SUPERSEDED in August 2008 - see Forum:Skin changes and http://help.wikia.com/wiki/Help:Comparison_of_skin_features
Maybe everyone knows about it, but I was unaware of this until I saw some chatter on one of the wikia mailing lists last night. It seems that Wikia is moving to the quartz skin in a big way. Folks can continue to use the wikipedia skin (monobook), but the quartz UI (change with Special:Preferences- skins tab) has features like Chat that will not be available in monobook. Take a look at Special:Widgets, and drag drop one to the right hand pane. Pretty neat stuff.
When I was looking at this, I accidently set the default UI for the site to Quartz (smoke). I don't know how to put it back to monobook, but I can reset it to another Quartz skin.
Personally, I know my way around the wikipedia skin and so Quartz makes me uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I personally am going to try it out for a week. No one has to use it so it is a personal choice if you want to go through the pain of getting used to the new menu locations.
- ~ Phlox 21:41, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
- Yes, the Central Wikia mailing list has been full of discussion about the new skins. The Wikia management will not mind us changing the default to that, so I've no wish to change it back. From my brief looks at other Wikia while not logged in, I've been impressed at some of the new features. Presumably we can incorporate the best of them in people's standard preferred alternative skins. Robin Patterson 02:13, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
- For more fun, add the widget Slideshow and set it to random. It is can be really cool with all the images now on genealogy. You get a family picture juxtaposed with a coin depicting pioneers with an ox drawn wagon, then a map highlighting a county in Ohio, then some sort of demographic map. It is cool.
- Still waiting for someone to chat with.... ~ Phlox 05:37, 28 November 2007 (UTC)