Structural Changes

[optimist]

Since it looks like we're going forward with advancement requirements from programs other than just Boy Scouts, we're going to need to make a few structural changes in the wiki. At this point, the largest additions have been in Varsity Scouting but the way these have been linked to and from other pages has not been organized. I'm going to try some reorganization. Feel free to jump in and help out.

[RWSmith]

Okay; I'd really like to help out in this area... you know, "structural" stuff, like namespaces, categories and sub-categories, shortcuts, redirects, etc.

[optimist]

Well, essentially I meant we needed to restructure the menus so that people can find what they are looking for and also putting things in the right spots. I've made several changes on the Main Page as well as on the Ranks and Awards pages in the last couple of hours. I also moved the Varsity emblem info from Ranks to Awards. We probably need to restructure the BSA Program Info section as well since we need to make room for the non-Boy Scout advancement information but I'm pretty much through for the night so either someone else can try to tackle it or I'll try to get to it Sunday (busy day tomorrow).

[optimist]

Another thing I think we need to add is program pages, one for each program. These pages would link to all aspects of each program as apposed to our current pages such as Ranks and Awards which group different parts of each program into their subparts.

I can think of two possible name sets so I'm going to set them out below. Comments on which choice is better would be appreciated.

SET 1

Cub Scouting
Boy Scouting
Varsity Scouting
Venturing
Sea Scouting

SET 2

Cub Scouts
Boy Scouts
Varsity Scouts
Venturers
Sea Scouts

[FrankJ]

Some say tomatoe some say tomata.

They both work. I like the ings more because they suggest action, at least to me.

[optimist]

Okay, I went ahead and added a new section to the Main Page called Scouting Programs. I used SET 1 above for the names of the new page links. I also went a ahead and created a Boy Scouting page to get things rolling. I only covered the advancement aspect of Boy Scouting so there is serious need for fleshing out on that page to cover the other seven methods of Scouting as well as other areas of the Boy Scout program.

In the process of making this new page, I started creating pages that are specifically designed for transclusion only. For example, there is now a http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php?title=Boy_Scout_awards page. This page is transcluded into the main Awards page as well as the new Boy Scouting page.