User talk:Swift

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2006 – 2007 – 2008 – 2009

[edit] Wikibooks:CCO Resources

In response to your request for help improving documentation on cataloguing, I have done quite a bit of work on the above page and added an entirely new section containing a practical example at the bottom of the page. I hope it is helpful. -- Adrignola ^{talk contribs} 04:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up. It looks good.

I also noticed your reply on your user page, but I'm going to wait until after the weekend when I have the time look into merging the pages you mention there. --Swift (talk) 07:13, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Category talk:Languages by continent

When you get a chance, can you take a look at this, and provide input on the issue of "X textbook pages" categories?

[edit] What license tag for an Excel file??

May I insert an EXCEL file in my Wikibook: Clock and data recovery ? It would help the reader do some circuit simulation by himself, and get confidence in the subject. But I am unclear about the copyright to respect (MS Excel?), and the license tag to use when uploading. For the rest the file is entirely my own creation. Thanks for advising --BORGATO Pierandrea (talk) 11:41, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Have you considered using an open office version? The problem with Microsquish programs is that the document format is proprietary. You can download open office for free, which meets the requirements for data being read by free software. If you don't expect the user to actually use the application from within the book, you can send it as a PDF file. It seems that creative commons doesn't like ODF file formats for upload any more than Microsquish files however so getting an operable version is a bit of a problem.These days Wikimedia is discussing changing the licensing format but currently it is GFDL and they allow a secondary license such as CC-By-SA 3.0--Graeme E. Smith (talk) 04:04, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, you may upload excel files to wikibooks. I, like Graeme E. Smith, would advocate for using an open file format, but if you expect that an excel file will be most useful to the readers of your book, then feel free to use it.

You can also just upload the data on multiple file formats. For example, you could include it in a wiki-formatted table and link to the excel, plain text, etc. files.

Hope that helped. --Swift (talk) 04:54, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

I could be wrong, but I don't think MS Excel is a supported file type that can be uploaded. ATM I don't think openoffice's ODF is supported either. The file would need to be converted to a supported format, such as a PDF or a screenshot used. Not even plain text files are supported for upload. The best that could be done to preserve it would be to convert it into a wiki-formatted table. To answer the original question though, if the data you used is originally yours then you own the copyright regardless of what program you use to represent the data, so you can release the data under any license you want. To use the data here as wiki-formated table though, you would need to license it under the GFDL. --darklama 14:18, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

Again with the question on how I could insert an Open Office calculation file in my Wikibook: Clock and data recovery ? Basically the file is the equivalent to a section of proposed exercises. It would help the reader do some circuit simulation by himself, and get confidence in the subject. It is also structured so that it can be a very good introduction for a student to many subjects of modern electronics. It uses filters, operational amplifiers, continuous time and discrete time functions. Even difference equations are used, and they can be demystified and seen in simple, effective practical use. It is not necessary to actually have the content of the file in the Wikibook, but just to be able and download the file following instructions present in the Wikibook. I have understood that MS is frowned upon, and I agree: in fact the file is now based on an Open Office calculation sheet. The only way to provide the reader with a copy (that is: the only one that I could devise so far) is to mention a dedicated email account (plz.pllsmltor.file@gmail.com) in the Wikibook, and promise to send a copy to anyone mailing to that account. But it looks clumsy, time consuming for me and for the interested reader, and far from practical. I wonder whether you could suggest a workaround to implement an easy access to the file for a reader of the Wikibook. The file is not big, and you can get a copy simply sending an email to plz.pllsmltor.file@gmail.com. Thanks --BORGATO Pierandrea (talk) 13:24, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

I assume you've tried uploading the file to Wikibooks, right? If that doesn't work, I'd suggest using an online file storage service. There are several that allow free hosting of files, but I have no experience of any. --Swift (talk) 17:36, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Urdu/cover

Hi! I'm back on Wikibooks (finally)....Yes, I got your message on my talk page. Well, first of all, I'll make it clear that the reason why I swapped the order of flags on the page Urdu/Cover does not need any explanation. As you may know, Urdu is actually a Pakistani language first. It is no doubt, spoken in India too, but the fact is that its position in Pakistan is way higher than that of India. In Pakistan, it is the official and national language and is used at government level, business level, education level (almost all of standard Pakistani schools). In India, where Hindi is the main language, Urdu is official in only 5 states (and is thus included as part of the other 22 official languages) though it is a minority language and is spoken only by the Muslims ( half of them cannot even read or write it though). There are very few insitutions, schools and goverment-level positions where it is even used at all because Hindi is largely the national language of India.

I cannot foresee why the Indian flag is on the left side whilst Pakistan's flag is on the right side because it is misleading and gives the impression that both countries uphold equal ratio of the importance and status of the language. In fact, I was about to remove the Indian flag and I see no reason to do so either.

By the way, I also removed the Taj Mahal picture from the [Hindi]] page because I do not see how it is relevant. especially when it was built by a Muslim king and thus is more like an Urdu-culture oriented monument.

I hope that some of my little propoganda made sense :) User talk:124.186.128.15

Welcome back and thanks for the explanation. I wasn't familiar with the fact that Urdu was more prominent in Pakistan than in India. Your rationale is fair, though I'd say that leaving the Taj Mahal would have been fine (I suspect that Hindi is a useful language for those travelling there).

Take care and happy editing. --Swift (talk) 01:17, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Template:Japanese example

What browser are you using to review your results of this template? Currently, Firefox and IE have items all over the place. Who knows if I really released it under the correct license, but I took a screenshot of it. File:JapaneseExampleOutput.JPG --Retropunk (talk) 19:01, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I use Opera and Firefox. I don't have access to IE. Your screen-shots are the same as what I get but note that this is still a work in progress. The items aren't all over the place as much as they are in two different places. This template has two different style declarations depending on whether it has the examples passed to it, or is used to style a box (e.g. a table). The former is mostly done, but I've yet to find time to fix the style declarations for the latter.

Ideally, we'd just be able to create book-wide style-sheets. That is another thing I'm hoping I'll find the time to do. --Swift (talk) 19:45, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] My reviewer request

Hi Swift: Please consider supporing my request to become a reviewer. Moby-Dick4000 (talk) 00:42, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

[edit] 4

isn't wikibooks good--Anthony 5432 (talk) 21:52, 21 November 2009 (UTC)Anthony 5432