Changing how folders work

Wait, you can customize the color?

Seems like a change for a change's sake to me. Don't really see how it would be worse than what we have now but don't really see the improvement either.

It looks pretty cramped and ugly to me.

I agree with Wyldchyld and others, the dark-blue color looks really bad on the buttons. If they were light-blue, it may even not look as cramped.

Could we perhaps have an option to use either system for the folders for whichever way we prefer?

Put a white oval outline around each folder, like the buttons at the top of the page. It looks better like that.

And we felt the need to do this... why? What's wrong with scrolling?

And yes, I understand how this sounds.

It's for a growing number of mobile device users, if we're doing a change in layout maybe we should spruce up how the folders look in general.

I agree that it's probably the wrong choice of blue and the lack of any colours in the headers is something I simply don't like because they really help me navigate and offer a far clearer delineation for sections than changes in font size but it's not come up much so it must not bother others. Also, when you close folders you get a weird flow issue as the folder you're in gets further along the list the more folders you close ahead of it (folders further up the page). The folders at least stay static for now and have a fixed position so there's little risk of being lost but the last folder's name drifting right the more folders you close sitting before it sounds like an issue.

edited 27th Feb '14 3:19:54 AM by treelo

I don't mind the change, it might even ease things, but I'd prefer the classic color. The current color stings the eyes.

I like the classic color too—will the change affect the headers too?

I've lightened up the color, added a content border and restored the old folder icons. test page

edited 27th Feb '14 7:32:10 AM by FastEddie

The folders look good, but in that test they are crammed together; they should have at least a tiny amount of whitespace between them.

I will say that there is a potential plus side to the proposed system: When you return from a Wiki Walk from a link within an opened folder, the return point is how far down you were on the page with the folders opened, but the folders are closed. If you're too far down, it defaults to the bottom of the (closed) page. Under this system, the (closed) bottom would be close(r) to the top, presuming that the left sidebar isn't longer.

Unfortunately, the left sidebar usually is longer than the collapsed page (and the new system would change "usually" to "almost always"). I know that we can't do anything about The Advertisement Server, but perhaps we could make the "Main Index" into a drop down menu like the "Tools" menu? It's not like having the Main Index auto-opened at the bottom of the sidebar is doing it any favors (I just gloss over it even when I'm trying to find it) and, with this change, the white space that the lower folder-closed page length would generate would be even more hideous and useless.

That being said, one thing that I find annoying is that I can't close folders within the folder itself, having to scroll back to the top of the folder. (And, yes, this is also a problem under the current system.) As the key issue with the phones (which I don't use to Trope) seems to be the scrolling vertically for long periods aspect, perhaps we can get a fix for this as well.

Discar: With regards to post #83, that's how I would deal with the "Categories that are lengthened due to a Running Gag tied into the page's subject" (except I wouldn't use header markup and just have the gag entry as the first line), but I'm not sold on that being the fix for Overly Long Names and titles and Walking Spoiler warnings.

By the way, how large is the character limit at this time?

edited 27th Feb '14 8:15:13 AM by DonaldthePotholer

I like the latest version best. I don't see much benefit in letting people choose their own folder color.

So basically, the folders go next to each other if they're back-to-back, and move down if there's a title or something between them? I just want to make sure I understand how they work.

(looks pretty good, by the way)

I don't look the border that appears around open folders. I think it looks weird.

I wouldn't want customisable folder colours unless it also changed the markup at the top, and all other instances of blue, which is too much to ask for a really small thing.

Hmmm. Can't really say I like the change. It makes the page look rather cluttered and unappealing. And this is coming from someone who usually browses this site on his phone.

Then again, I spend much more time on the forums than on the wiki, and I hate all changes ever. Make of that what you will.

I like the border around open folders.

The lighter blue and the borders are nice, though could we adjust the border to go up to the bottom of the open folder instead of the top? I think that would go nicely with the "tab" look.

Still dislike the white headers with a passion and noticed the footer for indexes seems to be misaligned.

Why you gotta try to fix what ain't broke?

Folder borders are cool by me.

It's still going to look the same as it does now if I have all the folders open, right? Because that's what I have it defaulted to.

Got no problems here when viewing the site on my phone.

The latest version is good all around. Folders being inside the border of open folders is a little weird but nothing I can really gripe about.

edited 27th Feb '14 9:45:33 AM by Willbyr