Hi Porterfield, cheers for your contributions to the site.
First off, I like the background image but it's a copyrighted image by HBO. We have permission to use HBO's imagery specifically on the TV Wiki, but not on the book one. It also strikes me that we should be using book-specific imagery on the book site to avoid confusion. There's also the fact that the TV map is non-canon for the books (even if the differences are not visible on the sections you are using).
Something that should also go out to a public vote is the colour scheme. The black-on-cream scheme really isn't working for me.
To be honest, this Wiki needs a lot more work before we even start worrying about color schemes, I was just experimenting with some stuff while also temporarily getting rid of the orange and blue that was an eyesore. Sorry to have offended you.
Once our content is passable (right now, "A Wiki of Ice and Fire" is kicking our butts, and it will take a while to even get on their level) and we have a decent sized community, I think a cool idea to approach the color scheme would be to switch it every month or so, putting it to public vote. For example, March would be Greyjoy colors while the public votes for April. If the Martells win, we switch the colors and theme!
But we need to have good content before we start talking about that stuff, so in the meantime, we should just settle on a very basic visual scheme. I agree on keeping it book-themed, which is why I have been experimenting on giving it an old school feel to look like parchment. Let me know what colors you would actually prefer, especially for the text background. Over time I will be working on a new logo for the Wiki, and I will send you designs approval.
Currently, I am nearly finished with a new character infobox, after which I will make a new House infobox. I will be here on the Wiki a lot over the next month, and I'll keep the Chat window open if you ever want to chat!!! Cheers.
Thanks for the reply. I must admit the problem I'm having with the colour scheme is that it's causing a strobing effect with my eyes, which gives me a bit of a headache after a while. A traditional black-on-white effect would be good, though I agree potentially similar to AWoIaF. White-on-black is out, although oddly I found the white-on-grey we use on the TV wiki actually works fine. I am open to other suggestions.
Ok, I will work on testing a new color, but I did test this one on six people in the office and nobody had a problem with their vision or headaches. 2 people said they really love it. I'll try some greys and dark browns.
I like it, but I'm wondering if it needs 'A Song of Ice and Fire' spelled out beneath it in small letters. On other forums I've used ASoIaF as a shorthand with people who are very familiar with the books, and gotten total confusion in response.
That's really good. As long as we still have the spoiler warning and the redirect to the TV wiki, the rest of it looks like a huge improvement. Good work!