Forum:Your First Look at the New Wikia

w:User blog:Sannse/Your First Look at the New Wikia. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 4:24 PM PST 17 Aug 2010
 * I'm plopping my comment from there here, because I feel like it got lost in the comments. I'm of the opinion that several of the items I noted are very relevant and poignant points.


 * 1) Navigation
 * Too large. Period and end of story. We do not want to see that at the top. We want to see the article content. The user testing performed for Wikipedia quite simply illustrates this.
 * 1) Layout
 * Time and time again, it has been demonstrated that fixed layouts are not the answer. In fact, it hasn't even been demonstrated, especially in this blog, what problem that is.
 * Wtf? Why are we going back to what is basically the pre-Monaco skin (Chrome, IIRC)? It has the same problems too: The ads fix the width of the sidebar, which makes the sidebar consumes the main content. That's bad. We're in the habit of making and reading encyclopedia articles, not in perusing... whatever's in the right hand column. Get that crap out of my face.
 * That said, being able to more cleanly customize the colors will be excellent for contributors who do not understand CSS.
 * I certainly hope this "font" thing is simply optional and will be implemented along the lines of the colors, with preference to the default.
 * 1) Community Activity
 * Way to be ambiguous. What tools are these? Where can the documentation for them be found? Let the community decide whether they will positively impact the WikiaTM experience.
 * 1) Toolbar
 * I'm really... unsure. Facebook had a toolbar. They did away with it. MySpace still has a toolbar. Wait, why am I discussing social networks? Wikis aren't social networks. Back to main issue: I don't think this is necessary, but I don't feel strongly about it.
 * 1) Notifications
 * I like my orange bar. It's in my face. Do not take that away from me. Bad things happen to the people who take away my orange bar. *murderous gaze* Do not annoy me with "notifications".
 * Ugh. I really dislike this change for the most part. --Sky (t · c) 23:54, August 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * Monaco replaced Quartz, not Chrome. -- 23:58, August 17, 2010 (UTC)
 * Where did you comment, Sky? I'm not finding it. On the page Fandyllic linked? Another blog entry? I feel I should become more actively involved with things like this, and would like to know the best place to voice opinions.-- 00:21, August 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * http://community.wikia.com/wiki/User%20blog:Sannse/Your%20First%20Look%20at%20the%20New%20Wikia?showall=1#comm-249788 -- 01:10, August 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Grr. The WMF spent how much money on the usability initiative to roll out vector and wikia ignores the lessons they learned? Sigh.
 * NIH syndrome still rules, I guess. -- k_d3 02:55, August 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Pretty sure the problem is Vector doesn't support ads or all of Wikia's "improvements". -- 02:57, August 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Not all the lessons. For example, the search bar going to the right is one of the "improvements" of the usability team (the javascript for the bar on Wikimedia still needs hacking to avoid cutting off words, but that's a technical rather than a usability issue). As for NIH... yeah, even though we know they're profitable now, which means all the venturists care about is being paid back. :/ --Sky (t · c) 03:58, August 18, 2010 (UTC)
 * Chrome, Quartz, Monaco... meh. I just knew the skin looked exactly like the immediate predecessor to the current monaco (aside from moving the block ad to the top...). --Sky (t · c) 03:58, August 18, 2010 (UTC)

Sorry I've been away a little while, but I should mention all the feedback is being read, regardless of how far into the comments on the blog post it is.

Anyway, onto the list of concerns, since I can quickly address some here. (Indeed I'm using an development version of the skin to type this right now). We should still be able to do very "WoWWiki" styling - dark skins are still in, baby. Generally we don't take up much of the top space, especially if you're logged in - it's certainly one of our aims to not push a lot of content below the fold. Notifications can still be an orange box if we want - they'll just be in a better location. The lower toolbar lets us let you customize your access to various tools (like special pages, whatlinkshere) without having to find odd, annoying places for them in the skin.

Certainly we've looked at the Vector skin to see their improvements, and indeed we're learning from them. For example, our the rich text editor's link dialog now works like the new Wikipedia one. It doesn't mean their way is the only way.

Anyway, we'll be going through some beta phases where users can give even more direct feedback. Currently, the community central wiki remains the best place to give it atm, since I'm not personally a conduit for it (I will, however, pass on this link.) 20:59, August 24, 2010 (UTC)

Update
If anyone wants to see what WoWWiki looks like currently in the new theme (lol) just append ?useskin=wikia to the end of the URL: http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main?useskin=wikia -- 02:32, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Ugh... makes my user page 7-8 inches of clutter. 02:37, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * As an aside, a lot of things are broken because wikia refuse to load MediaWiki:Common.css because idiots on other wikis put monaco-specific code in it. -- k_d3 02:46, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Also, I'm actively editing the css right now, so if you see anything glaringly wrong (like the background not showing up, which I've already fixed), or the stupid image attribution crap (which I've already fixed), lemme know so I can "fix" it. -- k_d3 03:02, September 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Would this breakage include slamming skins? --Eirik Ratcatcher (talk) 19:28, September 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * The main differences I can see between useskin=wikia and useskin=monaco are that the wikia skin includes the ads, the monaco doesn't. (I don't consider this an improvement.)  Both include the "must have javascript enabled to get the preferences link", both have the large-print edition of edit links, left sidebar text, etc.
 * White color scheme aside, monobook looks mostly useful (or most close to legacy wowwiki skin). Oddly, the "WoWWiki content portals" section images are crowded together on monobook, where they aren't on any of the other skins. --Eirik Ratcatcher (talk) 19:28, September 24, 2010 (UTC)
 * How to I switch it back to the original skin? This one is shit. I used to be able to... Tuxedobob (talk) 02:49, September 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * Failsafe special:preferences link, skin tab selected.
 * Note that if you're not in the beta group, you're not going to be able to see the new skin in all its "glory" here on WoWWiki. pcj and I have got it using the dark style common to the wowwiki and monaco skins. I've been tweaking it to stop wasting quite so much damned space, but there's only so much I can do short of running afoul of wikia's ToU. Throwing a display:none on the right sidebar (called the "rail" internally) is right out, at least for site-wide usage...
 * If you're seeing ads, make sure "Show all advertisements" is unchecked.
 * Unfortunately, javascript is the "way of the future" wrt preferences and the history dropdown and... -- k_d3 03:10, September 25, 2010 (UTC)
 * The Javascript Future can kiss my rosy red. Sorry, but yes, I do have strong feelings about it.  And yes, I do know I'm in a minority here.  Yes, non-javascript workings look "old".  So what?
 * This rant not directed at anyone in particular, unless you happen to be one of the people saying "let's discontinue support for non-javascript-enabled platforms". No bunnies were harmed in the making of this rant.  (Anime kittehs, though, are in significant peril!)  --Eirik Ratcatcher (talk) 21:25, September 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * Oh, I agree, don't get me wrong. Thus the scare quotes around "way of the future". -- k_d3 23:24, September 28, 2010 (UTC)
 * I've made an initial RFC at Forum:Should WoWWiki leave Wikia?, please add your comments there. -- 00:11, September 29, 2010 (UTC)