Forums: War Room → Removal of Icons

Title says it all. I propose that we remove icons from the top of pages (from the wiki as a whole). Frankly, they're eye sores, as the gray line at the top of the page pretty much cuts through the middle of them and, in some cases with long quotes, such as on the Avatar page, they cut into the quote and are unbearably annoying and unattractive. Also, what purpose do they honestly serve? They show nation signs. Whoopie. Honestly, if you read two sentences into a page, you immediately find the information they provide. For example: the Bolin page. The icons there are protected (which honestly doesn't matter at all and can be found in the categories anyways), Earthbending, and United Republic of Nations. "Bolin is an earthbender [this takes care of the "Earthbending" icon] from a multicultural family[2] who grew up on the streets of Republic City [URoN icon] under the protection of his older brother, Mako." As I said, protected can be found in the categories and doesn't matter to someone reading the page anyways. Another example: Azula. Icons are protected, Featured articles, A-Class articles, Firebending and Fire Nation. Again, the first three can be found in the categories. "Azula was the princess of the Fire Nation [FN icon], daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Ursa, and younger sister of her archenemy, Fire Lord Zuko." Of course, this doesn't tackle the Firebending part, but read two more sentences in and it adresses it. What purpose do they serve? I say we should remove icons.

Questions, comments, or the likewise?

It doesn't matter what you did; what matters is who you are. (Rebel) 04:57, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

I think icons should stay because they give some easy information and I've never had a problem with looking at them. Categories aren't a replacement for them because you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom and it's quicker to notice an icon than it is a category or information within the first paragraph of an article. --AvatarRokus Ghost (Message me • Read my fanon) 05:08, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

I also believe that the icons should stay, because they can quickly alert a person to many pieces of information about a particulary article including its rating. I do not consider them a pain to look at even with my sensitive eyes. You are correct that most of the information can be found at the bottom of the page in the section labeled "Categories". However, a reader should not be forced to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to learn basic information about an article such as the nation it is aligned to. Remember, it may be easier on you if we got rid of the icons, but I believe that the majority of people would find it easier to still use them the same that we currently do. WEFAang (wall • contribs) 05:57, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

Personally, they've never bothered me, but I can follow your reasoning why they are to be considered annoying, so that's a question of personal taste I will not address as, well, it's personal to everyone. However, I do support to keep the icons as that are, as mentioned previously, a quick way to gather some information. Sure, it can be found by reading a simple paragraph and/or scrolling down to the bottom, but the simple truth is: people are lazy and they don't do that. One glance to the icons tells people (sometimes) whether or not the page is protected for something, the rank of the page, whether it was features, the nation it belongs to, the bending, etc, all information they would otherwise have to read something for -the horror!- or scroll down -image doing that. I agree with you that it is stupid that people are unwilling to do that to find out the information, but that's just the way it is. Lady Lostris (talk • HotN) 10:37, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

If you want the grey line to go, add this to your global or wikia.css:

/* To kill the horizontal line below the header */
.wikinav2 .WikiaPageHeader {border-bottom:none;}

– Natsu11 · (wall • Nanatsu no Taizai) 10:48, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

I, too, am against the change: Wikipedia uses icons, as well. Also, they are always there to give you some fast information before you even start reading. Now I know they haven't been loading as fast lately, but we can't do anything about that, as Wikia just added more tons of code to their previous amount (which they couldn't keep up with: It had 3 JavaScript errors yesterday!). Another thing is that you can also remove them yourself by adding this code to your wikia or global.js:

//Removes icons
$(document).ready(function() {
     $("#icons").remove();
});

Matey Y. (talk • A:TLoM)  14:26, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

I have to oppose this proposal. They are great for summarizing what the article is about without reading it, for quick references.  Technology Wizard  Wall  Contribs  23:10, July 22, 2012 (UTC)

I oppose this idea too. They are one of the first things we say on a page that automatically tell us what nation the character or article aligns with and/or what bending abilities they possess. Important and informative. --Icarlyftw talk to me 17:59, July 24, 2012 (UTC)