Forum:New wiki background

Hi League of Legends Wiki,

My name is Mark, and I'm a member of Wikia's Content Team. For the next week, I'll be helping out the wiki with several aspects, two of which are quite important. First of all, I'll be categorizing all uncategorized images so the wiki will have a strong image category structure and people will be able to find images more easily. Aside from uncategorized images, I'll also be making sure that all pages are categorized and that all redirects are working (and some more maintance). Secondly, I'd like to propose a rather big change, namely an image background, which I'll be detailing below.

Currently the wiki has a plain, blue background that doesn't appeal to new visitors to the wiki, and in my opinion that has to change. What I'd like to do is add a new background which doesn't distract users from reading the content, but does make the wiki shine. Now, I know this is a big change, but it'll make the wiki look even nicer than it already does, and will attract more readers to the wiki to read all your hard work (the current colour scheme/wordmark won't be changed).

I myself will be proposing a background here, and you guys/gals can vote if you like or dislike it. I'm also calling you, the community, to propose (a) nice background(s) (feel free to add backgrounds to this post). I know there are some very creative people out there, so if you'd like to express your creativity this will be a great time! I'll upload "my" background, so I guess the voting can commence tomorrow! Please comment below if you have any suggestions or if you (dis)like the idea. Cheers, Mark  ( talk ) 15:23, June 8, 2011 (UTC)

Comments
Maaaagnificient, we were discussing and picking backgrounds (also figuring out a better color scheme) last week but didn't really get anywhere with that... 15:33, June 8, 2011 (UTC)

I'm interested as long as it doesn't burn my eyes out of their sockets like the League of Legends forums did when they changed their background.Sagee Prime &quot;You Calm Down the Thunder and I&#39;ll Reap the Whirlwind&quot; 18:26, June 8, 2011 (UTC)

I agree, the background really has to change. We failed hard last time we tried this tho-, since LoL has not so many suitable backgrounds.. Looking forward to any suggestion you may have :). 18:58, June 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd gladly work with you on that. What size do we talk about for the background? Like, which size would you provide for us ? D3Reap3R D3Reap3R_Pathway.png 19:46, June 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * Great to hear :)! The recommended dimensions are 2000x800 with the Wikia Article area cut out. The file format should be .jpg with a filesize of less than 100kB. Also, if the image will not be fixed (the image won't move when you move the page down), make sure to add gradients to the bottom, right and left side of the image. Mark  ( talk ) 19:59, June 8, 2011 (UTC)

Just randomly found this. Perhaps it could be useful ? It's a lil small (1238 × 731) tho-.. 20:56, June 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * That would look like this, with a fixed background. Personally I think we need something with a bit more blue, but if you guys/gals like it we can also settle for this one. In the meantime I'm looking for other images. Mark  ( talk ) 13:31, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * I hope that changing background will not alter the wiki-language.. :P On a more serious note, yeh, it looks horrible with all the blue we have here, but.... who said we have to keep that color ? :O 13:39, June 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * I kinda like #2 Sagee Prime &quot;You Calm Down the Thunder and I&#39;ll Reap the Whirlwind&quot; 18:30, June 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * Mark asked me to drop by and help out with the potential new skin that you guys are wanting. Using a slightly larger version of the image Zelgadis linked to, I made two new previews for you to take a look at - preview #1, preview #2. Since it was mentioned that you might want to stop using the dark blue page color, I changed it to a near black color with a tiny bit of blue mixed in. On #1 I used the current blue colors for the links and buttons, and on #2 I used a gold for the links and a darker blue for the buttons. Let me know if either of those previews are in the direction that you guys want to go, and of course, add any further details about what you want tweaked on them. JoePlay http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb33036/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (talk)  18:22, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * Definately #2, the colors have more flow compared to #1's yellow-orange background and blue...everything else 18:40, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * I really like the work you have done, especially the background gradient! I'm not really a fan of red/orange links (actually, I don't like 'em at all), but the dark blue buttons are really cool. So I'd say #1, but with links/buttons a bit more dark. 18:50, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, for the completeness of what I intended, here is what I created out of the Background thing. It's nothing major though Good work on that though, JoePlay. I'll go with whatever is voted major. D3Reap3R D3Reap3R_Pathway.png 18:37, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * It's really nice! Not sure if it's really suitable as the wiki background, but I'm definitely saving that :3 18:50, June 9, 2011 (UTC)
 * I like it for a background change! - KazMx (Message me! E-Mail me!   Edits! )  19:03, June 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * Got two more previews for you guys to look at. Taking Zelgadis's suggestion (keep the dark blue buttons and replace the orange links with dark blue), I made preview #3. Using that same color scheme with the image that D3Reap3R linked to, I made preview #4. JoePlay http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb33036/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (talk)  22:11, June 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * I honestly like 'em both.. I think the second is cooler but maybe it distracts too much from the content. Both better than the first 2 previews anyway. 22:16, June 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * I dislike this idea. I have allays hated background art on web pages.  It's too distracting, your eyes don't know where to focus.  But if you are going to do this you need to tone down those images. With the light on dark style we are using they are too bright.