Development stages indicate the progress of a book, reviewed at a certain date. They help to focus the attention of the reader to comprehensive books, while focussing the author's work to maturing books needing help.

Fulfealdunge stapas

Fulfealdunge stapas níehst to a book title indicates the progress of the book according to the following table:

Wicibōce Fulfealdunge Stapas
Þynnol traht:   Fulfealdende traht:   Rīpiende traht:   Fulfealden traht:   Brād traht:  

A small date next to it indicates the date when the development stage was last evaluated by a user of Wikibooks. For example:

This means that this book has been reviewed as being 50% complete as of Jan 11, 2005.

Please help reviewing books

You can assign development stages too. It is easy, and helps new readers to quickly find comprehensive books of interest.

You can use one of the following two templates:

{{stage|25%|Jan 11, 2005}}                      (Jan 11, 2005)
  • {{stage|25%|Jan 11, 2005}} will give the stage box with small date:   (Jan 11, 2005)
(clicking on the date links you to this page you are reading right now.)
{{stage short|25%|Jan 11, 2005}}               
  • {{stage short|25%|Jan 11, 2005}} will give only the stage box:  
(Note that also the second version shows the date when you place the mouse over the picture.)

Use the first version for the bookshelf pages (so people can quickly see when this assignment was made). Use the second version for the templates of the main page. You can use either of them in your Wikibooks to indicate the progress of your chapters.

You can assign one of the following development stages:

  • nothing: If the book is a page that doesn't exist yet ("red link"), don't give any development stage.
  • 00% : The book contains almost nothing or looks like a stub.
  • 25% : at least 25% of the chapters of the book are complete.
  • 50% : at least 50% of the chapters of the book are complete.
  • 75% : at least 75% of the chapters of the book are complete.
  • 100% : 100% of the chapters of the book are complete. There is no red link, and all chapters are filled. Such a book could in principle go to print, yet it can still evolve by Wikibook users.

You have to look into all chapters of a book in order to estimate its progress. (It is suggested that with more developed books you provide short development stages for each chapter.) If you have suggestions for improvement, please leave them on the corresponding talk page of the book.

Also check, if the title of the book still fits its contents. If the title is too general (e.g. a book titled Sports that only contains one chapter about, say, the Everett local football club), then suggest on the corresponding talk page to change the title. The book titled Sports would get 00% , while the same book titled Everett`s football club might get the full 100% , if it is written comprehensively.

This reviewing process takes some time, but it should increase the overall standard of Wikibooks. Therefore it is suggested that you only review one or a few books at a time, making useful and kind suggestions for improvement. Please review books that have not been checked for a long time (a few weeks or a few months) or that show one of the old development stages.

Ealde fulfealdungstapas

The old development stages were simple images without any reference to the date when the book was reviewed.

  • Old version: Pure image: [[Image:25%.png]], [[Image:50%.svg]], ...
  • Even older: Color coding: [[image:yellow.png]], [[image:red.png]], ...

Note that the old color coding didn't have the equivalent of "00%", so expect to downgrade many old books from 25% to 00%. Be bold when downgrading, because this should increase the overall reader experience of Wikibooks. Remember that "25%" now means "at least" 25% of the chapters of the book are completed.

Please don't just replace them by the new template, but only replace them after you reviewed the book by yourself.

Moving books

Within bookshelves, books can be moved according to a new development stage status:

  • Books with status 100% can be moved to the top of each section within "Active Wikibooks" (there in alphabetical order)
  • Books with status 00% to 75% are sorted in alphabetical order within "Active Wikibooks", not according to the status.
  • Books with 25% or less can be moved to "Suggested Wikibooks" if the books history and the history of all its chapters have not changed for the last three months.
  • "Suggested Wikibooks" can be moved to "Active Wikibooks" as soon as there is substantial new contribution (a new chapter or picture, or activity other than minor edits like typos).

No book is ever deleted. The books are just moved within the bookshelves.

100% books get a very prominent position, so it encourages authors to finish books. Books that nobody ever bothered to write will be moved to "Suggested Wikibooks". Note that there is no hurry to move books. Book writing is a long process, and some books need time.

See also: Why move books?

Keeping the development stages transparently up to date should help to improve the overall quality experience of Wikibooks for new readers.