NOTE: The wiki is currently using the new skin and any logged-in users still using Oasis in their preferences are strongly encouraged to change to the new skin as Oasis is no longer supported by the wiki.
Any 'munk fan who's visited the wiki multiple times over the last year or so has likely noticed gradual changes to the wiki's design, though today I'm here to announce a big change that's coming in the near future - a new skin! This skin change is primarily directed to anyone viewing the wiki on a desktop, hence the new name - FandomDesktop.
The first reason is simple, it's mandatory. That's not a fun reason so why else should it change? Over the last year or so Fandom has been updating the MediaWiki software on which the wiki operates, which in turn removed or changed some of the wiki's features (such as the removal of the wiki's Forum , replaced with Discussions). The previous skin, called Oasis, is very old and doesn't support the new, various screen sizes available to readers today. The mobile skin had received more focus over the years and it's time for desktop to get the update it's been missing.
What new things does the skin have?[]
Alvin's Page Fully Expanded
Perhaps the biggest perk to the new FandomDesktop skin is the reintroduction of the ability to expand the content area to fill the width of your screen, which even allows for the collapse of the right rail. Additional useful changes include the relocation of the global navigation to the left size of the screen and the pinning of the local navigation to the top of the screen, staying fixed no matter how far down an article you are. A new edit, table of contents, and expand button is also accessible in the top left as an article is scrolled, along with useful page tools. A light and dark theme option is supported as well, with the light theme being the wiki's default.
How will the wiki itself be changing?[]
With every new release there are changes that are necessary to accommodate it; some of these changes will be noticeable before the skin migration (some templates such as those on song pages) and may appear as broken styling on the Oasis skin. Generally speaking, there will be no drastic changes to how the wiki looks or functions, but there will still be noticeable changes on the new skin.
Updated Use of Custom Font - I've heard the criticism to the wiki's custom font, and this is the perfect time to address it in a constructive way. While the font is a critical part of the wiki's theming, it can be difficult to read when small for some people so a better balancing is necessary. The site name, wiki navigation level one headers, title names, and article/rail headers will retain the Totally Nuts font by default, since these are the largest text areas on the wiki; all other smaller text can be changed from the default font to the custom font through personal script preferences.
Advanced Header Theme - This custom theme will be retired given our custom font can now be used in the wiki navigation by default and the smaller text can be changed through the change above. Styling will be simplified to match that generated through the new minor theme colors, which the table of contents will change to match.
Songs List Expanded
Width Improvements - Illustration-heavy articles (such as comics) will now break content in a way to keep the images inline with the text they illustrate and our largest list pages (List of The Chipmunks and The Chipettes songs and Characters) will increase their column count from three to four once the content area is expanded. The Song Header template also will see a small update to improve large width viewing.
Tab Updates - There will be minor updates to infoboxes that use tabs for images and songs with multiple versions. While being a little larger, infobox tab groups for episodes cannot exceed four images and songs with many versions will see a new layout to better embrace the screen size benefits of the new skin.
Large Coding Cut - This isn't directly a user-facing change, but it's a big one in the fact that device strain, loading, and maintaining should all see at least small improvements. More of the wiki's styling is going to rely on internal custom theming.
Light and Dark Theming - The new skin allows for a light and dark theme for the wiki (both themes are fully supported), though given the wiki's theming, the light theme will remain the recommended theme for new users. Currently there are two ways to change between themes: through user preferences and the theme button on the right side of the wiki header.
How can I see the changes now?[]
Not all styling has been updated and some minor bugs exist given that the skin is still a beta release, but you can review the new skin by adding ?useskin=fandomdesktop to the end of any wiki page URL or going to your user preferences and clicking the FandomDesktop skin option under the Appearance tab. This page also gives additional options for expanding content by default.
Most styling has been updated already, though more is still to come. If you have suggestions or comments on these changes specifically, feel free to leave a comment below!
