TibiaWiki:Projects/2015 Layout Revamp

In 2015 we should work on improving the TibiaWiki layout. For the current layout experiment see Current Revision.

List of Issues

Most of our pages (items, npcs, etc.) are using tables for layout. This is bad practice.
TibiaWiki lacks standardization. Quest spoilers largely follow a "do what works" guideline which makes quest spoiler articles inconsistent.
Our horizontal spacing is very limited, so we need to use it as much as possible. Options need to be considered such as removing or moving sidebars from pages.
Many of our lists create a table for every list item. They should be creating rows instead of tables of 1 row.

Features to consider

These are features being considered for 2015's revamp of templates & layout.

~~Add themes to pages to indicate what it's generally about (e.g. a Darashian NPC might have a "sandy" theme).~~
Not practical, the color theme should be consistent across all pages.
Merge items and objects. Items are just pickupable objects, they shouldn't require a separate template.
Possibly not being implemented soon due to the amount of work required.

List of Pages Identified

Add to this list if you found a page using tables for layout. Do not add pages if the table is added via a template; add the template itself.

Current Revision

Old Template	Old Examples	New Template	New Examples
Template:Infobox Item	Axe Pair of Soft Boots Magic Sulphur	User:Sixorish/Item2	Axe Pair of Soft Boots Magic Sulphur
Template:Infobox Creature	Demon Hellgorak Rat	User:Sixorish/Creature2	Demon Hellgorak Rat
Template:Infobox NPC	Sam Rashid Gnomission	User:Sixorish/NPC2	Sam Rashid Gnomission
Template:Infobox Spell	Find Person Eternal Winter Food (Spell)	User:Sixorish/Spell2	Find Person Eternal Winter Food
Template:Infobox Quest	The Pits of Inferno Quest Roshamuul Quest Blood Herb Quest	User:Sixorish/Quest2	The Pits of Inferno Quest Roshamuul Quest Blood Herb Quest

Significant Changes

Tabular data is moved to the right-hand side, while other content flows around it.
The sidebar with related items/creatures is gone. If this is seen as desirable another navigation list can be added to the bottom of the page some time after the initial release. However, the sidebar was consuming a lot of space which simply had to go.

Changes for Editors

Items' droppedby parameter must now use {{Dropped By}}.
NPCs', Items', Creatures' sounds parameter must now use {{Sound List}}
Creatures' loot must now use {{Loot Table}}, which contains a list of {{Loot Item}}s.
Creatures now have 1 additional parameter:
- spawntype takes a comma-separated list of the following spawn type attributes: Regular, Raid, Unique, Event, Triggered. The names are self-explanatory:
  - Triggered - the player(s) make these monsters spawn. Examples: Tormented Ghost, Versperoth, Deathstrike, The Many.
  - Raid - the spawn is related to a raid that was not triggered by players. Examples: Rat, Midnight Panther.
  - Unique - the creature is a unique spawn. Examples: The Many, Vashresamun.
  - Regular - the creature can spawn regularly. Examples: Rat, Juggernaut.
  - Event - the creature spawns as a part of an event. Examples: Cake Golem, Bibby Bloodbath.
  - Unblockable - the creature spawns even if the player is near its spawn, but only if the same spawn is not a Triggered spawn.
Items now have 1 additional parameter:
- pickupable takes yes/no depending on whether or not the item can be placed in a container.
NPCs now have 6 additional parameters:
- posx, posy, posz takes the x-, y-, and z- components of their approximate geographical position. This will primarily be used to display a map showing the location of the NPC.
- street takes the street name that the NPC is on or very close to, or blank if the NPC is not near a town.
- gender takes male/female/none depending on the NPC's gender.
- race takes the name of the NPC's race (e.g. Human).

Feedback

Feedback can be posted on the talk page of this project page. We may change the template based on the feedback provided. Please provide only constructive feedback which helps us to address the issues.

Screenshots

Here are some screenshots for comparison to the old and new. It is intended to show what the templates should look like, acknowledging that browser rendering engines may differ and some features may be unsupported. The layouts were designed using Firefox but they should be supported by all major browsers (tested Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome 39, Mozilla Firefox 35).

Please note that these screenshots may not reflect the current revisions of pages and/or the template. You can, of course, view the example pages in your browser(s).