User blog:WoeisWingbat/NEW Changes to the Wiki!

It's a new year, new us. We've been working on a lot of changes to the Dubbing Database over the past few weeks, and we felt like it was finally appropriate to inform you all on where we're at!

New templates
Our first major change is that we now have new templates for many purposes. Infobox media serves as the main infobox for any media, including shows and films, which can now be clarified under "type".

The biggest change is that we are abandoning the old cast list; now have a proper cast list template, so that we don't have to force the - template on multiple pages, and it works better for width, having audio samples, and more than one character image file. Technical information gets separated with its own template, so that the main template isn't too crowded.

With these templates, we have tried limiting header usage, as a lot of the time it is not necessary to note, and rowspan has been implemented as well. You can be as flexible and free with these templates as you'd like; for example, not every character needs to be listed if we don't have their voice, but in cases where you have an audio sample, you can add the newly introduced unidentified voice template. You can also have more than one template on a page, such as here and here, for when its appropriate.

We've revamped actor pages as well, giving them a new system with the actor list template.

For further details about these templates, please check the "how to use" sections for each.

The best articles to use for examples are:
 * Encanto (Movie)
 * Encanto (Danish) (Movie dub)
 * Sherlock Yack : zoo-détective (Show)
 * Sherlock Yack: Zoo-Detective (Show dub)
 * Lauren Savir (dub actor)

Different images
Another big change is that we're changing the way that we handle images on the main infobox. Now, we use posters or title cards to make the pages stand out more, and to cease being repetitious. The logos can still be listed on the dub page, and we are still using clear/cropped logotypes as we usually did in "International versions" sections.

On cast lists, we're getting rid of transparent images completely. A lot of the time were they poorly made, and in cases where they weren't, you can't see them quite well with this new template. Instead, character images should be screenshots from the media (any official image with a background will do). While reusing character images for cases where the characters didn't change appearance is an option, it's preferable if you have an image from that specific media even if it's a TV special.

Recording studios and channels
TV channels/services and recording studios have been quite a struggle on this wiki, as a lot of it is just linking to the categories, with information that you can find on Wikipedia a lot of the time. A lot of them were simple short stubs as well.

We've decided a new system was in order, so that the pages will still exist and have content on them, but this time they will be put in the categories. The original pages will redirect to these categories as to not leave a lot of red links. We will not be putting lists of programs/dubs on these pages, as the categories already handle that for you.

Examples:
 * Hop!
 * Aqlvoy
 * Disney+
 * Iyuno-SDI Group Portugal
 * “Jess” Discographic

Other changes

 * We are abandoning the df template for dates; enter them in with any system relevant to the page.
 * We aren't supporting navboxes anymore, at least not for the moment. Please use categories or the main page to aid you, we have both as options.
 * We're still discussing what we should do with song pages, but for the moment, we now have a proper music section format - which is also demonstrated within the Encanto artices. Audio files can be added to them as well.
 * We have an Unknown dubs article for support on when a dub is known to exist, but we don't know much about it, thus not quite warranting a page. PLEASE use it, we've had to delete many articles for lack of content.
 * On that note, we are still cutting down on stub articles. If the information is easily available online, please make an effort to put the information from a resource on the page; otherwise, just don't make the page. Check out our resources page for more help.

We understand these changes won't be for everyone, but the wiki is still shaping what it wants to be and change is natural. We'll try our best to make sure these changes we've done are for the benefit of the wiki! Cheers!