Dreamwidth: An Introduction

Multiversal opened on livejournal in April 2011; as of December 2011, we are now currently located on dreamwidth. The way livejournal was redesigned having rendered it unusable as a blogging site and with awareness of the redesigns still to be unrolled, the decision was made by the mods with respect to the feelings of the playerbase to relocate the game to a new site that better fits our needs as a game and as paying customers.

If you're having trouble making the adjustment to the slight differences between dreamwidth and traditional livejournal, this page is here to help!

To start with, check out the official Dreamwidth guide for Livejournal users and this guide on RP-specific Dreamwidth features. Those two pages are basic rundowns of Dreamwidth, the terminology used, and how it compares/differs to Livejournal.

ACCOUNT SET UP

creation codes: how do i get one?

December 2011 featured a promotion where account creation was free and required no invite codes; this isn't standard practise, so unfortunately in the future you are going to need to either have an invite code or pay for an account. Since we don't expect people to pay money to join our game (unless you want a paid account, which is cool, we all love icons around here), players who require an invite code will be able to request one from either the mods or any players they are acquainted with; not only are we totally willing to do a whip around for any codes we have handy, as a RPG we are able to request necessary codes from dreamwidth management!

oh shit, where is everything?

To turn off custom comment pages on Dreamwidth, go to your Account Settings, then Display, then uncheck "Show my journal's entry pages in my chosen style instead of the site layout". It's listed as Journal Entry Style.

i have vision/headache issues, how do i standardize my settings?

• Go to Account Settings
• Choose Display
• Choose the settings that work best for you!
• Profit.

importing content: what's that about?

If you're bringing an old livejournal account onto the dreamwidth site and you'd like to keep your old content - which is the case for many of our players here - this is what you need to do:

• Look for the Organize menu on the main site.
• Under this, go to Import Content.
• Import Content will walk you through importing from either livejournal or insanejournal.
• Usernames and passwords on both services are not required to match, as long as they're accurate for the site in question.
  • If you made a DW account with a new username and password, but you still want to import from the old username with its old password on LJ, that won't be a problem.
• Importing is broken down into segments, and you can pick and choose what you do and do not want (quoting directly from the site here):
  • PROFILE DATA: This includes your basic info, bio, and interests. Choosing this option will overwrite any profile bio you've already entered, so be sure you save anything you want to keep before you import your profile data.
  • JOURNAL ENTRIES: Imports all your journal entries, whether they're friends-only, private or public. This will automatically import your tags and custom security groups.
    • UPDATE ICON KEYWORDS: Updates icons on previously imported entries. Has no effect for new imports. Reimports your journal entries, your tags, and your custom security groups.
  • FRIENDS: Imports your friends as OpenID accounts and puts them in your imported access filters. This will automatically import your custom security groups.
  • JOURNAL COMMENTS: Imports all comments on your entries. This will automatically import your entries.
  • TAGS: Imports the tags used to categorize your entries.
  • ICONS: Imports your icons (userpics) along with their keywords and comments. If you have more icons to be imported than your current Dreamwidth account level allows, only your default icon will be imported. (Emphasis mine.)
  • CUSTOM SECURITY GROUPS: Imports your friend groups as Dreamwidth access filters.
• Once you've selected what you prefer from this list, press "continue" and the site will give you a list of what you've selected and ask you to confirm; once you have confirmed, the import begins.
• Beginning another import before the first has finished will abort the first import; otherwise, it cannot be reversed once it's started. You don't need to stay logged in for this - once it's in the queue, it's in the queue.

LAYOUTS & FORMATTING

Including details about the look of the site and html.

how do i get my snazzy layouts?

All account types on Dreamwidth can create limited layers under the advanced customization tool -- what this means is that yes, you can import Livejournal layouts to Dreamwidth! Here is a guide on how to create Flexible Squares, Smooth Sailing, Mixit, and Nebula for Dreamwidth. You can use almost any CSS for those layouts on Dreamwidth; not all style sheets will display perfectly but most will work fine.

Dreamwidth-specific layout resources include:

• General communities: dreamscapes, dw_styles, style_system, dreamwidthlayouts
• Specific layout makers: visualwit, dusktilldawn

what if i want the site itself to look different?

Here is a guide on how to make the site resemble old Livejournal for Firefox and Chrome users. Chrome users: make sure you install Tampermonkey instead of Greasemonkey!

• This subthread has some tweaks and fixes to make it look even more streamlined.

i want to use the tt tags for text, but it's so small!

A simple fix is adding one 'big' tag around the 'tt' tags. Your ~texting~ text instantly looks the same way as it would on LJ if you were only using the 'tt' tags.

PAID ACCOUNTS

what am i getting? how do prices compare?

The official DW FAQ about paid accounts. You get 100 icons automatically with any paid account and 250 with any premium paid account. Since you get the 100 icons with your paid account, rather than having to pay separately for icons, paid accounts are actually usually cheaper on DW or about the same as LJ. Quoted from Relle's guide to RP-specific features:

A paid account on DW costs $3 USD for 1 month, $6 for 2 months, $17.50 for 6 months, or $35 for 12 months. Comparatively, LJ's prices for a paid account + 70 extra icons add-on are $4 for 1 month, $7 for 2 months, $21 for 6 months, or $29.95 for 12 months (assuming you use automatic payments). So, if you want 100 icons, DW is generally a bit cheaper. If you're okay with just 30, LJ is a bit cheaper, since you don't have to buy the extra icons.

A premium account on DW, meanwhile, costs $25 for 6 months or $50 for 12 months. That gets you 250 icons, as mentioned. On LJ, the maximum number of icon slots you can get (discounting loyalty icons) is 240. LJ's prices for a paid account with that many icon packages are $6 for 1 month, $11 for 2 months, $33 for 6 months, or $49.95 for 12 months (assuming automatic payments again). So, for a 6-month period, DW is cheaper; for a 12-month period, they're the same.

Unfortunately, DW does not offer a la carte icons, nor do you get loyalty userpics; your options are 15, 100, or 250.

MISCELLANEOUS

can i use lj login and lj juggler on dreamwidth?

graphic created by relle@dw

SHORT ANSWER: YES. Details below.

LJ LOGIN: THE DREAMWIDTHENING

Once you've ticked the dreamwidth box on the options as indicated in the graphic here, you will now have a space on your addon bar for dreamwidth beside what you're used to using for livejournal. You can use it in exactly the same way, and don't need to make any alterations to it.

LJ JUGGLER: CHECK IT OUT Y'ALL

Getting Dreamwidth accounts on LJ Juggler is a simple task. Make sure you download the latest version over here if you haven't already.

From there, click the Juggler icon in your browser. Select 'Add or Remove Accounts' as usual. Then select Dreamwidth in the dropdown menu, and input your account details, and select Add Account. (If you wish to remove an existing account on the list, hit the little 'x' button next to the username.)

You're done.

Don't worry about having any replicated names or not being able to tell them apart - if you look at your account listings, you'll see that they are divided between LiveJournal and Dreamwidth. You can also select to be logged into different accounts across the two sites at the same time.

BETA FEATURES AND YOU