The form below serves as a tool to describe the project, and what it meant to accomplish. The form is intended to be as specific as possible to what the project is to accomplish. Please place all comments under the comments heading. If there is a discussion page linked, then be sure to check it out as well. Also please do not create the article unless all the details have been worked out, or at least the majority of them. Once the article/project has been created/finished, please put a mention that the article/project is completed and provide a redirect to the relevant article and its talk page.

If any new things come up after the creation of the article, then please shift the discussion to the relevant talk page for that article.

If you have any questions on how to fill out the form, or any other question, please refer to the Project Forum talk page.

Project: Recent Changes AlterationsEdit

Other NotesEdit

So basically this is two projects in one.

Project One is to implement an overhaul of the Recent Changes Text. Other wikis have helpful links there while ours is quite bland and as far as I can tell, hasn't been changed since the wiki was started. What I have worked on is here. What this adds is some useful links for users and admins alike to help with navigation, looking things up, assisting with projects, and a few other things. I'm hopeful that this will be a positive addition and looking forward to comments, removals, or additions.

Project Two is to implement the AJAX feature for the Recent Changes. I have done my research on it, and seen this on a number of wikis, and I believe this will only be a help to people here as they monitor the wiki and what not. This feature can be modified to refresh for any number of time. The default is 60 seconds, but that can be modified to be shorter or longer. What's even better is this feature is entirely optional and is activated by a checkbox on the RC page. You don't want to use it, then you don't have to. All you need to do is either check or uncheck the box and that is it.

I'll have two sections open below for each feature and get opinions about it. So your thoughts and opinions are welcome on each one. Lancer1289 01:07, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Voting: AJAX Feature Edit

For Edit

1. As proposer. Lancer1289 13:56, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
2. Support. -- Commdor (Talk) 15:10, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
3. I use Ajax to keep track of changes in the RC. I was really mad when I found out that a lot of wikis lot the ability to use it, and made me continually refresh the page instead of the list refreshing itself. Also, it only goes with the Special:RecentChanges page, and nothing else is affected by it. Nothing else was affected before, so why would it be now? 19:17, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

Neutral Edit

1. I like the idea of the AJAX feature and what it attempts to do; I really do. However, despite my desire for a feature like this, I believe we should go for a real time feature, since there is a chance that unless the feature is utilized properly (and only for the RC page) this could do more harm than good. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem 14:45, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
   1. comment AjaxRC only works on the RecentChanges page, I don't see how this can cause harm RandomTime 15:11, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

• Suppose you're editing a page. If AJAX wasn't localized to RC, then potentially you'd only have 60 seconds to edit a page before the feature refreshes and thus ruins what you've been working on. My logic may seem dumbfounded, but that's what I believe may happen if not localized. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem 15:39, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

1. I think I can afford just hitting the refresh button every once in a while, but if others find this feature useful I won't mind it being added. --kiadony 15:57, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

Against Edit

Voting: Recent Changes Text Edit

For Edit

1. As Proposer. Lancer1289 13:56, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
2. I support this because it will make the RC interface much tidier and more efficient. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem 14:42, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
3. Support. -- Commdor (Talk) 15:10, May 2, 2011 (UTC)
4. I like. --kiadony 15:53, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

Neutral Edit

Against Edit

AJAX Feature Edit

An AJAX feature sounds very pleasing to me. I, for one, keep my laptop on next to me throughout the day. I also tend to keep this Wiki up as my front page. So anything to keep me from refreshing every few minutes would be great. :] --Humans Vanish 01:15, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Any further comments? Lancer1289 18:36, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

I was against this last time it came up, but as long as it's a feature which can be disabled (as it appears to be), I'm for it. SpartHawg948 06:17, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

I'm up for it. I always prefer if the page is always updated if the page is left open on the browser rather than having to keep refreshing it. — Teugene (Talk) 06:34, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

In response to H-Man comment above, I've been looking, and there is no real time feature for something like this. I could be mistaken, but I haven't been able to find one and fixing the AJAX to refresh every second wouldn't make it a good feature. Real time is more than likely impossible in this case, and honestly a bit impractical and a bit demanding that you would only vote for it if it was real time. Also a bit unrealistic for a site like this. Lancer1289 16:45, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

I'll rephrase by saying that I'd more than likely vote for the proposal if it was in real time. If nothing can be found, then I'll consider my neutral vote void and switch allegiances to "For it". Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem 17:33, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

For an example of Ajax, here is a link to the Final Fantasy Wiki Recent Changes. If you look, the list refreshes about every minute. And also, Ajax did before, and still now, only affects the RC. It doesn't affect that little recent edits tab on the side of your Oasis bar, but strictly acts to give minute-by-minute updates to the Recent Changes. As far as I know, all wikis lost this when Oasis was implemented, but the FF Wiki got it back to its original state through coding. If you want the Ajax feature (which can be toggled on and off), then you can ask an FF Wiki admin where the coding is. It's not like it's some big secret. 19:22, May 2, 2011 (UTC)

Recent Changes Text Edit

Can the Recent Changes Text box be made collapsible? If it were fully extended all the time, so many links would take up a lot of space on RC. Making it collapsible would allow us to keep all of the links but reduce the size when we're not viewing them. -- Commdor (Talk) 01:20, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

That could be done but I do want to get some more opinions first but it can be done none the less. Lancer1289 01:24, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Done. I had to make a few other modifications to it to make it be collapsible, but it shouldn't impact the overall effectiveness of it. I hope. Lancer1289 23:26, April 25, 2011 (UTC)

Any futher comments? Lancer1289 18:36, April 26, 2011 (UTC)

Suggestion Edit

I do have a suggestion for another possible feature for the RC (assuming we can work a third thing in here). I've noticed on a few wikis that user names on the RC are color-coded, so administrators, bureaucrats, and other bigwigs are stand out. I think that not only would such a feature benefit users here by making admins easier to identify for those seeking their help, but also undermine any future impersonation attempts of admins (as with our recurring vandal problem. One user has already accused Lancer of making vandalism edits that the impersonator made, and I know there were one or two times where I nearly hit the block button on the real Lancer instead of the fake). Thoughts? -- Commdor (Talk) 23:22, April 27, 2011 (UTC)

I can ask around with some of the people on Community Central about it and get back. Lancer1289 23:36, April 27, 2011 (UTC)

It appears we can do something like that and thanks to Godisme, who explained how, we can do that as well. I can create the necessary files and add the colors, which can be agreed upon later by the users affected. That is probably something new and I'll see whether we should handle that here or somewhere else. Lancer1289 00:54, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Sounds like a worthwhile idea. I want to pick the color for Bureaucrats though! I have a vested interest in this particular issue! :P SpartHawg948 06:18, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I was thinking you, as the ranking user around these parts, would get first pick, then I and the other admins would haggle over our color. After that I suppose we just assign colors to the other blocs (Wikia staff, VSTF, and so on, unless they all get the same color. Lancer knows how this'll work). -- Commdor (Talk) 06:27, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

No love for "senior editors"? :( :P — Teugene (Talk) 06:31, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Nearly forgot about you guys, way down there. I must part the clouds with my admin-ly hand to gaze upon thy worldly domain. :) If it's possible for rollbackers to get a color, then you can have your pick after the admins. -- Commdor (Talk) 06:38, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Yes that's possible. Lancer1289 13:43, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

Human's Vanish 'likes' this. --Humans Vanish 07:29, April 28, 2011 (UTC)

This is now covered in Forum:User Colors on Recent Changes. Lancer1289 19:29, April 30, 2011 (UTC)

Implementation Edit

Well the voting has closed and now I plan to put in the code and make this work. Hopefully I won't break anything and I'll attempt to fix it if I do. I will post a notice when both new features are up and running. Lancer1289 17:44, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

Ok both features have been implemented with just a few slight changes, nothing really big, or at least I don't think so.

Along with the Recent Changes page, I know a few people use the Wiki Activity page, so I put it on the list. Those will be the only two pages affected by the AJAX Feature. No other pages will be affected as it has taken me much longer than one minute to type this message, and nothing happened. Individual pages for the feature have to be added manually, and since those are really the only two pages I can see needing the feature, that is what I left it at.

One thing about the AJAX feature that I just remembered is that you won't get the "You have a new message" pop-up box at the bottom like you did when you refreshed it manually. Of course you can see the edit, but if there is a desire to get the pop-up box back, I can see about that.

As to the recent changes text, I have removed the collapsible box as it doesn't work with the AJAX feature, and my suspicion is that more people will end up using it than not. However I did put in small tags to help with the size. And unlike refreshing the page every so often, it just reloads it, which means you can scroll down below the box, and you won't lose your place like you did sometimes when you refreshed. I believe that in the long term, the box will be much more useful than the old one, which just had three links, while the new one has 31 links, including some helpful ones for navigation and maintenance.

So I hope anyone will enjoy the new features and if there is any problems or even general comments, just leave me a message and I'll see if I can resolve it. Lancer1289 18:08, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

Looking good. Too bad about the RC text having to remain un-collapsible, but I suppose I'll get used to that just like every other change that came before. -- Commdor (Talk) 21:17, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

Well like I said above, all you need to do is scroll down so the box is either gone or at the top of the screen, and leave it. With the AJAX feature, unlike refreshing, the page doens't move when it auto-reloads, so you don't loose your place. You'll get used to it I'm sure. Now I have to run. Lancer1289 21:20, May 9, 2011 (UTC)

I noticed the Auto Refresh options is already there and while the feature is useful, the aesthetic part of the implementation is unappealing. This boils down to certain CSS involved, hence only minor changes in the styles part of the script needed to make it looks better than it is now.

Well that is how it looks on every other wiki that I visit with the feature. It's a tool and there really is no way to alter it visually. This is one of those cases where it is what it is. Lancer1289 04:34, May 11, 2011 (UTC)

On the contrary, it's something that can be adjusted in the Wikia.css file, as evident in my custom CSS setting. You can check it here. — Teugene (Talk) 04:46, May 11, 2011 (UTC)