User talk:Sean-Black

Leave a message on my English Wikipedia talk page, or email me it the message is urgent.

Introducing Wikia's new look:
Greetings! As many of you have already seen, Wikia is undergoing some major changes to their site layout. As of Wednesday, October 6th, the change will affect both the appearance and how things are done on several wikis, and come October 20th these changes will effect all Wikia sites. These changes are mandatory as this is not simply a new skin option, it’s actually an upgraded version of the core Mediawiki platform itself. Check out "Experience the new Wikia" for a look at some wikis using the new look, FAQ and the Transition guide.

Transitioning to the New Look
We know you’ve put a lot of work into making your wikis look great in Monaco, so we’ve worked on our end to minimize the amount of effort needed for you to move to the new look. Still, there are some things you’ll want to do in order for your wiki to look its best in the new skin. We strongly encourage you to use our Wiki Transition Guide to make this process as smooth and seamless as possible.

Our new theme designer tool will be available to everyone during the first stage of sitewide roll-out on October 6th. This gives you time to experiment with different themes and chat with your community about what looks best before all visitors see your wiki in the new look.

We know that many of you are Wikia experts, and have a ton of experience to share with newer users, who may need more help with the transition. To tap all your knowledge, we will soon be setting up a page where users can request and provide help on the transition.

Timeline
The next step is to slowly but surely move all wikis over to the new skin. While there may be some tweaks, the projected schedule is below so that you know what to expect over the coming weeks.

Discontinued features

 * The widget dashboard and all widgets are to be discontinued as they were deemed to be underused.
 * "Report a Problem" links will also be discontinued with the new skin as they were not used as intended.
 * "Email a user" link is gone.
 * Page ratings are gone.

New features

 * New, customizable toolbar that is anchored at the bottom of the screen (Watch the demo video to see how it works.) You will need to learn to use this. (requires JavaScript)
 * New tool for customizing the colour scheme/theme, including default themes.

Other changes

 * The new look uses a fixed width layout, we are not permitted to change, which might influence the layout of articles quite a bit.
 * Wiki logo is replaced with "Wordmark", which admins can customize by adjusting the text & color, or by uploading an image in the theme designer.
 * Site notice is no longer on every page. It is now located in the Community Corner and users will receive a notification bubble each time it is updated.
 * The wiki navigation that is now on the left sidebar, is moving to the top of the screen. It will have 4 drop down menus, with 7 links each. This is substantially less than we currently have. (requires JavaScript)
 * "My Home" becomes "Wiki Activity" and contains a link to recent changes
 * There is a new sidebar area on the right that takes about 1/3 of each page's width, where the recent activity and other "modules" will sit. More "modules" are being developed for it, but there are currently no plans for user-developed modules.
 * Moved the most recent editor’s name from the bottom of the page to the top, added an avatar, and a new mini-history dropdown menu, which contains the link to the full history. (Supposed to make it more obvious to new users that anyone can edit a wiki.) (requires JavaScript)
 * Two of the categories are listed at top as well the full list at the bottom. Apparently the two chosen will be the categories containing the most pages. There is a blacklist to keep out typical maintenance categories, but it is not wiki specific (atm).
 * Edit and talk buttons will be used instead of written links.
 * The name of the user who uploaded a picture will be listed underneath the image caption on articles.
 * The "Terms of Use" are changed so that we will only have very limited options on what we may change on the new layout that is visible to all users.

Terms of Use
In keeping with the goals of the new look, our Terms of Use have been updated as well. Admins will no longer be able to completely remove core features for all users by using custom CSS or JavaScript. This is to protect the universal layout and functionality of every wiki on Wikia and ensure that users have access to all of the features available in the new design. Remember, these new terms only apply to the CSS of the wiki as a whole -- they don’t apply to your personal pages.

To give a few practical examples of what this means: It’s not permitted to remove the right sidebar modules, blogs, and image attribution or add a banner that shifts the entire content area down the page, or alter the fixed width. You can still personalize your wiki with different colors and themes, add large, standout images to the wiki background, create styled templates and tables within the content area. There are plenty of ways to be creative! While these terms will limit what you can do to the overall layout, creativity is still an essential part of Wikia.

Helpful References

 * Transition guide
 * FAQ
 * Important Updates on Wikia’s New Look
 * Experience the new Wikia (Wikia blog)
 * Sneak Peek at the New Look - Themes (Wikia blog)
 * Sneak Peek at the New Look - Your Personal Toolbar (Wikia blog)
 * Sneak Peek at the New Look - Community Activity (Wikia blog)
 * Your First Look at the New Wikia (Wikia blog)
 * My Tools demo video

If you need any help, or if you have any questions or issues - please feel free to contact me on my talk page and I'll get an answer back to you A.S.A.P. http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o297/SCOTIMUS76/VA3.png† 15:41, October 5, 2010 (UTC)