Forum:New appearance

For the longest time, we've been the NIWA wiki with the least unique skin in all ways - even DQ Wiki, the other NIWA wiki not much changed from the default white Monobook/Vector, has a unique background image from the standard MediaWiki flower. I think we're overdue to fix this.

Here are some concept images of the new scheme I've been dabbling with: [1] [2] I chose to take the blue in the logo and 2px-thick borders used for templates, and put them together to get something simple but fresh. It's based on Monobook because the skin poll showed pretty conclusively it was the favoured skin, though a Vector-based variant would make sense once the Monobook one is close to done.

A few notes:

1. I'm pretty set on the "shades of blue with 2px borders" theme, while keeping strong colours for templates. You can argue for something completely different, but you'll probably need to provide your own mockups before others will support you.
2. The background is currently a solid colour, but an image-based background could work as well (if it's not eye-catching, the background isn't supposed to be a focal point).
3. Things like infoboxes and navboxes will probably get a redesign to match this, but it might have to be a "stage 2" kind of thing; it's surprisingly difficult to design a new table format while the old format still exists.

So, have a look at the concepts and give me your opinions/ideas. Toomai Glittershine The Superlative 11:39, 18 July 2014 (EDT)

The Borders look great... but in my opinion the background shouldn't changed, and the mono-purple background just looks bad. Laikue (talk) 11:52, 18 July 2014 (EDT)

I like the borders, and I agree that is should be changed. I do like the idea of the background, maybe showcasing all of the playable characters in SSB4 (or at least the more popular ones) or the evolution of the original eight. Something like the picture I posted to the side,

but less eye-catching, and maybe white instead of black. ...a new Nuttais approaching... 11:55, 18 July 2014 (EDT)

Although the design may not be outstanding, it doesn't necessarily need to be outstanding. I suppose if I were to suggest a background image, we could just go with one that shows all of the series symbols, though it might need updating when Smash 4 comes out and reveals a stage from Kuru Kuru Kururin. Even as it is, though, the design is definitely an improvement on what we have now, so I'd be happy to go ahead with it. Toast ltimatum 11:58, 18 July 2014 (EDT)