News Blog Format

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We're looking at changing the format of the front page news here on EQ2i and would like your feedback. There are two main options:

1. The current, full-post format ( EXAMPLE ). Posts on the main page have all of the features of the actual posts (images, links, etc.) but take up more space.
2. The snippet format ( EXAMPLE ). Posts on the main page are automatically shortened (exactly how short we can customize on a system-wide basis only) so you can see more posts with less scrolling and then click through to the indvidual blog post for the full content.

Which type do you prefer? I'd like to get as much feedback as possible, so let us know if you prefer #1 or #2 (and why!). Thanks on behalf of all the admins. -- lordebon ( talk ) 18:53, March 19, 2014 (UTC)

It looks like folks are universally in favor of the snippet option, so that's what we'll go with. Thanks for the feedback folks! -- lordebon ( talk ) 23:48, March 21, 2014 (UTC)

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I think it would look cleaner having short blog posts on the main page and then the full blog post on a page itself separate from the main page. Not having pictures would kind of make the it look worse though :\

Wouldn't there be a way to have the short blog post and manually put a picture into the main page news section each time? I know it'd be more work but there has to be some sort of manual way to do this.

If the choice was between having pictures and not having pictures I'd tend to lean toward keeping the full length blog posts, but there has to be some way to get pictures into a shorter post, even if it requires doing the entire short blog post manually? Jado818 ( talk ) 19:46, March 19, 2014 (UTC)

Unfortunately no, the only way we can get the pictures is by using the entire post. It's a limitation in the way wikia's Bloglist extension works currently. Eventually it may be possible if they update the extension to allow that, but I have no idea when if ever that would come about. -- lordebon ( talk ) 22:09, March 19, 2014 (UTC)

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I prefer #2 (snippet format). Most of the blogs and news sites I read use that format. I prefer to read the headline and summary and then click through to the full article if it interests me. I agree with Jado, the summarized version looks cleaner, except that I'm fine with icons instead of pictures. ( Talk ) 20:16, March 19, 2014 (UTC)

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A Vote for version 2 Edit

I much prefer the second option, because it's cleaner and makes it much easier to see several headlines that may or may not be relevant to readers at a glance. In the age of social media, less is more (think of Twitter, for example or the way Facebook shortens people's posts on their new feeds). Pretty pictures can be nice, but really if a headline doesn't catch me, I don't usually pay much attention to images. The whole internet is full of images that try to click-bait. That happens with words, but it's easier to tell if a headline is probably going lead to something I truly want to see than it is with an image dominating the info. I say this and I'm an active artist when I am not here or in EQ2 ;) Yasuewho ( talk ) 22:50, March 19, 2014 (UTC)Yasuewho

voting for 2, the full posts are just way to long :/ -- ( Talk ) 22:26, March 21, 2014 (UTC)