FroggyArt i appreciate the excitement but it'll take a while for me to finish, it's gonna be quite a large project :') in the meantime you can check out this world code by eggy!
Introduction
I've seen people asking around for world codes and I need a new project so... I want to create a world theme that works for as many people as possible, but for that i need some of your input.
If you have a world and want to change the look / plan to make a world but haven't found a nice theme for it yet, this is your chance! Fill out the form below and help shape this world code with me!
Examples
I've made world codes before, you can check out these examples:
These are customs so I won't be showing any live previews, sorry!
About
This will be a world CSS bundle with a couple different HTML options. This shouldn't be a problem for anyone, since all users have access to CSS for worlds. I would like to continue adding to the bundle in the future; more HTML options as well as matching snippets for forums or custom pages.
The style itself will be slightly generic, but you'll have full control over colours, backgrounds, borders, fonts and more through SCSS variables.
The final version will have options for both personal worldbuilding/story worlds and community/group worlds. If some questions seem more geared towards one world type, it's probably because I couldn't think of many options for the other - if there's something obvious I missed, leave a comment about it!
I'm mainly looking for opinions on the layout and type of content, as well as input from people who mod / admin communities through worlds. Any submission helps though, they let me know this is something people actually want!
FAQ
I've never used CSS before, how does it work?
In this instance, you will get a text file with SCSS variables and an import link. This goes in 'Manage World > Group CSS'. Everything should work from the get-go, but you'll be able to customize it further by editing the variables.
Will I be able to use custom colours, backgrounds etc.?
You will have a lot of styling options through SCSS variables. If you've used a custom coloured HTML at any point, variables are similar except they do everything for you - pick your primary colour, update the CSS variable and all the HTML will use that primary colour automatically. I'll add as many of these as possible, including colour changes and background options - you can check the current planned ones on the feature list.
Regarding custom menu content:
Custom menus mean completely remaking the HTML for the sidebar/menu so you can have complete control over your menu links, dropbars and other content. TH worlds automatically sort mod and admin panels into dropdowns, and you can add and sort your pages into page folders with dropdowns under 'Manage Pages'. It's also possible to hide and rearrange content with CSS, and add custom content via the blurb (although blurb content will stay grouped together). If this covers what you're looking for I would not recommend a custom menu, as they require at least some experience editing codes.
Q&A
Are you planning to create more world CSS as time goes on?
Definitely! I have some personal worlds I want to style and I'll most likely put them up, either as F2U or P2U! I'd love to make some more stylized/themed world codes in the future ~
Planned features
The bundle will have one global CSS sheet which will style all content in the world - both default pages like characters and forums, as well as any custom pages you choose to use. You'll be able to combine this with a gallery of matching front page, custom page, folder, bulletin and forum HTML. The goal is to let everyone grab the content sections they actually need and still make everything match. Bootstrap-style codes from other coders should generally look fine as well.
Planned features / options listed are below. Italic text means I'm tentative about them, either because of technical limitations or they haven't gotten much attention on the form. If you have something else you'd like, mention it in the form or comments and I'll consider it!
CSS Variables:
-
global options:
- max page width
- page title & icon visibility
- grid margins
- footer visibility
- scrollbar style
-
sidebar / menu styles:
- sidebar (left)
- topbar
- pull-out sidebar (mobile menu on desktop)
- fancy custom menus
-
menu options:
- sticky menu (sticks to top/side of screen when scrolling)
- overflow fixes
- world icon visibility + style
- fontawesome icon visibility + placement
- dropdowns on click or hover
-
individual menu link options:
- visibility
- renaming (e.g. changing "bulletins" to "updates")
- page link styling (custom icons and colors for page links)
-
colours:
- sidebar colours
- text & content box colours
- primary, secondary and default colours for text, buttons and most other bootstrap elements
- success, danger, warning and info recolours
-
fonts & typography:
- fonts imported from google fonts
- seperate options for body, header, display and monospace fonts
- custom header & display styles
-
background options:
- background color, image or gradient
- full size or repeating background image
- fixed or scrolling background image
-
card / content box options:
- paddings & margins
- card header style
- background & text colour
- border & border radius (rounded / square corners)
- box shadow style
-
character gallery:
- character descriptions
- force square character icons
HTML Layouts:
-
front pages:
still figuring these out! will update later :>
-
custom pages:
- species guide
- species overview (if your world has multiple species and you want a page to show differences etc.)
- important characters
- character groups/teams
- story summary
- story timeline
- setting/environment
- locations
- magic guide
-
forum templates:
- MYO submissions
- shop template (for world/ingame items & currency)
- newsletter
- Q&A / FAQ
-
other:
- folder overview
- custom character gallery
Other Global Content:
Added through CSS or the blurb. Everything will be separate HTML snippets / togglable through CSS, so totally optional.
- custom menu content (details in FAQ)
- header image (with optional title / blurb / links)
- pagedoll
- floating music player
I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my survey (I don't think I did because I hadn't even really thought about them) but I would absolutely love to see the species overview, locations, and magic guide from the Custom Pages category! Those kinds of layouts are both rare and amazingly useful for worldbuilding.
Lainebrary thank you for letting me know! if they don't get included in the final version i'll most likely release them as an add-on pack later - i think they're useful but i just don't know if the majority agrees so i don't wanna prioritize them if no one wants them dhsjkds
dreiundfunfzig a custom menu would by default need to be a lot more modular, i can't really make premade versions since all world URLs are unique - people would essentially need the building blocks + a guide for it which is why i'm so tentative. about 30-40% of people were in favour of custom menus but i suspect some of them would actually rather just use the premade side/topbar when they see how it's laid out :'DD thank you for the update !
Aestrum the intent is to let everyone match their CSS to at least their world theme with custom colours, bgs, card styles and such! anything fancier CSS-wise would probably need to be custom made, but if you have any ideas let me know and i'll see what i can do !
there will definitely be HTML options for story/worldbuilding - i'm personally more familiar with these so that's why the form seems devoid of them lmfao, i've already got a decent sense of what's necessary for them !! again, if there's any specific content sections you'd need let me know :>
thank you so much for the ping & for taking the initiative to do this & involving the community !!
all the options you already have are super good and im so excited to see how you'll make it all look. my one complaint is it's a little difficult to imagine some of the more specialized options (for example: how does the story summary, setting/environment and story timeline pages differ from just a normal page, and how do the locations and setting/environment pages differ from each other?). i know it's too early to ask for pictures but it might be a good idea to provide some explanation/description for how you intend the HTML layouts to function and look
as for the things you're tentative about. i'd absolutely use these things: - the magic guide page - the species overview page - the music player
thank you again! and have fun coding :]
JCFoxington that's a good point :0c - i don't have them fully planned out yet but i'll def put up some mockups and see what people think later down the road ! planned HTMLs are honestly super wip rn but i'm trying to figure it out, the titles in planned features are just to get people talking ab them !!
for the specific ones you asked about:
story summary would mainly be headers, subheaders and paragraphs for writing (and maybe navigation somewhere incase the page gets super long?),an environment page would probably have boxes for both text and images, a timeline page would have an actual timeline you can place events on etc.
setting/environment would be more set up towards global world info while locations would be more like a list with summaries of important places if that makes sense ?
these would just be templates, so for example if you like the layout of the locations page but want to use it for character features instead you can ! you could also make your own pages and if you're not code-savvy you can ofc make them through wysiwyg but the main point is that these ones would match the rest of the world in style !
weird request but do you think you could have a live preview of your progress (when able) like how this person does? not for any real reason other than i like to check up on things every day and its fun to see the progress happen. if youd rather not thats totally fine, its just a suggestion! thanks for working on this regardless, im super excited for it!
This is amazing, I am looking to recreate my dA multispecies community on TH by building a world here in the upcoming month+ but I know absolutely nothing about TH coding (and just vaguely familiar with editing html/css on other websites like dA profiles back in the day) so this would be a blessing, thank you so much for doing this! Definitely filling the feedback form tomorrow and will be keeping my fingers crossed and checking back X3