LegendBegins

Mahz's Dev Journal

<Snipped quote by Hael>

Having users add a theme and then waiting for approval can be pretty efficient if set up correctly. There would just have to be a forum section for the mods that displays each theme like a notification and they say yay, or nay. Until then the theme isn't shown.

It's censoring before the image has a chance to become public and triggers AdSense.

Edit: just got a bug where Hael thanked my post "twice" somehow...

@NuttsnBolts

I do not see the difference between this and uploading profile pictures. If the userbase can be trusted with that privilege, there is no need to review it based on roleplay skins.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Perhaps. We're in part arguing here as the Devils' Advocate.

Nothing will stop people from abusing such a template. What will stop such abuse is the review process before such image is accepted. Seeing how it would not only be impractical to have Mahz decide everything, we imagine such could be done by a select group of players. (no idea what would be the parameters for said group)

But the argument above about it not having been abused on images so far is strong. We're just making sure all possible eventualities of problem are covered.

@Ellri

There is no reason to believe that page skins will cause a greater quantity of issues than user-uploaded profile pictures. In fact, it could quite possibly be less problematic, as pages are static, while users are dynamic, posting in multiple locations.

Myriad Reality

...

Mahz's Dev Journal

the pessimist in us says this:
Even if 99.9% of players don't break with what is appropriate, that last 0.1% can still be more than enough to make a mess, say for example if that adSense thing reacts to images too.

@Ellri

As a speaker always in favor of the user, I don't believe there are sufficient methods to abuse the system to warrant cutting it altogether.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Don't actually mock that up.

If I implemented this, I'd just enforce minimum image resolution and aspect-ratio restrictions.

@Mahz

That's a good idea. You can theoretically cheat the resolution, but it's best to make people want to do it correctly.

Mahz's Dev Journal

<Snipped quote by NuttsnBolts>

I think it looks cool. The guild's styling would need some tweaks of course like translucency/transparency on backgrounds and strokes on text.

It's not a feature I'm against implementing, I'd just let people opt-out.

Though I'm afraid your taste in good-looking, high-resolution backgrounds makes the idea possibly more palatable than it might be in reality.

For a taste, can you create a mockup that stretches this small shitty image?

@Mahz

I'd go ahead and do that, but he already has a template; regardless, you'd end up with a lot of white on top with a stretched anime chick. It wouldn't look like death, but it wouldn't look good at all, either; when that situation arises, it's important for GMs to have enough artistic taste to say "Wow, this looks horrible" and then find another one or turn it off, instead of subjecting themselves and the other RPers to it.

<Snipped quote by Shienvien>

<Snipped quote by LegendBegins>

Comes down to individual taste. Some people may like a bit of creative design in the background, while other prefer the clean look. As long as it can be turned on and off, there's no major issue.

With the images however and something to note is that there would have to be work done in order to obtain copyright licencing, or permission to use.

@NuttsnBolts

You wouldn't run into copyright issues, just as you don't with profile pictures. It's considered "fair use."

Mahz's Dev Journal

Uhuh... That'll be one of those things that I'll be keeping perma-off.

@Shienvien

I'll be keeping it on if implemented. It feels nice and individualized.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Personally, I think the skins look great; good job putting those together. And the fact that it takes up so little space makes it hard to entirely screw up, but even if someone doesn't like them, they have the option to turn them off.

Mahz's Dev Journal

<Snipped quote by LegendBegins>

When I get home I may play around with Photoshop and see what the results look like

@NuttsnBolts

That'd be very helpful (as long as you don't choose one that looks, in your own words, like "unicorn vomit"); thank you.

Mahz's Dev Journal

<Snipped quote by LegendBegins>

How much of the forum page would be suitable for the cuatomisation? An idea I'm thinking that would look nice is like a watermark design from the top of the post that would possibly fade out after 600px or something, or some individual colours adjustments. As long as there's no ultra neon or clash of colours that looks like unicorn vomit. :P

@NuttsnBolts

I was considering the top and the sides (perhaps the bottom), and if someone doesn't want to see them, they can disable it.