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TJ09

Reducing the number of site skins

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Right now there are eight different site layouts. Often, testing new things on each one of those is more work than its worth, especially given the numbers (the vast majority of people just use the default site layout).

 

How offended would people be if I were to start phasing out the less commonly-used skins?

 

Are there specific criteria that cause you to use a given skin (e.g. portal because white text on dark background is better)? If so, would you be satisfied with a smaller subset of skins that fill those needs (e.g. one light, one dark)?

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Right now there are eight different site layouts. Often, testing new things on each one of those is more work than its worth, especially given the numbers (the vast majority of people just use the default site layout).

 

How offended would people be if I were to start phasing out the less commonly-used skins?

 

Are there specific criteria that cause you to use a given skin (e.g. portal because white text on dark background is better)? If so, would you be satisfied with a smaller subset of skins that fill those needs (e.g. one light, one dark)?

Well, I use Portal Light because I can still see the dragons at the bottom of my scroll when I go to sort or breed . The regular skin goes black and you have to guess

so I would be more than slightly peeved if it was to disappear. Other than that I care not.

 

Speaking of sort, any chance we will get the ability to move more than one at a time in the not too distant future?( pretty please)

Edited by dragonpuck

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I just use the default one, I like a clean soft light background with dark text for easy readability.

 

I do think it shouldn't be too much of a hassle removing a few skins. As long as there's bright and a dark one I think it's good already, since I notice some people prefer darker layouts.

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I keep switching between dark portal and default. But if you would delete the dark portal one I would live tongue.gif

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(e.g. portal because white text on dark background is better)

This (and the fact it's awesome and beautiful) is why I use the Portal 2 skin.

 

I could live with it being axed, but for completion's sake, I really, really, really love that skin. xd.png

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Most of the time, I use the default skin. Occansionally, I'll change over to the St. Patrick's Day skin because green is my favorite color.

 

They both have a drawback tho.. if I try to display 500 dragons per page, the bottom half of the page doesn't have the light section of the background, so you basically can't see anything. So I have to change my number to 250 dragons per page if I want to see things properly.

 

So what I would really prefer is a skin that has a single layer light colored background so I could display 500 dragons per page. Instead of a light colored layer over a dark layer. The problem is something to do with how FireFox displays long pages, I have no clue how to fix or change it. I just know it annoys me that I can't display 500 dragons per page. But then again, I liked it better when I could show ALL my dragons on one page. I HATE pagination and would really love a different display method.. preferably Tabs, like on MagiStream.

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Well, I use Portal Light because I can still see the dragons at the bottom of my scroll when I go to sort or breed . The regular skin goes black and you have to guess so I would be more than slightly peeved if it was to disappear. Other than that I care not.

 

Speaking of sort, any chance we will get the ability to move more than one at a time in the not too distant future?( pretty please)

This. I MUCH prefer the default, but need the lite at sorting times.

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The issue with FF is dieing down. I used to have the problem with one machine, but don't anymore. It was the upgrade to Windows 7, I think, that did it. Or a more recent FF update (I'm on the latest).

Not sure.

 

If you're still suffering this problem, feel free to PM me. There is a way to counter it.

 

As for the Skins... I find the default DC skin to be extremely easy on the eyes, so that's why I use it. I don't like the others, for one reason or another. So, I wouldn't care in the least.

 

Cheers!

C4.

 

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Default skin user here. I have sampled the other skins, but would not miss them if they started to decrease in number...

 

I get the FF/long page issue - I solve it by doing my sorting in Chrome. rolleyes.gif

Edited by Amazon_warrior

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This (and the fact it's awesome and beautiful) is why I use the Portal 2 skin.

 

I could live with it being axed, but for completion's sake, I really, really, really love that skin. xd.png

This.The Portal 2 skin makes it way way WAY easier for me in managing my pretties.I remember when it was just the tan skin that looked like a piece of old weathered parchment that one had,and,while that one was okay...I've gotten used to the Tron-ish style of the Portal 2 skin. =^_~=

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I use and love the Portal 2 Light skin because it's easier for me to see my dragon names and hyperlinks. I just switched through the other skins and wouldn't switch back to any of them, so I'm okay with some being phased out.

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I use default and the blackout skins. I actually switched to the blackout one because of how dark it is plus I like the sidebar at the side instead of the top. I dislike both portal skins because they take longer to load than the others for me. I would not mind if some skins were chopped, I would just switch to default again. Does not bother me. ^^

 

Plus, when I play DC at work, why the darkness of the blackout skin is nice - "Dragon Cave" at the top of the screen isn't so large and noticeable when people walk past...haha

Edited by lightningsky

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I switched to 1960's/Dino Cave so I know if I'm logged in or not. That way I don't grab a CB gold and receive a 'you must be logged in' notice.

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I just use the default skin. The others are nice and everything but my dragons don't look like my dragons on the other skins.

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I like the St. Patrick's Day the best. I like green, personally it would be nice to be able to have some sort of filter that just changed the basic color of the background, nothing else(meaning no font, no actual design changes other than the color). I find the brown of the original boring and dull, and get tired of it swiftly.

 

I also agree with this:

 

So what I would really prefer is a skin that has a single layer light colored background so I could display 500 dragons per page. Instead of a light colored layer over a dark layer. The problem is something to do with how FireFox displays long pages, I have no clue how to fix or change it. I just know it annoys me that I can't display 500 dragons per page. But then again, I liked it better when I could show ALL my dragons on one page. I HATE pagination and would really love a different display method.. preferably Tabs, like on MagiStream.

 

I don't like the Portal layouts because I think they are too busy and I don't like the look of the sprites on them. This would be a nice option for those that don't like the really dark layouts, but want to see their dragons while using Firefox, since they will not fix the issue.

Edited by Nectaris

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My sister uses the green layout, and I'm not too sure how she'll take its disappearance. I think she'll be okay, but she's prone to whine about the littlest things. xd.png

 

I personally just use the default layout, so no complaints from me.

Edited by Tehya Faye

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I use the default skin, it's the only skin where the background isn't distracting.

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I've only ever used the default skin and never plan to change, so I wouldn't be at all offended =P

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I'm completely fine with this. I used the DinoCave skin for a while and I can't exactly recall why I stopped using it, but I never switched back. I think you actually mentioned having to do work on all the skins to keep them all working nice and smoothly (which I never realized you had to do), so I switched to default to see if I noticed any loading difference and just never went back after I realized the purple was kind of hard on my eyes compared to the tan, anyway. I know a lot of people use the portal skin, but it's too dark for me. The St. Patrick's is fun but was more of a cool one-time thing for me. Same with the 1960s. They're kind of neat, but I couldn't use them long term. The Blackout is actually really nice, but I prefer the navigation buttons up top instead of along the side. If I ever switch skins, that'll be the one I go to, though, if it's not phased out.

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I actually rather like the '60s One. smile.gif

 

I was testing out the various skins... not a thing I had done before... and that was the conclusion i came to. I wouldn't pitch a fit over it IF it were phased out, BUT I do think that that'd be the one I use if I changed from the default one. I sort of like the light portal one... wouldn't use it. The dark portal, I dunno, to me it makes the sprites look funky... like it shows every light pixel on the edging of them and makes them look odd. Curiously enough the Blacout one doesn't do that. I am not sure why. unsure.gif

Edited by Silverswift

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TJ,

 

For me I have trouble seeing anything that isn't on a dark background (which is why I use portal 2). I'd be fine with just a light and a dark option as referenced in your post.

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I also use the Portal 2 skin because the darker background is easier on my eyes, and I tend to spend long periods reviewing descriptions or generally having that window open so it's the best for avoiding strain. I can see the sprites just fine on it. (To be honest I simply don't like the other skins anyway, including the Default.)

 

Phasing them out would be fine with me, as long as a darker option remains. I'm very partial to the Portal 2 skin and would take a while to get adjusted to a new one if it was replaced, but it's survivable.

Edited by Dimar

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I would have no problem with this. I only use the default skin. I don't yet have enough dragons to have problems with sorting, but would like the option to change if necessary for that purpose in future. Other than that, it would pose no problems for me.

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Well, I use Portal Light because  I can still see the dragons at the bottom of my scroll when I go to sort or breed . The regular  skin goes black and you have to guess

so I would be more than slightly peeved if it was to disappear. Other than that I care not.

 

Speaking of sort, any chance we will get the ability to move more than one at a time in the not too distant future?( pretty please)

What? I don't have that problem O.o All linked text shows up as blue and the regular text is white, so I'm not sure why you can't see the dragons? Also the dragons just show up in general.

 

I would be VERY mad if the regular Portal 2 skin was taken away because it's the only skin that doesn't look tacky and/or make my eyes bleed like the others.

 

To me, the default is boring. I guess it's okay, but I really hate seeing it because it just looks awful imo. The Portal Lite isn't bad but it could be better. I don't particularly like the bright foreground area, and the floating white boxes look out of place. St. Patrick's Day is actually a nice color, though I still don't like the light foreground area and the fact that the clover isn't in a fixed position looks tacky. I actually really like Blackout, I just prefer Portal 2, particularly because Blackout seems to be a little too boundary-less. 1960s bothers me, again, because of the light foreground area and not-fixed background position. Dino Cave, while cute for a joke, is downright awful imo. I hate that shade of purple, I don't like the background not being fixed, and I hate the too-light foreground area.

 

Portal 2 and Blackout are lovely and if they were gone it would seriously affect my motivation to keep playing. Even though I like the game, if it looks absolutely awful then I do not want to play it as much because I hate how it looks. It's part of the reason I use Aurora Firefox over Safari. Safari is probably just as good and it has most of the same add-ons and extensions, but I like how Firefox looks overall much better. Same thing with skins. If Portal 2 disappeared, I'd fall back on either Portal Lite or Blackout, but they aren't as ideal as Portal 2.

 

EDIT: and no, I wouldn't just want to "settle" for a generic dark background. I like the Portal 2 reference and I like the overall look to the background. The colors are lovely and I like how all the elements interact.

 

EDIT 2: Also I would like to say that please please don't have pure white on pure black for a dark background. That can be just as eye-bleedy. Portal 2 is fine with the white text because its background isn't strictly black. A darker grey with white or black with a light grey works better. Only if you have to go that route though for a generic dark background.

Edited by edwardelricfreak

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