Forum:Wiki Background

The user Kozakuu recently suggested that we start using a background on the wiki. You can see the post and sample background on my talk page.

I never thought a background would be that great because I can't really see anything but a sliver on each side of the page, nothing like the concept images Kozakuu posted. This could just be the way I see it with my particular screen and browser settings. I've tried using Firefox (my primary browser), Internet Explorer, and Safari, and it appears the same, and I don't use a widescreen monitor. Anyway, I just wanted to find out what other people see with their setups. Try somewhere like Bleach Wiki as an example.

I like the idea of a background, even if it isn't very visible just because it does fill in the black space, if only a little. How much of the background users can see will factor into what kind of background we use if we decide to use one.

Please let me know how you see wiki backgrounds on your own computer and if you think we should add a background to the wiki.Turambar 01:40, April 13, 2012 (UTC)

I can see backgrounds just fine, and I would suggest trying out Google Chrome as it seems to have the least problems as a browser, aside from that not working maybe its something with your settings on your browsers that is set up for all of them. Hammiams 03:50, April 13, 2012 (UTC)

I figured as much... I'm not going to use Chrome any time soon. I love Google, but not enough to stop using Firefox. I can zoom out to make the background visible, but that makes the actual content too small in my opinion. I'm used to the content of the wiki taking up the full screen because that's how it was with the old skin. There's also the fact that Wikia designed their new skin to work best with Macs (I still can't understand why), so anyone with a PC is likely not getting the full experience.

Anyway, I guess we should choose a background image now. I'm not sure I want to use the one Kozakuu suggested because it doesn't really show anything unique to HOTD. I think one with zombies or maybe even with some of the main characters would be better. Let me know what you think, and feel free to upload any sample backgrounds you may want to try.Turambar 13:00, April 13, 2012 (UTC)

I honestly think we should have a background of the logo on the top for both sides and the main characters shown on both sides with maybe a zombie or two. Hammiams 21:19, April 13, 2012 (UTC)

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the logo. I'm assuming you're talking about the header. I kind of wanted to keep it simple, or in other words one single image taken from the anime or manga. I could create something more complicated, but it would take a lot more effort than just finding one from the series.

Now that I'm looking at possible background options, I'm thinking we should keep it simple, though not as simple as Kozakuu's where you can't tell it has anything to do with HOTD. I still think having zombies and/or characters would be good, but I don't think they should be focused on in the image. They could be seen from far off or while in action. To keep with the theme of the wiki, I think we should use an image that doesn't have bright colors so it doesn't contrast to much with the black. Having said that, we should still consider using Kozakuu's background if we don't find anything since users who have watched the openning sequence of the anime enough will recognize it, but I think we can probably find something better. I'll skim through some episodes and see if I can find anything.Turambar 01:17, April 14, 2012 (UTC)

I would do the same but right now I'm in the middle of writing a song or two for my friend and I'm going to be heading to the coast tommorrow so I won't much time until monday, but I normally also am albe to put out the time from somewhere to do stuff, and as for what I meant as of the logo I meant just like the logo from the series. I also do agree with your don't really contrast with the black background to much, me personally I would try to see if I could find a good shot from episode 6 or 7, thats just my thoughts. Hammiams 02:43, April 14, 2012 (UTC)

Don't worry if you don't have time. There's not a huge rush with this one. We could consider making the entire background the HOTD logo. I was thinking the same thing about episodes 6 and 7 since they take place at night. I'm also going to look at some of the manga and various art books and stuff I have to see if there's anything there. I will also be unavailable for the entire day tomorrow. I won't be back on again probably until late tomorrow night, so I won't be able to respond to you until then if you need me for any reason.Turambar 03:50, April 14, 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to interject in your discussion but the reason my images had larger areas to the sides of the main content area is due to the fact that my screen has a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels while yours seems to be lower. Also, the reason the background image I posted was somewhat bland is that I like to keep an open mind about possible new backgrounds and fully expected a replacement. If you require any assistance in the field of photoshop, I'd be happy to help. Kozakuu 13:40, April 14, 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I figured a wider screened factored into it, though I wasn't sure how much. My monitor is relatively small compared to many of the newer ones out there. Regardless, I have to remember that many users may see the wiki differently than I do, and that is why I like the idea of adding a background. Like I said, I do think yours looks good. There are a lot of shots in the openning sequence that would make good backgrounds. Many many hours of scanlation work has left me with a good amount of PS experience, but I'll see if you can help if I don't have the time to get it done.Turambar 03:57, April 15, 2012 (UTC)

I've been thinking about it, and I think we should use something from the manga rather than the anime since the manga has always been our focus here. I was looking at some possible images, and I think the covers of Volumes 1 and 2 of the Japanese Full Color Editions might work well. They show illustrations of Rei and Saeko, who I think are the most recognizable icons in this series. Here's a rough sample I put together.



These are the outer covers. The inner covers don't have the handprints or titles. I intend to use the inner covers, but I have to scan them later. Obviously, there will be other adjustments, but I think the final product will show most of Saeko and all but Rei's right arm and leg. The colors will be better as well. The only problem I'm having now is meeting the 150 kb limit. I'm going to scan the inner covers at a low resolution to see if that helps since I scanned these at the highest quality. I think these will work well because they will blend in with the black background of the wiki. Anyway, I'd like to hear your opinions.Turambar 02:22, April 16, 2012 (UTC)

Got back home and saw that picture... "Mind=Blown" if we use that all I'm going to say. Hammiams 02:56, April 16, 2012 (UTC)

I'm glad to see you like it. When the handprints are gone and the full images are revealed, I think you may like it even more. The illustrations on the back covers are even better, but they are a bit too revealing to use as our background and don't include Saeko.Turambar 03:08, April 16, 2012 (UTC)

After thinking for a bit I figured that we should get atleast 3-5 pictures together and decide from the best of those then have one photo and we just use that, but don't get me wrong I love that photo that you posted Turambar, I just think that we should get some more opitions together before we decide. Hammiams 03:52, April 21, 2012 (UTC)

The one I posted isn't what the final product is going to look like. The quality will be a lot higher. I'm still working on getting it within the size limit, which is really small. I'm going to have to scan it yet again on the lowest resolution my scanner has. I guess we can try out others, but I won't be uploading any as this one is going to take me too much time to try to find another. If you're going to upload one, just be sure it's not something you find on the internet.Turambar 02:36, April 22, 2012 (UTC)

I finally got the final image together. I had to really cut it down to meet the strict 150 pixel size limit. I also had to reduce the resolution. I'm thinking when the art book comes out there may be a better image to use from that, but we'll hae to wait until August, so we can use another one for now.



Tell me what you think. I'm still open to other suggestions, so upload any images you may want to use. You don't have to edit them yourself if you don't want to or don't know how.Turambar 02:21, April 24, 2012 (UTC)

After I saw that picture this was the first thing that ran through my mind "Ok forget what I said about the choosing from more opitions, lets just use this." I really like the picture and I personally think it captures the best known element in the series, but I still think we should have one or more opitions and get a vote from the active members we do have here. Hammiams 03:25, April 24, 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure we have many "active" users who would vote. There are a few who regularly log on and do nothing, but they haven't done anything in a long time. It's a shame because some of them have been around since the old wiki and were some of the best contributors we've had. I won't mention names, but they know who they are. Anyway, as I said, I won't be looking for any other backgrounds for now. When the new art book comes out in August I'll see if there's anything good in that. If you think of something but don't want to get the image yourself, let me know and I'll take care of it. Otherwise, I'll go ahead and make this one the background next week unless there are any objections or suggestions.Turambar 23:42, April 26, 2012 (UTC)

Since I can't use photoshop to save my life, imma going to throw out a suggetion, I say we have one of them on of side of the acticle and the official logo on the other. Hammiams 22:54, April 27, 2012 (UTC)

I'll see if I can put something together. By "official logo" do you mean the one in the wiki header? That is the main logo of the series, though there are some different ones for the anime. Anyway, I would have to turn it sideways because I don't think it would fit in the allowed space otherwise. I think you're idea might work best if there is a single image with the logo overlayed on one side. The only problem is I can't think of many color illustrations that would work, and I already mentioned I would rather not use something from the anime. I'll still look, though.Turambar 02:51, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

By official logo I meant the logo from the Manga, I tend to be a bit vague really need to work on that, but anyways yes thats what I meant, as for s background for it I really can't think of something either but i'll ok around myself to see what I can find. Hammiams 14:30, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

<span style="font: 13px/21px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">This doesn't relate much to the background, but I didn't want to open a new thread. I changed the wordmark (header). I was always unhappy with how stretched it was. The only thing about this one is that it is a little more blurry because I had to reduce the size, which reduces the quality. I think it looks better than the stretched one, though. Let me know what you think.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar 16:49, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

<span style="font: 13px/21px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">I think it looks good, I really didn't notice until I read that and I don't think I would have ever noticed it, as for it being blurry I really can't see it no burrs for me. Hammiams 18:43, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

<span style="font: 13px/21px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Just remembered about this, did we ever come to a final picture that we were planning on using? Hammiams 00:38, July 8, 2012 (UTC)

<span style="font: 13px/21px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(213, 212, 212); text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">I think we were going to at least try out the last image I posted, but I had trouble meeting Wikia's file size limit. I eventually put it on hold as I had a lot of other things going on. The image above will fit, but I had to cut a lot off and greatly reduce the resolution to the point that I'm hesitant about using it now. I guess we can try something else that has less going on in the picture and is therefore easier to downgrade without losing too much quality. I'll look around for something. I'm open to any suggestions. As I said before, we could wait for the art book to come out and see if there is anything good there. Then again, I won't be pulling my book apart to get good scans.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar  02:32, July 8, 2012 (UTC)

After playing around with it, I was able to get more of the image visible without wasting too much of the quality. I put it up just to try it out, We can make adjustments or even use something completely different if necessary. I think I can widen it a bit to fix the cutoff on the ends. My monitor is 1920x1080, and there is noticeable black space on the edges. Also, moving Saeko over will reveal more of her breast, which can't be a bad thing. Anyway, the major problem I see with this is that pages will take a bit longer to load. I would still like to try to reduce the file size to around the 100-130 KB range. Right now, it is 148 KB, which is just below the 150 KB limit. We might consider something much simpler. I have an idea for something I can create by joining a few things together, though it will take some work. On one side, I can put a section of one of "their" heads (the image at the bottom of Act. 1 page 1, only in color) at the top of a black background with blood splatters that extends down. Somewhere on this section, I can put the main title logo of the manga. On the other side, I can use the same blood-splattered background with a much smaller picture of a character (probably Saeko since she seems to be most popular). If the file is too larger, I can remove the zombie head and put the title in its place at the top, then possibly add one of the white shadow figures from the volume title pages. I'd like to hear any feedback you may have on this or the one I already set up.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar  04:26, July 8, 2012 (UTC)

I really like the picture that is up now (though I can't see all of it because I currently do not have access to my dektop right now), but I am interested in your idea I would really like to see how that will work out. Hammiams 04:42, July 8, 2012 (UTC)

I uploaded a new version. I set the width at 1920 px and adjusted the levels a bit more. Hopefully it looks fine on all monitors now. I have lots of free time right now, so I'll go ahead and get something together for my idea. My goal is to get higher quality than the current image, though it will be difficult considering the file restriction.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar  04:55, July 8, 2012 (UTC)

Even though the current image looks good albeit a little low quality, it doesn't really adhere to the conventions of image focus. In order to cater for screens of smaller size, the focus points for images (that is, the part of the image you concentrate on the most such as the face) are usually placed close to the center of the page. In Wikia's case, the edges of the article area. I've attached a diagram below from the Haruhi Wiki which I created the background for to show what I mean. In addition a HOTD comparison image is shown

As noted in the HOTD image, the background does not reach the bottom of the page and also is not fixed. When using large non tiling images it's better to use the fix option in the theme designer. In reference to a discussion earlier in the page, I believe that an image doesn't necessarily have to be full of large objects to denote that it is part of a particular series. An example of this is the Black Rock Shooter Wiki wherein a simple tiling checkerboard background is used to showcase the common monochrome theme of the series. Kozakuu 05:07, July 10, 2012 (UTC)

I think I originally put Rei on the left and Saeko on the right so that their faces would be in the center, but I didn't for some reason. It's been a while so I don't remember why. Anyway, I wasn't really happy with the current background. I created it before I bought a widescreen monitor and thus couldn't really see how it would look, and I only used it because it was already made and ready to go for the most part. There is space at the bottom because I had to cut it off to get the image to meet Wikia's size limit. I thought about fixing it, but this background was really just temporary. I wanted to get feedback from other users, so thank you for pointing out the issues. I've been working on something else, though. Here is my first version:



As you can see, this one is much more simple. I was able to save it in high quality while falling far short of Wikia's limit, so I could add more to it. I think I like this one better, but I'd like to get others' opinions on it.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar  15:14, July 10, 2012 (UTC)

I forgot to mention that alternate versions of this I am thinking about include removing the title, adding a piece of sky to the top of the right side, adding a character to the left side (something small and simple), or any combination of those. Let me know if you have any ideas.<font color="darkred" size="2px">Turambar  15:23, July 10, 2012 (UTC)