User talk:XD1

Updates for Season 2
Hi Scott, I saw your post on User:Werthead's talk page. Welcome aboard, glad to have you. That mostly sounds great. New main page headers would be fantastic. I would like to request some titles if possible:
 * 1) Latest episode: For use with Template:Latest episode when season 2 begins (replacing the header in that template ideally)
 * 2) Featured video: For the latest trailers
 * 3) Next episode

I think a poll archive is a nice idea and we should aim to update the poll semi-regularly. A featured article section is a good idea but needs someone to take charge of nominating and rotating the articles.--Opark 77 07:28, February 17, 2012 (UTC)

I would hold off on the main page image for a few weeks - we have a teaser poster but I expect some more useable artwork might follow in the next few weeks. I think I would prioritize thus:
 * 1) Making better main page headers, and expanding them so there are headers for the poll, video, and blog sections.
 * 2) Adding a live news feed section on the main page.
 * 3) Creating a new poll on the main page - something like "Which character's storyline are you most looking forward to in season 2" - and creating a poll archive page we can link to from the main page poll section that would have the current and previous polls listed. (Results from the most recent poll would be shown at the bottom of the current one on the main page.)
 * 4) Adding a featured article section on the main page.
 * 5) Switching to the new style navigation menu with more drop-down options.
 * 6) Updating character portal with deceased characters in black/white or tinted red.

Sorry I can't rule more out. I certainly won't be disappointed if you only manage the first two. I'm afraid I have another request too; an e-mail to HBO media relations or if you wanted to send me their address at owen.parker.83@gmail.com I will do it (and love having an address that might get an answer for Boardwalk and Luck too). I've been working on Category: Performer Unidentified a bit today and am struggling to narrow it down any further. Could you ask HBO media relations who plays some season 1 characters? We are yet to ID an actor for:


 * 1) Maege Mormont
 * 2) Othor
 * 3) Jafer Flowers
 * 4) Chella
 * 5) Timett
 * 6) Mikken
 * 7) Joyeuse Erenford
 * 8) Barra

We also still need to identify the role played by some of the season 1 guest stars:
 * 1) Colin Carnegie
 * 2) Bryan McCaugherty
 * 3) Stephen Grech

PS Contributing sounds good. I've been thinking about suggesting a style guide and it won't hurt to have that in there. I would suggest we would probably put it in the narrower right column in case that affects sizing the header. --Opark 77 22:51, February 19, 2012 (UTC)

Looks great thank you, glad they extended your deadline!--Opark 77 07:48, February 22, 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. Fingers crossed.--Opark 77 23:41, February 22, 2012 (UTC)

I run chrome so I'd only ever seen them without rounded corners. Thanks for fixing it.--Opark 77 10:25, March 2, 2012 (UTC)

We have gotten a little further with those actors and characters. Carnegie plays Stevron Frey, McCaugherty plays Walder Rivers, Stephen Grech played a King's Landing urchin. I doubt we'll hear back but if they do come back to you the remaining characters with no identified actor are:

--Opark 77 13:07, March 2, 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) Maege Mormont
 * 2) Othor
 * 3) Jafer Flowers
 * 4) Chella
 * 5) Timett
 * 6) Joyeuse Erenford
 * 7) Barra

Family tree templates
I've been working on family trees for the wiki and am reasonably happy with what I've achieved based on the template used at the Harry Potter wiki. My first attempt is Template: House Stark family tree. My main problem is that the template creates a large empty space above the family tree. I wonder if this is something you might be able to help me solve? User:Bchwood offered some general help with the templates and recommended you as a master coder when I brought up this specific issue.--Opark 77 01:39, February 24, 2012 (UTC)

The Stark one looks great now. So all I need to do is not have the new line of the template on a new line in the edit. Weird seeing as most edits don't mind a single line break. I will fix the other versions. Thank you for your help.--Opark 77 07:35, February 25, 2012 (UTC)

Baratheon family tree
Update done, what do you think? I struggled to work Cersei, Mhaegen and Robert's other women onto the same row. I compromised by moving Cerseri and Jaime onto a new row. The alternative would be to omit Mhaegen specifically and have Cersei on one side of Robert and his other women as a group on the other side.--Opark 77 16:04, April 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * I have added a new box for Gendry's mother to make it clear that he only has one! I swapped Mhaegen and Cersei so that all of the bastards are near one another in the row of children and Cersei is on the same row as Robert. I can only have a box to either side of Robert on the same row. The options are:


 * 1) Omit Mhaegen, Barra, Gendy and Gendry's mother as separate entities and just have Various women and Various bastards but have all of Robert's generation on the same line.
 * 2) As it stands at the moment with some of the mother's of Robert's children on the line below him but clearly separated from his children and clearly not suggested as his children by the connecting lines.
 * Which would you prefer?--Opark 77 07:17, April 5, 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the reply and your kind words.--Opark 77 21:00, April 5, 2012 (UTC)

New icon
The new icon looks great, thank you!--Opark 77 13:03, March 2, 2012 (UTC)

Background image
We have the official poster now: File:Game_of_Thrones_War_is_Coming.jpg

I was wondering if we could use this to make a new background. The teaser poster also contains similar imagery which could be used to make textures: File:Tease-art.jpeg

What do you think? --Opark 77 13:28, March 2, 2012 (UTC)

If you could that would be great. The idea of adapting the crown sounds good.--Opark 77 00:02, March 5, 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. I agree about the color scheme - the poster is very red and gold while we are blue and grey at the moment.--Opark 77 12:48, March 5, 2012 (UTC)

Skin
Thank you. I think that the first one looks brilliant and that the second one is also great but to my eye seems like it wouldn't fit in our current ratio of background skin to content space (I am making up names as I go here and expect you probably have some far better terminology!) I think we should put it to a vote on the forum. I don't mind setting up the topic and publicising it to our regulars if you like seeing as you have obviously put a lot of time into this already.

Personally I would welcome having you aboard as an admin but as the newest one here myself I don't think it is my decision. User:Werthead is my liege lord in such matters.--Opark 77 20:52, March 12, 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for explaining the aspect ratio variance to me, clever stuff. I have started a forum topic and a poll. Will it be ok to go with the consensus in a week?--Opark 77 23:42, March 12, 2012 (UTC)


 * So not the best turnout, perhaps I should have made it the main page poll instead because the new one of those is going along nicely. Skin number 4 has it 2:1 so if you want to give implementing it a go you have the blessing of the community.--Opark 77 22:20, March 19, 2012 (UTC)


 * The new example looks good. I would happily have all of them on a rotating basis. I think my colleagues both voted for option 4 because it has the titular throne in the image. I will repost the poll on the main page later today and see how we do - updating the community message didn't bring as many eyes as I had hoped.--Opark 77 10:31, March 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * The poll has had another week and Example 1 has the majority. Do you think we could adopt that one in time for the premiere?--Opark 77 17:24, March 29, 2012 (UTC)


 * New wordmark is cool, closer to the show logo as it appears in the credits and a better fit for the change in color scheme. Lets do it.--Opark 77 20:58, March 29, 2012 (UTC)


 * Looks great. Thanks for all your work on it.--Opark 77 07:01, March 30, 2012 (UTC)

Use of images
As one of our active editors I wonder if you could help me by giving an opinion about the way we use images on the forum.--Opark 77 11:02, March 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you.--Opark 77 20:17, March 18, 2012 (UTC)
 * It was useful and interesting, thanks again for sharing it.--Opark 77 22:19, March 19, 2012 (UTC)

Starter Guide
There was some mention of making portals on the forum and this sounds like it would fit under that banner - a navigation area for a specific user need. The HBO viewers guide added a catch up section recently too which might be good for some inspiration.--Opark 77 07:14, March 20, 2012 (UTC)

--Opark 77 14:23, March 26, 2012 (UTC)
 * First of all it looks really good but I do have some (hopefully constructive) feedback.
 * Could we match the colours to the houses? (Stark = Grey (or Green in the show), Lannister = Red, Baratheon = Yellow, Cersei's family could be orange, love that Jon is black!)
 * Catelyn's section - it might be confusing to refer to Tyrion as "Imp" at this stage because it is not clarified as his nickname until later. I think simplifying naming to one form of address is a good idea for the portion of the audience who are TV only viewers and have not rewatched since 2011. However, I might be being unfair to their capacity to work things out.
 * Teen tyrant is an awesome bit of phrasing for Joffrey in the Sansa section!
 * Jon's section third sentence "In the end...ending up" one of those ends should be cut.
 * Bran's section first sentence "...thanks Jaime Lannister's cowardly attempt..." should be "thanks to".
 * Robert's section mentions a "beloved first wife." He never managed to marry Lyanna - they were betrothed but she disappeared with Rhaeghar and then died before being returned to Robert. Perhaps "first love" and drop the beloved?
 * Its a visually interesting piece filled with relevant information, well done.

As for placement. I think having it as an article is fine. We should put:



Into the plot section of Season 1 and Season 2. If you like it could be the featured article for the next 2 weeks but we'd need a single image and a blurb for the template on the main page. --Opark 77 14:29, March 26, 2012 (UTC)

They do have the violet eyes in the books so maybe the purple. Its difficult because Baratheon is gold/black, Lannister is red/gold and Targaryen in black/red. Maybe it makes the most sense to leave Jon as Stark grey or green and have Targaryen as black. What do you think?--Opark 77 21:27, March 26, 2012 (UTC)

That sounds like a good compromise.--Opark 77 21:49, March 26, 2012 (UTC)

Looks good. My turn to be tired now - 23:47 here in the UK.--Opark 77 22:48, March 26, 2012 (UTC)

Quiz
Maybe we should link to it from the polls section? If you like questions here are a few more...

I wrote the questions so I'm very happy to see it as a working quiz, reminded me of my days writing questions for the facebook Wire app a few years ago. I would definitely be happy to see it on the main page. --Opark 77 10:28, March 21, 2012 (UTC)


 * I like it much better than my idea! The slider is a good fit for it.--Opark 77 10:50, March 21, 2012 (UTC)

Admin
You're all set as an admin. Welcome to the team! :-) --Werthead 13:38, March 23, 2012 (UTC)
 * Congratulations and welcome aboard.--Opark 77 19:30, March 23, 2012 (UTC)

Navboxes
I have been making some faltering first steps to introducing navboxes to the wiki this week. I designed Template:House navbox based on our infoboxes. I think I understand parameters and templates on a basic level and I can understand basic table formatting but I have exceeded my capabilities here. I have tried to teach myself a bit about parser functions and have implemented the if# function to hide unused fields in the navbox. I have followed the Show Hide guide at the open source wiki to make the tables collapsible. It appears to be mostly working to my surprise. I wonder if you could have a quick look at the template and let me know what you think. I have been unable to figure out how to make the navbox automatically collapse. Any hints in that regard?

I am going to work on some additional navboxes next week so if you have any suggestions for article groups that would benefit from one please let me know.--Opark 77 12:35, March 25, 2012 (UTC)

Additionally using I have imported Template:Tnavbar and Template:Tnavbar-collapsible but using them seems to put the header in the navbox off centre. Can I correct this? If this is all outside of your remit then just let me know and I'll try admin support instead.--Opark 77 13:02, March 25, 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you.--Opark 77 20:38, March 25, 2012 (UTC)


 * BTW, the edit link in each House navbox takes you to the editing page of the overall House navbox template--Gonzalo84 01:25, March 26, 2012 (UTC)


 * To direct the v/d/e links in Tnavbar-collapsible to each House navbox it needs to be aimed at each house navbox. I knew how to fix this it just took some time to alter the code of each individual House navbox.--Opark 77 06:41, March 26, 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your help.--Opark 77 21:13, March 28, 2012 (UTC)

Wordmark
No joy. I can remove the current one and go to text but if I try to upload a new file it restores the old one. I even tried deleting File:Wiki-wordmark.png and it is still not showing the new one when I clear my cache. Weird.--Opark 77 09:00, March 30, 2012 (UTC)


 * You seem to have fixed it. User:Werthead had some misgivings so I started a forum topic. Your input welcome.--Opark 77 20:34, April 1, 2012 (UTC)

New skin
I wish my fellow admins had discussed the new skin when we proposed it instead of now that we have implemented it. User:KarinS seems quite unhappy with it (or me) but I'm not sure what specifically she would like altered (I get the impression that she prefers the old skin but she appears to be in the minority there).

User:Werthead suggested we use grey rather than black for easier reading so I implemented that change, I hope you don't mind me messing with your work.--Opark 77 09:37, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * I preferred the black but am trying to offer a compromise. If the general feeling is that it is no better then we should go back. I think Karin did say it was a bit better and I have asked Werthead if he feels that it is an improvement.--Opark 77 14:59, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * User:QueenBuffy has made me aware that in the visual editor the background image is kind of in the way. Is there anything we can alter to make it less problematic when using the visual editor?--Opark 77 22:12, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * I was the same when she mentioned it to me. Thanks for looking at it. I will let her know.--Opark 77 20:03, April 4, 2012 (UTC)

New wordmark
I have tried to change the wordmark back but I am now stuck seeing the new one. Could you contact your special forces again?--Opark 77 09:37, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the info. I will try to be patient!--Opark 77 15:07, April 3, 2012 (UTC)

Character portal
Two new viewers (or one that first wrote under their IP and then registered) complained about being "spoiled" by having it on the main page yesterday, I thought having it lower on the front screen might make it avoidable for people just trying to get to the episode article they just watched for example.--Opark 77 06:29, April 3, 2012 (UTC)

You're right only themselves to blame and it is better to have the basic "this character is dead" front and centre so that they are not fully spoiled (with the how and the when of the death) if they are naive enough to visit the wiki when not up to date. I like the red too. I should stop trying to please everyone!--Opark 77 14:55, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * What I would like to do is get the portal up to date with the season 2 starring cast do you think you might have time to work on that?--Opark 77 14:57, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * If you don't have time, I can do it also. I worked on the first one :) -- 15:24, April 3, 2012 (UTC)


 * Sorry QueenBuffy, it was remiss of me not to ask you. I have taken my brainstorming to the forum.--Opark 77 15:31, April 3, 2012 (UTC)

poll
When you change the poll, don't forget to change the current statistics under "current poll", to reflect the results of the last weeks results :) -- 06:08, April 20, 2012 (UTC)

Ohh, I clicked history and saw your name last. Hmm, any idea who it was. I'll be sure to let them know :) -- 06:51, April 20, 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Thinking about asking Werthead if he wants to change the message board to Message pages, the new way of messaging, etc... so much easier. -- 07:00, April 20, 2012 (UTC) So you are Anti-Message Wall? :) -- 07:12, April 20, 2012 (UTC)

Forum
Thanks for the blog about the video game. I have season 2 tunnel vision so haven't really highlighted the release, glad someone did! I would like to read your thoughts on a few recent forum topics: --Opark 77 07:21, June 1, 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) Formal request to permanently ban "LovelyChrys"
 * 2) Prevent anon contributions
 * 3) A number of major issues

Heads up
Letting you know, if you don't mind... we may need your help here in a few weeks designing a few new backgrounds to vote on :) http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Time_for_a_new_Background/Color_Scheme:_Admins_Please_Read

-- 22:50, June 4, 2012 (UTC)


 * Sounds so official, doesn't it? haha

Thanks for helping, as always! Love the TB Refresher! GJ! -QueenBuffy

Comic-con
I've added the template to our main page, hopefully Werthead won't mind.--Opark 77 13:50, July 7, 2012 (UTC)

Ch'vyalthan
We have a new editor who has just registered (User:Ch'vyalthan) and is having problems with the editor load stalling and timing out. Their message to me has more detail. I don't have the technical know how to support them, is there anything you can do? Or where should I point them next?--Opark 77 (talk) 09:17, October 29, 2012 (UTC)

Layout
I noticed that background image maybe a bit "too" big. It's hard to tell the shadow is a dragon- perhaps you could make it smaller for us? Also, think you could help making new section headings... so that they aren't red and gold. What about the visual box... it's still showing the crown background. Your help would be much appreciated. (I was about to change the cast portal- but having trouble changing the poll results too- they are also red color) 22:03, February 27, 2013 (UTC)