Board Thread:Support Requests - Getting Started/@comment-203328-20180607165314/@comment-1370845-20180608205602

Hey Haldarn. I'd just like to correct a few misunderstandings here.

First of all, the idea that the Mercury skin is unsuited to handling data required for videogame wikis is untrue. While it is obviously more complicated to handle than just prose and lists, it is definitely not impossible with the right design. If you look at w:c:finalfantasy:Behemoth (Final Fantasy XII) or even a more complicated w:c:finalfantasy:Behemoth (Final Fantasy VIII), you'll notice that all the data is displayed fine for both desktop and mobile users. This of course is one wiki out of several. You can also find examples on other wikis -- such as w:c:wowwiki:Druid -- where you'll see that data can be organized and can display correctly, making it easy for readers to find the information they need from a page.

Secondly, your solution of "just ask users to display full site on Desktop" is an impractical solution. Right now, FANDOM's numbers find that the vast, vast majority of articles being read on mobile devices are done with the mobile skin. Mobile users also have very different expectations to desktop users, which is why optimized skins are preferable (in this case Mercury), and also why the solution of just forcing desktop version is ineffective. Keep in mind here that Zenoxio is a single logged-in user, and the majority of visitors to your site will not be logged in nor will they file a complaint here; you won't have time to message each of these users and tell them to "just switch to full desktop mode on your phone", they'll simply look elsewhere to find what they're looking for, which would be a shame as it'd mean all the work the editors of FFXIclopedia put into the wiki goes to waste. All that plus technical reasons that make this extremely difficult on a case-by-case basis means it's simply not something FANDOM is going to pursue.

The problem is not with the data itself that needs to be displayed, but how that data is being organized. Use of MediaWiki tables is fine, but use of tables for controlling layout is ill advised practice not only for mobile, but also for desktop. It may at this stage appear tempting at this stage to just resign the mobile site to being a lost cause, but there are ways to improve usability for people like Zenoxio in future.

In the linked example for FFXIclopedia here, you'd be better off using templates to store the Description/Connections as they are now, and if the templates were classified as "Design", then they'd display fine on both screens. For the infobox, converting the infobox to use the PortableInfobox tool will solve the problem on both screens and won't sacrifice the desktop display if the CSS is done to replicate the original design.

This is far from an impossible task, it will just take manpower (or probably botpower) to figure out how to redesign some templates to display on both. We (the Vanguard/Portability team) will be happy to help assist in any way possible, and I'm here if you have any questions.