h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

what?

fluffy,

You are of course welcome to continue using the old skins for as long as they're available. But there are a number of bugs in them and we're not able to fix them, because the BBC didn't give us the means - that wasn't part of the takeover agreement. We have the ability to change Pliny, so if we discover bugs in it, we can fix them. That's the main reason for pushing it as the new skin that everybody should use.

It's got a few features that make it a lot better than the old skins. And research shows it is much more popular than the old skins among the casual readers; it doesn't look like some throwback to the 1990s; so we should be able to attract more readers and writers.

Eventually we hope to build a version of Pliny that looks like the old skins. But that will be some way in the future.

gnomon
thank you for explaining all that...it makes sense and i am glad h2g2 has pliny to use as a viable vehicle....

but

why cannot we give it a new paint job ?

forgive me for the harshness about to ensue but
trust me
the way barfesque and slimy
look right now...
they WILL kill the site

the 'color' or lackof thereof and the sluglike apparitions truely are indicatve of
(sorry for this)
what used to be what the world tbought of when asked to thinkof the English Style and culture:

frumpy, tepid, blah, over-cooked, tasteless, unimaginatve ...ssssafe
colorless, old-fashioned, booooooring, constricting, overbearing and arrogant....

all of which is the stuff of which douglas, the pythons and the beatles, pratchett and many other brave and C O L O R F U L trailblazers have rebeled against...

once again, sorry, but i have tried to say this nicely ever since barfesque made its odious appearance last year but all i get is lame nonarguments and stinky passings of gas

just u wait tho
i am right
sorry but its true
and i am not the only one

That's our fluffy!
I'm impressed by anyone who can find this Pliny thingy though.
Prehaps a new Pronouncement will enlighten us.

Meanwhile, since fluffy seems to have an understanding of
design techniques and has sussed out the social metaphors
of the Central Intelligence now running this boat, I will
direct my queries directly to fluffy.

Does it still have Susanna York's Battle of Britain blue eyes
as its 'primary colour' premise? With Disney dolphins?

She died the day Barfesque was launched and all folks could
talk about was 'whether'
it was French or Prussian blue.

Beauty is (in) the eye of the Bee holder of course.
Now, there's something worth tocking a bout.

~jwf~

This post has been removed.

I forgot to mention that Warning message one sees
when posting to any official Announcements thread.

It is so imperious as to be quite off-putting for
the strongest of h2g2's most loyal subjects. I hate
to think how AlsoRan must feel to be told she may
post but not initiate any new conversations in this
Forum. Would it not be easier to simply delete the
Start A New Conversation button and have a banner
saying
"Access to Thread Initiations Is Restricted
But please feel free to post your responses
in any thread of this Fora de Prononcement"
or words to that affect.


~jwf~

For what it's worth, and that's probably not very much as I'm not around to often any more even with the old skins:

I'm with Fluffy.

I just had a quick look at that link.

It is okay, but in all a bit too white.

Will there be any way to set a bit of personal colour in/around it, like you can with brunnel?

I find it's all just too twitter and facebook and Dawkins.net and wordpress and a thousand other sites. I guess that's what not looking like the 90's means: any colour you want as long as it's Prussian Blue. Was there a big world-wide discount on Prussian Blue digital paint about a year ago?


I think the dolphins are a nice touch, though. Especially since this isn't a fan site.

And that is why the original skins will remain available, so everyone has the choice.

We want to attract a larger readership, who will be of the 'Prussian blue' era, by and large. This way we can appeal to them, while also having other options for those who don't like it. The way I see it it is the best of both worlds.

Let's not turn this into a skin war, shall we? Everyone has their favourite and can't understand why other people should choose any other. Hurrah for individual opinion and choice!

Thanks for that Vip

I also want to be very emphatic here, the older versions are going to remain - nobody will have to come out of their comfort zones of alabaster, goo or brunel.

What we are going to do is make those skins work better.

If anyone doesn't want to show their support for intelligent marine mammals , they are welcome to use an old skin.

To those who have been complaining since about post 101, you are not welcome to continue griping about the efforts that others are making on behalf of the Guide and the h2g2 community.

Well I love the look of Pliny. I switched to Pliny for testing and I have stayed in it since, I have even updated my bookmarks on devices I didn't test on so that I could stay in Pliny. I think it looks fresh and modern, and it's easier for me to read.Of course that's just my opinion: if people prefer the old sins they can continue to use them.

But the reason for the Switching to a more up to date technical system that we have full control over is going to be important to stop the site falling over.

I thought we had been asked politely not to deliberately try and find Pliney and if we happened upon it accidently to leave alone until the testing time was over and it was safe for us to go over.

Which really is the least that we could do

Yes. I switched to Pliny so pastey could check it worked on an iPhone, and have stayed in it...

Personally I am curious, only natural, but as I know that I don't have any tech skills so therefore can not be helpful, especially as the filther is now sussed

So I have stayed away. I think also that with the bucking that we have had over the last day or so and knowing that Pliney has held up, the temptation is there to have a peep

so a reminder wouldn't go astray, that there are good reasons for us not to do that and we have to wait for the go ahead before we go for a look see or make the switch

We asked very nicely for people to not go looking for Pliny. We asked that if they did stumble upon it, because we knew people would go looking for it, that they left it alone.

There's a reason for this, not just a "it's our toy and we're not sharing" idiocracy. I'm doing a *lot* of work on Pliny as people are testing it and what you'll see on one visit will not be what you see on another.

Each person we've asked to test it has been given a list of things that we know don't work, a list of things that we know are being changed and instructions on how to report errors and any tweaks they'd like.

Who are these people? They're the volunteers. The people that have been giving up pretty much all of their spare time to make sure that this site not only survived, but has a chance at prospering. Those doing the actual work to keep this site running for people to come along and use.

All of their feedback and been collected and collated, and is being used to form how Pliny looks and works. The people who use and help run the site have been helping to decide how it looks and works.

Pliny is not replacing the older skins, but we're no longer going to support the older skins. Anyone who'd been involved or listening to the announcements by the Comms team knows this, and they know what the plans for the future hold.

I'm one of the original Goo users, it was the *only* skin when I started here the other skins have come in, and I've given them a go, fed back constructive criticism and move back to Goo. I've been using Pliny for testing, and I'm finding it very easy to use. You are welcome to continue using the older skins for as long as they're available. You are welcome to move to the new skins when they become available. The choice is yours. If you don't like the new skins fine. If you decide you don't like the old skins either, fine. If you decide that you don't want to be part of h2g2 anymore, also fine. But until you decide that you want to help, to work with us in constructive ways rather than coming up with "witty" nicknames for Pliny, or "amusing" descriptions of the graphics then I'm afraid that I personally will happily ignore you.

Kudos to those volunteers. You know who you are.