The Sims Wiki:New skin
It's official: we have only until the new skin (nicknamed Oasis) will be mandatory. This page exists to coordinate the efforts of The Sims Wiki as we transition into the new skin. This page (and its associated discussion page) does not exist to complain about these changes, to suggest moving The Sims Wiki off Wikia, or to suggest ideas for circumventing the new skin.
- Switching to "Oasis" (new skin) - Click here to go directly to the skin preferences page
In the upper-right corner of your main browser window (if logged into Wikia), you will see your username, as well as links to 'My Home,' 'Talk,' 'More,' and 'Log out.' Click on 'More' and a drop-down menu will appear - select Preferences. Once the preferences page opens, select the 'Skin' tab. There will be three bullets available - select the one named 'New Wikia Look' and click 'Save'.
- Switching to Monaco (old skin) - Click here to go directly to the skin preferences page
Your username and avatar will appear in the upper-right corner of your browser window, on the right side of the large green 'Wikia' bar. Holding your cursor over your username (but not clicking) will give you a drop-down menu - select 'Preferences' from the drop-down menu. Once in preferences, select the 'Skin' tab. There will be three bullets available - select the one named 'Monaco' and click 'Save'.
Initiatives
This page will take a communication-based, administration-guided approach to revising nearly all pages on the wiki. Our initiatives will fall into a few main categories:
- Revision of article style
If you have used the new skin at all, and have looked at many of our articles, you have likely noticed the decrease in space for article content. In articles which contain infoboxes - a lot of them do - this decrease in room is even more apparent. As a community, we need to decide what to do with these infoboxes, or how we can more naturally place the information to fit the reduced space. This portion should be fully discussed before any implementation is carried out. A topic will be open on the discussion page for full discussion.
- Navigation
When using the new skin, you will notice that the sidebar navigation - those pop-out menus located on the left side of all pages - are no longer there. Instead, four drop-down menus have been placed at the top of pages. Those menus are each limited to seven items, meaning that it is difficult to determine what things from the sidebar nav were carried over, and which ones had to go. You can weigh in on your ideas for navigation on the discussion page.
- Themes and styles
Bleeh and a handful of other administrators have been tinkering with the appearance of The Sims Wiki under the new skin. In order to perfect the new theme, feedback and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
- Main Page
Under the new skin, there are minor issues regarding aesthetics on the main page. Aside from this, it is likely that with the reduced navigation capabilities of the top-menu over the sidenav, we are going to need to add more navigability to the main page, so that it links to many other places. Please chime in with any suggestions you may have.
News and Blogs
The staff here at The Sims Wiki have been trying to keep the community as up-to-date as possible on the transition into the new skin. There are a few blogs written specifically to discuss this subject - they are listed below, from newest (top) to oldest (bottom):
<bloglist timestamp="true" count=5 type="plain" title="New Skin News"> <title>The Sims Wiki News</title> <type>box</type> <order>date</order> <category>Blog posts/New Skin</category> </bloglist> more...
More postings will likely be added to this list as we progress towards the new skin. Additionally, our staff may be unable to provide the most current or most complete news possible. In these cases, Wikia Staff Blogs should have the proper information; many of the blogs located in Wikia's Staff Blog relate directly to the new skin, and to the transition process.
Questions, Issues and Concerns
Again, this page is meant to distribute information, not serve as a basis for complaining about the new skin or to plan a move from Wikia - if you are so inclined to do that, please limit it to the the Community Portal discussion page. However, if you have questions or issues with the new skin, your messages on The Sims Wiki talk:New skin are appreciated, and we will try to respond as best as possible. Unfortunately, The Sims Wiki staff do not have all the answers, and we may be too unfamiliar with a particular issue or problem to be much help to you. In those cases, we will likely refer you to the Community Central Forum, or will advise you to Contact Wikia Staff directly in order to address a technical problem regarding your use of the wiki.