Template talk:Common crafting materials nav

Nav Template formatting

Several questions have arisen on "best practices" for Nav template formatting:

• Is it proper for a Nav template to exceed the page width when it is possible to make it fit?
• Is "free format" OK, or is STDT formatting always preferred?
• Do footnotes add excessive clutter regardless of whatever increase in clarity they provide?
• Should items that are present, but not fully implemented, like Crystalline Ore be included?
• Should items that are not crafted, but available from vendors like Lump of Tin be included? ~ 1Maven (talk) 16:10, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

• What resolution are you on? The old version looked just fine for me on 1920x1080.
• STDT is for tables. Nav boxes should be formatted with <div> tags, like the old version.
• Yes. The sort of information that gets put in footnotes is not terribly useful for navigation, so it doesn't need to be in nav boxes.
• I would say no.
• IMO, they aren't necessary, since they're auxiliary to the main crafting materials. Both ore and thread should be omitted from this nav box.

—Dr Ishmael 22:29, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

• Nav's vary in size, but will fit on most screen resolutions. In short, "fitting" may depend entirely on what resolution your screen is at.
• STDT is generally frowned upon for navs, they should be "free format". the use of div statements permits all the formatting needed.
• Footnotes are terrible IMO in navs. The purpose of a nav is to facilitate navigation, footnotes at an extra layer of complexity which is often unnecessary.
• Non-implemented items shouldn't be included, I wouldn't think. Again, this ties into the purpose of a nav.
• Again, I'd say no. These items are, as the good doctor stated, auxiliary. Thus the addtion of them would only serve to add more elements to a table, thus increasing clutter or size.

As an additional note, when modifying navs it is far optimal to create your "proposals" in your own userspace so that you aren't affecting the live nav. I would suggest you undo your changes from this nav, and construct your proposal so that everyone can to look at it and discuss these types of changes. Venom20 23:00, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

My resolution is lower, 1600 x 900, which is recommended for my (tiny) 21" monitor. GW2 supports as low as 1024 x 768. Some people use lower resolutions to improve performance, but that should not affect Wiki display. I also specify text size of 125%, to make it easier to see (vision issues). In addition, I get different results from one browser to another. To accommodate the greatest number of wiki users, I recommend that you design for a resolution under 1920 x 1080 and whenever there is a question, test with all 3 major browsers. ~ 1Maven (talk) 01:54, 26 September 2015 (UTC) Also checkout how STDT is used in:

• Template:Crafted armor nav
• Template:Armor nav
• [[Template:Temple vendor nav]]

The old version still looks fine for me with 900 width, standard zoom. If you're using a higher-than-normal zoom, then you should expect some parts of some sites to look wonky. I use 125% on reddit because the default font size is atrociously small, and yes, some parts of the site look weird. But I accept that it's because I'm not viewing the site the way it was meant to be viewed, and I don't complain to the moderators about it.

Don't take 3 examples as evidence of a trend. They are non-standard. The last two have been that way for over 2 years, so they're probably just holdovers from before the div-format was accepted that no one's bothered to change. —Dr Ishmael 03:42, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

ALL wiki user should be considered as a matter of policy. However, instead of dragging this discussion on for days (which I would gladly do), I propose the following compromise. Revert to your last revision with the following changes: (1) My (auto) table-sizing since all the information will easily fit, (2) STDT-like color formatting of your choice for headers (including leftmost column) and alternating-row background-highlighting, and (3) include the header row "Class Cloth Leather Metal Wood". What do you say? ~ 1Maven (talk) 06:01, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

Imo there is no comparison between the current revision of the crafted armor nav + the old revision, I went out of my way to rewrite most navs to remove the use of tables with borders inside div navs. I did however make the crafted armor nav the exact width of a div nav. The Temple vendor nav is just weird + probably is not a good example.

If we do go back to the div version, use something like the following (900px wide, no random -300px margins)

Common crafting materials

Tier	Scrap	Bolt	Leather Section	Leather Square	Ore	Ingot	Wood Log	Wood Plank
1	Jute	Jute	Rawhide	Rawhide	Copper	Copper Bronze	Green	Green
2	Wool	Wool	Thin	Thin	Iron Silver	Iron Silver	Soft	Soft
3	Cotton	Cotton	Coarse	Coarse	Gold	Steel Gold	Seasoned	Seasoned
4	Linen	Linen	Rugged	Rugged	Platinum	Darksteel Platinum	Hard	Hard
5	Silk	Silk	Thick	Thick	Mithril	Mithril	Elder	Elder
6	Gossamer	Gossamer	Hardened	Hardened	Orichalcum	Orichalcum	Ancient	Ancient
7		Damask		Elonian		Deldrimor Steel		Spiritwood

Supersize navs like this always end up with odd formatting. -Chieftain Alex 08:56, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

(Reset indent) I suggest that while further discussions progress, we (for the meantime) use Alex's above template as a temporary solution. Each nav can never satisfy everyone, especially if a user requires larger text or displays at other resolutions. Venom20 16:49, 26 September 2015 (UTC)

Alex's proposal looks fine to me. At a glance, I can't really tell what he changed - did you just suck out the whitespace by compressing the width? —Dr Ishmael 02:30, 27 September 2015 (UTC)

Basically apply the width to the nav rather than the box (this way you don't need a -300px margin >.>). -Chieftain Alex 11:50, 27 September 2015 (UTC)