User blog comment:Rupert Giles/Prototype for a new article layout/@comment-294719-20150115035209

I won't lie: it's not godawful as I expected. It's nice how the page controls follow you, and I especially like the ToC being right there. However, there are a few complaints I have:

1) The text is too big. Reduce it to a size that's easily readable but doesn't take up so much screen space. It reduces scrolling.

2) Expand the content area to at least the same width as it was with Oasis.

3) Having ads right in the middle of the content is ridiculous. People read articles to learn about the subject, not to look at ads for products they probably won't buy anyway. If anything, that makes them even MORE likely to use an adblocker just so their experience isn't ruined.

4) If you're going to keep ads in the middle of the content (which, again, is incredibly dumb), then at least remove ads that replace the wiki's background. Most wiki themes are carefully crafted for the most immersive experience possible, and having both ads in the middle of the content and replacing the background of the page would completely wreck the experience and make people more likely to never use the service again.

5) Bring back the bottom bar. There's no reason not to have it. It just made everything a million times easier to get to. Having the My Tools menu buried under a gear icon on the left-hand side may add a little more article space, but it's in an unfamiliar position that's terrible for users who don't like icon-based interfaces. Which brings me to my next point...

6) Give users the option to have descriptions next to the icons. Not everyone likes a solely icon-based interface as such interfaces confuse them.

7) Why is text in blockquotes so huge? It dominates the rest of the content and just looks hideous.

Positive points, now...

1) The Recommended Content section is a lot better than the outgoing Read More section. It links to more content in a visually more appealing way.

2) The styling is cleaner. Combined with a wider content area and smaller text this could actually look great. As it is now, though, it looks okay.

3) I like how the dropdown menus at the top of the page don't take up staggering amounts of space like they used to.

4) I noticed that literally as I was browsing you removed the "Share" button and replaced it with individual buttons for each social network, which is great as it allows you to share content quicker.

5) Having "Must Watch Videos" in the content is kind of neat. It allows content pertaining to the subject to be embedded directly into the article.

6) The fact that you're optimizing this for touchscreens is really awesome. It'll make Wikia far more usable for those who have them.

That's it for now. I'm personally looking forward to seeing this evolve over the coming weeks, but I'm still kind of wary as, quite frankly, Wikia has made a few huge mistakes in the past, to the point that missteps aren't really surprising anymore.