Spiral Knights - Color Theme Pages

Color Theme Pages - Thoughts?

9 replies [Last post]

Sun, 05/18/2014 - 03:01

Dracora-Speaking

1)The Dusky Page
2)The Cool Page
3)The Military Page

These are all Color Theme pages. They are small, informative pages about what to expect with various color schemes. They also provide a standard of color sampling for dabbling artists. They have their own individual pages in order to provide focus and direct links to category pages for items in that theme, though I'm not a fan of making individual pages for things, at least this functions in an efficient manner.

Thanks especially to Wiki Editor: Trillium for making the wonderful Color Template on these pages.

So far, user feedback for the pages has been highly positive. In general people like the idea. I'm bringing the subject to light in its own thread for wiki editors to discuss more. The topic came up in a forum discussion about the costumes on the wiki (node 100365).

So, which of these formats is best (the coding in 1,2,or 3)? Here are my thoughts:

1) IMO, best one. Short, to the point, gives a link right away to the category page for dusky-themed things. This encourages players browsing the wiki to use category pages more - category pages are amazing tools, and many many players use them. But so many more don't even know about them. Would probably never need updating.

2) Pretty good, annoying to update.

3) Bad. Visually the most pleasing, perhaps, but horizontal rows are bad - especially ones that might grow indefinitely.

Additionally, I propose the following wiki standard (sorry if this isn't condoned/allowed, I'm not sure if it is or not):

Add Color-Themed category tags to the images for relevantly colored accessories. This is because accessories don't have their own individual pages, so they won't show up in a category search unless the files themselves are tagged. Very easy to update with new accessories. Please note - category tags don't belong on images for items that have their own pages - the category tag is on the page itself for those. Here is what it looks like, and I like it a lot:

Military-Themed Category Page

Please discuss :)

Mon, 05/19/2014 - 05:05

Hexzyle

Please note - category tags don't belong on images for items that have their own pages

I think it is, actually. You stick a category tag on everything related to the category in question, regardless of whether or not it's redundant from a perspective of viewing the category page. The category page is intended to also be for the purpose of sorting wiki pages, rather than entirely for forming a reader-friendly reference page. Well that's my interpretation anyway.

Following the same logic, I think 2 is probably the best. It's complete, informative, doesn't rely overly on viewers looking at the category page (3) and won't break horizontally (1)

Mon, 05/19/2014 - 09:54

Dracora-Speaking

@hexyl

but sooooo annoying to update ;n; (all...of them...;n;)

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 15:39

Dracora-Speaking

Yeeeeah

2) and 3) just generate more work for us when the game updates with relevant content. Since pages should be concise, simple information about the scheme on the page itself is all that's needed. A link to the appropriate category page is just nice, as well as useful.

Wed, 05/21/2014 - 17:26

Dracora-Speaking

Phew!

yeah with each wave of new items in their styles, having yet more pages to update is simply not the best way to go.

gonna stick with option 1) to start, for now.

If other wiki users wish to use the formats in the other options I listed, the coding is in the history page - simply compare selected versions to get the codes for the tables I used, be careful, and whatnot. Wiki is for everyone, so have at it. But do so with completion, never half-butt a job.

Regarding categories: but we have a chance to let it function as a non-wiki-editor-friendly page, hexzyle :3. It's pretty unconventional to do so...and I'm awaiting staff feedback on the subject.

Edit: From Clotho's Talk page:
This is the sort of thing that is best discussed in the Wiki Editors forums, as it's best to have a consensus before making any major change. Whatever the majority agrees upon is fine with me! --Clotho 17:17, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Thu, 05/22/2014 - 00:10

Dracora-Speaking

2) For categories:

OPTION A)

Limit [[category:x-themed]] tags of images to just images of accessories . This lets the category page function in a unique way for people just casually browsing the wiki - sorting MOST costumes with italic names (which happens with redirects), combat items with solid names, and accessories as images in the category: x-themed. I'm in full support of making casual users more aware of category pages.

Note: this ONLY applies consistently to [[category: x-themed]] pages, not every category page.

Military Category Page
In conjunction with a page with this format:
Military

Yes, BOTH pages will be used with my proposed method.

Experimental. So good. Such bias from me. But so good IMO. Easy to update...cause it updates by itself as long as new pages introduced due to promotions/game updates have proper category tags on them.

Too unconventional? well then...

OPTION B)
leave [[category:x-themed]] tags off of all images. Create pages for each individual accessory with redirects to the main page that lists that accessory, like so:

Military Bolted Vee (Accessory) - this page would redirect to Bolted Vee, but the item would show up as italics under M in the Military-Themed category page. Alternatively, pages could be named like this: Accessory: Bolted Vee (Military). This isn't as user-friendly, but the page would only exist as a redirect medium, there only to show up in a category search - this way, all accessories in the style show up under A in the category, so you don't have to strain your eyeballs looking for all the different accessories in the category page. Searching for said item would just bring up the most relevant page, for the non-wiki-editor.

OPTION C)
put relevant [[category: x-themed]] tags on all images. I won't participate in this as I don't agree with it, but if that's what people want, I won't fight it.

I like option A the most.

Wed, 05/21/2014 - 22:53

Flowchart

why not have a category and main pages. Categories might confuse people especially if there's paging.

Wed, 05/21/2014 - 23:28

Dracora-Speaking

@flowchart

yes we are going to have both pages. This thread is talking about the different formats of both. Feedback on format would be great :D

Wed, 05/21/2014 - 23:38

Flowchart

1) Best one to edit, but I think new users would be confused by category pages. Especially if there are many images and they are automatically split up into many pages.
2) One page for everything is a major plus but it ends up looking uneven having everything on one page.
3) Oh, I hadn't looked at 3 yet but when I was looking at 2 the first thing I thought of was that it might be better if they were horizontal, but yeah the page stretching would be annoying. Maybe if it could be split into multiple rows as needed.

A) The idea is a good one and definitely easy to edit, but it would look like a jumble with everything in there.
B) How about having pages and links to images? That's what I meant by both
C) It would lead to a bigger jumble unfortunately.
So, yeah.

Thu, 05/22/2014 - 00:39

Dracora-Speaking

MESSY

my what a mess, looking at this whole thread over time....

Too messy. The examples I've given are expired, etc. So, the node New Forum Node: 101100 starts this idea fresh over, and explains the intent/idea much more clearly (I think).

If I could close threads, I would close this one >:3