View and select old LJ site schemes (e.g. Dystopia, XColibur, Vertigo)

[estelle]

Update: This does not work if you switched over to the new design by clicking on "Switch to the up-to-date version" in the top right of the screen. Please contact LJ support and ask them to switch you back to the old design first.
LiveJournal nostalgia recently made me yearn for the old site schemes so I went to investigate

Comments

[scolaro]

I actually sent a support request only yesterday about this because I accidentally switched from Xcolibur and couldn't get back. As you said, the initial link that worked in the past for this (https://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=display) doesn't work anymore.

However, for me https://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=display&usescheme=xcolibur doesn't work either. There is no option to choose it and when I just press "Save" at this URL nothing changes for me either - I tried both Firefox and Edge. (Basically after accidentally switching before I now see the LJ navigation bar on my journal page, and it doesn't disappear anymore.)

[estelle]

You switched from XColibur to what? Did you switch via settings/cat=display

[scolaro]

I saw a button on the new entry page to try out a newer version (which I thought was only meant for the new entry page) and after choosing that button the site design looked new, the old LJ menu strip disappeared and the huge blue navigation strip appeared on my journal.
I thought it was the horizon scheme, but frankly, at the moment I can't even figure out how to see which site scheme it is. The info is also no longer displayed when you send support tickets, it seems.

(By the way, I should have said thank you for your post right away - hardly anyone seems to care about the old site schemes anymore!)

[estelle]

Ohhh! Oh no!

I still have that blue bar that says "Switch to the up-to-date version". I live in fear of slipping and clicking on it accidentally. The track record for these sort of links on LJ that don't clearly say what they do is.... not great.

Interestingly, I do not see a blue navigation strip on your journal when logged in. Only a bit of grey space above the picture.

[scolaro]

Hah, when I saw the notif of your reply, I ran over to LJ to check...buuut I still see the stupid navigation strip. Uh well.
It makes sense that you don't, though, as with the old site scheme and the option to see other journals in your style (which I suspect you have turned on) you shouldn't. I fixed the header so it's at the top again where it belongs.

Just in case you ever slip and click on the update button (ANY update button), this is the reply I received in my support ticket:
Xcolibur is a long-outdated site scheme of outdated old design version. The option to switch to the old version has been disabled for users, as that version is no longer supported by developers and some features may not work there.
If you are still interested in switching to the old design, please comment on this request for us to switch the version for your account. Weirdly enough the notification email for that reply arrived with a 24 hour delay, but of course I immediately confirmed that I'd like to be switched back

[estelle]

No, I see the journal in your style. There really seems to be a harder divide between the new version and the old version than there was between the old site schemes. Yes, LJ support no longer reacts on weekends. They did away with the open support board and volunteers who used to reply around the clock in all time zones.

[scolaro]

Phew, everything is back to (my/our) normal. No more nav strip and back to the thin menu.
Regarding the support board I was a bit surprised because I usually search through other people's tickets to see if anyone has similar problems, and there were none. Weird that they left the texts surrounding the support board volunteers intact, it makes it look like a technical issue.

design/scheme on support tickets

[estelle]

"I thought it was the horizon scheme, but frankly, at the moment I can't even figure out how to see which site scheme it is. The info is also no longer displayed when you send support tickets, it seems."

Support tickets display a line about design and friends page.
it as either design: new or design: old
and design: old is followed by scheme: schemename

e.g.
design: new friends page: friends
design: old scheme: horizon friends page: friends

So it seems to me that the new design just does not have schemes, it's one design for everyone.

Re: design/scheme on support tickets

[scolaro]

Indeed! I took a capture of my support ticket header before they switched the style back, and after, and saw the same thing.
There is really just one design for everyone now.

By the way, since I don't want to run into the same issue again, I'm using Adguard to block the "switch to new style" (or whatever the wording is) line from my LJ pages. This should work with any program or addon that uses adblocking in any way - just an idea in case you'd like to be a bit safer as well, too.

Thank you again for your support on this!

RE: Re: design/scheme on support tickets

[cordykitten]

BTW Thank you for the tip with the adblock. For now I managed to block it (Still using xcolibur for as long as I can.)

Re: Re: design/scheme on support tickets

[scolaro]

No problem!
(You and me both! Xcolibur forever!)