User talk:Nicjansma
Sarna News
Archive
Talk Archives:
Current
Sarna.net Design Refresh
I'm currently working on a design refresh for Sarna.net, which has looked mostly the same since the wiki opened in 2006. The goal of the refresh is give a modern visual update to Sarna and to bring consistency across the News, Wiki, Forums and Downloads section.
You can enable the new look by choosing the SarnaTest skin in your preferences.
Here's what I've done so far:
- Updated the top navigation bar to be more prominent and easier to navigate with.
- Changed the global font (from Verdana to Open Sans)
- Increased the font size slightly
- Changed the background color
- Many small visual updates
- Made the site navigation responsive on mobile devices
- Wiki:
- Made the left navigation section easier to navigate and cleaned up some of the links
- Made several parts of the wiki responsive on mobile devices (more to come)
- Many misc visual style updates and fixes
To Do:
- Update the Downloads section
- Update the Forums
- Update the Sarna logo
I'm interested in getting your feedback on the update so far. You can enable the new look by choosing the SarnaTest skin in your preferences. Please leave any comments as you see fit. Nicjansma (talk) 11:11, 5 August 2013 (PDT)
Sarna.net Design Refresh Comments
(Leave your comments here)
- I care for content more than for fancy presentation. The change is a slight improvement in my book, nothing substantial in my eyes but there's certainly nothing wrong with it.
Given that Sarna is mostly perceived as the BT wiki these days, it's a bit odd that wiki isn't the first item in the navigation bar - and the "Sarna.net >>" link goes straigth to the wiki and not to some top level directory. My suggested order of items would therefore be wiki, news, forum, downloads and it goes without saying that the downloads section needs a massive cleanup. You might want to ask Catalyst if they'd allow you to host certain files that used to be free downloads from previous iterations of the official BT page: the House Books, Lawyers, Guns, & Money, also important fan work such as Objective Raids: 3067, etc.
Finally, I note that the ad sections are back even for registered user accounts. They are a bit annoying once you get used to working on a screen without ad bars... Frabby (talk) 14:51, 5 August 2013 (PDT)
- Thanks for your feedback Frabby. There will be a new landing page for the "Sarna.net >> link". While Sarna is currently known for the wiki, the News section is new and I want to promote it. I will be updating the downloads section a bit after the design refresh. And not to worry, the ads will be hidden when the updated look goes live if you're using the NoAds skin. Nicjansma (talk) 15:05, 5 August 2013 (PDT)
- I've tired using the new layout here and at work, and it looks a bit odd at times. In some pages it's fine, but when I look at the front page and article pages, about a quarter of the screen on the right is white space. That may be a setting that I've missed somewhere in my preferences.
- When I use the history section of an article to review changes that've been made, I'm getting the same problem, except that the text isn't formatting correctly - it's being truncated on the right hnd side. BrokenMnemonic (talk) 09:08, 6 August 2013 (PDT)
- What browser are you using? Any chance you can email me a screen shot? nic at nicj dot net. Nicjansma (talk) 10:11, 6 August 2013 (PDT)
- I've sent an email with a couple of screenshots in - I'm using Firefox build 22.0. BrokenMnemonic (talk) 10:48, 6 August 2013 (PDT)
- What browser are you using? Any chance you can email me a screen shot? nic at nicj dot net. Nicjansma (talk) 10:11, 6 August 2013 (PDT)
- Personally I don't like the new layout much; plus, in Firefox (which is all that I use) the font is messed up and looks constantly bolded and is much too large. Therefore, if you do change it for everyone, I suggest that you leave an old version for us editors to use if we want. That is my two cents. -BobTheZombie (talk) 10:55, 6 August 2013 (PDT)