Forum:Series Boxes

Index → Panopticon → Series Boxes

Spoilers are strongly policed here.
If this thread's title doesn't specify it's spoilery, don't bring any up.

Now a couple of days ago a member edited the series box templates

To go from this

To This

I recommend they be changed back and here is my reasoning

1. The editor said that there is no difference between Xmas and normal episodes. but in fact 90% of Xmas spechails DON'T feature that series on going companion.
2. the xmas spechails are also in a different year to the rest of the seires something that also needs to be highlighted
3. The episode names run into each other Eg. Partners In Crime .Fires of Pompeii Not Partners in Crime * Fires in Pompeii
4. The series 6 gap was also removed as with xmas this gives the feeling of one episode airing after anougher with no substanccial gap. If you go by production code series 4 lasted 3 YEARS!!! and with only 5 extra episodes then normal
5. Mini episodes look full length
6. Major confusion if a person hasn't visted the series page

7th and final These are important bits of navigation in this wiki and there information is given in a confusing and False way!!! Joshoedit 02:40, January 10, 2011 (UTC)

So now its time for you to decide....

Change Them Back

1. --Mini-mitch 13:10, January 10, 2011 (UTC)
2. --Tangerineduel / talk 13:50, January 10, 2011 (UTC)
3. --Revanvolatrelundar 14:05, January 10, 2011 (UTC) (agree with The Thirteenth Doctor's point and mini episodes should be included too)
4. --Gousha 00:41, January 11, 2011 (UTC) (I think the sub-categorization also makes it look better)

Neither

I don't see my preferred shape represented here. I'd prefer them to go to no wording other than the name of the episodes. It's completely unimportant to navigation whether an episode is "Christmas", "mini-episode" or whatever. What matters for navigation is that the episodes be listed in the order in which they were transmitted. (Series 3 is a special case. Because it's not possible to place The Infinite Quest in a particular chronological spot, it needs the identifier of "animated".)

What I'm hating in nav box design is the "creep" that's setting into them of people putting more and more lines of text so that they become longer and longer. They should be about the most economical listing of items — and most decidedly not about labelling everything to the nth degree.

This is especially true of series navigation boxes as these are not set to auto-collapse. Thus, if they get longer, the page does too. And that's bad, from a visual design perspective. (I don't particularly understand why series nav boxes are auto-open, but that's a separate issue.) My vote is for returning to them to my most recent edit of each of the boxes, and not anything that's been displayed upthread. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 23:26, January 11, 2011 (UTC)

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realise Joshoedit hasn't been completely honest in his explanation of the choice. He's given two different examples, upthread, but neither is mine.

The choice is between those above and this:

Unsure

1. Whilst I prefer the original version, the newer one also includes the mini-episodes, which although they are shorter in length, still count. If the original version made sure to include these in the series box, I think it would be better. --The Thirteenth Doctor 14:00, January 10, 2011 (UTC)

The orginal had mini episodes, Do you mean written in as part of the episodes? Its just series 3 i canged back to show on this forum and the original template didn't have a mini episode, mini episodes form memory where on the boxes but where separated from the main series like christmas was Joshoedit 19:24, January 10, 2011 (UTC)

If the original had the mini episodes included as well, then I'm all for going back to the original. --The Thirteenth Doctor 22:54, January 10, 2011 (UTC)