More Updates

Im getting closer to wrapping up the News area (woots!) and we are starting to look into the new forum layout which I think everyone will love. All I have left to do is patch up the look of article comments (they look like ass) and then add back in the article voting stuff. If you notice, I also added a "FIND MORE NEWS" area at the bottom of all news pages so people can search author, subject, and title. Its not totally done, but I hope it makes things easier for people later.

In fact, I have been hearing some people say that the new design is "all about looks" and that it takes away some of the navigation of the site. They have implied that the "face lift" is only to satisfy the eyes and not the actual user. WOAH THERE BUDDY. The biggest reason for the design has nothing to do with look. In fact, we did it because the site lack good navigation from the start of V2. The old layout of the Forum got rid of ALL major site navigation and people had trouble finding, even learning about other functions of the site. Case in point, the insane amount of members that never knew we even had a site chat.  That, just sucked.

Since the majority of our member action happens on the forums, I needed a way to ensure that those members could browse the rest of the site with ease. So that is the very fundamental base of the new design. Its more of a usability redesign then a look design. Sure, the site is pretty, but why not? That to me is only the gravy. Things needed to be change in order to accommodate all the new things 2old2play has had for while.  For example, we wanted the login box to be everywhere as well. Why make users jump to the home page every time they wanted to log in? And while they are logged in, why not give them all the links they love in one "Quick Links box"? Its just smarter.

So yes, you may hate the new look, you may even think its looks like ass. But less functional? I think people just have a lot of trouble with new designs, new navigation's, etc... It takes a while to get used to something new that you used for 2 years. I get that. You may not know it, but the old design of V1...... people loved it.  No really.  They loved THIS!  When we moved to V2 there was an outcry like you wouldn't believe. People freaked.

So I hope you keep that in mind while you learn your way around. Oh, and don't forget. I'm not even 40% done. The forums has not even been touched. Just wait.