http://riki.wikidot.com/

The wikidot logo continues… (you'll see).

Using Firefox 3.5 and IE8.

http://lifeshandbook.wikidot.com

The bottom runs off out of content area.

http://lifeshandbook.wikidot.com

You fixed it but now my sidebar is positioned incorrectly.

Is it possible to disable/hide the new header and the enhanced footer - my site looked a lot cleaner without it and I was much happier ?

I realize that your company needs money, and doesn't make much from free (and ad-free) pages, but these new mandatory toolbars have soured me on wikidot. It wouldn't be so bad if free admins could choose whether or not to host ads, but this new layout makes my pages look horrible.

I don't think I'll be using this place for anything else.

We had a good start on an educational site, and I was very impressed with Wikidot. Was! Past tense, eh. This trashing of our pages I'd say is a bad move for Wikidot as it makes the site no longer attractive to serious users. I see a few othoers are quitting. This is not something I'm going to go along with either. But I'll wait a few days as I hope you'll agree to reverse the changes. There are plenty of other ways to start sites, remember!

(http://philosophical-investigations.wikidot.com/)

I've been a loyal Wikidot user for a few years now and for the first time I'm rather disappointed with additions, specifically with the giant clunky bar on the top of the pages. I'd rather go without the additional free features if it meant it got rid of that ridiculous bar.

I know all is meant well, and if all are insistent on keeping it- there should be a redesign in order. Make it smaller, bottom of the page- or not at all while forgoing those recently added features. And as for the bottom, perhaps something similar to Deviant art- where it can be minimized if you do not wish to see it.

I think this may become a useful feature, for both free and paid sites. I've been using Blogger for a while now, and there a top bar is also displayed. It's elegant and unobtrusive, and I think Wikidot's top bar can be just as nice.

I can't say the same about the bottom bar, though. It's bulky, crowded, and, honestly, will do little in terms of promoting other sites, especially if there are no selection criteria (quality, popularity etc.) for the sites that are included.

Since the sites are apparently included at random, some of them are underdeveloped or contentless (one of them was, for instance, http://sandbox-old.wikidot.com/). That will not encourage new users to join Wikidot. It may, on the contrary, keep them away by giving the impression (far from the truth) that the folks behind Wikidot lack attention to quality.

If the bottom bar is to be kept, I think it should be something as simple (thin, etc.) as the top one, except that, instead of leading to random sites, it had links to "sites of note" (those already featured in the community and main sites, for instance). Showing Wikidot at its best, illustrated by sites with decent content and appearence, is a better strategy to attract new users.

My day job is looking at ethical issues, and IMO (humble) O - this stinks. If the aim is to get people to upgrade, as implied above by pieterh 15 Jul 2009, 16:36 +0200

"@Gareth, thanks for your question. Yes, you can disable the header/footer on your own Wikidot sites by becoming a Pro or Pro-lite user."

then its worse. People came to this site under certain conditons. Its a kind of contract, I'm not interested in that 'legal' stuff, but its a moral commitment. Wikidot has got us all putting hours and weeks of time into our sites - helping their business to goow - but we are allowed out sites in return. Now someone has added compulsory ADDITIONS TOP AND BOTTOM WHICH SAY (I PARAPHRASE) 'THIS SITE IS CHEAP AND CRAP AND YOU ARE THICK FOR LOOKING AT IT"

Then we are told we can (we have to) pay to get rid of them. Am I alone, on this, or is it really a stinking example of arrogance and mismanagement?

It's extortion adding the wiki add as you don't give me any choice - I've been building my site for almost 3 years so it's obvious I won't say I leave the site because the add
but I'm worried what else you will …. up in the future??
for new wikidot users it's ok they can decide if they like it or not

and of course we were told at begginig that there would be paid and free sites and all the bla bla but

as it's for visitors not for users can't it be hidden like adds when we are logged in???