User blog:Bermuda/Upgrading Toontasks pages

Hey toons! We are pretty much lacking pages for various Toontasks. I know we have the Toontask Guide pages, but it's pretty much bland and, eh... hard to read/understand in my opinion, considering most don't include locations (ie: where is The Laughin' Place?). But I have some suggestions to improve the quality of these guides.

I've been working on my sandbox page to test out some possible layouts. Currently, there is one layout, and it's pretty much, in my terms, alright, but still a little weak on "prettyness" and organization. The table is rather boring to look at. Well, let me go a little more in depth in section format.

What's changing
Instead of one single page (Toontask Guide:blah), I planned to separate each Toontask to their own page. I came up with a suitable title, calling these pages  followed by the reward. For those with rewards that are also given by other NPCs (such as laff boosts), I came up with the decision to name the page, such as. For those with the same rewards, but different playgrounds, name the page, ie:. Distinguishing the titles is necessary to allow linking, obviously since titles can't have the same names. However, on the page, we can use Template:Title, and change it to remove the NPC's name, or the playground name, to only include the reward in the title.

Now, the Toontask Guide pages will be turning to a directory page, including:
 * A summary, which should already be included
 * A list of operational toontasks (those that can be started)
 * Including updated tasks (like the ones in Test)
 * A list of previous tasks that have been updated and are no longer operational
 * Miscellanea (ie: Gag track training films, trivia, etc.)

Now I stated this in a confusing way. I'll plan a layout later to give you an insight of what these Toontask Guide directories will include.

NPC pages
On the NPC pages, they will now include a link to the page, instead of having a table/template in the page that could obstruct the layout due to the NPC template in the way.

Table
Rather than using a template, a table is more suitable. Templates are quite hard to understand and confusing to use. Plus, if you need to adjust something that can't be done through the parameters, you'll have to edit the template itself and try to make some changes.

Tables on the other hand, allows you to freely adjust anything without having to worry about affecting a vast number of pages and risk "destroying" something. It's still a little complicated to newbies, but once you're on the go, well, I can't say much but to say "nice job" on properly constructing a table.

As of now, the table is boring to look at and makes me want to cry. We can change that by applying CSS stylings to it, such as. This shouldn't concern you if you do not know CSS, so beyond this point (of this section) is useless. Anyways, if you do know CSS, might I want to add some styles to the table:
 * Add a "Complete" styling
 * A light-green background to distinguish a complete task
 * Anything else, feel free to add
 * Add a "Delivery" styling
 * A light-red background to distinguish a delivery task
 * Anything else, " "
 * Minor things (as in common tasks), such as defeating cogs, recovering items, taking over buildings/facilities, should be "un-styled" (un-styled meaning just an ordinary design)

I don't really mind if the table can be collapsible or not. It's really not important. IMO, it's better uncollapsed.

Sections
I went overboard and started to add some sections to help add more quality into these pages.

A summary section, called Summary, will be in a paragraph form of the Toontask. See an example summary in the sandbox.

Currently, there is a section that lists all objects - toons, cogs, toon buildings - that are present in the Toontask, as seen on my sandbox. However, I have no name for it. Suggest a name by commenting below!

I've also included a dialogue section. This dialogue section will include, well, things NPCs say throughout the Toontask. I will create a template, called Template:D (short for dialogue and saves the heck of having to type such a weird spelling). I will add a walkthrough on how to use the template once I get it started.

Miscellaneous information, such as trivia, can be added.

Toontasklisting
There will be a Toontasklisting template for easy navigation. Just leave this up to me.

Okay sooo.....
I would like some opinions on some of these suggestions; I wrote this at night, so some things won't sound right or aren't quite developed to support more information. Working with various users to gather a way to construct a layout is the best way to create these project pages. Comment below for any other suggestions. Discuss things in a civilize manner, meaning no arguing, etc.