User blog comment:Sannse/Your First Look at the New Wikia/@comment-52915-20100819144429

I'll echo all the complains about this being more like a blog/social network than an encyclopedia.


 * Immediately pointing out the last editor and their avatar at the top of the page and saying who added images is too much. This is a step in the direction of letting people sign articles. People who need to know this information can access it through the page history. Pointing it out for everyone to see is just showing off.


 * The gigantic hub links are costing wikis individuality. As Porter21 pointed out "This design makes it look like the wiki is just a subsection of some overarching, staff-run master website."


 * From a logged-out user's view, there's the Wikia hub banner, the banner ad, the wiki's banner, article title and last edited by section all at the top. A giant blue border and a very wide sidebar at the sides. The article is crammed into a tiny bit of space, a lot of which will be taken-up by an image or infobox.


 * There's too much emphasis on uploaded images. This would be fine for a wiki like Commons which is a collection of free use images, but most wikis I edit or visit use mostly fair use images. These images should only be used in relevant context within articles. They shouldn't be put there to look pretty by themselves. (Renaming them photos is illogical as Porter21 has already pointed out.)


 * The section edit buttons should probably say "Edit" on them. Wasn't people not understanding what they were for a problem in the past?


 * "Like, Share, Follow" is again too social network site. A wiki community should be a group of people working together to make an informative site on a subject. Not come on to discuss and share interests and hobbies. Not to say people can't do the second, but the first should definitely not be sacrificed for the second.


 * This isn't too big an issue, but "discussion", "edit", "history", "move", "delete" etc. seem to be scattered across the page or made more than one click away. I suppose it doesn't make a difference for people who use keyboard shortcuts, but tabs/buttons across the top just seem handier. (Where will FastDelete buttons appear in this skin?)

I know staff are going to try to address a lot of the problems people are posting here. As in you'll adjust the skin to get around these problems, but is there any chance that the idea will be dropped outright or as everyone else is asking, the old skins at least be maintained a user preference if they are popular enough.