Editing Forum:Main page layout

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|Hi all, your friendly local Wikia Gaming helper here!

Hopefully you have read about the skin and ad changes at [[w:Wikia's New Style|Wikia's New Style]] on Central Wikia. If not, I hope you'll have a look.  

One of the changes is a block of two ads on each main page. It's possible that they won't always show up, but to ensure your main page continues to work properly when they do, you need to update your main page column formatting code with [[w:c:help:Help:Main page column tags|new column tags]].

The main change to the layout is the fixed width of the right column, and you can see on our default [[w:c:starter|starter kit]]. This still allows a lot of customisation - for example see these main pages - [[w:c:muppet|Muppet Wiki]], [[w:c:wowwiki|WoWWiki]], [[w:c:ffxi|FFXIclopedia]]. If you encounter any problems with the new tags, please [[w:User talk:Kirkburn|let me know]].

Normally I would create a draft for a new page, but with the design of the current main page, it will be very difficult for me to do without changing it a lot. Therefore, can I ask that you take a look at a redesign? If you have any questions, I would be pleased to help out.

Thanks
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 11:09, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
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|[[w:c:startrek|Memory Beta]] has the makings of a main page that has a whole-page background, might be of interest.
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 11:32, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
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|Hi Kirkburn. I wouldn't be against the idea of converting the [[|Main Page|main page]] to use the [[w:c:starter|starter kit]]. I think it looks clean and makes it a lot easier to update things. The current main page design is the result of a lot of changes to a very basic initial design. What do others think about implementing the starter kit main page on this wiki?
|[[User:Fw190a8|Fw190a8]] 16:59, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
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|I'll create a basic starter kit version of it, see how it comes out. Update: see [[User:Kirkburn/Dev]]. I notice the wiki skin is set to Monaco Sapphire - given the colours of the main page, I was wondering if you might be interested in a different theme - e.g. Monaco Beach, or perhaps a custom theme ([[w:c:help:Help:Customizing Monaco|help page]]).
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 09:15, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
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|Thank you for your hard work on the sample front page, Kirkburn. I think it looks excellent. Personally I don't feel that the "create an article" box is appropriate because it promotes the creation of articles without first checking to see if similarly named ones exist, but the other stuff, with a few additions, will look super! I would like to get everyone else's opinions on it before going further, but I do hope that our front page looks like that soon!
|[[User:Fw190a8|Fw190a8]] 22:10, 18 July 2008 (UTC)
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|I understand about the "create" box - if you feel that the content of the wiki is sufficiently covered in terms of article names, I can certainly agree to not having it. Are there any other tweaks you can think of? I would like to get a version of the new layout live as soon as possible. [[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 15:59, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 15:59, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
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|Your page looks really good Kirkburn, if I had a better grasp of css markup I'd try and change the entire wiki default skin to make headers etc. look like that. But seeing as my level of css-skills are as limited as they are, all I could manage was the front page alone, which is mostly a crude copy-paste mix and match job from the front pages of several other wikis.
|[[w:c:forgottenrealms:User:Zerak-Tul|Zerak]]<sup>[[w:c:forgottenrealms:User talk:Zerak-Tul|talk]]</sup> 21:07, 21 July 2008 (UTC))}}
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|You would like a custom skin? That I can do fairly easily, taking cues from the current main page design. I'll see what I can come up with. [[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 14:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 14:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)}}

Have to break out of a box for this, due to the links: using [[MediaWiki:Monaco.css]], I created [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/User:Kirkburn/Dev?useskin=monaco&usetheme=custom]. It's just a single colour replacement. I would have gone for the light colour, but it would make it unreadable. The Wikia logo and drop-down backgrounds can also be replaced easily enough, per [[w:c:help:Help:Customizing Monaco]]. If you like it, I can get them created and uploaded later. [[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 15:03, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
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|I like it :)
|[[w:c:forgottenrealms:User:Zerak-Tul|Zerak]]<sup>[[w:c:forgottenrealms:User talk:Zerak-Tul|talk]]</sup> 17:42, 22 July 2008 (UTC)}}
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|Looks good :).  I believe we'll need to change our Portals as well (such as [[Portal:Deities|Deities]]), since they'll need to be able to accomodate an ad box, correct?
|[[User:SkyeNiTessine|SkyeNiTessine]] 18:40, 23 July 2008 (UTC) }}
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|Glad you're all liking it - I'll check for anything left and switch later. Regarding the portals: nope, don't worry about them. Only the main page has the double ad thing (due to the number of visitors) - your portals should be fine as they are.<br/>
Updated! Both the skin and new main page are live. I might suggest reducing the main page to autoconfirmed users, in case no admins are around to update it. It still requires accounts that are at least four days old.
|[[w:User:Kirkburn|Kirkburn]] ([[w:User_talk:Kirkburn|talk]]) 17:59, 24 July 2008 (UTC)}}
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|Admins, I think you should update the main page a bit: It still has placeholder text, such as "News text".
|[[User:SkyeNiTessine|SkyeNiTessine]] 22:19, 31 July 2008 (UTC) }}
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|Personally, I don't like all that blank space on the right column, but I'm not 100% sure on how to go about fixing it as of yet. Got some ideas but I'll have to see what pans out.
|[[User:Hashimashadoo|hash]]<sup>[[User talk:Hashimashadoo|talk]]</sup> 23:44, 31 July 2008 (GMT)}}
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|Kirkburn, thanks for the edit to remove the placeholder text.
Hash, do you have a narrow screen?  I don't see any white space in the right-hand side column, and actually that column is longer than the left-hand one (on my screen).  I agree that it will be hard to get both columns to "end" at the same level vertically on the main page, with so much variation in screen sizes.
|[[User:SkyeNiTessine|SkyeNiTessine]] 19:54, 1 August 2008 (UTC) }}