explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey

2013-06-19T21:13:30Z

Cyanfish: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 24
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey
| image = godel_escher_kurthalsey.jpg
| titletext = I love the idea here, though of course it's not a great-quality drawing or scan.
}}

==Explanation==
The name of the comic is a take on the book {{w|Gödel, Escher, Bach}}. The book is about "strange loops", self-reference, and recurring patterns, partially shown through the works of the three people in its title.

{{w|Kurt Gödel}} was a 20th century mathematician most famous for mathematically proving that there are some mathematical truths that can't be proven.

{{w|M. C. Escher}} was a 20th century artist most famous for mathematically-inspired engravings of tessellated animals, impossible scenes, distorted images that contained themselves, and so on.

{{w|Johann Sebastian Bach}} was a German composer and musician during the Baroque Period.

[http://www.kurthalsey.com Kurt Halsey] is a comic artist from Oregon.

It looks unclear whether the hatted guy is [[Black Hat]]. The character design wasn't yet standardized. The sarcastic comment suggests that it is.

==Trivia==
*This is the sixth comic originally posted on livejournal. The previous was [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]. The next was [[13: Canyon]]. View archive [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 here].
*[Original title]: "Strip series"
*[Original [[Randall]] quote]: "One of a series of strips I drew during a long and boring NASA lecture. It careens wildly from intellectual to chaotic to Godel, Escher, Bach to Kurt Halsey to chaotic and sappy." This might suggest that the image on LiveJournal was only part of this strip. Unfortunately, the image link on LiveJournal is broken.

==Transcript==
:Drawn during an unending NASA lecture.
:[Two people are talking, one in a hat.]
:Cueball: it's just so hard to compare kids now with kids in the past. you can't help but to belong to one group or the other.

:Cueball: and of course every generation seems awful to the one before it. look at quotes from throughout history.

:Hatted: yeah, and it sure would be nice to have some perspective on some of this stuff. I just don't know what to make of it.
:[Circles are appearing--maybe snow?]

:Cueball: i guess you do what you can to help the people around you and hope it turns out okay.

:Cueball: in the end, what else can you do?

:Hatted: lead a crusade?

:[We can no longer see the people, just the circles.]
:it's presentism, man. the idea that historical context is irrelevant, that we understand it

:all that we need take no warnings from the follies of the past. that we're facing something new.

:socrates couldn't imagine the internet. but people don't change.
:[We can start to see the corner of a darker circle in the lower right.]

:(The borders between the three panels on this line are cracking.)
:have you seen those collections of historical pornography? talk about historical context.

:did you know the first porn photo was bestial in.
:[inside a circle:] nature?

:at least that stuff was out of the mainstream
:[each word in one circle:]
:no
:just
:in
:history

:(the three panels have merged into one on each row.)

:i don't know about you, but
:[circled] I
:[uncircled] never

:even once seen

:[The circles are highly variable in size now, and pressed up against a larger one on the right side.]

:[There is mass of circles of different sizes, with some dark fissures in between, against the side of a large circle which we can see part of in the right half of the panel. They look like cells. There's a tiny square in the center of the giant cell.]

:[We see only the tiny square, centered. It has a few marks inside it.]

:[Closer, the square is divided into rectangles of different sizes, each of which has text in it.]

:[Much closer, we can see fragments of the text. Some are sideways, some are cut off, some are too small to read.]
:machine language translated by principles of isomorphism it is a consequence of the Church-Turing thesis that ...
:but how do you select the channel you wish to se-
:thou ... shou ... palin ... stri ... it is a ... crab ...

:[Closer still, we can just see a huge sideways s and h.]

:[Those letters are faded and mixed with a faded version of the next panel.]

:girls take boys away ...
:never be further than a phone call and a goosebumped shiver away ...
:drove all night listening to mix tapes ...
:the past is just practice
:[There is a heart at the bottom and, in the lower left, the name Kurt.]

:[The same as the previous panel, but with the words blurred out to scribbles.]

:[Jagged, shaded shapes and strands start to fall. Faint panel borders appear again. There is a person on the far right.]

:(Back to three panels per row.)
:[Cueball and Megan are standing amid the fragments.]

:Man: There's too much. And so little feels important.

:[The jagged edge of the shaded area is encroaching on the sides of the panel.]

:What do you do?

:[We see them from farther away through a rough hole in the shaded area. Bits continue to fall around them.]

:[She takes his hand.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

1227: The Pace of Modern Life

2013-06-19T21:11:16Z

Cyanfish: /* Explanation */ Added link to comic 24

{{comic
| number = 1227
| date = June 19, 2013
| title = The Pace of Modern Life
| image = the pace of modern life.png
| titletext = 'Unfortunately, the notion of marriage which prevails ... at the present time ... regards the institution as simply a convenient arrangement or formal contract ... This disregard of the sanctity of marriage and contempt for its restrictions is one of the most alarming tendencies of the present age.' --John Harvey Kellogg, Ladies' guide in health and disease (1883)
}}

==Explanation==
The debate as to whether or not the pace of modern life is detrimental to society, culture, and the human experience in general has been going on for longer than we may realize. Presently, the debate has focused on technology such as smartphones, tablets, and other portable electronics; however, many of the same arguments were made against newspapers, magazines, telegraphs, telephones, and even written correspondence 100 years ago.

People always tend to think of older times as better. The people complaining compare their present time to the time they lived in before, that is, a couple of decades ago, and this has been happening for over a century (at least). This comic makes a point that the older times people refer to, were also critiziced in the exact same fashion. Since the same criticism is applied to each generation by the generation before that one, every generation thinks that the one they were born in, is the good one. This is presentism as explained by Randall in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey|comic 24]].

The comic begins and ends with very similar arguments, perhaps emphasizing how these debates cycle and repeat over time.

The title text shows that the meaning of the institute of marriage debate has likewise been going on for quite some time.

==Transcript==
:The art of letter-writing is fast dying out. When a letter cost nine pence, it seemed but fair to try to make it worth nine pence ... Now, however, we think we are too busy for such old-fashioned correspondence. We fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk over a real sheet of paper.
::''The Sunday Magazine''
:::1871

:It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to be always in a hurry. In olden times it was different.
::''The Medical Record''
:::1884

:With the advent of cheap newspapers and superior means of locomotion... The dreamy quiet old days are over... For men now live think and work at express speed. They have their ''Mercury'' or ''Post'' laid on their breakfast table in the early morning, and if they are too hurried to snatch from it the news during that meal, they carry it off, to be sulkily read as they travel ... leaving them no time to talk with the friend who may share the compartment with them... The hurry and bustle of modern life ... lacks the quiet and repose of the period when our forefathers, the day's work done, took their ease...
::William Smith, Morley: ''Ancient and Modern''
:::1886

:Conversation is said to be a lost art ... Good talk presupposes leisure, both for preparation and enjoyment. The age of leisure is dead, and the art of conversation is dying.
:''Frank Leslie's popular Monthly'', Volume 29
::1890

:Intellectual laziness and the hurry of the age have produced a craving for literary nips. The torpid brain ... has grown too weak for sustained thought.
:There never was an age in which so many people were able to write badly.
:Israel Zangwill, ''The Bachelors' Club''
::1891

:The art of pure line engraving is dying out. We live at too fast a rate to allow for the preparation of such plates as our fathers appreciated. If a picture catches the public fancy, the public must have an etched or a photogravured copy of it within a month or two of its appearance, the days when engravers were wont to spend two or three years over a single plate are for ever gone.
::''Journal of the Institute of Jamaica'', Volume 1
:::1892

:So much is exhibited to the eye that nothing is left to the imagination. It sometimes seems almost possible that the modern world might be choked by its own riches, and human faculty dwindle away amid the million inventions that have been introduced to render its exercise unnecessary.
:The articles in the ''Quarterlies'' extend to thirty or more pages, but thirty pages is now too much so we witness a further condensing process and, we have the ''Fortnightly'' and the ''Contemporary'' which reduce thirty pages to fifteen pages so that you may read a larger number of articles in a shorter time and in a shorter form. As if this last condensing process were not enough the condensed articles of these periodicals are further condensed by the daily papers, which will give you a summary of the summary of all that has been written about everything.
:Those who are dipping into so many subjects and gathering information in a summary and superficial form lose the habit of settling down to great works.
:Ephemeral literature is driving out the great classics of the present and the past ... hurried reading can never be good reading.
::G. J. Goschen, ''First Annual Address to the Students'', Toynbee Hall. London
:::1894

:The existence of mental and nervous degeneration among a growing class of people especially in large cities, is an obvious phenomenon ... the mania for stimulants ... diseases of the mind are almost as numerous as the diseases of the body... This intellectual condition is characterized by a brain incapable of normal working ... in a large measure due to the hurry and excitement of modern life, with its facilities for rapid locomotion and almost instantaneous communication between remote points of the globe...
::''The Churchman'', Volume 71
:::1895

:If we teach the children how to play and encourage them in their sports ... instead of shutting them in badly ventilated schoolrooms, the next generation will be more joyous and will be healthier than the present one.
::''Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press Throughout the World'', Volume 18
:::1895

:The cause of the ... increase in nervous disease is increased demand made by the conditions of modern life upon the brain everything is done in a hurry. We talk across a continent, telegraph across an ocean take a trip to Chicago for an hour's talk... We take even our pleasures sadly and make a task of our play ... what wonder if the pressure is almost more than our nerves can bear.
::G. Shrady (from P.C. Knapp)
::”Are nervous diseases increasing?” ''Medical Record''
:::1896

:The managers of sensational newspapers ... do not try to educate their readers and make them better, but tend to create perverted tastes and develop vicious tendencies. The owners of these papers seem to have but one purpose, and that is to increase their circulation.
::''Medical Brief'', Volume 26
:::1898

:To take sufficient time for our meals seems frequently impossible on account of the demands on our time made by our business... We act on the apparent belief that all of our business is so pressing that we must jump on the quickest car home, eat our dinner in the most hurried way, make the closest connection for a car returning ...
::Louis John Rettger. ''Studies in Advanced Physiology''
:::1898

:In these days of increasing rapid artificial locomotion, may I be permitted to say a word in favour of a very worthy and valuable old friend of mine, Mr. Long walk?
:I am afraid that this good gentleman is in danger of getting neglected, if not forgotten. We live in days of water trips and land trips, excursions by sea, road and rail-bicycles and tricycles, tram cars and motor cars .... but in my humble opinion, good honest walking exercise for health beats all other kinds of locomotion into a cocked hat.
::T. Thatcher, "A plea for a long walk",
::''The Publishers Circular''
:::1902

:The art of conversation is almost a lost one. People talk as they ride bicycles-at a rush-without pausing to consider their surroundings ... what has been generally understood as cultured society is rapidly deteriorating into baseness and voluntary ignorance the profession of letters is so little understood, and so far from being seriously appreciated, that ... Newspapers are full, not of thoughtful honestly expressed public opinion on the affairs of the nation, but of vapid personalities interesting to none save gossips and busy bodies.
::Marie Corelli,
::''Free opinions, freely expressed''
:::1905

:There is a great tendency among the children of today to rebel against restraint not only that placed upon them by the will of the parent. But against any restraint or limitation of what they consider their rights ... this fag-has filled well minded people with great apprehensions for the future.
::Rev. Henry Hussmann,
::''The authority of parents''
:::1906

:Our modern family gathering, silent around the fire. Each individual with his head buried in his favourite magazine, is the somewhat natural outcome of the banishment of colloquy from the school ...
::''The Journal of Education'', Volume 29
:::1907

:Plays in theatres at the present time present spectacles and deal openly with situations which no person would have dared to mention in general society forty years ago... The current representations of nude men and women in the daily journals and the illustrated magazines would have excluded such periodicals from all respectable families two decades ago... Those who have been divorced ... forty and fifty years ago lost at once and irrevocably their standing in society, while to-day they continue in all their social relationships, hardly changed...
::Editorial, ''The Watchman'', Boston
:::1908

:We write millions more letters than did our grandfathers, but the increase in volume has brought with it an automatic artificial machine-like ring ... an examination of a file of old letters reveals not only a remarkable grasp of details. But a fitness and courtliness too often totally lacking in the mechanical curt cut and dried letters of to-day.
::Forrest Crissey, ''Handbook of Modern Business Correspondence''
:::1908

:A hundred years ago it took so long and cost so much to send a letter that it seemed worth while to put some time and thought into writing it. Now the quickness and the cheapness of the post seem to justify the feeling that a brief letter to-day may be followed by another next-week-a “1ine” now by another to-morrow
::Percy Holmes Boynton, ''Principles of Composition''
:::1915

{{comic discussion}}

1217: Cells

2013-05-27T14:46:41Z

Cyanfish: /* Explanation */ Fixed grammar

{{comic
| number = 1217
| date = May 27, 2013
| title = Cells
| image = cells.png
| titletext = Now, if it selectively kills cancer cells in a petri dish, you can be sure it's at least a great breakthrough for everyone suffering from petri dish cancer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

Cancer is one of the most feared sicknesses due to high mortality. Therefore, whenever researchers find a hint for cure, this is hyped in media as major breakthrough. However, in laboratory scale one uses only cultivated cancer cell assays in petri dishes or well plates, thereby preventing influences by or on other parts of a whole body. Current anti-cancer drugs affect all cells, thereby causing severe side effects. The same applies to new drugs developed as well; if they affect cancer cells they may also affect healthy cells and the side effects may prove to be too severe for the drug to be used as a viable treatment method.

As title text suggests, that is not the only problem a new drug can have. For example, it may not be able to get to those cancer cells. It is a long way from the laboratory to the pharmacy.

==Transcript==
When you see a claim that a common drug or vitamin "kills cancer cells in a petri dish",

keep in mind:

So does a handgun.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Cancer]]

1147: Evolving

2012-12-14T23:28:15Z

Cyanfish: /* Explanation */ Fixed broken link

{{comic
| number = 1147
| date = December 14, 2012
| title = Evolving
| image = evolving.png
| titletext = Biologists play reverse Pokémon, trying to avoid putting any one team member on the front lines long enough for the experience to cause evolution.
}}

==Explanation==

In {{w|Pokémon}}, a highly popular game series, the protagonist goes out in search for the eponymous creatures. Many Pokémon can be found directly in the wild, but there are also a lot of Pokémon that require training and growth, to cause them to "evolve" into new Pokémon. "Evolve", the game's term, is a misnomer which [http://www.cephasministry.com/save_our_children_pokemon_booklet.html earned itself quite some controversy in the past]; in reality, Pokémon "evolution" is more akin to puberty or metamorphosis, since, instead of the entire species of Pokémon acquiring changes throughout an extended period of time, one specific member of the species grows instantly to the "higher stage." At that point in the game, the Pokémon glows before transforming into the new form, then stops glowing, and the very same text ''"What? Xxx is evolving!"'' is used (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qUwWAMgy3E this video] or {{w|File:Pokemon evolution.png|those screenshots}} for instance). The changes of such a tranformation can be [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/snorunt quite] [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/froslass dramatic]... [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/poliwhirl or] [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/poliwrath not].

This comic depicts the "evolution" of a bacteria as observed by a Biologist in the same format as the game Pokémon. Here we have {{w|Staphylococcus Aureus}}, which is not a desirable bacterium (it causes {{w|Staph infection}}s) which evolves into {{w|MRSA|"Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus"}}. {{w|Methicillin}} is an anti-biotic. If the bacteria becomes resistant, it means the anti-biotic will not kill the bacteria, and infections become harder to treat. Thus, the observer is not pleased with such an evolution.

The title text references this by suggesting that biologists do NOT want bacteria to evolve in this way, as opposed to Pokémon where you put a Pokémon on the "front lines" as much as possible to gain it experience and hope it evolves. [A point of irony is that Pokémon evolution can be prevented (by using an Everstone) or stopped (by pressing the B button in the game controller during evolution) most of the time, especially if there are [http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/vigoroth Pokémon that someone does not want to evolve].] The bit about the front lines is that, if a bacteria colony is exposed sufficiently to an antibiotic, those bacteria not killed by the antibiotic demonstrate resistance to the antibiotic, and are able reproduce in spite of the antibiotic.

Staphylococcus aureus is a very common bacteria (that under an electron microscope looks like the xkcd drawing) and is the major cause of staph infections (there are other types of staph bacteria), frequently found in the nostrils and skin. Hospitals are often plagued with outbreaks of methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) as it is very difficult to treat as the typical antibiotics do not work on it.

{{Incomplete}}

==Transcript==
:[bacterial cell culture]
:What?
:'''''Staphylococcus Aureus''''' is evolving!

:...

:Off-screen: Aww, crap.
:'''''Staphylococcus Aureus''''' evolved into '''Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus Aureus!'''''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Biology]]

1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates

2012-11-28T16:10:32Z

Cyanfish: /* Explanation */ Added more dates and sorted by date

{{comic
| number = 1140
| date = November 28, 2011
| title = Calendar of Meaningful Dates
| image = calendar of meaningful dates.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = In months other than September, the 11th is mentioned substantially less often than any other date. It's been that way since long before 9/11 and I have no idea why.
}}

==Explanation==
The calendar used in the comic is the standard {{w|Gregorian calendar}} used by most of western civilization. The comic looks at the frequencies of certain dates appearing in English writings indexed in the {{w|Google Ngram Viewer}}.
*January 1 is {{w|New Year's Day|New Year's Day}}
*February 29 only exists during {{w|Leap year|leap years}}
*April 1 is {{w|April Fools' Day|April Fools' Day}}
*April 15 is {{w|Tax Day|US Individual Income Tax return filing day}}
*May 1 is {{w|International Workers' Day|International Workers' Day}}, or {{w|May Day|May Day}}
*July 4 is {{w|Independence Day (United States)|US Independence Day}}
*September 11 is the date of the {{w|September 11 attacks|2001 terrorist attacks}}
*December 25 is {{w|Christmas|Christmas}}
*December 31 is {{w|New Year's Eve|New Year's Eve}}

==Transcript==
:'''Calendar of Meaningful Dates'''
:Each date's size represents how often it is referred to by name (e.g. "October 17th") in English-language books since 2000
:(Source: Google ngrams corpus)
:[A regular Gregorian calendar laid out in a grid, with some numbers larger than others.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Charts]]

1096: Clinically Studied Ingredient

2012-08-18T01:36:13Z

Cyanfish: Sp

{{comic
| number = 1096
| date = August 17, 2012
| title = Clinically Studied Ingredient
| image = Clinically Studied Ingredient.png
| titletext = Blatantly banking on customers not understanding that it's like a Hollywood studio advertising that their new movie was 'watched by Roger Ebert'.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is poking fun at a phrase which some ads use to boost sales of their product. They state that their product contains a "clinically studied ingredient", which consumers assume means that the product itself has been clinically tested and proven. However, the phrase is very ambiguous. Firstly, only a single ingredient has necessarily been studied, not the combined effect of all the ingredients in the product (which can produce drastically different effects). Secondly, the phrase just states an ingredient was clinically studied, and doesn't mention the findings of that study (which, for all we know, could have found the ingredient to be ineffective or harmful). In other words, the phrase is used in shrewd marketing techniques.

In the comic, we come in the middle of a conversation with a female character (which may or may not be [[Megan]] - it is unclear) telling [[Cueball]] that she's been tested. Although, she doesn't state what she was tested for, the implication is that they were talking about {{w|STD}}s. However, Megan does not reveal the results of the tests. When Cueball inquires, Megan acts like he is being unreasonable to also want that information. In this way, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] is making an analogy to how the marketer might think consumers would be unreasonable to want to know the ''results'' of the clinical studies on the ingredient.

In the title text, {{w|Roger Ebert}} is a famous film critic. However, we can expect most big name movies to be watched by him. Simply stating that he saw a movie doesn't necessarily mean that he liked it.

{{Comic discussion}}

29

2012-08-10T01:22:00Z

Cyanfish: Fixed redirect

#REDIRECT [[29: Hitler]]

User talk:Cyanfish

2012-08-05T23:21:40Z

Cyanfish: /* Beret Guy */

==Template:Infobox==
I'm not quite sure why you'd replaced the "infobox" class at {{tl|Infobox}}, but it's defined at [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] - if you think it should be changed, it should be changed there so that the change will affect any future templates that use that class. (I suppose you may have changed it before I copied the class definition over? In that case, would you mind if I changed it back?) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 20:55, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

I went ahead and reverted that particular change. At the time, the class wasn't defined (and I don't have permissions to edit css), so I had to embed the style to make it work. --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 21:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Okay - I had similar problems with {{tl|Navbox}}, which is what prompted the import. If you see any CSS changes that need to be made, please let me know! --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:17, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Beret Guy ==

It seems to me that "Comics featuring the Beret Guy" sounds better than "Comics featuring Beret Guy" (without the "the"). {{diff|4646|It}} {{diff|4644|seems}} you think otherwise. Would you mind explaining your reasoning? Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 14:32, 5 August 2012 (EDT)
:Everywhere else (including [[Five Years|comic(s)]], the title and the content of [[Beret Guy]]) uses "Beret Guy" as a proper noun (his name), without "the". With that in mind, I believe it's grammatically correct to say "featuring Beret Guy" (like the name of any other character) rather than "featuring the Beret Guy". "Comics featuring the beret guy" would also be correct, but not consistent with other pages. --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 16:49, 5 August 2012 (EDT)
::Well, I don't think consistency is an issue unless we're evaluating against with external sources (especially xkcd itself). Internal consistency among explainxkcd content can be maintained whatever option we choose. I am only concerned that an "X Guy"-expression can be used as a proper noun. Are there other usages of similar constructs (outside the xkcd realm, I mean) as proper nouns? I'm having a hard time seeing that construction as gramatically correct. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:33, 5 August 2012 (EDT)
:::I have heard that form used as a proper noun, but I can't find any sources (it's difficult to do a search for that). I don't think there's any grammatical reason we can't say his name is "Beret Guy" - it's a name, not a phrase, so there aren't really any restrictions. If we decide that's his name, then it's a proper noun. Of course, we could also call him "The Beret Guy". --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 19:21, 5 August 2012 (EDT)

1086: Eyelash Wish Log

2012-08-05T21:03:45Z

Cyanfish: /* Description */ Added wikipedia links

{{ComicHeader|1086|July 25, 2012}}

[[File:Eyelash_wish_log.png|Ooh, another one. Uh ... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.
]]

== Image Text ==
Ooh, another one. Uh ... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.

== Description ==
This comic is based on the situation that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the Wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish.

February 12th's wish seems to be a reference to the unlimited {{w|breadsticks}} offered at {{w|Olive Garden}}.

March 7th's wish is a reference to {{w|Nate Silver}}, who is a former writer for {{w|Baseball Prospectus}} working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for {{w|Five Thirty Eight}} in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data.

And April 22nd's wish is a reference to the cartoon and video game, {{w|Pokemon}}.

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

Category:Social networking

2012-08-05T21:00:48Z

Cyanfish: Added link to "social networking" on Wikipedia

These are comics related to {{w|Social networking|social networking}} or social networking sites ({{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, etc.).

[[Category:Comics]]

Category:Politics

2012-08-05T20:56:42Z

Cyanfish: Created with "These are comics related to {{w|Politics|politics}} or {{w|Politician|politicians}}." and Category:Comics

These are comics related to {{w|Politics|politics}} or {{w|Politician|politicians}}.

[[Category:Comics]]

1083: Writing Styles

2012-08-05T20:55:09Z

Cyanfish: Added Category:Politics

{{ComicHeader|1083|July 18, 2012}}

[[File:writing_styles.png|I liked the idea, suggested by h00k on bash.org, of a Twitter bot that messages prominent politicians to tell them when they've unnecessarily used sms-speak abbreviations despite having plenty of characters left.]]

== Image Text ==
I liked the idea, suggested by h00k on bash.org, of a Twitter bot that messages prominent politicians to tell them when they've unnecessarily used sms-speak abbreviations despite having plenty of characters left.

== Description ==
This comic is less about how teenagers write on the internet and more about how politicians write on the internet. The comic shows that a lot of politicians, likely specifically alluding to US Senator Chuck Grassley, use "sms-speak", which involves substituting numbers for letters and shortening phrases to get a longer idea across in less characters. The practice began first with text messages, also known as SMS or Short Message Service which limited messages to 160 characters. Twitter has adopted the 140 character limit since its inception, which allowed any given tweet to be received as a text message with enough room for the user's Twitter handle (15 characters max).

The point of the comic is this, there is no reason for anyone, especially politicians, to use "sms-speak" in tweets unless they are reaching the 140 character limit.

==Character Count==
Neither example given exceeds 60 characters. Indeed, extending the "sms-speak" to logical full character words and punctuation only uses slightly more than half the character limit:
*Ron Paul is the only candidate who offers us a real choice! (59 characters)
*its gettin l8 so ill b here 4 prob 2 more hrs tops (50 characters)
*It is getting late, so I will be here for probably two more hours, tops. (72 characters)

[[Category:Politics]]

Category:Social networking

2012-08-05T20:54:14Z

Cyanfish: Created with "These are comics related to social networking or social networking sites ({{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, etc.)." and Category:Comics

These are comics related to social networking or social networking sites ({{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, etc.).

[[Category:Comics]]

1085: ContextBot

2012-08-05T20:52:46Z

Cyanfish: Added Category:Social networking

{{ComicHeader|1085|July 23, 2012}}

[[File:Contextbot.png|If you read all vaguebooking/vaguetweeting with the assumption that they're saying everything they can without revealing classified military information, the internet gets way more exciting.]]

== Image Text ==
If you read all vaguebooking/vaguetweeting with the assumption that they're saying everything they can without revealing classified military information, the internet gets way more exciting.

== Description ==
This comic is a commentary on the practice of "vaguebooking/vaguetweeting" which is putting a vague and frustrated or sad status in Facebook or tweet on Twitter, hoping someone will respond with "Is everything OK?", "Call Me?" or whatever. The worst is when someone puts a vague status like that and someone responds asking them what happened and the initial poster responds with "I don't want to talk about it." Well, if you didn't want to talk about it, why are you putting up this vague status fishing for responses! Just keep it to yourself if you don't want to talk about it!

Ok, back to the comic, this is a fictitious Google invention (which needs to be invented) which puts context for these statuses, presumably based on the personal data which Google has collected. The second context is about a torrent file which is a way to download large files from a lot of different sources, thereby speeding up the process, it is used for large files such as movies or Linux software distributions. And the 3rd one is about an xkcd favorite, Minecraft, which you can see has been used previously in xkcd comics. Diamond is the most valuable resource in the game, and if you drop it into the lava it is destroyed.

[[Category:Social networking]]

1086: Eyelash Wish Log

2012-08-05T20:51:22Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|1086|July 25, 2012}}

[[File:Eyelash_wish_log.png|Ooh, another one. Uh ... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.
]]

== Image Text ==
Ooh, another one. Uh ... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.

== Description ==
This comic is based on the situation that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the Wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish.

Feburary 12th's wish seems to be a reference to the unlimited breadsticks offered at Olive Garden.

March 7th's wish is a reference to Nate Silver, who is a former writer for Baseball Prospectus working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for Five Thirty Eight in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data.

And April 22nd's wish is a reference to the cartoon and video game, Pokemon.

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

User talk:Cyanfish

2012-08-05T20:49:42Z

Cyanfish: /* Beret Guy */

Category:Comics featuring White Hat

2012-08-05T16:09:43Z

Cyanfish: Added description

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[White Hat]].

[[Category:Comics by featured characters]]

Category:Comics featuring Megan

2012-08-05T16:09:23Z

Cyanfish: Added description

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[Megan]].

[[Category:Comics by featured characters]]

Category:Comics featuring Cueball

2012-08-05T16:08:57Z

Cyanfish: Added description

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[Cueball]].

[[Category:Comics by featured characters]]

Category:Comics featuring Black Hat

2012-08-05T16:08:37Z

Cyanfish: Added description

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[Black Hat]].

[[Category:Comics by featured characters]]

Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy

2012-08-05T16:07:48Z

Cyanfish: Added to Category:Comics by featured characters

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[Beret Guy]].

[[Category:Comics by featured characters]]

Beret Guy

2012-08-05T16:04:52Z

Cyanfish: Removed "the" prefix from category

{{Infobox character
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| first_appearance =
| prefix =
}}
'''Beret Guy''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[XKCD]]. He is distinguished by his white beret.

==Characteristics==
Beret guy is generally more of an {{w|Existentialism|existentialist}}, often philosophising or just pondering things - often very obscure and random things. Also, he seems to have a weird passion for bakeries and pastry.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy

2012-08-05T15:59:43Z

Cyanfish: Created with "These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring Beret Guy."

These are all the comics that have been recorded as featuring [[Beret Guy]].

1088: Five Years

2012-08-05T15:58:17Z

Cyanfish: /* Description */ Removed redundant link, added character category

{{ComicHeader|1088|July 30, 2012}}

[[File:Five_years.png|Well, no further questions. You're hired!' 'Oh, sorry! I'm no longer interested. There's a bunch of future I gotta go check out!]]

== Image Text ==
Well, no further questions. You're hired!' 'Oh, sorry! I'm no longer interested. There's a bunch of future I gotta go check out!

== Description ==
This comic is a take on the common and cliched job interview question "Where do you see yourself in 5 years". The interviewer is attempting to see where the job seeker would like to take their career and also what their hopes and dreams are etc.

In the comic, instead of explaining where he would like to be in 5 years, [[Beret Guy]] appears to advance time 5 years while they are both still sitting in the same spot and exactly still.

The image text is a continuation of their conversation in which Beret Guy turns down the job because he wants to find out what happened the last 5 years while they were both sitting in that room.

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

1089: Internal Monologue

2012-08-05T15:57:07Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|1089|August 1, 2012}}

[[File:Internal_monologue.png|Oh right, eye contact. Ok, good, holding the eye contact ... holding ... still holding ... ok, too long! Getting weird! Quick, look thoughtfully into space and nod. Oh, dammit, said 'yeah' again!]]

== Image Text ==
Oh right, eye contact. Ok, good, holding the eye contact ... holding ... still holding ... ok, too long! Getting weird! Quick, look thoughtfully into space and nod. Oh, dammit, said 'yeah' again!

== Description ==
[[Cueball]] attempts social interaction at what looks like a party owing to the fact that several people have drinks in their hands. His internal monologue is just Cueball trying to make sure he is doing the right things in the conversation, reacting appropriately, and not saying "yeah" too much.

The image text is a continuation of the internal monologue.

This is common case of anxiety for most people who are usually not very skilled in navigating social situations like parties. It can become a vicious cycle in which the fear of handling the encounter badly makes one even more uncomfortable, which in turn results in behaviour as awkward as first feared.
Also, for some people it's common to want to map out a pre-planned course of action that should produce desired results, a strategy that is usually doomed to failure when dealing with sufficiently complex and unpredictable scenarios like conversations with other people.
This painful, and all too common, situation has been mined for comedic effect since the beginning of human civilization.

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1089: Internal Monologue

2012-08-05T15:56:54Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

1090: Formal Languages

2012-08-05T15:56:22Z

Cyanfish: /* Description */ Removed redundant links

{{ComicHeader|1090|August 2, 2012}}

[[File:Formal_languages.png|[audience looks around] 'What just happened?' 'There must be some context we're missing.']]

== Image Text ==
[audience looks around] 'What just happened?' 'There must be some context we're missing.'

== Description ==
[[Megan]] is standing at the podium of the 10th Annual Symposium on Formal Languages (as per the banner behind her). [[Cueball]] crashes in through a glass pane and shouts "GRAMMAR!" and dashes off. Megan remains at the podium looking perplexed.

This is a reference to the phrase [[wikipedia:Context-free grammar|context-free grammar]], which is a technical term used in [[wikipedia:formal languages|formal language]] theory. The play on words is that Cueball does not provide any context for his statement.

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

explain xkcd:Community portal/Design

2012-08-04T15:00:40Z

Cyanfish: /* Header template */ Updated bot link

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community portal}}</noinclude>

== Header template ==

Hi, I've created a template called [[Template:ComicHeader]], which might make things easier when creating comic pages (and also provide better consistency between the pages). I've used it on the [[Internal monologue]] page, to display the comic number and the date it was published. The template also adds the page to the [[:Category:Comics|Comics]] category.

You just need to add:
<pre>{{ComicHeader|1089|August 1, 2012}}</pre>
…to the start of the page (replacing the comic number and date).

I'll try to make the template look a bit nicer, but the great thing about templates of course, is that once they're updated, the changes are reflected on all the pages that include that template. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:46, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

:By the way, I'm thinking of maybe programming something that would allow you to easily import the comic image and alt text from xkcd without having to upload the images manually and the like. You'd just have to host a single PHP file on your server and make a few changes to the MediaWiki configuration. Of course, you'd be able to see source code and everything to make sure I'm not trying to do something fishy. :-P Let me know what you think. :-) --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:54, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Yirba - I like the idea. My email is explain@explainxkcd.com - send me what you put together and we can sort it out. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:37, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Ditto on the Template. Up-vote. Any thought on harvesting the pre-wiki content from ExplainXKCD with some sort of a Python, Perl, or PHP script? (That sounds more like a 'bot than something that would have to be hosted, though.) [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:52, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::: I was thinking of putting it into a infobox, please [[#Idea|see above]]. I also intended to automatically extract data from xkcd, which would lack descriptions, but at least we would have data like title, image and transcripts. Also, there are some other data like links (e.g. 832), news (which are displayed in xkcd's header, e.g. 739) and titles which contain HTML (259 and 472). I also extracted all those data. When we agree on a page layout, I could begin programming a bot. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::Hmmm… an infobox may be a good idea. And a bot that imports data from xkcd might be handy. Anyway, here's something I programmed that would allow for access to the xkcd API from the wiki itself. Essentially, you'd put this xkcdinfo.php ([http://gist.github.com/3239432 source], [http://github.com/downloads/Yirba/yirba.github.com/xkcdinfo.php download]) file somewhere on the server (e.g. at http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php) and [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interwiki#Adding_a_new_website_for_interwiki_linking include it in MediaWiki's interwiki table] (ensuring iw_trans == 1):
<pre>INSERT INTO interwiki (iw_prefix, iw_url, iw_local, iw_trans) VALUES ('xkcdinfo', 'http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php?input=$1', 0, 1);</pre>
::::After [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgEnableScaryTranscluding enabling scary transclusion] in LocalSettings.php, you'd then be able to send queries to the xkcd JSON API via this file. In other words, <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:32-title}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 32's title appear. <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:55-alt}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 55's image text appear. I've also set it so you could enter <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:100-embed}}</nowiki></code>, and it would make the comic 100 image appear on the wiki page. Feel free to use it however you want (if at all), and modify the code should you wish. (Hint: Using the number 0 for the comic number will query the most recent comic, so <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:0-num}}</nowiki></code> will return the current comic number. Also, adding "raw:" before "xkcdinfo:" might be more useful in some instances. E.g.: <code><nowiki>{{raw:xkcdinfo:555-title}}</nowiki></code>)--[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 14:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::: Nice idea, altough this would mean to load all data from xkcd whenever a page is <del>viewed</del><ins>edited</ins> (I think this is the way MediaWiki caches the data). This is a lot of traffic for little data. I'd say to include the metadata statically, but linking the external image seems a good thing to me. Again, it'd be great if you gave me feedback for [[User:SlashMe/Testpage|my idea]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::Yes, the data would be loaded from xkcd for each edit. You can, however, substitute (subst) the template for data that is unlikely to change. And therefore the data would indeed be stored statically. I like the layout you've come up with. It could perhaps do with a bit of tweaking here and there, but the general idea is good. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 17:16, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::: What kind of tweaking do you mean? I know the code is a bit messy, if you have a better idea, please tell me (or do it yourself - hey, it's a wiki!). The CSS should be placed in an external file, but for now, it's ok. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 17:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

Looks like there is another/newer template called [[Template:Comic]] that includes prev/next buttons as well.
You add it with:
<pre>{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = {{PAGENAME}}
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| imagesize =
| alttext = Don't we all.
}}

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --~~~~
==Description==
xxxxxxxxxxx
</pre>
No need to include the alt text separately, as the template does it for you. It also includes the comic category, but only if the first 4 fields are filled out.
--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:47, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: Yes, but that is not necessarily an advantage. My template only creates the infobox, so you are still able to create an introductory text or other sections, for special comics that need a more detailed description. I can also add categories if needed. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::I think it is a major advantage to make the thing easier to use and more consistant site-wide.

::As the creator of the new one, I'm obviously biased, but I created it because I think it's better. Not putting your work down, it was a great piece of code that I put to work in my template. But I think if there's need for pre-text of any kind (not sure there is, as the articles probably should all open with the comic itself as presented on XKCD), a pre-comment can be added into the template, but I'm not sure what that would be. Perhaps there would be a requirement for special circumstances like the comic a few weeks ago where there were a million iterations depending on locality, browser, etc. But that's the rarity. I think the new one simplifies it for users. They need only one template to post the comic, alt text title and nav buttons. What could be easier? [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:08, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::: As the creator of the other one, I'm equally biased. What about a "main template", which then calls one or two other templates (e.g. one for the infobox, another for image and alt text? For most comics, this main template could be used, but if absolutely needed, it would still be possible to use the underlying templates with custom sections/text. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::::I just now saw your request for feedback on your new comic page with the sidebar. I honestly am not sure which format is better. I kind of like my format for the fact that it basically presents the comic as it was originally posted, but your infobox does provide some additional stuff like 3D link (not sure what "news" is, of where the "link" comes from but...) Perhaps we could integrate the two. I like that the comic is visble right away on my template, but on your page it's down below the first header. I don't think the comic itself needs an "image" heading. No disrespect, but I think your sidebar, esp. because of the "news" field is a bit chunky - too wide for most of its content.

::::I think we could easily add things like a "3d" link into {{tl|comic}} as part of the next/prev bar where a "3D" field in the template is non-blank. Similarly, original title could read something like (Originally titled: xxxxx) below the primary title in a smaller font. Other than the "link" and "news" fields (which again, I'm not sure what they are), I think that would inclde all the same info as your infobox into my template. Thoughts?

::::As to your other comment about compartmentalizing the template, I have nothing against that, but which parts of the template would you want to be able to use separately (and can you suggest an example where that might be necessary?) Subdividing the template can always be done later if it becomes needed; just trying to get an idea of what you have in mind by compartmentalizing it. Cheers [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:43, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

{{outdent|::::}}

''Suggestion:''

* I will start by uploading all images. This will take some time and has no points to discuss. (If it has, tell me.) At a later point, maybe we could link them directly from xkcd.com.
* For the comic pages: Let's say we'll use {{tl|Comic}}. I'll change the arguments of the template to be more like my {{tl|Infobox comic}}, see [[Template:Infobox comic#Arguments|documentation]]. I'll keep the ''alttext'' argument, but make ''image'' optional (file name should be guessed from the title). Do we really need ''imagesize''?
* {{tl|Comic}} would then call some further templates, passing the appropriate arguments. This way, we are able to use custom sections/text if needed for special comics (like [http://xkcd.com/1037/ Umwelt]) by using these templates instead of the all-in-one {{tl|Comic}}.
* Since we have one template doing all the work, we can easily change the page layout even after the import. (We should only keep track of the pages that don't use {{tl|Comic}}, using a hidden category)
* For consistency, I would move all existing pages out of the way and re-create them. The moved pages could be collected by adding them to a category like [[:Category:legacy pages]], so they should easily be found. Descriptions should be moved to the new pages, afterwards the legacy pages can be deleted.

This way, I can import all comics, but we would still be able to change the layout afterwards. My 2ct concerning page layout:
* <del>'''Use comic titles as page names.'''</del><ins>(See below)</ins> The title should be prominent, the number will be in the infobox.
* I'll remove ''Original title'', ''news'' and ''link'' from the infobox and move them to a section after the description. (For details, see [[Template:Infobox_comic#Documentation|here]])
* suggested layout:
<pre>
=====page title=====
+--------------------+ +---------+
| | | infobox |
| image | | text |
|(no section heading)| | |
| | | |
| | +---------+
+--------------------+
==alt==
text
==description==
text
==transcript==
text
==original title, news and link== (if available)
text
</pre>

Still open for opinions.--[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:13, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

:It might make more sense to use the comic number as the page title, and then use [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgAllowDisplayTitle DISPLAYTITLE] to make the comic title appear in place of the number. Just putting that out as another possibility. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 09:49, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
::Good point, I agree. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 09:54, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

If anyone wants to use it, I've written a bot [http://pastebin.com/5F877BHE] that can upload images, create redirect pages, and create comic pages. You can change the format it uses for the comic page if you have some knowledge of python. To use it, look at [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikipediabot/Quick_Start_Guide]. --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 10:56, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Site logo ==

''Summary of current proposals:''
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="height:256px"
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki2.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki3.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki4.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explainxkcd-concept.PNG | center | middle ]]
|- style="height:256px"
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explain xkcd.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explain xkcd2.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Wiki high res.png | center | middle | 255px ]]
|
| style="background:silver; text-align:center"| <big>'''''[[Special:Upload|Add yours!]]'''''</big>
|}

----
The main image (top left) is not the best image ever. You really need to update it.

Maybe:
[[File:wiki.png]]

Just an idea, because that text looks weird, or at least please add a transparent background instead of white for the logo (and center the text). --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:39, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

: I like it. What does everyone else think? (PS - don't forget to sign your entries on this page!) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:18, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
: I could go with that. Had been kicking around some ideas, and if I had any artistic aptitude, it might have looked very much like that: the black-hat retort; alternately: the lowercase blue '''xkcd''' that RM uses (sans comic figure watermark) with a "Explain" in a hand-written typeface in some other color splashed across the top left part of those letters. And yes, definitely with transparency. Just thoughts... ultimately, whatever the consensus is... [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:: Something like one of the following?
::[[File:wiki2.png]][[File:wiki3.png]][[File:wiki4.png]]
:: --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 12:40, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:I like that first one - [[:File:wiki.png]]. And perhaps use that same text for the [[#Robots.txt|Tagline]]? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 19:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Yeah, the first one captures what I was thinking. I thought I'd download it to tweak it a bit, and quickly proved to myself how unartistic I am. I was thinking the xkcd pretty much overwhelming the bottom (touching all three sides) and the explain (first typeface) in tight, maybe at a 5 degree angle over the x and k. Of course envisioning it is one thing, realizing it another (it may be totally unrealistic...) but I toss that out for further consideration. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:25, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::Hmmm, rereading Philosopher's comment, I think he and I may have been talking about two different images. Ooops. Anyway, was just chatting with a buddy who is more artistic than I am, and he created this mashup. He suggested: "Establish some vocabulary. First, xkcd needs to be bigger; it defies describing, and refuses to be pidgeon-holed into a box, so the xkcd needs to be so big that it doesn't fit entirely in-frame ... the Explain part has got to be casual, to represent the wiki and informal nature of contributing to it, and you gotta have it in close, because the contributors are going to get as close as they can to the truth. And keep it simple." (I broke with that, and tried to add the black hat; in doing so, I think I trashed transparency, tough) Anybody think that's worth taking a run with it? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:04, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
[[File:Explainxkcd-concept.PNG]]
<pre>
y
o
u
'
w r
ei e
xkcd
piau
l um
a sb
i e
n
</pre>

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

I prefer the first option ([[:file:wiki.png]]). At the size the logo is meant to be, it's perfectly readable; furthermore, it's visually pleasant and it conveys the meaning well. We'll need it to be transparent, and editing the file at the current size produces sub-optimal results. [[User:Grep|Grep]], could you please generate a transparent version of it and reupload it to overwrite the current image? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:14, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
:Slight problem. I don't have the original "it's cause your dumb," I just copied it from explainxkcd.com header, and trying to remove the whitespace myself makes, well, suboptimal results. The font used was Heiti SC/TC, if you or anybody else wants to make it themselves. Also, maybe using #6e7b91 for the XKCD or something... it's the color RM uses on the home page.
:: I have uploaded a high res version of [[:File:Wiki.png]]. Not exactly the same, but similar. I used FreeSans and a xkcd font I found at the xkcd forum. I still have the SVG version.--[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 10:57, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Displaying Comics ==

For the home page, I think the comic and explanation should be displayed instead of a link to the comic.

For reasons unknown to me, I decided to create [[Template:Comicbox]] and [[Template:Comicbox2]]. Looks nice, as long as you use the correct one for the comic.

Go to [[User:Grep/comicbox]] and [[User:Grep/comicbox2]] for examples. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:03, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Those're wonderful! And should probably be on the main page. If you wanted, we could probably incorporate them (and maybe a third?) into a single template with a "square/vertical or horizontal" switch. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::Also, you used "comicbox" for the class. Is that a class that's defined somewhere? (And if so, where?) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::Good point. Removed. And merging them sounds wonderful. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:47, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::Maybe merging them into [[Template:comicbox]]? --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:49, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::I think classes are defined at [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], so if you really wanted to define the class.... And [[Template:Comicbox]] would probably be best. Did you want to merge them or should I take a look at it? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:25, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::ParserFunctions and any sort of non-XMLish markup is weird. I would rather you look at it. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 22:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::Okay, I've moved your templates to {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} so I can work on {{tl|Comicbox}} as the main one. It may take a while - I like to think of myself as a "[[wikipedia:Category:User template coder|master of all known wikimarkup]]," but I don't actually use those skills that often. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 23:08, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::Thanks. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 23:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::I've made it at {{tl|Comicbox}}. This actually leaves {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} unused, though I credited you (and them) in a comment at the top of the template. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:21, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::I think that the explanation should be on the right because it just looks weird as is... --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 07:42, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
{{outdent}} Sure. But right now they both look like they're on the bottom? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 20:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
===Sans-serif typeface===
::::::::I like these, too, but the roman typeface... how do folks feel about sticking with a sans-serif typeface throughout the site? [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:13, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::We should be able to change that wiki-wide through [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], I think. Unfortunately, I don't know enough CSS to do it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:23, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::: I believe sans serif is already the default wiki-wide. Those specific instances were deliberately coded to use a serif font. It's just a matter of removing <code>font-family: 'Times New Roman';</code> from the template. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:01, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::: Oh, I'd missed that. I removed it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:14, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
== comic header ==

Jeff, further to your previous conversation on the comic header, I've significantly rewritten Yirba's template (thanks to Yirba for the hard work. His navigation bar was very useful) and I've created a new template of {{tl|comic}}. An example of the comic in use can be seen at [[T-shirts]]. I started a discussion on the main page discussion board, but I thought if I pointed it out to you and you like it, it can start going in the rotation for new comics.

I actually now see that Grep did a template up with intent (I think) to use for the main page. Had I known that when I started, I would have probably based my template off of his, because it looks nice, but either way, mine is intended for the actual articles. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:46, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Again, may I link to <del>[[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import|my request for feedback]]</del>? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:52, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:17, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Template improvement suggestion ==

Can I suggest that we work on improving {{tl|ComicHeader}} - I wish I had time to do it myself and then edit all the comic pages, but I would suggest the best way might be to start a new template (perhaps design it a bit more like an infobox) and start converting the old pages over to new ones.

The feature I think should be added is that, where the template currently includes teh comic number and date, and creates the nav header, the template really ought to include the image name, and the alt text. In that way, the template can produce the entire part of the article that displays the comic and its alt text (and the alt text, as mentioned, could be more like a caption, instead of just looking like a generic section of the article - it's part of the comic, it shouldn't look like part of the article on this site (no offence, Jeff, but that's one thing I always didn't like about explain XKCD - the image text should be bold or underlined or italics or something to signify that it's part of the comic and not the explanation.

I'll see if I can work on a prototype. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 12:29, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:What does everyone thing of this as a better layout? [[Blown Apart]] [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 13:09, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::May I link to <del>[[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import|my request for feedback]]</del>? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:52, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:44, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:17, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Transcripts ==

Do we need to add a whole section on "Transcript" for each comic? That could get very long for some comics, and basically pushes the explanations down further (which is what people generally come to explainxkcd for). If anything, perhaps the transcripts could be in a minimizable box like some navboxes do on wikipedia? I don't see a majority of users coming to read the transcripts... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: What about putting the transcripts at the bottom of the page?
: BTW: If you agree, this discussion should be moved to [[Explain XKCD:Community portal]], as [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] suggested. At least for new discussions. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:19, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::No problem there. Feel free to move it. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:29, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:47, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:18, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Adding a new comic ==

This is the process I use to add a new comic. YMMV... Feel free to update this as/if needed to provide some consistency...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:22, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

I start by uploading the image using the name from [[XKCD]]'s page.

I create the new page using the comic number(not the name), e.g. "http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1"

I (currently) insert using the "Comic" template:
<pre>
{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = {{PAGENAME}}
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| imagesize =
| alttext = Don't we all.
}}
==Transcript==
This is the transcript from xkcd
==Description==
Wow what a cool comic!
</pre>

I "Show preview" to ensure the image shows up and everything looks good.

I "Save page".

I click the "move" link on the down-arrow drop-down menu to the right of "View history" (at top of page).

I rename the page from "1" to the page title from [[XKCD]].

This will automatically create a redirect from "1" to the correct page name without having to do it manually.
--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:22, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Please, have a break here. When we agree on a page layout, I can do this automatically. I repeat, when we agree on the layout (which should also include the direction of the redirects) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:25, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:47, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion concerning the layout is at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:18, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== styling of xkcd links ==

I added code to the end of [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] to style links to the xkcd website as http://xkcd.com rather than the regular external link format, http://example.com. What do you guys think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:06, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

explain xkcd:Community portal/Design

2012-08-04T14:56:37Z

Cyanfish: /* Header template */ Created a bot

<noinclude>__NEWSECTIONLINK__
{{Community portal}}</noinclude>

== Header template ==

Hi, I've created a template called [[Template:ComicHeader]], which might make things easier when creating comic pages (and also provide better consistency between the pages). I've used it on the [[Internal monologue]] page, to display the comic number and the date it was published. The template also adds the page to the [[:Category:Comics|Comics]] category.

You just need to add:
<pre>{{ComicHeader|1089|August 1, 2012}}</pre>
…to the start of the page (replacing the comic number and date).

I'll try to make the template look a bit nicer, but the great thing about templates of course, is that once they're updated, the changes are reflected on all the pages that include that template. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:46, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

:By the way, I'm thinking of maybe programming something that would allow you to easily import the comic image and alt text from xkcd without having to upload the images manually and the like. You'd just have to host a single PHP file on your server and make a few changes to the MediaWiki configuration. Of course, you'd be able to see source code and everything to make sure I'm not trying to do something fishy. :-P Let me know what you think. :-) --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:54, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Yirba - I like the idea. My email is explain@explainxkcd.com - send me what you put together and we can sort it out. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:37, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Ditto on the Template. Up-vote. Any thought on harvesting the pre-wiki content from ExplainXKCD with some sort of a Python, Perl, or PHP script? (That sounds more like a 'bot than something that would have to be hosted, though.) [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:52, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::: I was thinking of putting it into a infobox, please [[#Idea|see above]]. I also intended to automatically extract data from xkcd, which would lack descriptions, but at least we would have data like title, image and transcripts. Also, there are some other data like links (e.g. 832), news (which are displayed in xkcd's header, e.g. 739) and titles which contain HTML (259 and 472). I also extracted all those data. When we agree on a page layout, I could begin programming a bot. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::Hmmm… an infobox may be a good idea. And a bot that imports data from xkcd might be handy. Anyway, here's something I programmed that would allow for access to the xkcd API from the wiki itself. Essentially, you'd put this xkcdinfo.php ([http://gist.github.com/3239432 source], [http://github.com/downloads/Yirba/yirba.github.com/xkcdinfo.php download]) file somewhere on the server (e.g. at http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php) and [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interwiki#Adding_a_new_website_for_interwiki_linking include it in MediaWiki's interwiki table] (ensuring iw_trans == 1):
<pre>INSERT INTO interwiki (iw_prefix, iw_url, iw_local, iw_trans) VALUES ('xkcdinfo', 'http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php?input=$1', 0, 1);</pre>
::::After [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgEnableScaryTranscluding enabling scary transclusion] in LocalSettings.php, you'd then be able to send queries to the xkcd JSON API via this file. In other words, <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:32-title}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 32's title appear. <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:55-alt}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 55's image text appear. I've also set it so you could enter <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:100-embed}}</nowiki></code>, and it would make the comic 100 image appear on the wiki page. Feel free to use it however you want (if at all), and modify the code should you wish. (Hint: Using the number 0 for the comic number will query the most recent comic, so <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:0-num}}</nowiki></code> will return the current comic number. Also, adding "raw:" before "xkcdinfo:" might be more useful in some instances. E.g.: <code><nowiki>{{raw:xkcdinfo:555-title}}</nowiki></code>)--[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 14:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::: Nice idea, altough this would mean to load all data from xkcd whenever a page is <del>viewed</del><ins>edited</ins> (I think this is the way MediaWiki caches the data). This is a lot of traffic for little data. I'd say to include the metadata statically, but linking the external image seems a good thing to me. Again, it'd be great if you gave me feedback for [[User:SlashMe/Testpage|my idea]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::Yes, the data would be loaded from xkcd for each edit. You can, however, substitute (subst) the template for data that is unlikely to change. And therefore the data would indeed be stored statically. I like the layout you've come up with. It could perhaps do with a bit of tweaking here and there, but the general idea is good. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 17:16, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::: What kind of tweaking do you mean? I know the code is a bit messy, if you have a better idea, please tell me (or do it yourself - hey, it's a wiki!). The CSS should be placed in an external file, but for now, it's ok. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 17:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

Looks like there is another/newer template called [[Template:Comic]] that includes prev/next buttons as well.
You add it with:
<pre>{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = {{PAGENAME}}
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| imagesize =
| alttext = Don't we all.
}}

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --~~~~
==Description==
xxxxxxxxxxx
</pre>
No need to include the alt text separately, as the template does it for you. It also includes the comic category, but only if the first 4 fields are filled out.
--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:47, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: Yes, but that is not necessarily an advantage. My template only creates the infobox, so you are still able to create an introductory text or other sections, for special comics that need a more detailed description. I can also add categories if needed. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::I think it is a major advantage to make the thing easier to use and more consistant site-wide.

::As the creator of the new one, I'm obviously biased, but I created it because I think it's better. Not putting your work down, it was a great piece of code that I put to work in my template. But I think if there's need for pre-text of any kind (not sure there is, as the articles probably should all open with the comic itself as presented on XKCD), a pre-comment can be added into the template, but I'm not sure what that would be. Perhaps there would be a requirement for special circumstances like the comic a few weeks ago where there were a million iterations depending on locality, browser, etc. But that's the rarity. I think the new one simplifies it for users. They need only one template to post the comic, alt text title and nav buttons. What could be easier? [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:08, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::: As the creator of the other one, I'm equally biased. What about a "main template", which then calls one or two other templates (e.g. one for the infobox, another for image and alt text? For most comics, this main template could be used, but if absolutely needed, it would still be possible to use the underlying templates with custom sections/text. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::::I just now saw your request for feedback on your new comic page with the sidebar. I honestly am not sure which format is better. I kind of like my format for the fact that it basically presents the comic as it was originally posted, but your infobox does provide some additional stuff like 3D link (not sure what "news" is, of where the "link" comes from but...) Perhaps we could integrate the two. I like that the comic is visble right away on my template, but on your page it's down below the first header. I don't think the comic itself needs an "image" heading. No disrespect, but I think your sidebar, esp. because of the "news" field is a bit chunky - too wide for most of its content.

::::I think we could easily add things like a "3d" link into {{tl|comic}} as part of the next/prev bar where a "3D" field in the template is non-blank. Similarly, original title could read something like (Originally titled: xxxxx) below the primary title in a smaller font. Other than the "link" and "news" fields (which again, I'm not sure what they are), I think that would inclde all the same info as your infobox into my template. Thoughts?

::::As to your other comment about compartmentalizing the template, I have nothing against that, but which parts of the template would you want to be able to use separately (and can you suggest an example where that might be necessary?) Subdividing the template can always be done later if it becomes needed; just trying to get an idea of what you have in mind by compartmentalizing it. Cheers [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:43, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

{{outdent|::::}}

''Suggestion:''

* I will start by uploading all images. This will take some time and has no points to discuss. (If it has, tell me.) At a later point, maybe we could link them directly from xkcd.com.
* For the comic pages: Let's say we'll use {{tl|Comic}}. I'll change the arguments of the template to be more like my {{tl|Infobox comic}}, see [[Template:Infobox comic#Arguments|documentation]]. I'll keep the ''alttext'' argument, but make ''image'' optional (file name should be guessed from the title). Do we really need ''imagesize''?
* {{tl|Comic}} would then call some further templates, passing the appropriate arguments. This way, we are able to use custom sections/text if needed for special comics (like [http://xkcd.com/1037/ Umwelt]) by using these templates instead of the all-in-one {{tl|Comic}}.
* Since we have one template doing all the work, we can easily change the page layout even after the import. (We should only keep track of the pages that don't use {{tl|Comic}}, using a hidden category)
* For consistency, I would move all existing pages out of the way and re-create them. The moved pages could be collected by adding them to a category like [[:Category:legacy pages]], so they should easily be found. Descriptions should be moved to the new pages, afterwards the legacy pages can be deleted.

This way, I can import all comics, but we would still be able to change the layout afterwards. My 2ct concerning page layout:
* <del>'''Use comic titles as page names.'''</del><ins>(See below)</ins> The title should be prominent, the number will be in the infobox.
* I'll remove ''Original title'', ''news'' and ''link'' from the infobox and move them to a section after the description. (For details, see [[Template:Infobox_comic#Documentation|here]])
* suggested layout:
<pre>
=====page title=====
+--------------------+ +---------+
| | | infobox |
| image | | text |
|(no section heading)| | |
| | | |
| | +---------+
+--------------------+
==alt==
text
==description==
text
==transcript==
text
==original title, news and link== (if available)
text
</pre>

Still open for opinions.--[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:13, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

:It might make more sense to use the comic number as the page title, and then use [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgAllowDisplayTitle DISPLAYTITLE] to make the comic title appear in place of the number. Just putting that out as another possibility. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 09:49, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
::Good point, I agree. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 09:54, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

If anyone wants to use it, I've written a bot [http://pastebin.com/0uUhkjMr] that can upload images, create redirect pages, and create comic pages. You can change the format it uses for the comic page if you have some knowledge of python. To use it, look at [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Pywikipediabot/Quick_Start_Guide]. --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 10:56, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Site logo ==

''Summary of current proposals:''
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="height:256px"
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki2.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki3.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:wiki4.png | center | middle ]]
|- style="height:256px"
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explainxkcd-concept.PNG | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explain xkcd.png | center | middle ]]
| style="width:256px" | [[File:Explain xkcd2.png | center | middle ]]
| style="background:silver; text-align:center"| <big>'''''[[Special:Upload|Add yours!]]'''''</big>
|}

----
The main image (top left) is not the best image ever. You really need to update it.

Maybe:
[[File:wiki.png]]

Just an idea, because that text looks weird, or at least please add a transparent background instead of white for the logo (and center the text). --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:39, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

: I like it. What does everyone else think? (PS - don't forget to sign your entries on this page!) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:18, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
: I could go with that. Had been kicking around some ideas, and if I had any artistic aptitude, it might have looked very much like that: the black-hat retort; alternately: the lowercase blue '''xkcd''' that RM uses (sans comic figure watermark) with a "Explain" in a hand-written typeface in some other color splashed across the top left part of those letters. And yes, definitely with transparency. Just thoughts... ultimately, whatever the consensus is... [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:: Something like one of the following?
::[[File:wiki2.png]][[File:wiki3.png]][[File:wiki4.png]]
:: --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 12:40, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:I like that first one - [[:File:wiki.png]]. And perhaps use that same text for the [[#Robots.txt|Tagline]]? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 19:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Yeah, the first one captures what I was thinking. I thought I'd download it to tweak it a bit, and quickly proved to myself how unartistic I am. I was thinking the xkcd pretty much overwhelming the bottom (touching all three sides) and the explain (first typeface) in tight, maybe at a 5 degree angle over the x and k. Of course envisioning it is one thing, realizing it another (it may be totally unrealistic...) but I toss that out for further consideration. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:25, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::Hmmm, rereading Philosopher's comment, I think he and I may have been talking about two different images. Ooops. Anyway, was just chatting with a buddy who is more artistic than I am, and he created this mashup. He suggested: "Establish some vocabulary. First, xkcd needs to be bigger; it defies describing, and refuses to be pidgeon-holed into a box, so the xkcd needs to be so big that it doesn't fit entirely in-frame ... the Explain part has got to be casual, to represent the wiki and informal nature of contributing to it, and you gotta have it in close, because the contributors are going to get as close as they can to the truth. And keep it simple." (I broke with that, and tried to add the black hat; in doing so, I think I trashed transparency, tough) Anybody think that's worth taking a run with it? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:04, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
[[File:Explainxkcd-concept.PNG]]
<pre>
y
o
u
'
w r
ei e
xkcd
piau
l um
a sb
i e
n
</pre>

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

I prefer the first option ([[:file:wiki.png]]). At the size the logo is meant to be, it's perfectly readable; furthermore, it's visually pleasant and it conveys the meaning well. We'll need it to be transparent, and editing the file at the current size produces sub-optimal results. [[User:Grep|Grep]], could you please generate a transparent version of it and reupload it to overwrite the current image? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:14, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
:Slight problem. I don't have the original "it's cause your dumb," I just copied it from explainxkcd.com header, and trying to remove the whitespace myself makes, well, suboptimal results. The font used was Heiti SC/TC, if you or anybody else wants to make it themselves. Also, maybe using #6e7b91 for the XKCD or something... it's the color RM uses on the home page.

== Displaying Comics ==

For the home page, I think the comic and explanation should be displayed instead of a link to the comic.

For reasons unknown to me, I decided to create [[Template:Comicbox]] and [[Template:Comicbox2]]. Looks nice, as long as you use the correct one for the comic.

Go to [[User:Grep/comicbox]] and [[User:Grep/comicbox2]] for examples. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:03, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Those're wonderful! And should probably be on the main page. If you wanted, we could probably incorporate them (and maybe a third?) into a single template with a "square/vertical or horizontal" switch. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::Also, you used "comicbox" for the class. Is that a class that's defined somewhere? (And if so, where?) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::Good point. Removed. And merging them sounds wonderful. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:47, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::Maybe merging them into [[Template:comicbox]]? --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:49, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::I think classes are defined at [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], so if you really wanted to define the class.... And [[Template:Comicbox]] would probably be best. Did you want to merge them or should I take a look at it? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:25, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::ParserFunctions and any sort of non-XMLish markup is weird. I would rather you look at it. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 22:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::Okay, I've moved your templates to {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} so I can work on {{tl|Comicbox}} as the main one. It may take a while - I like to think of myself as a "[[wikipedia:Category:User template coder|master of all known wikimarkup]]," but I don't actually use those skills that often. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 23:08, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::Thanks. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 23:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::I've made it at {{tl|Comicbox}}. This actually leaves {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} unused, though I credited you (and them) in a comment at the top of the template. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:21, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::I think that the explanation should be on the right because it just looks weird as is... --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 07:42, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
{{outdent}} Sure. But right now they both look like they're on the bottom? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 20:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
===Sans-serif typeface===
::::::::I like these, too, but the roman typeface... how do folks feel about sticking with a sans-serif typeface throughout the site? [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:13, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::We should be able to change that wiki-wide through [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], I think. Unfortunately, I don't know enough CSS to do it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:23, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::: I believe sans serif is already the default wiki-wide. Those specific instances were deliberately coded to use a serif font. It's just a matter of removing <code>font-family: 'Times New Roman';</code> from the template. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:01, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::: Oh, I'd missed that. I removed it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:14, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)
== comic header ==

Jeff, further to your previous conversation on the comic header, I've significantly rewritten Yirba's template (thanks to Yirba for the hard work. His navigation bar was very useful) and I've created a new template of {{tl|comic}}. An example of the comic in use can be seen at [[T-shirts]]. I started a discussion on the main page discussion board, but I thought if I pointed it out to you and you like it, it can start going in the rotation for new comics.

I actually now see that Grep did a template up with intent (I think) to use for the main page. Had I known that when I started, I would have probably based my template off of his, because it looks nice, but either way, mine is intended for the actual articles. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:46, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Again, may I link to <del>[[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import|my request for feedback]]</del>? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:52, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:17, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[User talk:Jeff]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:37, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Template improvement suggestion ==

Can I suggest that we work on improving {{tl|ComicHeader}} - I wish I had time to do it myself and then edit all the comic pages, but I would suggest the best way might be to start a new template (perhaps design it a bit more like an infobox) and start converting the old pages over to new ones.

The feature I think should be added is that, where the template currently includes teh comic number and date, and creates the nav header, the template really ought to include the image name, and the alt text. In that way, the template can produce the entire part of the article that displays the comic and its alt text (and the alt text, as mentioned, could be more like a caption, instead of just looking like a generic section of the article - it's part of the comic, it shouldn't look like part of the article on this site (no offence, Jeff, but that's one thing I always didn't like about explain XKCD - the image text should be bold or underlined or italics or something to signify that it's part of the comic and not the explanation.

I'll see if I can work on a prototype. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 12:29, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:What does everyone thing of this as a better layout? [[Blown Apart]] [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 13:09, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::May I link to <del>[[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import|my request for feedback]]</del>? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:52, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:44, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:17, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Transcripts ==

Do we need to add a whole section on "Transcript" for each comic? That could get very long for some comics, and basically pushes the explanations down further (which is what people generally come to explainxkcd for). If anything, perhaps the transcripts could be in a minimizable box like some navboxes do on wikipedia? I don't see a majority of users coming to read the transcripts... [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: What about putting the transcripts at the bottom of the page?
: BTW: If you agree, this discussion should be moved to [[Explain XKCD:Community portal]], as [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] suggested. At least for new discussions. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:19, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::No problem there. Feel free to move it. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:29, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:47, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion is now at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:18, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== Adding a new comic ==

This is the process I use to add a new comic. YMMV... Feel free to update this as/if needed to provide some consistency...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:22, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

I start by uploading the image using the name from [[XKCD]]'s page.

I create the new page using the comic number(not the name), e.g. "http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1"

I (currently) insert using the "Comic" template:
<pre>
{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = {{PAGENAME}}
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| imagesize =
| alttext = Don't we all.
}}
==Transcript==
This is the transcript from xkcd
==Description==
Wow what a cool comic!
</pre>

I "Show preview" to ensure the image shows up and everything looks good.

I "Save page".

I click the "move" link on the down-arrow drop-down menu to the right of "View history" (at top of page).

I rename the page from "1" to the page title from [[XKCD]].

This will automatically create a redirect from "1" to the correct page name without having to do it manually.
--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 19:22, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Please, have a break here. When we agree on a page layout, I can do this automatically. I repeat, when we agree on the layout (which should also include the direction of the redirects) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:25, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Moved from [[Talk:Main Page]]. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:47, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

The discussion concerning the layout is at [[Explain XKCD:Community_portal/Design#Header template]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 04:18, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

== styling of xkcd links ==

I added code to the end of [[MediaWiki:Common.css]] to style links to the xkcd website as http://xkcd.com rather than the regular external link format, http://example.com. What do you guys think? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 05:06, 4 August 2012 (EDT)

User talk:Jeff

2012-08-04T02:27:07Z

Cyanfish: /* Comments */

This is Jeff's talk page.

== Issue dates. ==

Hi Jeff,

As i'm creating pages I struggle with the issue dates of comics. I've added a comment to all pages that contain the (unknown/incorrect) dates. Is there a way to research those dates? --[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]])
: [http://xkcd.com/archive/] if you mouse over the comic name, it will have the date. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:26, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

- if you mouse over comic name in "Archive" section of xkcd.com. Older comics(1-44 or so) might be found in [http://liveweb.archive.org/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40 livejournal archive][[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:35, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

Should we consider using "2012-08-03" style dates and letting localization "do the right thing"? Most pages so far use "August 3, 2012" style dates, with a few incorrectly doing "August 3rd, 2012"... Presumably the template could do the localizing/localising...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:39, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: The date is also available with the [http://xkcd.com/json.html JSON API], which I'm going to use for the [[User_talk:Jeff#Automatic_Import|import]]. I use <nowiki>{{#dateformat: year-month-day}}</nowiki>, MediaWiki should figure out the correct way to display it based on your preferences. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 18:47, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Comments ==
Hey,

You might consider [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Comments Extension:Comments]. It acts basically like the comment system on the blog, so you could keep everything (article, comments) in one place. It's more conducive to casual conversation than the discussion page.
--[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 14:07, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

:That's nice, but a simpler approach could be just to transclude the talk page in the subject page itself, as is done in the Wikipedia Signpost (see [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-07-30/Technology report|here]] for an example). --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::Okay, that would work. The extension does have its advantages though - it's easier for new users (no markup), you can have upvotes/downvotes/"comments of the day"... It's a matter of preference, I suppose. --[[User:Cyanfish|Cyanfish]] ([[User talk:Cyanfish|talk]]) 22:27, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Request ==
Hi Jeff,

Just thought I'd run this up the flagpole... any thought about installing the ParserFunctions extension? I think this site could benefit from a few templates that would aid in indexing/categorizing the entries as content is migrated, and ParserFunctions would make some really impressive things possible... but installing any extension or not would be up to you.

Also, do you have any feelings about us users creating templates in the Template namespace, which we could use to maintain the content? Just wanted to get your thumbs-up before/if I did something like that. Just want to play nice. Love the site, and the new wiki format.

- PT [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 03:05, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:ParserFunctions are awesome, yup! --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 06:56, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Yes to both. I have enabled ParserFunctions and Templates sound like a great idea. IronyChef, please send me an email at the address on the blog and I'll make you an admin if necessary to edit templates. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 08:03, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

==Robots.txt==
I'm not sure how to set it up, but if you could edit the robots.txt file to exclude the contents of [[:Category:Noindexed pages]]? I've created a [[Explain XKCD:Sandbox|Sandbox]] for people to test the unfamiliar features in, and you're probably not going to want that indexed by the search engines. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 08:47, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:Apparently you can edit it through [[MediaWiki:Robots.txt]], but I'm not experienced enough to know what will happen if you block a url that runs through a .php page. (Perhaps nothing? Perhaps it blocks everything?) Is there any chance of moving the wiki to use /wiki/articlename urls like Wikipedia does rather than the current /wiki/index.php?title=articlename ? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 10:43, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::: /wiki/articlename would be great. Been trying to figure out how to make it work for days. Let me know if you know how. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 11:11, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

For URL rewritung, have a look at mediawiki.org: [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL Short URL] or for [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Short_URL/Apache Apache]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:49, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

== Bugging you again.... ==

Could you take a look at [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?limit=10000&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=Philosopher&namespace=8&year=&month=-1] and tell me if I'm thinking in about the same way as you are here? Also, I've brought up [[MediaWiki:Tagline]] and [[Explain XKCD:Community portal]], as it'd be cool to have a tagline. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 10:46, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
:With you 100% on the File Delete reasons. Thanks. I agree also about having a tagline. What do you think it should be? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 11:13, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Nothing's coming to mind right now. Perhaps someone else will think of something. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 17:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

== Automatic Import ==

Hi

I created a draft for the comic pages. It's still work in progress, but I'd like to retrieve feedback.

Also, maybe we could autmatically import comics using the JSON data Randall gives us ([http://xkcd.com/614/info.0.json]). This way, we could also include transcripts. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:23, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
: Hm, I should add a link to my draft: [[User:SlashMe/Testpage]] ;-) --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

I updated the page, including links to the next/previous comic similar to [[Template:ComicHeader]]. I used comic 472, because it has a lot of metadata (link, news, HTML title, etc.). --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 07:32, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

Just to remind everyone, I'd be ready to import the comics, but I don't want to until I got more feedback. Please have a look at [[User:SlashMe/Testpage]] and tell me your opinion. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
: I think your test page looks great. I'm a big fan of it. Any way to fit the text in the text box rather than having it run all the way to the right? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 18:19, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:: I just made a change concerning line breaks, at least it works in Firefox and Chrome. Could somebody please test it in different versions of Internet Explorer?
:: If you agree, I would start uploading tomorrow. I'll send you a mail. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 18:31, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Header template ==

Hi, I've created a template called [[Template:ComicHeader]], which might make things easier when creating comic pages (and also provide better consistency between the pages). I've used it on the [[Internal monologue]] page, to display the comic number and the date it was published. The template also adds the page to the [[:Category:Comics|Comics]] category.

You just need to add:
<pre>{{ComicHeader|1089|August 1, 2012}}</pre>
…to the start of the page (replacing the comic number and date).

I'll try to make the template look a bit nicer, but the great thing about templates of course, is that once they're updated, the changes are reflected on all the pages that include that template. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:46, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

:By the way, I'm thinking of maybe programming something that would allow you to easily import the comic image and alt text from xkcd without having to upload the images manually and the like. You'd just have to host a single PHP file on your server and make a few changes to the MediaWiki configuration. Of course, you'd be able to see source code and everything to make sure I'm not trying to do something fishy. :-P Let me know what you think. :-) --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 18:54, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Yirba - I like the idea. My email is explain@explainxkcd.com - send me what you put together and we can sort it out. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 19:37, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
::Ditto on the Template. Up-vote. Any thought on harvesting the pre-wiki content from ExplainXKCD with some sort of a Python, Perl, or PHP script? (That sounds more like a 'bot than something that would have to be hosted, though.) [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:52, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::: I was thinking of putting it into a infobox, please [[#Idea|see above]]. I also intended to automatically extract data from xkcd, which would lack descriptions, but at least we would have data like title, image and transcripts. Also, there are some other data like links (e.g. 832), news (which are displayed in xkcd's header, e.g. 739) and titles which contain HTML (259 and 472). I also extracted all those data. When we agree on a page layout, I could begin programming a bot. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 06:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::Hmmm… an infobox may be a good idea. And a bot that imports data from xkcd might be handy. Anyway, here's something I programmed that would allow for access to the xkcd API from the wiki itself. Essentially, you'd put this xkcdinfo.php ([http://gist.github.com/3239432 source], [http://github.com/downloads/Yirba/yirba.github.com/xkcdinfo.php download]) file somewhere on the server (e.g. at http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php) and [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interwiki#Adding_a_new_website_for_interwiki_linking include it in MediaWiki's interwiki table] (ensuring iw_trans == 1):
<pre>INSERT INTO interwiki (iw_prefix, iw_url, iw_local, iw_trans) VALUES ('xkcdinfo', 'http://www.explainxkcd.com/xkcdinfo.php?input=$1', 0, 1);</pre>
::::After [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgEnableScaryTranscluding enabling scary transclusion] in LocalSettings.php, you'd then be able to send queries to the xkcd JSON API via this file. In other words, <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:32-title}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 32's title appear. <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:55-alt}}</nowiki></code> would make comic 55's image text appear. I've also set it so you could enter <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:100-embed}}</nowiki></code>, and it would make the comic 100 image appear on the wiki page. Feel free to use it however you want (if at all), and modify the code should you wish. (Hint: Using the number 0 for the comic number will query the most recent comic, so <code><nowiki>{{xkcdinfo:0-num}}</nowiki></code> will return the current comic number. Also, adding "raw:" before "xkcdinfo:" might be more useful in some instances. E.g.: <code><nowiki>{{raw:xkcdinfo:555-title}}</nowiki></code>)--[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 14:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::: Nice idea, altough this would mean to load all data from xkcd whenever a page is <del>viewed</del><ins>edited</ins> (I think this is the way MediaWiki caches the data). This is a lot of traffic for little data. I'd say to include the metadata statically, but linking the external image seems a good thing to me. Again, it'd be great if you gave me feedback for [[User:SlashMe/Testpage|my idea]]. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:54, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::Yes, the data would be loaded from xkcd for each edit. You can, however, substitute (subst) the template for data that is unlikely to change. And therefore the data would indeed be stored statically. I like the layout you've come up with. It could perhaps do with a bit of tweaking here and there, but the general idea is good. --[[User:Yirba|Yirba]] ([[User talk:Yirba|talk]]) 17:16, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

::::::: What kind of tweaking do you mean? I know the code is a bit messy, if you have a better idea, please tell me (or do it yourself - hey, it's a wiki!). The CSS should be placed in an external file, but for now, it's ok. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 17:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)

Looks like there is another/newer template called [[Template:Comic]] that includes prev/next buttons as well.
You add it with:
<pre>{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = {{PAGENAME}}
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| imagesize =
| alttext = Don't we all.
}}
==Description==
xxxxxxxxxxx
</pre>
No need to include the alt text separately, as the template does it for you. It also includes the comic category, but only if the first 4 fields are filled out.
--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 18:47, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

: Yes, but that is not necessarily an advantage. My template only creates the infobox, so you are still able to create an introductory text or other sections, for special comics that need a more detailed description. I can also add categories if needed. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::I think it is a major advantage to make the thing easier to use and more consistant site-wide.

::As the creator of the new one, I'm obviously biased, but I created it because I think it's better. Not putting your work down, it was a great piece of code that I put to work in my template. But I think if there's need for pre-text of any kind (not sure there is, as the articles probably should all open with the comic itself as presented on XKCD), a pre-comment can be added into the template, but I'm not sure what that would be. Perhaps there would be a requirement for special circumstances like the comic a few weeks ago where there were a million iterations depending on locality, browser, etc. But that's the rarity. I think the new one simplifies it for users. They need only one template to post the comic, alt text title and nav buttons. What could be easier? [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:08, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::: As the creator of the other one, I'm equally biased. What about a "main template", which then calls one or two other templates (e.g. one for the infobox, another for image and alt text? For most comics, this main template could be used, but if absolutely needed, it would still be possible to use the underlying templates with custom sections/text. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 19:15, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

::::I just now saw your request for feedback on your new comic page with the sidebar. I honestly am not sure which format is better. I kind of like my format for the fact that it basically presents the comic as it was originally posted, but your infobox does provide some additional stuff like 3D link (not sure what "news" is, of where the "link" comes from but...) Perhaps we could integrate the two. I like that the comic is visble right away on my template, but on your page it's down below the first header. I don't think the comic itself needs an "image" heading. No disrespect, but I think your sidebar, esp. because of the "news" field is a bit chunky - too wide for most of its content.

::::I think we could easily add things like a "3d" link into {{tl|comic}} as part of the next/prev bar where a "3D" field in the template is non-blank. Similarly, original title could read something like (Originally titled: xxxxx) below the primary title in a smaller font. Other than the "link" and "news" fields (which again, I'm not sure what they are), I think that would inclde all the same info as your infobox into my template. Thoughts?

::::As to your other comment about compartmentalizing the template, I have nothing against that, but which parts of the template would you want to be able to use separately (and can you suggest an example where that might be necessary?) Subdividing the template can always be done later if it becomes needed; just trying to get an idea of what you have in mind by compartmentalizing it. Cheers [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 19:43, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Main Image ==

The main image (top left) is not the best image ever. You really need to update it.

Maybe:
[[File:wiki.png]]

Just an idea, because that text looks weird, or at least please add a transparent background instead of white for the logo (and center the text). --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:39, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

: I like it. What does everyone else think? (PS - don't forget to sign your entries on this page!) --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 21:18, 1 August 2012 (EDT)
: I could go with that. Had been kicking around some ideas, and if I had any artistic aptitude, it might have looked very much like that: the black-hat retort; alternately: the lowercase blue '''xkcd''' that RM uses (sans comic figure watermark) with a "Explain" in a hand-written typeface in some other color splashed across the top left part of those letters. And yes, definitely with transparency. Just thoughts... ultimately, whatever the consensus is... [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:51, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:: Something like one of the following?
::[[File:wiki2.png]][[File:wiki3.png]][[File:wiki4.png]]
:: --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 12:40, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:I like that first one - [[:File:wiki.png]]. And perhaps use that same text for the [[#Robots.txt|Tagline]]? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 19:50, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Yeah, the first one captures what I was thinking. I thought I'd download it to tweak it a bit, and quickly proved to myself how unartistic I am. I was thinking the xkcd pretty much overwhelming the bottom (touching all three sides) and the explain (first typeface) in tight, maybe at a 5 degree angle over the x and k. Of course envisioning it is one thing, realizing it another (it may be totally unrealistic...) but I toss that out for further consideration. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:25, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::Hmmm, rereading Philosopher's comment, I think he and I may have been talking about two different images. Ooops. Anyway, was just chatting with a buddy who is more artistic than I am, and he created this mashup. He suggested: "Establish some vocabulary. First, xkcd needs to be bigger; it defies describing, and refuses to be pidgeon-holed into a box, so the xkcd needs to be so big that it doesn't fit entirely in-frame ... the Explain part has got to be casual, to represent the wiki and informal nature of contributing to it, and you gotta have it in close, because the contributors are going to get as close as they can to the truth. And keep it simple." (I broke with that, and tried to add the black hat; in doing so, I think I trashed transparency, tough) Anybody think that's worth taking a run with it? -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 01:04, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
[[File:Explainxkcd-concept.PNG]]
<pre>
y
o
u
'
w r
ei e
xkcd
piau
l um
a sb
i e
n
</pre>

== Displaying Comics ==

For the home page, I think the comic and explanation should be displayed instead of a link to the comic.

For reasons unknown to me, I decided to create [[Template:Comicbox]] and [[Template:Comicbox2]]. Looks nice, as long as you use the correct one for the comic.

Go to [[User:Grep/comicbox]] and [[User:Grep/comicbox2]] for examples. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:03, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:Those're wonderful! And should probably be on the main page. If you wanted, we could probably incorporate them (and maybe a third?) into a single template with a "square/vertical or horizontal" switch. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::Also, you used "comicbox" for the class. Is that a class that's defined somewhere? (And if so, where?) --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:36, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::Good point. Removed. And merging them sounds wonderful. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:47, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::Maybe merging them into [[Template:comicbox]]? --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 21:49, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::I think classes are defined at [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], so if you really wanted to define the class.... And [[Template:Comicbox]] would probably be best. Did you want to merge them or should I take a look at it? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:25, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::ParserFunctions and any sort of non-XMLish markup is weird. I would rather you look at it. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 22:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::Okay, I've moved your templates to {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} so I can work on {{tl|Comicbox}} as the main one. It may take a while - I like to think of myself as a "[[wikipedia:Category:User template coder|master of all known wikimarkup]]," but I don't actually use those skills that often. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 23:08, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::Thanks. --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 23:42, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::I've made it at {{tl|Comicbox}}. This actually leaves {{tl|Comicbox square or vertical}} and {{tl|Comicbox horizontal}} unused, though I credited you (and them) in a comment at the top of the template. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:21, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::I think that the explanation should be on the right because it just looks weird as is... --[[User:Grep|Grep]] ([[User talk:Grep|talk]]) 07:42, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
{{outdent}} Sure. But right now they both look like they're on the bottom? --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 20:02, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
===Sans-serif typeface===
::::::::I like these, too, but the roman typeface... how do folks feel about sticking with a sans-serif typeface throughout the site? [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 00:13, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::We should be able to change that wiki-wide through [[MediaWiki:Common.css]], I think. Unfortunately, I don't know enough CSS to do it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 00:23, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
:::::::::: I believe sans serif is already the default wiki-wide. Those specific instances were deliberately coded to use a serif font. It's just a matter of removing <code>font-family: 'Times New Roman';</code> from the template. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:01, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::::::::::: Oh, I'd missed that. I removed it. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:14, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== Gadgets? ==

Can we enable [[MediaWikiWiki:Extension:Gadgets]]? I'd really like to bring over [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:Popups]] and [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:HotCat]] as gadgets. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 22:45, 2 August 2012 (EDT)
:sounds good. I'll do it later this weekend when I get back to my computer to get to the FTP access. --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 00:31, 3 August 2012 (EDT)
::That'd be great! While you're at it, [[MediaWikiWiki:Extension:Inputbox]] is something we may want for the future, though we don't need it now. --''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' [[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]] 21:29, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

== comic header ==

Jeff, further to your previous conversation on the comic header, I've significantly rewritten Yirba's template (thanks to Yirba for the hard work. His navigation bar was very useful) and I've created a new template of {{tl|comic}}. An example of the comic in use can be seen at [[T-shirts]]. I started a discussion on the main page discussion board, but I thought if I pointed it out to you and you like it, it can start going in the rotation for new comics.

I actually now see that Grep did a template up with intent (I think) to use for the main page. Had I known that when I started, I would have probably based my template off of his, because it looks nice, but either way, mine is intended for the actual articles. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 14:46, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

:Again, may I link to [[User talk:Jeff#Automatic Import|my request for feedback]]? --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 15:52, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

1069: Alphabet

2012-08-04T02:14:50Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|1069|June 15, 2012}}

[[File:Alphabet.png]]

== Image Text ==
Do I get to remove letters entirely? Or just rearrange them? Because the 'k/c' situation is ridiculous. Look, we can make out whenever. This is *immortality*!

== Description ==
This comic is a joke on the traditional pick-up line that goes something like this: "Baby, if I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put 'U' and 'I' together." Terrible, I know.

However, in typical [[XKCD]] fashion, rather than continue with that tired pickup line, [[Cueball]] jumps at his change to rearrange the alphabet and fix the English {{w|orthography}}. An orthography is a standardized system for using a particular writing system (script) to write a particular language. It includes rules of spelling, and may also concern other elements of the written language such as punctuation and capitalization.

The joke is that hooking up with this girl can wait because rearranging the alphabet and changing the English language is the chance of a lifetime, and would make history.

"The 'k/c' situation" refers to the use of the letter 'C', which doesn't have a unique sound; it sounds either like a 'K' or an 'S'. The only exception is when it is combined with 'H', as in 'chair'. A possible change Cueball might make is to replace 'C' with a letter that exclusively sounds like 'CH'.

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1069: Alphabet

2012-08-04T02:12:58Z

Cyanfish: Updated text with cleanup, elaboration on "the 'k/c' situation", links

1068: Swiftkey

2012-08-04T01:44:17Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|1068|June 13, 2012}}

[[File:Swiftkey.png]]

== Image Text ==
Although the Markov chain-style text model is still rudimentary; it recently gave me "Massachusetts Institute of America". Although I have to admit it sounds prestigious.

== Description ==
Swiftkey is a product that is installable only on Android-based phones and tablets. Swiftkey has noticed their inclusion in XKCD and have created a blog post for other users to comment with their default phrase when they hit the "central prediction key". The results are pretty funny. [http://www.swiftkey.net/swiftkey-on-xkcd]

In the image text, the Markov chain is a reference to: (via wikipedia) "A Markov chain, named after Andrey Markov, is a mathematical system that undergoes transitions from one state to another, between a finite or countable number of possible states. It is a random process characterized as memoryless: the next state depends only on the current state and not on the sequence of events that preceded it. This specific kind of "memorylessness" is called the Markov property. Markov chains have many applications as statistical models of real-world processes."

So, that makes sense because Swiftkey only looks at the previous word, not the sequence of words that preceded that word.

And of course the "I am so sorry - that's never happened before" is a sexual reference as that is something a guy would say after a particularly unsatisfying sexual encounter. And of course that is funny because it is his typical sentence, so he is texting that phrase over and over again.

Massachusetts Institute of America is an unlikely name because it shows two different locations. It is an amalgamation of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and [field] Institute of America (e.g. Mining)

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1065: Shoes

2012-08-04T01:40:56Z

Cyanfish: Added comic header, category

{{ComicHeader|1065|June 6, 2012}}

[[File:Shoes.png]]

== Image Text ==
I *do* hear that they're the most comfortable thing to wear on your feet since sliced bread.

== Description ==
This comic makes reference to the creepy new running shoe fad in which there are shoes that have very little support (they are supposed to make you feel like running barefoot) and have individual areas for each toe. The joke in the comic is that the shoes are so hideous, [[Cueball]] is not even sure he would want to live forever if he would have to wear these shoes at all times.

The next joke is in the image text, which is a play on the common phrase "x is the best thing since sliced bread". The way that Randall uses the phrase in the image text implies that someone would wear sliced bread on their feet. Which is hilarious.

[[Category:Comics|1065]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1064: Front Door

2012-08-04T01:37:20Z

Cyanfish: Changed category name (graphs => charts)

{{ComicHeader|1064|June 4, 2012}}

[[File:Front_door.png]]

== Image Text ==
FYI: I'll be releasing a wolf into a randomly-chosen front yard sometime in the next 30 years. Now your fear is reasonable, and you don't need to feel embarrassed anymore. Problem solved!

== Description ==
This comic is showing in graphical form three different actions/feelings as [[Randall]] is approaching his front door at night. His "Fear That There's Something Behind Me" rises, so then his "Forward Speed" rises to get to his door faster. And then when he gets in the door and finds that in fact, there is nothing behind him, his "Embarrassment" rises.

I think this happens to all of us, whether it is "Did I hear a noise upstairs?" or "Is that an axe murderer hiding in that hedge?".

[[Category:Comics|1064]]
[[Category:Comics with charts]]

1064: Front Door

2012-08-04T01:34:47Z

Cyanfish: Added comic header, category

1063: Kill Hitler

2012-08-04T01:32:36Z

Cyanfish: /* Description */ Removed redundant link

{{ComicHeader|1063|June 1, 2012}}

[[File:Kill_hitler.png]]

== Image Text ==
Revised directive: It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history until you've at least taken a class on it.

== Description ==
In this comic, which I believe Randall created just to put in "BRB, Killing Hitler", [[Black Hat]] creates a one use time machine. [[Cueball]] selects the most common suggestion for Time Machine usage "Killing Hitler". Black Hat finally relents and goes to kill Hitler, however, he goes to the year 1945, when Hitler is already in his bunker. Hitler has already committed his atrocities and the war was already turning against him. Later in 1945, he reportedly died by suicide in that very same bunker. The joke in here being that he didn't save any lives or prevent the Holocaust or a global war by killing him in 1945 because he went back in time too late. He needed to go earlier, before his rise to power.

[[Category:Comics|1063]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

1063: Kill Hitler

2012-08-04T01:31:33Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|1063|June 1, 2012}}

[[File:Kill_hitler.png]]

== Image Text ==
Revised directive: It is forbidden for you to interfere with human history until you've at least taken a class on it.

== Description ==
In this comic, which I believe Randall created just to put in "BRB, Killing Hitler", [[Black Hat]] creates a one use time machine. [[Cueball]] selects the most common suggestion for Time Machine usage "Killing Hitler". [[Black Hat]] finally relents and goes to kill Hitler, however, he goes to the year 1945, when Hitler is already in his bunker. Hitler has already committed his atrocities and the war was already turning against him. Later in 1945, he reportedly died by suicide in that very same bunker. The joke in here being that he didn't save any lives or prevent the Holocaust or a global war by killing him in 1945 because he went back in time too late. He needed to go earlier, before his rise to power.

[[Category:Comics|1063]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

12: Poisson

2012-08-04T01:25:53Z

Cyanfish: Added character categories

{{ComicHeader|12|January 1, 2006}}

[[File:Poisson.jpg]]

== Image Text ==
Poisson distributions have no value over negative numbers

== Description ==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] expresses himself as a Poisson distribution.

Per Wikipedia, in mathematics, a Poisson distribution is a distribution that shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space. The horizontal axis typically represents the “number of events” while the vertical axis is a decimal representing the probability (i.e. 0.5 for 50% probability) a given number of events will occur in that fixed interval of time or space. It is commonly represented by a bar graph, or a point graph (sometimes with a line connection to show a trend, even though there is no actual value for non-integers).

A simple example is the number of heads coming up on a fair coin flip. The distribution for one coin flip should be 0.5 at 0 heads and 0.5 at 1 heads; for 2 coin flips, the distribution would be 0.25 at 0 heads, 0.5 at 1 heads and 0.25 at 2 heads; Etc. Multiple graphs like this are sometimes overlaid on one graph with a legend to distinguish the points (one coin flip in red, two coin flips in blue, etc).

What's important to note for this comcic is that this distribution only has data points on non-negative integers and is not continuous through decimal numbers or (as the image text tells us) negative numbers because events can’t occur 0.3 of a time, or -2 times.

After implying that the concept of a person being a mathematical distribution is irrational, [[Black Hat]] suggests he is “less than zero”. Since the Poisson Distribution doesn’t exist or has no value at negative values, Cueball either leaves or disappears magically.

Hence, the punchline is the same as the image text: Cueball doesn't exist to Black Hat anymore, because he has a value less than zero.

== Trivia ==

* This is the first appearance of [[Black Hat]] in [[XKCD]].

* [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] was still experimenting, as [[Cueball]] has a face in the first two frames.

[[Category:Comics|0012]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

Template:Infobox character

2012-08-04T01:22:10Z

Cyanfish: Changed category link text to count

{{infobox
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User talk:Cyanfish

2012-08-04T01:15:47Z

Cyanfish: /* Template:Infobox */

Template:infobox

2012-08-04T01:14:19Z

Cyanfish: Added back infobox css class (instead of embedded style)

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}}<includeonly>{{#ifeq:{{{decat|}}}|yes||{{#if:{{{data1|}}}{{{data2|}}}{{{data3|}}}{{{data4|}}}{{{data5|}}}{{{data6|}}}{{{data7|}}}{{{data8|}}}{{{data9|}}}{{{data10|}}}{{{data11|}}}{{{data12|}}}{{{data13|}}}{{{data14|}}}{{{data15|}}}{{{data16|}}}{{{data17|}}}{{{data18|}}}{{{data19|}}}{{{data20|}}}{{{data21|}}}{{{data22|}}}{{{data23|}}}{{{data24|}}}{{{data25|}}}{{{data26|}}}{{{data27|}}}{{{data28|}}}{{{data29|}}}{{{data30|}}}{{{data31|}}}{{{data32|}}}{{{data33|}}}{{{data34|}}}{{{data35|}}}{{{data36|}}}{{{data37|}}}{{{data38|}}}{{{data39|}}}{{{data40|}}}{{{data41|}}}{{{data42|}}}{{{data43|}}}{{{data44|}}}{{{data45|}}}{{{data46|}}}{{{data47|}}}{{{data48|}}}{{{data49|}}}{{{data50|}}}{{{data51|}}}{{{data52|}}}{{{data53|}}}{{{data54|}}}{{{data55|}}}{{{data56|}}}{{{data57|}}}{{{data58|}}}{{{data59|}}}{{{data60|}}}{{{data61|}}}{{{data62|}}}{{{data63|}}}{{{data64|}}}{{{data65|}}}{{{data66|}}}{{{data67|}}}{{{data68|}}}{{{data69|}}}{{{data70|}}}{{{data71|}}}{{{data72|}}}{{{data73|}}}{{{data74|}}}{{{data75|}}}{{{data76|}}}{{{data77|}}}{{{data78|}}}{{{data79|}}}{{{data80|}}}||}}}}</includeonly><noinclude>This page is copied from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Infobox Template:Infobox].</noinclude>

Megan

2012-08-03T15:40:49Z

Cyanfish: Removed link to "character"

{{Infobox character
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| first_appearance =
}}
'''Megan''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[XKCD]]. She is the second-most frequently appearing character after [[Cueball]], and the most frequently appearing female character. She is distinguished by her black shoulder-length hair which generally appears to be parted in the middle in front, and is draped behind what are presumably her (undrawn) ears. Megan frequently appears with Cueball as a couple. Megan is also the name of artist [[Randall Munroe]]'s wife.

Unlike most other characters, Megan does not necessarily represent the same character from comic to comic, but unlike Cueball, the character has been referred to by name in comics from time to time. She is essentially the female equivalent of Cueball, apparently representing the {{w|everyman|everywoman}} to his everyman. Megan does, however, appear to have slightly more specific personality traits in some comics than Cueball. At times, she has very odd habits and is sometimes shown to be very focused and intent on a goal, more like [[Black Hat]].

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

White Hat

2012-08-03T15:40:34Z

Cyanfish: Removed link to "character"

{{Infobox character
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| first_appearance =
}}
'''White Hat''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[XKCD]]. He is distinguished by his eponymous white hat which appears to be in the shape and style of a {{w|boater}}. He has a similar appearance to [[Black Hat]] other than the color of their respective hats. However, he is far less often depicted.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

Beret Guy

2012-08-03T15:40:22Z

Cyanfish: Removed link to "character"

{{Infobox character
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| first_appearance =
}}
'''Beret Guy''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[XKCD]]. He is distinguished by his white beret.

==Characteristics==
Beret guy is generally more of an {{w|Existentialism|existentialist}}, often philosophising or just pondering things - often very obscure and random things.

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

12: Poisson

2012-08-03T15:38:02Z

Cyanfish: Removed redundant links, added new ones

{{ComicHeader|12|January 1, 2006}}

[[File:Poisson.jpg]]

== Image Text ==
Poisson distributions have no value over negative numbers

== Description ==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] expresses himself as a Poisson distribution.

In mathematics, a Poisson distribution is a distribution that shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space (wiki!). Along the horizontal axis is typically the “number of events” while the vertical axis is a decimal representing the probability (i.e. 0.5 for 50% probability). It is commonly represented by a bar graph, or a point graph (sometimes with a line connection to show a trend, even though there is no actual value for non-integers).

A simple example is the number of heads coming up on a fair coin flip. With one coin flip the distribution should be 0.5 at 0 heads and 0.5 at 1 heads. For 2 coin flips, the distribution would be 0.25 at 0 heads, 0.5 at 1 heads and 0.25 at 2 heads. Etc. multiple graphs like this are sometimes overlaid on one graph with a legend to distinguish the points (one coin flip in red, two coin flips in blue, etc).

Note that this distribution only has data points on non-negative integers and is not continuous through decimal numbers or (as the image text tells us) negative numbers because events can’t occur 0.3 of a time, or -2 times.

After implying that the concept of a person being a mathematical distribution is irrational, [[Black Hat]] suggests he is “less than zero”. Since the Poisson Distribution doesn’t exist or has no value at negative values, Cueball either leaves or disappears magically.

Hence, the punchline is the same as the image text: Cueball doesn't exist to Black Hat anymore, because he has a value less than zero.

== Trivia ==

* This is the first appearance of Black Hat in [[XKCD]].

* [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] was still experimenting, as Cueball still has a face in the first two frames.

[[Category:Comics|0012]]

Megan

2012-08-03T15:24:22Z

Cyanfish: Fixed spelling, improved second sentence

{{Infobox character
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| first_appearance =
}}
'''Megan''' is a [[stick figure]] [[character]] in [[XKCD]]. She is the second-most frequently appearing character after [[Cueball]], and the most frequently appearing female character. She is distinguished by her black shoulder-length hair which generally appears to be parted in the middle in front, and is draped behind what are presumably her (undrawn) ears. Megan frequently appears with Cueball as a couple. Megan is also the name of artist [[Randall Munroe]]'s wife.

Unlike most other characters, Megan does not necessarily represent the same character from comic to comic, but unlike Cueball, the character has been referred to by name in comics from time to time. She is essentially the female equivalent of Cueball, apparently representing the {{w|everyman|everywoman}} to his everyman. Megan does, however, appear to have slightly more specific personality traits in some comics than Cueball. At times, she has very odd habits and is sometimes shown to be very focused and intent on a goal, more like [[Black Hat]].

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]

1089

2012-08-03T02:08:10Z

Cyanfish: Fixed broken link

#REDIRECT [[Internal Monologue]]

Internal monologue

2012-08-03T02:07:32Z

Cyanfish: Cyanfish moved page Internal monologue to Internal Monologue: Changed capitalization to be consistent with xkcd and other articles

#REDIRECT [[Internal Monologue]]

Talk:1089: Internal Monologue

2012-08-03T02:07:32Z

Cyanfish: Cyanfish moved page Talk:Internal monologue to Talk:Internal Monologue: Changed capitalization to be consistent with xkcd and other articles

This is a common anxiety for geek types, who stereotypically are not very skilled in navigating social situations like parties. It can become a vicious cycle where the fear of handling the encounter badly makes one even more uncomfortable which results in behaving as awkwardly as they first feared.
Also, for many geek type personalities, it's common to want to map out a pre-planned course of action that should produce desired results. A strategy that is usually doomed to failure when dealing with sufficiently complex and unpredictable scenarios... like conversations with other people.
This painful, and all too common situation has been mined for comedic effect since the beginning of human civilization.

:I copied this into the article. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 19:58, 1 August 2012 (EDT)

== Discussion From Comments ==
Joe Green - Yes I like the participatory and discursive nature of the comments.
Also in this instance I find myself wondering why Cueball is hoping that OtherCueball “doesn’t ask me what his name is”. That would be a very strange thing to ask. Well, except in the form “do/don’t you know who I am?”
:BigMal - It’s more like “I know he introduced him/herself earlier, but I already forgot, and he probably remembers my name, so if he asks me to recall his name I’d be caught (and embarrassed)!”
::Joe Green - “if he asks me to recall his name” Well yes, but I just thought that was an unlikely thing for someone to do in such a direct way. Cueball *could* end up being embarrassed in that kind of way though if a friend of his joined the conversation and he wanted to introduce OtherCueball.
:::Harm - My solution to situations like that is something like “Go on, introduce yourselves,” and then standing back.