User blog:LostInRiverview/New Skin Now Available

This is an update for our wiki users, as part of The Sims Wiki's (and the rest of Wikia's) transition from our current "skin" - that is, the current design of our wiki, named "Monaco" - to the New Wikia Skin, often nicknamed "Oasis."

See it First-Hand
To see what "Oasis" looks like currently, follow this link to your preferences page. If, at any time during the public beta/transition phase, you wish to switch back to "Monaco" (i.e. the old look), there is a drop-down menu available when you click on your username, visible on the main 'Wikia' header bar - click your name, select 'Preferences', then select the tab for 'Skin'.

Images
The gallery below shows the effect of this new skin on two pages. The first, the main page, serves as the front door to this Wiki. It is affected less severely by the new skin than other pages (as you'll see), but the page will probably still need a redesign in the near future to increase functionality.

The second page shown is The Sims 3: Late Night. This page is in many ways typical of the appearance of many other pages on the Wiki.

(Click on the images to see them in detail)

Next Steps
There are a couple design and layout issues that need to be solved, or at least discussed, before the new skin becomes mandatory (in a month). You can help The Sims Wiki and its staff by reporting layout problems, issues you see with the new theme, and any other problems associated with Oasis.

Please remember that we have absolutely no control over the timeline of implementation for this new skin, nor do we have any say in whether or not The Sims Wiki will be participating in it. In other words, don't blame us if you don't like Oasis, because we didn't pick it. The best thing we can do at this point is to offer as much constructive advice for updating the theme, so when the theme does become mandatory, we will continue to function unhindered.

A special thanks to Bleeh for creating an updated logo and for doing a lot of the theme re-designing. Over the next few weeks, the Administrators may be tweaking the theme of the new skin - if the style of things changes a bit, don't be alarmed. If you have any issues, please start a thread for them at The Sims Wiki talk:Community Portal.

Pay attention to later news/blog postings regarding the switch to the new skin; remember that the switch becomes mandatory on November 3, 2010.

--  LostInRiverview talk · blog 15:29, October 7, 2010 (UTC)

The New Skin information page has been created to coordinate changes across the wiki. Questions, issues and ideas regarding the new skin, themes, organization, etc. should be addressed on that page. --  LostInRiverview talk · blog 18:50, October 8, 2010 (UTC)
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