Website Change Requests

[Anubis]

As we've had quite a lengthy discussion on IRC tonight about a variety of changes, could anyone who has change requests for the website please detail them here I want to get a list together of everything requested, that we can then prioritise and implement!

I'm losing track of things what with all the discussion across various threads and also IRC, so this would be a big help!


Current Development Requests
1. Tie news system into forum accounts.
2. Picture of the... integration for Twitter.
2. Look into adding reply, retweet and favourite buttons to the main site social feed (like so).

[M.Steiner]

Here's a "to-do" list of stuff I can think of off the top of my head:

• "Random pic of the day" automatic tweet integration linked to our gallery
• Ability to share forum threads & posts via social media
• Main site IRC Guide needs a link to the optional continued guide post I stuck in the members forum. Upload the image in the thread to the server too, just incase the minus link goes dead
• Finish the Shattered Star timeline project as a group and implement it onto the site under a new History page. Links to some of our archived stuff could go in there too
• Turn the "Join Us" thread contents into a new page (of the same name) on the main site
• Scrap the "About Us" page and write a proper guild charter as suggested by BD

• Possibly rebuild & redesign the main site and forums with a new look and layout which is designed (and launched) with all of the above in mind. Carousel feature, social media feeds etc too.

[Edit 1]
I have started working on a new site design in PS (for the main site that is, not a forum skin). Nothing may come of it so I'm not promising anything but I'll be sure to post a preview of it if and when I am happy enough with the design to share it. Seems to be going well so far though so fingers crossed

[Edit 2]
Ok, spent around 7 hours in PS now. Tis actually looking really good if I do say so myself!

[Anubis]

Any priorities for those?

Also, looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labours

[M.Steiner]

Any priorities for those?

Lets see...
- Random pic of the day tweets could be done now if that's not too much work and can easily be shifted over to a new design later.
- Eveything else on the list could be implemented as part of the new main site template I've been working on. So rather than adding those extra pages, alterations and sharing features now, we move the new site forward and bring all of these features with it. This way we're not doing too much work on the existing site to then go and launch a new one as by doing that we're just making more work for ourselves.


I'm almost done with said new design for the main site now. Just got a few more changes to make. Doesn't seem to have taken me very long but in reality I worked on it throughout the night and the majority of today too, so pretty much none stop since we finished talking about the site changes on IRC last night. Got a bit carried away as the design was coming together really well and I always love it when that happens, just feels "right". Then you have other times when it's doing the complete opposite and you're pulling your hair out and never want to see PS again lol.
Anyway. Forums we will have to come to next as part of this "new look" and those are going to be a bitch I think, but we shall see. Forums have a LOT of extra stuff to think about unless we decide to reuse some of the buttons for example, which would make things a little easier. As far as the main site goes though we'll have a very sleek, clean & modern looking page which has been designed around the very features we're wanting to have, rather than trying to shoehorn this stuff onto our existing site which was never meant to fit them. I'm really, really happy with the design

I won't post an image of it as I'd rather keep it a surprise for most of you until it goes up but I will PM you a preview pic in due course SL33PY, and another one to you Anny since it'll be another team effort!

[SL33PY]

0 new messages |

Looking forward to reading "1 new messages"

[M.Steiner]

Sent you both a PM

[Anubis]

I've updated the thread to reflect the fact that the redesign is now our highest priority. Everything else that isn't going to be a part of it will follow.

Feel free to continue to add requests here though, and I'll keep growing the list

[M.Steiner]

I've kept meaning to ask this but can't remember if I ever have:

When we launch the new main site with its revamped news system, would it be at all possible to tie forum accounts to that? Like.. link the members usergroup with the news system so that anyone identified as a member could post news items to the main page with their existing forum account?. Not sure if something like that is even possible but just an idea I had
I say identified as a member via the members usergroup as if it just went by registered forum account alone we could have a problem with bots on there I guess. But using an identified members forum account would be pretty cool and give everyone the ability to submit content to the main site without the need of a secondary account.

[Anubis]

Yes and no.

I will try and tie the new system to forum accounts, but opening it up to certain usergroups may be more difficult. I'll see what I can do.

I definitely want to move away from needing separate accounts if I can.

[M.Steiner]

Suggested this on IRC just now but putting it here for reference:
Add a videos page to the new main site where videos from our SSX YouTube channel will appear. Not exactly needed or urgent so we can add that to the end of the list as a possibility for later, but just a thought I had. People can just go to our YouTube page to see them ofc but it would be kinda nice to have SSX videos on the site as well as our screenshots, also gives people another reason to stay rather than be linked off-site

[SL33PY]

Just sayin: Eurogamer has a "EG on Youtube" link in their main menu that links to youtube.com/Eurogamer (ref: www.eurogamer.net)

[Anubis]

As noted, the idea of having videos automatically pull through onto a page would need some exploration. Not saying it's impossible, but I don't know for sure. I'll have to put some time into that post-redesign.

The Social Icon and even a link in the nav will still be there of course, so we will at least have some presence in the meantime!

[M.Steiner]

Aye, that's fine. Was just an additional idea for later on