allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes

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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 0:24:51 GMT
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I'm seeing a big trend lately where it's required that you can only use codes or templates that a site provides for you, versus being able to use templates from outside resources, or if it's a personal one you've coded.

Personally, I can see pros and cons for both sides, but I want to know what the community thinks about this. I've seen my fair share where posting templates either use same div names that clashes with the site's skin, or just simply just clashes due to the mysteries of HTML/CSS liking to get funky once in a while... but as a coder myself I can see how being forced to use site templates can stifle my creativity (although I'm leaning more towards the path of laziness lately... if everything's pre-coded for me already then I don't have to worry about the aesthetics and get right into what matters).

Anyway, yeah. Would you join a site that forces you to use their own templates? Or not? Love to hear people's thoughts on this.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 1:02:11 GMT
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personally, i find mandatory site templates to be a massive turn-off. while it's not something that would be a hard deal-breaker for me, if i was on the fence about a site already, it would definitely be a big factor that would push me to xing it out.

like... don't get me wrong, there's a lot of posting template quirks that drive me nuts. i hate having to hover to read the post content and i've had more than a few occasions where i've had to ask my partner to change some colors or adjust the font size because i was struggling to read it. but i'd much rather have those templates that drive me nuts than to have to deal with the mandatory posting templates - it just comes across as way too micromanage-y for my tastes, and as much as i like using post templates, i know it would annoy the heck out of me if my only options were the ones offered on the site, especially if they were ones where i would need to make more custom images for that specific site or if i needed to otherwise do xyz thing (like put in a word count or use lyrics) for it. plus i've found that i often don't really like the designs that are offered, though how much of that is set up because i'm forced to use them rather than given the option to use them is up for debate.

honestly, i just want to be able to code my own stuff and use it on a site (or even, on rare occasion, use some of the gorgeous stuff from resource sites) and i'd rather just deal with "hey can you make your text lighter/darker/bigger so i can read it?" or "hey can you use a different template that doesn't have a hover for the text?" as it comes up, as it were.
last edit on Oct 18, 2019 1:04:14 GMT by Kuroya

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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 1:33:02 GMT
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Personally, I'm not a fan of sites that require you to use the site's templates for IC posts but if they only offer it as an option, then I have nothing against that. I am 100% ok for required templates for OOC posts like inventory tracking or whatever.

If someone wants to make it a requirement that you only use the site's templates for an even aesthetic then they're free to do so since it is their site. Would it be a deterrent for me from joining a site? I don't know. I tend to put up with a lot of things that I dislike if the end goal/result is worth it to me.

If it's to prevent someone from using neon green text on a bright yellow bg when you have a dark skin, then the course of action should be to talk to the member and say that the template hurts other members' eyes when reading. To get rid of the option for everyone else because Jim Bob thought that was a good idea feels unfair.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 2:09:03 GMT
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ngl site-exclusive codes / not allowing off-site templates is one of the best things in the world to me.

why?
cause some of the templates that are used are:
• ugly as fuck against the skin
• hard to read
• obnoxious as fuck
• going to be hated by people who post on mobile
• the same template made by the same person and because of the way its coded the custom color/ images are fucked on recent posts because the coding is reading off the first person on the list and not them individually
• just plain ass broken

imo

i love to code my own shit and, when a site hasn't coded their blockquotes (WHICH BTW SHOULD BE A THING EVERYONE IS DOING JS), i code all my templates / use old templates i've coded in the past with revamped colors to match the sites color scheme. i travel in a fucking pack so all my friends use my shit too. like i get it. templates are nice. coding is fun. i can totally understand wanting to code your own stuff but i've never once felt put off by the idea of using site-only templates if i want to use templates ... tbh my lazy ass loves that shit because after coding for over 10 years im fucking tired.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 2:40:16 GMT
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I personally dislike when I have to use site mandated templates beyond registration templates (Inventory/Profiles, etc.) because sometimes I genuinely can't read them. Plus, to literally respond to every single post with a possible template that I have to go into some thread for and copy? I just want to post them. Most of the time all my templates are is a little box with a border at this point cause I'm too lazy.

While I do like blockquotes or post templates on jcink that are a button away, I would honestly just talk to someone if I couldn't read their template. I highkey will get very irritated if someone replies to me in aesthetic- not thinking of form and function - and they get upset when I genuinely can't read something - but that's only happened like a span of 10 times in over five years?

I will x out on a site if all their templates are in a separate thread and I can't click a button to bring them up. If I have to go into a thread every single time to copy them, that's a definite no. Now if it's just simple coding blockquotes or whatever, that I don't care too much about but I don't really mind at that point and I'll put up with it if I had to.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 3:24:24 GMT
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i like them if they're good to my eyes.

if they aren't, it'll probably deter me from the site. some pre-mades are horrible to read on my resolution because people like to use 10px. or small fonts. : (
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 6:56:02 GMT
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i've been having some pretty dark thoughts.
I've never been on a site that required them, but I was considering it for future sites, so it's nice to hear everyone's opinions.

I like coding personal templates a lot, and on most sites that I've seen that have mandatory templates - okay, I can't even say most, probably 50/50 - I just think that the aesthetic's too minimalistic for my taste. Not bad or anything, but simple, whereas I like funky things. It'd feel kinda bad if I had to use templates that weren't really my aesthetic after, ya' know, coding everything I've used in the past tailored to that same aesthetic?

On the other hand, I hecking loathe seeing ugly or broken templates used on my forums. It drives me up a hecking WALL. Like, I get that there are factors at play or whatever, and coding is hard at first!!! But I put a lot of time and effort into trying to make my forums look as nice as possible, and it hurts my heart to go to the recent posts and see overlapping div names or outright blinding colors slapped all over the place. Granted, this hasn't happened nearly as much in recent times as it used to, but... THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH HEARTACHE I CAN TAKE, GUYS...

As a potential additional question, I guess, would those who are generally against mandatory posts be swayed if there were a larger variety of templates offered on site (some, or all of which with larger fonts)? At least in the case of readability issues, it can't end up being worse than the normal, where most templates have too-small fonts, anyway... I would think???? I dunno.

Whew, that was a lot, but I guess as a user, I'm pretty indifferent (leaning slightly away, if I'm not a huge fan of the templates), but as an admin, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't an appeal. ... Well, you know. Aside from having to CODE all of those mandatory templates, sdfkljsdhfjsdh.
last edit on Oct 18, 2019 6:57:03 GMT by pharaoh leap
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 14:39:09 GMT via mobile
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Oct 18, 2019 6:56:02 GMT said:
As a potential additional question, I guess, would those who are generally against mandatory posts be swayed if there were a larger variety of templates offered on site (some, or all of which with larger fonts)? At least in the case of readability issues, it can't end up being worse than the normal, where most templates have too-small fonts, anyway... I would think???? I dunno.


more options to use would make it slightly better, but for me, honestly, it doesn't tend to make enough of a difference to entice me to be much more amenable than "begrudgingly tolerant to enduring it" just because like i said, to me it comes off as excessively micromanage-y on the staffing end and imo if i dislike all of the offered posting templates, it doesn't really matter whether there's 2 or 22. plus more options then gets into "well you have 5 options for post templates but everyone uses the one with tiny font and half the site uses bad colors for their dialogue and a fourth of them add in custom colors that are also hit or miss and mess with threads" and just... you're right back where you started, in a sense.

tl;dr it honestly doesn't make that much of an impact on my opinion, i'd still rather just deal with the bad templates and communicating with my partners if i need a template tweaked or serving as code support when someone's template breaks and they insist on fixing it instead of using a different one.

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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 15:25:28 GMT
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Oct 18, 2019 14:39:09 GMT said:
pharaoh leap Avatar
Oct 18, 2019 6:56:02 GMT said:
As a potential additional question, I guess, would those who are generally against mandatory posts be swayed if there were a larger variety of templates offered on site (some, or all of which with larger fonts)? At least in the case of readability issues, it can't end up being worse than the normal, where most templates have too-small fonts, anyway... I would think? I dunno.
more options to use would make it slightly better, but for me, honestly, it doesn't tend to make enough of a difference to entice me to be much more amenable than "begrudgingly tolerant to enduring it" just because like i said, to me it comes off as excessively micromanage-y on the staffing end and imo if i dislike all of the offered posting templates, it doesn't really matter whether there's 2 or 22. plus more options then gets into "well you have 5 options for post templates but everyone uses the one with tiny font and half the site uses bad colors for their dialogue and a fourth of them add in custom colors that are also hit or miss and mess with threads" and just... you're right back where you started, in a sense.

tl;dr it honestly doesn't make that much of an impact on my opinion, i'd still rather just deal with the bad templates and communicating with my partners if i need a template tweaked or serving as code support when someone's template breaks and they insist on fixing it instead of using a different one.
that was my other thought with mandatory templates-- that while yes, they may match the site in general aesthetic, which is really cool, unless you tell people you cannot change the colors there's going to be people who Don't Read and do it anyway. i know the obvious solution to that is coding the template colors into the skin's CSS itself so that people can't, but if you're allowing images to be put into the template there could be a clash there in colors... and then let's say you code it so it's all grayscale. someone may use an anime screencap image where if i had a nickle for every pixel i'd have a dollar. so it will still look weird.

i know the biggest thing is readability so you could just outright ban templates that require you to hover to read the post, but honestly i've been seeing less and less of those in use or being coded at all-- and honestly if the template doesn't go "oops i broke it again" if you zoom into 125% it should be okay. (i do that when i'm too lazy to go grab my glasses or put in my contacts.)

the tl;dr is that really there's... no perfect way to go about this because there's always going to be one way or another someone bungles something. i personally also think it's really micromanage-y to have specific posting templates, because inevitably something will happen anyway. but that's just me!
last edit on Oct 18, 2019 15:28:41 GMT by shanimal

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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Oct 18, 2019 16:10:29 GMT
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tbh i don't really care if a site requires me to use their templates so long as their templates fall within my personal preferences? so it means a text area that is larger than 200 x 200 and doesn't have size .5 font or obnoxious, glaring colors.

i do like the fact that these templates prevent people from using ones that clash super heavily with a skin or are otherwise unreadable. but i also agree w/ where i do like coding my own stuff, too.

my personal preference is a site that offers their own codes but will let you use third party ones, too. that way if i want to match, i can. also i hate coding plotters but i feel the need to make a new plotter for every new site.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Dec 27, 2019 21:19:32 GMT
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i have only one thing 2 say : user templates can go die in hell. they’re a distraction to me and OTHER ppl’s templates r usually difficult 2 see.

also, if you have site templates implemented, i swear 2 god if i have 2 type out blockquote or anything longer than 4 words i will end u. i. want. 2. be. lazy.

imo i’ll grudgingly accept if sites let u use ur own coded stuff, but like,,,,,, PLS HAVE [POST] BBCODE SO I CAN B LAZY TANXU
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Jan 3, 2020 5:49:19 GMT
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Idk how many times I've had to look at broken templates or templates with like blue on red with sparkling crud around it. Give me [post].

For application templates, I'm okay with using a site required one. I like the uniformity and being able to find where everything is without having to scrounge around for it.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Jan 3, 2020 6:17:38 GMT
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Oct 18, 2019 0:24:51 GMT said:
I'm seeing a big trend lately where it's required that you can only use codes or templates that a site provides for you, versus being able to use templates from outside resources, or if it's a personal one you've coded.


I didn't know this was a thing outside of apps. Don't like the sound of it being mandatory though. I make things with the intent of maybe using it but I end up just div-ing up my own version of blockquote/setting a column area width I think is comfortable. Having the option to do my own thing is nice though. Sorta like how I prefer fcs with more art even if I know I'll only ever really use 1% of it.
last edit on Jan 3, 2020 6:18:49 GMT by gimmick
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Apr 6, 2020 22:42:54 GMT
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I dont HATE it...but I dont LIKE it either. I'm a lazy person who doesn't like using templates that require different images beyond the standard icon. So, when given like 5 templates to choose from, and only one has and single 100x100 icon...my options are limited as hell.

But it isn't a dealbreaker.
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allowing templates vs using site-exclusive codes written Apr 6, 2020 23:06:48 GMT
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i used 2 mega hate the concept (entirely b/c i'm a snotty bitch who taught herself html so she could be Pretty and Unique) but after being on a site w/ mandatory templates for a while i've hardcore come around to it because:

1) it's so much easier. y'all. i can't go back to having to sift through aesthetic 1000 divs when im trying to format my post. i am old and lazy and now if i have to look at more than 2.5 divs i will die
2) it levels the playing field, this is the big one for me. a lot of what i'd write in this bullet point has already been covered in "where are all the animanga rp sites" so i won't belabor it, but people with prettier templates get more plots, full stop. everyone using the same template(s) means that coding-wise, we're all on even footing, and someone like moi won't get more plots than someone w/ more interesting characters just because i have a prettier plotter code or w/e
3) on a personal level, it's good for me b/c it's one less rp-adjacent thing to get distracted by when i should be doing posts/plotter replies. (now i just post on pp instead.)
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