as intended on some browsers but not in others, the solution may require changing the code behind the sidebar. In the meantime, I think writing long names in a shorter format and having some items on simple lists (not gridlists) take two lines, would make people with different browsers and display sizes see the website as intended. Brainiac242 (talk) 20:56, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

@Brainiac242: OK, let's try this again. You were likely increasing the basic font size of the browser, which would make some items fit on one line where they were previously wrapping to two lines. At the same time, this would also cause the entire Sidebar's width to increase. But that's not what I was suggesting. I was referring to the minimum font size, which should be a different setting option. Changing that to a lower value will allow your browser to shrink the text down to what the portal is already coded for, while leaving the Sidebar at its original width. Farolif (talk) 21:53, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

@Farolif: I don’t need you to help me fix my browser. I’m using my browser’s default settings. I made sure of it. I restored all browser settings to their default values. It still doesn’t work. So everyone using that browser is going to see the sidebar like I do. What do you propose? That we put a notice at the top saying “For this website to function properly you must set your web browser’s minimum font size to 10, allowing your browser to shrink the text down to what the portal is already coded for”? Websites are supposed to adapt to users, not the other way around. Brainiac242 (talk) 00:52, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

@Brainiac242: I don't know what else to tell you at this point. For all I know, you could be using an unsupported browser which certain folks use to mask their online activities. Or this whole matter is simply beyond your technical comprehension. Whatever the case may be, it's clear that you are in a narrow minority of users who are experiencing such difficulty with the Sidebar, and without finding out any further specifics, there's no way of knowing what kind of code overhaul is needed to accommodate "everyone using that browser". Farolif (talk) 01:13, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

@Farolif: Throughout this discussion I’ve referred to how the sidebar looks in several different browsers I frequently use. The one I’m using now, and the one where Howard James Hubbard and Delwar Hossain Sayeedi take two lines, is the DuckDuckGo app in an iPad Pro, which is admittedly not a very popular option. Now, I would clearly like the code to be modified to make the sidebar work as intended for me and for everyone else using this app, but I agree that this is “a narrow minority of users”. So, in the spirit of compromise, I propose I leave these two items and the code behind the sidebar alone, and you stop using the Template:Resize to make items fit in one line, which I’ve realized produces vastly different results in different browsers, including some of the most popular ones like Safari and Firefox, especially when set to a font size other than the default one. So if we used a shorter format only for names that are too long to fit in one line in YOUR browser, instead of resizing them, and let the longest items in the “Elections and referendums” section take two lines, I think the result would be one we’d both be content with. Brainiac242 (talk) 02:29, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

@Brainiac242: There will always be cases in which it's best for text to be resized - that's why the template was built in the first place. And responsive web design is not a WP guideline. You're not the first person to discover how the same markups can appear differently on multiple browsers and devices, especially among those who use novelty apps such as DuckDuckGo. I would recommend that you figure out which combination of your tech options works best for viewing the pages that you frequent and stick with that - many other WP users have done the same without harping on about it. Farolif (talk) 17:11, 26 August 2023 (UTC)