Forum:We want a new skin

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Dear Wikia,

I think I'm not the only one that absolutely loves Wikipedia's new skin, Vector. It's a more modern, improved version of Monobook, which usually tends to be people's favorite skin. I'm pretty sure a lot of people, including myself, would love to be able to use it here on Wikia. But not only that, we'd like you to allow wiki admins to choose whether they want to have Monaco or Vector to be their wiki's default skin. So who's with me?

Shroobario (talk • contribs) 15:08, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Note: This is a petition, not a vote. If you simply don't like it, don't say Oppose, just state your opinion. Jeffwang16 (Talk) (Contribs.) Email 21:46, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

A message from Jeffwang16

Joeyaa stated that "I'm not sure if any of you tried looking it up, but according to MediaWiki itself Vector isn't available for pre-1.16 releases and we're at 1.15.4. Don't blame Wikia, blame MediaWiki. Wikia's not going to upgrade its wikis to 1.16 until 1.16 is released as stable, so it won't even be possible for us to be on 1.16 for some time." (Joeyaa). And even if this petition is large enough that Wikia says OK, then we'd have to wait until version 1.16 of MediaWiki comes out stable, because if it's unstable, imagine the poor Staff drinking coffee, 12:00 AM in the morning! (Fixing glitches in the Vector skin) They wouldn't be so happy. ( >:-( ) Jeffwang16 (Talk) (Contribs.) Email 17:53, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Support

Sign below with "#~~~~"

Shroobario (talk • contribs) 15:08, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

1. Jeffwang16 (Talk) (Contribs.) Email 15:11, July 23, 2010 (UTC) - Oh! Yes, I like Vector WAY more than Monaco! Seriously!

Clyde1998 (talk • contribs)

Uil Team (talk • contribs)

Spark01 (talk • contribs) YAY VECTOR! Monaco sucks & lags too much. Vector is shiny, looks better, and lags a lot less.

Cobweb (talk • contribs) Monaco is the worst thing that ever happened to Wikia. I agree with Spark: Vector looks better, and it doesn't lag the way Monaco does. There are all those interactive features on Monaco, sure, but all of those COULD work on any other skin, it's just that the Wikia team made those features so that they only worked on Monaco. Presumably so that there would be at least one good thing about that awful skin. Why not just put those features on all skins, rather than forcing us to use Monaco?

Mick13 (talk • contribs) I agree with Cobweb on this.

McQueenMario (talk • contribs) Per all.

Andrew_Schlieffen (talk • contribs)I also think the vector skin should be enabled it would look great, furthermore you should also get to customize it using Vector.css if there is such a thing, also i noticed that the monaco skin loads slowly, come on we need a faster loading instead of waiting 5 minutes for the whole page to load.

Bentendo (talk • contribs) The Vector skin is miles better than Monaco. It took some getting used to, but after that initial resentment I began to love it. There is absolutely no reason to oppose this.

C Teng (talk • contribs) Per all.

Opposing Opinions

1.   Hooper   talk    contribs    email   16:52, July 23, 2010 (UTC)
2. Holly Thornblade^{The War to End All Wars- Have You Joined?} 17:27, July 23, 2010 (UTC) I don't feel that we should have to use it, because there are loading problems for it on my computer.
3. Offer it as an option for users to use, but not a default skin. --Zapwire (dial the waaaambulance) 22:48, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

General Comments

I was wondering the other day why in the world Wikia wasn't using Vector, because Wikia has close ties with Wikimedia. Jeffwang16 (Talk) (Contribs.) Email 15:11, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Actually, just not too long ago I read something in the forums that basically said, and I believe it was by a Wikia Staff member, that Vector would most likely give problems on Wikia sites as well as a few other downfalls. I'll try to see if I can find the page again. --† DustKateb ^{(Talk to Me!)} † 15:13, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

DustKateb, I think you are talking about this: http://community.wikia.com/wiki/Forum%3AVector_skin_for_Wikis%3F.

And yes, it was by Charitwo. Jeffwang16

(Talk) (Contribs.) Email 15:21, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

I'm on the fence on this one. I think it looks a little bit to gray on Wikipedia, but that's usually something that's easy to fix. I admire the fact that it looks simple and a little less cluttered than Monaco overall, but Monaco has some nice interactive features. I hope the new Wikia skin (if we're going to get a new skin) learns a few tricks from Vector. Bram^Talk/IGW 15:31, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

At the very least, we should be allowed to choose what we want the default skin on our wikis to be. I'm voting for this proposal because almost any skin would be better than Monaco. I understand if the Wikia staff doesn't want to enable Vector, just please, let us choose the default skin on our wikis. Cobweb (Talk)

Ironically, this is the feature article for the 23rd July 2010 when I visit Wikipedia: Confirmation bias.

I'm not totally opposed to to Vector, but I'm not a big fan either. I never log into Wikipedia, so I'm not sure what the flexibility of Vector is via preferences. All I know is I don't like to have to expando the Toolbox to get to it. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:38 AM PST 23 Jul 2010

I don't really get why anyone would oppose new skins being added, as long as everyone has the choice not to use those skins. It doesn't affect you, does it? Cobweb (Talk) I mean, I wouldn't have minded Monaco except that Wikia's trying to force us to use it as the default skin.

I agree that expanding the tool box is... an odd choice. However, I don't see why you wouldn't support the skin, especially since everyone who doesn't like Vector would be given the option to go back to Monaco. Besides, I think if you gave Vector a chance you'd probably end up liking it. At first I absolutely hated the new skin, but it grew on me. -- Talk 16:48, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

How long does it need to take for it to grow on me? I don't oppose new skins being added as long as the transition is handled well. The request here is not to add Vector, but sounds like making Vector the default skin which I do oppose. I don't oppose adding Vector as an option that admins can make the default on a per-wiki basis. I just don't think Vector is all that and shouldn't be the default skin. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 9:59 AM PST 23 Jul 2010

My proposal isn't about making Vector the default skin, I doubt Wikia would ever do that. I said it was to let the users choose Vector if they want, and let admins change it to their wiki's default skin if they wish.

Shroobario (talk • contribs) 17:05, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Okay. That wasn't clear to me in your original post. I still really don't like Vector that much, but I don't oppose it as a choice. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 10:09 AM PST 23 Jul 2010

I agree with you completely. It would probably be best to create a vector skin as an option at first (instead of default) and see what the community's response to it is. I think people would be satisfied to just be given the option to choose Vector... I highly doubt many people would care too much if it was implemented just as an optional skin and not a default one. -- Talk 17:13, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure if any of you tried looking it up, but according to MediaWiki itself Vector isn't available for pre-1.16 releases and we're at 1.15.4. Don't blame Wikia, blame MediaWiki. Wikia's not going to upgrade its wikis to 1.16 until 1.16 is released as stable, so it won't even be possible for us to be on 1.16 for some time. But that's just technological, but here's a comparison: Monaco is to Wikia what Vector is to Wikipedia. The two organizations aren't going to start developing the other's code randomly, not to mention another supported skin on Wikia would mean all new features for Wikia would take longer to be released, and there would be loads more bugs reported, all for the benefit of using one specific skin. If you ask me, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Vector is overrated, and to the comments about it being faster than Monaco, if Wikia started using vector, it would probably load at the same speed of Monaco with all the extra stuff Wikia adds in, so that isn't really a valid point. Monaco is a great skin, its Wikia's skin, and it's not likely for that to change anytime soon. Joey (talk) 17:37, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Monaco is, the last time I checked, the worst skin available to Wikia. It's slow, it looks really sloppy, it's hard to use for people who are used to Monobook. I've had my personal skin set to Monobook since Monaco first became mandatory. Even so, you make a valid point, so I suppose that getting Vector is a pipe dream. But come on, can't they at least just let us choose the default skin for our wikis? Cobweb (Talk)

Adding and supporting a new skin is no small task. It's easy to ask for things when you get it for free. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 11:21 AM PST 23 Jul 2010

I don't particularly care about getting a new skin, I just want the option to have a default skin other than Monaco. Cobweb (Talk)

Monaco's not that bad, Monobook beets it. I'm not a huge fan of vector just because they hide some of the UI under arrows that are collapsed by default (such as the toolbox). Vector is much more likely to become a "supported" skin, like monobook - but not to become a default, simply because Wikia would have to find a way to put in adverts to Vector if it can be seen by logged-out users, and the entire reason they forced monaco on everyone to start with was to have a common platform for adverts. -- RandomTime 19:32, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

If you're going to make the poll as biased as this one (by adding things like "winning" and "losing" to the vote options, for instance) you may as well have no poll at all. Constantly adding vote options doesn't help either. -- Porter21 ^(talk) 19:47, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

/agree. I don't think it should be a poll in the first place, a list of users who would like it, sure - but a poll implies voting, and this is a feature request for Wikia. -- RandomTime 19:59, July 23, 2010 (UTC)

Also, Wikia is not a democracy. The votes will only count if Wikia requests a vote and they have not. However, as a form of petition, this page is still useful. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 1:09 PM PST 23 Jul 2010

Personally I like Monaco but vector would be nice as an option. —Manyman ^(talk) 00:05, July 24, 2010 (UTC)

I think Wikia probably will add Vector as an option (seeing as the responses..) when 1.16 is stable (as its currently in Beta, and Vector is in that release), but it will take a while after they've first updated to include it, because they have to add things for the Shoutbox, ads, and all the other Wikia stuff.. --Lewis Cawte (Talk - Contact) 15:59, July 24, 2010 (UTC)