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Here we are again. Back with another installment of "Recent Wiki Changes". As I stated in the last blog post I made, I am using this series to get the word out on some changes that have been made, as well as what is planned.
There was not a June installment since that month was mainly designated toward the verification of Enchanted Forest content and was not that active otherwise.
FandomDesktop
If you want to change your settings to start using FandomDesktop, click here.
If you haven't heard, FandomDesktop is the new massive change to the interface and design that is gradually rolling out to all Fandom wikis for PC users. You may even see it in place on our wiki if you opted to use it already, or if it has already been fully pushed out.
Here are a few of the changes that have arrived with FandomDesktop:
- New theme customization options and expansion of theme capabilities.
- "Tabbers" (or Divided Sections) have received a visual update on the pages they are visible on (examples: Armors, Abilities, Weapons)
- Navigation buttons have been moved by Fandom.
- Three buttons now move with you as you scroll;
- an Edit button, which allows you to edit a page from any position without needing to find an edit button on a section or at the top of a page,
- an Expanded View button, which allows the content of pages to spread out farther across the width of your monitor, and
- a Table of Contents button, which will make navigating to each section of a page a lot easier from anywhere on the page.
- Galleries have been overhauled and now follow MediaWiki's most recent standard. For more information, visit this blog post.
New Theme...
We were recently given additional options for customizing our wiki's theme. I decided to take advantage of this and updated it to improve the overall look and feel of the wiki.
Here is a list of what has changed between the old theme and the new:
- One consistent color. In the old theme, we used a darker color for our Navigation menu and a lighter color for our buttons, tables, and galleries. With the new theme, I decided to take the lighter color and made that the color now seen throughout the wiki.
- Header backdrop. The new theme designer removed the old Image Background. Instead, I redesigned the old Navigation Header image to fit nicely with the new colored background.
- Logo. While working on the theme, I decided to try my hand at making a modified version of the Dungeon Quest logo that fit with the wiki. It now replaces the text that was there on the old theme.
- Dark Mode.
...wait, Dark Mode?!
That's right! There is now an optional dark mode that can be toggled in your Preferences or by pressing the š button in the top right. I fine-tuned the color scheme to serve as a nice contrast to our default Light Mode, since I anticipate that it will be used by a significant portion of our users.
Optimizing for FandomDesktop
As with all new major updates that change the way things work, some changes still need to be made to our wiki in order to fully make the transition.
Please message one of our wiki staff (denoted by an Orange or Purple name on the main page) if you still see the following:
- Formatting issues with Templates, Images, or Text when viewing pages normally or when using Expanded View.
- Text on Dark Mode appearing very hard or impossible to read
- Broken galleries
- Any other issues relating to the viewing of content.
Consistency
One of the things that I have been working to tackle recently is the consistency of content across pages. This ranges from having a standard design for Dungeon pages to making sure that content is easy to browse for. Once these issues are resolved, the majority of the large work will end up being completed for the time being.
The following sub-sections go over what I want to fix and why. Please mention me with what you would like to see me fix if it is not listed below:
Wave Defence
The Wave Defence page is something that I really want to put a lot of work into improving from its current state. Current issues include missing information, clunky and hard-to-read tables, and missing EXP values in comparison to normal dungeon runs.
Cosmetics
The Cosmetics page is pretty nicely developed as it is, but my dedication to using Tabbers (divided sections) has led to people asking me about the location of something that is merely inside one of these divided sections. The changes I will make to this page will remove the Tabbers and place the tables into more appropriate and easier to navigate sections.
Abilities/Armors/Weapons
One common complaint from users is that our tables on the Abilities, Armors and Weapons pages do not convey enough information, and still require people to visit the page to find everything they need. I want to work with our other editors to put the average base and average upgrade count onto the Armor and Weapon pages in a way that makes these tables still easy to read for people on Mobile as well.
Another thing I would like to do is move the Armor tables used on Dungeon pages to the actual Armors page, so that the values listed are actually correct. This will also allow the images to (finally) show with the armor sets and make the aforementioned change a bit easier to complete in the long run.
Module Data (back end stuff)
Whenever you visit a page about an Armor, Weapon, or Ability (before Aquatic, that is), you are given the average base stats and upgrade counts for the item at each obtainable rarity. Unfortunately, we did not map this out for items in Aquatic Temple, and now we are behind with Enchanted Forest as well. This is something I want to participate in the completion of, since it is another item that is frequently complained about.
Dungeon Page structure
Even with some changes I made recently and earlier on, I still need to make it so each page is consistent in terms of structure. Underworld and earlier have the general idea that I am going for, but I randomly decided to stop at Samurai and have not gone back and fixed it.
While the pages now have most of the same sections in order now, the main thing I want to work on are the Bosses section of each page, since I feel like they do not convey enough information involving the attacks. I would like to change this and expand upon this in a fashion similar to what I did on the Underworld and earlier pages.
New "Mechanics" Hub page
The previous Mechanics page was taken out of commission when the Navigation at the top was fixed a while ago to what is shown now, since the word "Mechanics" no longer had to link to an actual page. I would like to bring this back in some way with more information than ever before. In this way, it can serve as the skeleton for the rest of the pages within this category and give enough information to ensure that people don't need to hop all over the place just to find a few pieces of information.
Abilities [unlikely to occur]
The final thing on my list of items involves changing every usage of the word "Spell" to "Ability". My reasoning for this is because the canonical in-game usage of this item is "Ability", and it would help to reduce any confusion between items that scale with spell power.
Already completed
Here are the items that I have already fixed that were on my original list.
- Inconsistent File Names: Some items had completely random names or names that made the item hard to find which resulted in frequent duplicate files.
- Damage per click: Abilities that were missing "damage per click" values were fixed thanks to User:TheTreasureHunter providing me with the abilities that did not have a value yet or needed verification.
- Standardize "Cosmetic Drop" on Dungeon Pages: Some pages were missing the drop, and others were using a weird table that scaled weirdly on small monitors and mobile devices. I created a new table for the dungeon cosmetic drop and used it on each dungeon page.
- Missing "summoned mobs" photos: Orbital, Volcanic, and Enchanted were missing information and a photo relating to the summoned mobs that spawn on those maps. The images were provided by User:TheTreasureHunter.
Disappointment
In my last blog post, I mentioned the hiring of two new Discussion Moderators to help with moderating the Board and all other comment sections throughout the wiki, since all but one of the Moderators at the time had gone inactive. Everything has gone great...
...that was until just hours before making this blog post. I ended up having to demote one of them after discovering they committed a serious violation of our Rules. It wasn't necessarily the demotion that hurt; it was the fact that I trusted them to the point where I ignored the thoughts of the other editors and instead picked the person that I personally thought would make a great choice. I made these picks with extreme confidence in both of them being able to uphold our guidelines and portray our wiki in a positive light.
At this time, unless designated by another staff member, a replacement will not be sought after. Please do not ask any of us about it.
Vacation
By the time this goes out to everyone, I will already be on my way out the door for one of two extended leaves.
The first of these leaves will last from July 17th to the 24th. The second of these leaves will last from August 1st to the 9th.
During the time periods listed, I will be completely inactive and will not be able to assist with any editing/moderation/help purposes.