Front page[]
The front page has had the same basic design since it was reactivated back in October. Back then, it was perfectly sensible to link every article worth mentioning from the front page. Now... not so much. There's been an uneasy mixture of "everything in this category needs to be listed", "only a selection of pages from this category need to be listed" and "this page doesn't fit anywhere else, let's dump it here". Since then, the focus of the wiki (or rather, what its contributors have made its focus) has become clearer. That can still change, but for now, we basically have five different types of pages that share a common theme and topic. The front page should probably reflect that:
Should be fairly self-explanatory. The images are placeholders, obviously; they would function in much the same way as the Featured Articles on the FiM Wiki, rotated in and out on a regular basis. The wikia pony is intended to lead here, like it does now; that page needs to be reworked a little to make it more of a "helpful links" hub (I've already started work on the Templates hub page). The sliver of pink at the bottom is a collapsible (and - by default - collapsed) table with all the "other stuff", organised a bit more logically than it is now. --Tulipclaymore 17:23, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
Full-size example[]
| Fan games |
 |
| Game pages on the wiki |
|
<createbox> preload=Template:PldFangames editintro=Template:PldFangames/Message buttonlabel=Create a new page for a fan game width=25 </createbox> |
The "new page" field totally works, by the way. Try it out. --Tulipclaymore 17:23, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
Infoboxes[]
If the above redesign (or something similar) should find favour, we should probably go a little further than just the front page. I don't want to go overboard with this, but one thing that should be okay is adopting the colour scheme from the above front page boxes for the infoboxes. Image which for some reason doesn't want to embed; left is with the default header colour changed to dark purple, center and right are with just the background changed; "mature content" red and any other custom colours remain the same no matter the setting). --Tulipclaymore 17:23, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
- I like it! Of course, do I have your permission to add to the rest of the templates, because while it definitely looks like the fangames one is done, the other ones still need some fleshing out, as far as I can tell. And the sooner we get all this done, the sooner I can shoot off that e-mail to Seth, and hopefully get some more traffic to this place! Also, as for the Infobox idea, I like it! Creates consistency, which is something my OCD (or OCD-ness) likes very much. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 22:10, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
- If by "templates" you mean the page presets, then yes, certainly. That onr and the half-finished Fanfic one are all that exist currently. The boxes for the front page don't really need all that much work, just a "featured article" (even Story of the Blanks for the game on was just an example). --Tulipclaymore 23:21, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
- Ah, yep, those are what I meant! Ok, I'll start trying to work on the fanfic one tomorrow. And as for choosing the featured articles for each, I think this time, we can just pick them ourselves; hopefully, by the time they come up for vote again, we'll have a larger community, and they can vote on what they should be. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 06:32, March 9, 2012 (UTC)
- Well, I guess I didn't get to work on that after all. Real life just kinda got in the way. Oh well, I'll try to work on the ones that aren't done tomorrow, but no promises. The only ones complete are the fanfics and fangames guides, right? -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 03:05, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Yes. I don't even have any drafts for the other templates yet, because I preferred to finish the other two first (and I think they are, now, though you're welcome to see if you can tighten them up a bit, especially the preset ones). I won't be able to work on them until the weekend is over. --Tulipclaymore 03:10, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Alrighty then, I'll give 'em a once over, see if there's anything I can fix, but what I've seen of 'em in the past times I've looked at 'em, they look pretty complete to me. Also, did you already change the default colors for the different infoboxes, or are the only ones changed the fangames and fanfics infoboxes? And like I said, hopefully I'll be able to get my sandbox up and running by tomorrow night; get a draft for one or more of the different pages (I'm thinking I'll start with fanart first). -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 03:23, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- I only changed the colours for the page types where guides and templates already exist.
- You can write a fan art guide, but I haven't got a fan art preset planned... --Tulipclaymore 03:27, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- lol whoopsie, scrolling up, I can see that now. Hmm... in that case, I'll tackle the Music and Video preset and guide first. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 03:33, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- So are all the guides and pre-loaders taken care of? I'm sorry I wasn't able to be of more assistance, as not only is creating new content not one of my fortes (I'm much better at cleanup of existing content), but real life has been kicking my butt something fierce lately. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 06:06, March 22, 2012 (UTC)
- Videos aren't done yet. I also haven't figured out yet how to structure the "Other stuff on the wiki" footer in a way that actually improves on the current design. --Tulipclaymore 13:22, March 22, 2012 (UTC)
- Alrighty then, I'll give 'em a once over, see if there's anything I can fix, but what I've seen of 'em in the past times I've looked at 'em, they look pretty complete to me. Also, did you already change the default colors for the different infoboxes, or are the only ones changed the fangames and fanfics infoboxes? And like I said, hopefully I'll be able to get my sandbox up and running by tomorrow night; get a draft for one or more of the different pages (I'm thinking I'll start with fanart first). -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 03:23, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Yes. I don't even have any drafts for the other templates yet, because I preferred to finish the other two first (and I think they are, now, though you're welcome to see if you can tighten them up a bit, especially the preset ones). I won't be able to work on them until the weekend is over. --Tulipclaymore 03:10, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Well, I guess I didn't get to work on that after all. Real life just kinda got in the way. Oh well, I'll try to work on the ones that aren't done tomorrow, but no promises. The only ones complete are the fanfics and fangames guides, right? -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 03:05, March 16, 2012 (UTC)
- Ah, yep, those are what I meant! Ok, I'll start trying to work on the fanfic one tomorrow. And as for choosing the featured articles for each, I think this time, we can just pick them ourselves; hopefully, by the time they come up for vote again, we'll have a larger community, and they can vote on what they should be. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 06:32, March 9, 2012 (UTC)
- If by "templates" you mean the page presets, then yes, certainly. That onr and the half-finished Fanfic one are all that exist currently. The boxes for the front page don't really need all that much work, just a "featured article" (even Story of the Blanks for the game on was just an example). --Tulipclaymore 23:21, March 8, 2012 (UTC)
Featured articles[]
Any preliminary work that needs to be done pretty much is already done. But I do still need Featured articles (ideally non-mature-content) for four of the five boxes, and 260x130 images to go along with them. --Tulipclaymore 11:05, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Cool! Well, uh, let's see, my nominations
- For the Fan fiction box, I nominate Past Sins
- For the Fan games box, I nominate Story of the Blanks, or PonyKart
- For the comics box, I nominate Friendship is Betrayal
- For the characters box, I nominate Derpy Hooves
- For the music and video box, I nominate The .MOV Series, or, for a non-mature content alternative, perhaps one of the Ponymations?
- I think that the articles can be decided this once by just us; perhaps ask Lightsaber Guy; hopefully, when the time comes again for new nominations, we have a community that can vote on what the featured articles can be. And I'll try to find pictures for those articles I proposed (if they're approved); I don't have any fancy photo editing software, but I think I could make do with what I do have. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 20:25, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- The featured articles should really represent, not necessarily the longest, but certainly some of the best articles we have in each category. Past Sins is okay if the summary is complete. PonyKart is okay too, I guess, though maybe a couple more images or videos should be embedded. Story of the Blanks needs to be worked on copy-editing-wise.
- The .MOV Series is too short (summaries for two of the videos are entirely missing), and while the Ponymation pages aren't technically stubs because there really isn't all that much to tell, that's also kind of the problem. I was thinking more in the direction of Friendship is Witchcraft (which has fan art) or Rainbow Dash Presents (which has the art directly in the videos).
- Friendship is Betrayal probably is our best comic article, but it's also mature content, and its original images (not taken from the show) are not suitable for the front page. That's why I used an image for Friendship is Tragic (comic) in the sandbox: it's a decent-enough page considering that what it covers - a harmless humour comic - is difficult to write a proper summary about. --Tulipclaymore 22:37, March 30, 2012 (UTC)
- I'll check to be sure about Past Sins, and try my hand at copy-editing Story of the Blanks. As for PonyKart, if necessary, I'll see if I can find more images or videos.
- Yeah, I was thinking of Friendship is Witchcraft and Rainbow Dash Presents; don't know why I didn't nominate those two, and I already figured The .MOV Series wouldn't be a suitable candidate (considering all the mature content it contains, especially SHED.MOV).
- That's too bad about Friendship is Betrayal; I agree it's one of our best (if not our best) comic article, but there's not a whole lot we can do about wikia content restrictions, so yeah, Friendship is Tragic (comic) would probably be the best choice. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 01:24, March 31, 2012 (UTC)
- I just thought about this, but if we do decide to go with Rainbow Dash Presents for the featured video article, couldn't we presumably ask Petirep to provide the properly cropped art, since he, presumably, has it stored on his computer? I'm sure it would be easier for him to crop it to the proper specifications, being the original artist and all; or at the very least, I'm sure he has more sophisticated programs than MS Paint, and so it would be easier for him than me.-- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 05:28, March 31, 2012 (UTC)
Favicon[]
I promised a few weeks ago that we could take another look at favicons after the front page redesign was discussed. So, here we are. What with the new colour-coded sections of the wiki, I was thinking Rainbow Dash, if it absolutely has to be a pony from the show, and ideally Rainbow Dash reading (though I'm not sure a favicon can hold enough detail to accurately convey that). Other options that come to mind:
- Keep the F, because, why not?
- The wiki pony.
- An altered version of the wiki pony which has more of a rainbow vibe without looking like Rainbow Dash.
- The horsehead bust in the library (from a different angle than in the picture, naturally). Horse + library = pony wiki.
- This symbol which appears on a lot of books throughout the series, sometimes mirrored or with slightly different ornamentation.
Or something. --Tulipclaymore 15:08, April 4, 2012 (UTC)
- Ooo, yeah, the Rainbow Dash reading (if the detail can properly be conveyed in a favicon), the wiki pony altered to have a rainbow vibe, or that symbol on the book look like the best options to me. -- This is Jonny Manz, signing off! 04:11, April 5, 2012 (UTC)