Hi DanTMan, :) That's an interesting idea. We recently changed the footer area to try to funnel more people into editing/exploring/rating/sharing as they reach the bottom of the article. We're measuring the click-rate there and we'll probably try a few things to find out what works best. As we try some things out we'll add this to the hopper... it's an interesting combination.
Thanks, John Q. DanTMan wrote: > ^_^ I think it's time for some nice positive feedback on what parts of > Quartz I've liked as the skin has changed around having various > different layouts. > > For this one, I think a bit of feedback on what I really liked in the > different versions of the Quartz footers so that the nice features can > be emphasized. > > Just for some information on the difference. > This is the quartz footer before the recent update (From an old > screenshot on the Animepedia): > Pre upgrade footer > > And this is the one after the recent update (From a recent screenshot > on Inside Wikia [Since the coloring looks bad on Animepedia since I > colored the skin before the update]): > Post update footer > > I'm not saying either version is better. I'm actually saying that each > one has things that I love about it, and rather than a revert or > stick, a merge of both versions would be awesome! > > Now I'll detail the differences: > Feature > Pre-Upgrade > Post-Upgrade > General Style Footer was contained completely in a colored, curved > bar. > Curved bar was removed, everything and more is now in white box. > Rate this article > Rate bar was located in the curved bar. > Rate bar is now located at the bottom of the white box. > Share this article Share this article was located in the curved bar > as icons, and hovering over the icon would give you a nice transparent > bubble with the name. > Share this article is now a section in the footer box and has the > icons with the name to the right. > > New stuff: Edit, Discuss, Edit information, Random page, New page, and > Email article links were added, the first 3 had nice text to attract > newbies to it. > > Now for a bit of input on what is great about each of the versions and > a little bit on disadvantages of some stuff: > * The new edit, discussion, edit information, and other buttons are > nice for newbies and actually attract them to them unlike 90% of the > other stuff on the page. In fact, just from looking at it, I can tell > you that any new person would be more tempted to click on that link > down there than they would be to click the edit tab. > * The links on the right are nice an useful for new users who always > want to find their way around the site, e-mail things to friends, and > are always asking "How do I create an article?". > * The curved bar worked quite nice with the visual flow of the page. > Everything that was on it fit in it's place, and it nicely > complemented the rest of the article contents. > * However since the curved bar has been removed in the new version, it > is missing the visual flow. The article no longer flows off it's > island onto the background. > * In addition, the new links are not as helpful for established > editors. They take up more of the page than they help. > > Now is what I think would be a good step forward: > * Don't remove the new links and stuff. It's great for newbies. > * Put the curved bar back. > * Since the links aren't as helpful for the experienced editors. Allow > us to collapse the box and store that state in a cookie that persists > across all wikia. (But yes, making it so that the collapse cookie for > an anon is different than the collapse cookie for other users would be > a good idea. That way users logging in on public computers won't end > up collapsing the box in their account and making newbies using the > same computer not see it). > * Move the rate and share it back to the curved bar. > * Since we'd have a curved bar, and a box. For visual style, why not > make it a kind of folding panel. The curved bar slides down to reveal > a helpful panel. And slides up when you don't need it. > > It's a very bad graphical representation because I used images from > different wiki. But here's an idea of what it could end up like. > Ideal Quartz Footer > > As you'll see the new links are still there. We have the rate and > share stuff back inside the curved bar and it is there. Just for a > graphical tweak I moved the "Unrate it" link so that it is actually in > a good location this time (It was a little high in the previous > version). And I added an extra separator with a bad arrow made from > the stars (Of course a proper one would be made for the real thing) > that would allows you to collapse the extra section. [Perhaps we could > even allow for widgets inside there? There is room for a third area > for those people who have room, and Widgets are optional] > > -- > ~Daniel Friesen(Dantman) of: > -The Gaiapedia (http://gaia.wikia.com) > -Wikia ACG on Wikia.com (http://wikia.com/wiki/Wikia_ACG) > -and Wiki-Tools.com (http://wiki-tools.com) > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Wikia-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikia-l mailing list [email protected] http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wikia-l
