[Wikia-l] Wikia's New Style

[DanTMan]

It's not a wiki thing, nor a user thing... It's not something you should 
even be customizing that message for.
Every page has a linked recent changes page, and these kind of special 
pages are not easily accessible unless you keep the links that the 
MediaWiki software purposefully puts there. And whilst small, people do 
use these links, and just removing them is going to make useful features 
used even less.

~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of:
-The Nadir-Point Group (http://nadir-point.com)
--It's Wiki-Tools subgroup (http://wiki-tools.com)
--Games-G.P.S. (http://ggps.org)
-And Wikia ACG on Wikia.com (http://wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_ACG)

Danny Horn wrote:
> You can customize the toolbox on any wiki by editing
> MediaWiki:Monaco-toolbox. The links that you mention aren't used by most
> users, so they aren't part of the default toolbox. If they're important to
> you, then you can customize the toolbox.
>
>
> -- Danny
>
> User:Toughpigs
> Community Development Manager, Wikia
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 3:24 PM, DanTMan <dan_the_man at telus.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> Before it's made global, can the techs go back over various locations
>> (Main Page, User page, User subpage, Recent changes, an Article) and
>> verify that /every/ accessibility link in Monobook also has a
>> counterpart in Monaco. I've noticed that Monaco is still missing some of
>> the important links that are automatically put into Monobook's toolbox.
>> Most notably the link pointing to the relevant
>> [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/{{FULLPAGENAME}}]] page does not appear in
>> Monaco.  Those are fairly important to the UI, especially when it comes
>> to someone using the [[Special:Mypage/Watchlist]] trick to create a
>> watchlist they can use a RSS feed for, I had to manually edit the
>> contents of the address bar to try and get there. And even worse, I
>> don't recall if the RSS button even was there?
>>
>> ~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of:
>> -The Nadir-Point Group (http://nadir-point.com)
>> --It's Wiki-Tools subgroup (http://wiki-tools.com)
>> --Games-G.P.S. (http://ggps.org)
>> -And Wikia ACG on Wikia.com (http://wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_ACG)
>>
>> Gil Penchina wrote:
>>     
>>> I have some important news.  Wikia is making some changes to the way
>>> that our wikis look, and we'll see these changes rolling out site-wide
>>> over the next few weeks.
>>>
>>> Wikia has grown tremendously over the last few years. Since our launch
>>> in 2004, Wikia has grown from one shared server to more than 6,000
>>> communities supported by 84 servers and a nine member community team
>>> offering help from around the world 24.  Wikia is home to the most
>>> passionate communities on the internet and I'm always excited to see the
>>> amazing and beautiful sites that you're creating. Our goal is to enable
>>> you, our most important customers, to build the world's best resource on
>>> every topic.
>>>
>>> Wikia provides more than free hosting and bandwidth. We offer technical
>>> support, great new features and extensions, promotional opportunities
>>> and community support.  Those services are provided free for all users,
>>> with costs paid by advertisers.
>>>
>>> However, the internet ad market is changing and we have to change to
>>> keep up.  Our challenge is to offer an attractive package to our
>>> advertisers, while maintaining the best user experience possible for our
>>> readers and editors:
>>>
>>> * We have to standardize the way our site looks across all wikis, using
>>> the Monaco skin for anonymous users.  In the past, communities have used
>>> various skins -- Monaco, Quartz or Monobook.  That's a luxury that we
>>> can't afford to offer any more, as advertisers strongly prefer a
>>> consistent look-and-feel.
>>>
>>> * Based on your feedback, we're making some changes to Monaco that
>>> return it to more of a Monobook look and feel and moves the content
>>> higher on the page.
>>>
>>> * We're going to roll out a more flexible ad server that will let us
>>> vary the size, location and placement of ads.
>>>
>>> The changes will be rolled out site-wide over the next few weeks.
>>> There's a lot of information about what's coming up on this page:
>>> http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia's_New_Style<http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia%27s_New_Style>. I'll hit the highlights
>>> here, and then you can read more about it on that page.
>>>
>>> The big changes will be:
>>>
>>> * Every wiki will use Monaco as the default skin but we will continue to
>>> offer choice for registered users who want to set their preferences
>>>
>>> * The edit bar and the content area will move up, replacing the area
>>> where the banner ad was.
>>>
>>>      * Article pages will have ads in the content area. Logged-in users
>>> will only see one ad unit on article pages -- a 300x250 ad unit at the
>>> top right. (On pages where a 300x250 ad would disrupt a table, the ad
>>> will render as a banner ad)
>>>
>>> * The logo will return to the Monobook 135x155px Wiki.png image.
>>>
>>> * Main pages will be redesigned to accommodate a 300x250px ad unit.
>>>
>>> * Ads will be removed from many pages used by our most active users and
>>> will only appear on article pages, image pages, preview pages and
>>> category pages.
>>>
>>> Obviously, this will be a period of adjustment, especially for wikis
>>> that have been using Monobook. The community and content teams will be
>>> working with many communities over the next few weeks to help make the
>>> transition. I know that many people are attached to the Monobook skin,
>>> and I hope the new Monaco gives people more of the Monobook feel, with a
>>> number of advantages that make the wiki experience better. For example:
>>>
>>> * The Monaco skin is easier to customize to fit a particular community's
>>> look and feel. There are more opportunities to add color and images to
>>> the skin.
>>>
>>> * The page is now optimized, so the content loads faster.
>>>
>>> * Monaco is easier for new wiki users to understand. The majority of
>>> internet users still don't realize that there's an "edit" button on
>>> Wikipedia. That's because on Monobook, all the important links and
>>> buttons are written in 8.5-point type. Monaco is designed to make the
>>> important stuff stand out, like the edit button and the search box and
>>> we've seen increased usage of both.
>>>
>>> * When wikis have switched from Monobook to Monaco, they've seen huge
>>> jumps in the number of readers, contributors and user logins. As an
>>> example, Teletraan-I: The Transformers Wiki switched to Monaco in April.
>>> Comparing January (in Monobook) to May (in Monaco), the wiki's traffic
>>> jumped up 46%. Anonymous logins went up 223%, and use of the search box
>>> went up an amazing 541%. People clicked on items in the navigation
>>> flyout menus 38,000 times in May, and the number of active editors went
>>> up 51%, from 78 in January to 118 in May.
>>>
>>> Overall, we feel that the changes will improve the health and growth of
>>> the entire Wikia community by converting more viewers into contributors
>>> to make our communities more vibrant. At the same time, the changes will
>>> give us the resources to ensure that every wiki will be able to continue
>>> to count on Wikia for support and great service for years to come.
>>>
>>> Thank you for your continued support and for the amazing work that you
>>> do every day to build a great resource on every topic.
>>>
>>> User:Gil
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikia-l mailing list
>>> Wikia-l at wikia.com
>>> http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l
>>>
>>>
>>>       
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