User talk:Bigred

test new server

Looks like it's up, though I'm getting some certificate errors on my browser. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 07:37, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Thank you for the notice, we are working on that currently. Server migrations always take a bit longer than you intended.. Bigred (talk) 10:38, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Just an update, while I (Virginia) am able to access it fine so far, reports from Canada (Montreal) have had intermittent to no access, getting a 404 Error. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 22:38, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Thanks Eiji-kun. Any people seeing a 404 are attempting to connect to the old server that is down. Either the DNS changes haven't reached them yet as they propagate across the web, or they should clear their browser cache and web history and try the site URL again. Many times when a server is moved, regular users will have the old IP address/DNS setting cached on their local machines from repeated visits. Bigred (talk) 23:38, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Frontend refresh

Actually, you guys are the experts on this one. The frontpage has admittedly been kinda stagnant...mostly because I personally don't have the design expertise to come up with anything better. I'll implement any sort of design or template you can give. Surgo (talk) 17:34, 7 December 2016 (MST)

Surgo, here's the first initial frontpage design refresh if you want to take a stab at it.

• 2 column ( as we have now)
• Left column upper section - Introduction section (as we have now)
• Left column lower section - "Explore the Wiki" section, that has prominent links, and a sentence of description for 4 of our major wiki content subject, (Encyclopedia, Publications, Homebrew, SRDs). Feel free to model this section loosely off the left column of dandwiki.com's frontpage. These 4 subsections can have sub-links under the description if there isn't a single page to send readers to.
• Right column upper - Community favorite (as we have now)
• Right column lower - Community News (as we have now)

I suggest removing the rounded caps from the section heading and going with white section title text on blue bars. I'd use the dark blue from the wiki's links. We'll make our theme colors the tan/creme with dark blue accent colors in keeping wth what we have already. Later, each of the sections will get a small horizontal image atop them and a tiling background is coming - but we'll deal with that later. I'm a computer artist originally, so I can kick out images as we need them. Bigred (talk) 01:42, 8 December 2016 (MST)

So I actually had this weird idea. As much as I despise Windows 8 and 10's setup, I could almost see it useful for being a wiki's frontpage. That is, you have whatever blurb on top, and then 4-6 random small windows/icons leading to various articles on the wiki (or favored articles on the wiki rather). I have no idea how viable that is.

Also, since I see this coming up a lot and we are expecting new users, I was thinking of ways to make things more user friendly with formatting. I wasn't sure if it was better on the front page or in the editing pages on top, but I'm thinking a big red button (figuratively speaking) above saying "Don't understand the formatting, click here" and giving a simplified summary of how to work the wiki. Like "don't delete your title" and "remove the comment tags or your stuff won't show up". That's unrelated, but I figured I'd mention it just in case that is front page stuff. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 17:42, 7 December 2016 (MST)

The above was edited, so I'm replying to the latter part of that. I had a question about the filing backdrop; wouldn't that be distracting to the eyes and for any text placed upon it? Then again I can't really tell until I see it, but just noting this concern. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 01:46, 8 December 2016 (MST)

Not to worry Eiji-kun, the tiling background is very subtle and designed to go behind the main content area of the wiki. So the light creme main area of the page where the articles are is unaffected. The background would only appear in the header, left navbar and footer areas, which are that darker tan. Bigred (talk) 01:57, 8 December 2016 (MST)