Things to Come

Written by | October 10, 2009 | 37 comments | 19 views | Rating: 0

Hey everyone!

I have been extremely busy with school lately, but I have been slowing trying to do some behind the scenes work on the site

First off, I did some minor adjustments to the site layout to try and make it look cleaner. You may have noticed that I moved the page links down on top of the category links. I hope everyone is cool with that, I personally think it makes navigation a bit easier.

I also changed the URL structure of the site, eliminating the /blog portion from all links. It was a daunting task to make this change, as I had to move basically the whole site and hope that nothing would break…I think everything is cool though. If you still have any pages with /blog bookmarked, they should still work as I set up redirects for all links that have /blog to the new structure. Let me know if you come across any issues.

If anyone was on the site last night, you may have noticed a featured articles slide-show on the homepage. I am still deciding on how I want to implement it, but basically it will be a picture slide-show showing the 5 latest featured articles. It’s sorta cool, not totally sure if I am set on it, but we’ll see. It seemed to slow down the page load time which I don’t like.

Also, due to popular demand, I have decided that I will go ahead and make a FORUM for the site. I am hoping to have it up sometime next weekend. I really should be studying right now; I have tons of tests coming up this week, so I’ll work on it after the wave of work ceases.

That’s it for now, thanks for supporting the site and don’t forget about the contest on Monday! Also, let me know if you have any other suggestions for the site. :)

Image Credits: PokeBeach, Pokegym, and Pokemon Paradijs

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  • yoyofsho16

    To be honest, I think that a forum will be the death of this site. It pretty much already IS a forum, via comments and such.

    A forum will just make it like every other Pokemon site, and will ultimately weaken it as a whole. I enjoy this site more than any other Pokemon site due to the structured, intelligent help that every post has. Eliminate that, and you’ll be ending up with DarthPikas and other posters who just say “This way is better because I said so” without a structured response. Anybody else agree, or am I alone on this?

  • yoyofsho16

    To be honest, I think that a forum will be the death of this site. It pretty much already IS a forum, via comments and such.

    A forum will just make it like every other Pokemon site, and will ultimately weaken it as a whole. I enjoy this site more than any other Pokemon site due to the structured, intelligent help that every post has. Eliminate that, and you’ll be ending up with DarthPikas and other posters who just say “This way is better because I said so” without a structured response. Anybody else agree, or am I alone on this?

  • yoyofsho16

    To be honest, I think that a forum will be the death of this site. It pretty much already IS a forum, via comments and such.

    A forum will just make it like every other Pokemon site, and will ultimately weaken it as a whole. I enjoy this site more than any other Pokemon site due to the structured, intelligent help that every post has. Eliminate that, and you’ll be ending up with DarthPikas and other posters who just say “This way is better because I said so” without a structured response. Anybody else agree, or am I alone on this?

  • http://forum.pokemon.fi/ Master Entei

    I agree with yoyofsho, this site doesn’t need a forum, tempting as it is. Of course, if you’re able to come up with a forum that has a good deck help section and a good strategy discussion section, then I’m with it. :P
    Oh and a trade center with reliable traders who have the cards I want.

  • http://forum.pokemon.fi/ Master Entei

    I agree with yoyofsho, this site doesn’t need a forum, tempting as it is. Of course, if you’re able to come up with a forum that has a good deck help section and a good strategy discussion section, then I’m with it. :P
    Oh and a trade center with reliable traders who have the cards I want.

  • http://forum.pokemon.fi Master Entei

    I agree with yoyofsho, this site doesn’t need a forum, tempting as it is. Of course, if you’re able to come up with a forum that has a good deck help section and a good strategy discussion section, then I’m with it. :P
    Oh and a trade center with reliable traders who have the cards I want.

  • Dave Hueglin

    I’ll add my agreement to the two comments above. In addition, having to have someone moderate a forum will take that person away from the the site’s focus, which is writing quality articles that serve as a springboard for discussion.

  • Dave Hueglin

    I’ll add my agreement to the two comments above. In addition, having to have someone moderate a forum will take that person away from the the site’s focus, which is writing quality articles that serve as a springboard for discussion.

  • Dave Hueglin

    I’ll add my agreement to the two comments above. In addition, having to have someone moderate a forum will take that person away from the the site’s focus, which is writing quality articles that serve as a springboard for discussion.

  • quaziko

    I do not believe the site needs a forum, as the structure of the site already fosters discussion. Perhaps if it was some sort of a much more ordered information-based forum, that would be okay, but that’s not easy to pull off. I’d say just keep doing what you’re doing, and if in a few months to a year time the desire for a forum is still strong, then go for it.

  • quaziko

    I do not believe the site needs a forum, as the structure of the site already fosters discussion. Perhaps if it was some sort of a much more ordered information-based forum, that would be okay, but that’s not easy to pull off. I’d say just keep doing what you’re doing, and if in a few months to a year time the desire for a forum is still strong, then go for it.

  • quaziko

    I do not believe the site needs a forum, as the structure of the site already fosters discussion. Perhaps if it was some sort of a much more ordered information-based forum, that would be okay, but that’s not easy to pull off. I’d say just keep doing what you’re doing, and if in a few months to a year time the desire for a forum is still strong, then go for it.

  • Kaleb978

    Well I have never posted on here before but, I have been on a lot. But, as said before this site doesn’t need a forum. I like when I read an article and then can scroll down and see comments/suggestions. It’s really helpful to see a deck list and have people commenting on weakness/strengths or ways to improve the deck. This site is probably my favorite place to go to for that reason. Keep up the good the good work and know its appreciated.

  • Kaleb978

    Well I have never posted on here before but, I have been on a lot. But, as said before this site doesn’t need a forum. I like when I read an article and then can scroll down and see comments/suggestions. It’s really helpful to see a deck list and have people commenting on weakness/strengths or ways to improve the deck. This site is probably my favorite place to go to for that reason. Keep up the good the good work and know its appreciated.

  • Kaleb978

    Well I have never posted on here before but, I have been on a lot. But, as said before this site doesn’t need a forum. I like when I read an article and then can scroll down and see comments/suggestions. It’s really helpful to see a deck list and have people commenting on weakness/strengths or ways to improve the deck. This site is probably my favorite place to go to for that reason. Keep up the good the good work and know its appreciated.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    Man I just finished studying for somewhere around 9 hours and just flipped my computer on for the first time today…I don’t know how I do it.

    Anyways…

    Thanks for the input everyone. If you really don’t think the site needs a forum, then I could keep things the way they are.

    What I would like to optimally do would be to create a “quasi” forum, basically make a page that lists categories and their posts, in list form, and would have the posts list in order of the one commented on last, like how a forum would look.

    Ya know what I mean? Just so it would be easier to see what posts are being commented on at the moment, so that discussion can keep on going.

    I really have no clue how to set that up, but I think it would be cool. What do you guys think of something like that?

    The recent comments sidebar thing sorta helps but I think it’s hard to follow.

    Oh yea and for anyone that is registered for submitting articles, when you log in, can you see comments listed there? I know when I log in I can see all the latests posts, but that might be just cause I’m the admin…

    No new post for tomorrow, let’s just keep the discussion to ways to improve the site. Monday I’ll get posts going again. :)

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    Man I just finished studying for somewhere around 9 hours and just flipped my computer on for the first time today…I don’t know how I do it.

    Anyways…

    Thanks for the input everyone. If you really don’t think the site needs a forum, then I could keep things the way they are.

    What I would like to optimally do would be to create a “quasi” forum, basically make a page that lists categories and their posts, in list form, and would have the posts list in order of the one commented on last, like how a forum would look.

    Ya know what I mean? Just so it would be easier to see what posts are being commented on at the moment, so that discussion can keep on going.

    I really have no clue how to set that up, but I think it would be cool. What do you guys think of something like that?

    The recent comments sidebar thing sorta helps but I think it’s hard to follow.

    Oh yea and for anyone that is registered for submitting articles, when you log in, can you see comments listed there? I know when I log in I can see all the latests posts, but that might be just cause I’m the admin…

    No new post for tomorrow, let’s just keep the discussion to ways to improve the site. Monday I’ll get posts going again. :)

    • Dave Hueglin

      What you are describing sounds good Adam – but doesn’t the grey bar at the top already do that? Maybe if you could somehow set it up so the bar changes colour if there is a new comment added in that category. As we don’t log in to view the site, it could be time based – say any new comments within the last 24 hours cause it to change to a different colour. I do use the “Recent Comments” or exactly what you are describing.

      As to the “comments” for people who do log in, I can see them if I hit the “Comments” tab in the upper left.

      One other point, the rotating Amazon ads look cool but when the top one is there it seems to cover up the drop down menu for the resources category.

      Keep up the excellent work

    • Dave Hueglin

      What you are describing sounds good Adam – but doesn’t the grey bar at the top already do that? Maybe if you could somehow set it up so the bar changes colour if there is a new comment added in that category. As we don’t log in to view the site, it could be time based – say any new comments within the last 24 hours cause it to change to a different colour. I do use the “Recent Comments” or exactly what you are describing.

      As to the “comments” for people who do log in, I can see them if I hit the “Comments” tab in the upper left.

      One other point, the rotating Amazon ads look cool but when the top one is there it seems to cover up the drop down menu for the resources category.

      Keep up the excellent work

    • quaziko

      I like the idea of a quasi-forum, mainly so that older posts would still be discussed for a longer period of time. I think that would greatly help the community aspect of the site, without having a complete forum and all of the consequences that go along with that.

      • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

        a quasi-forum for quaziko ;)

      • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

        a quasi-forum for quaziko ;)

    • quaziko

      I like the idea of a quasi-forum, mainly so that older posts would still be discussed for a longer period of time. I think that would greatly help the community aspect of the site, without having a complete forum and all of the consequences that go along with that.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    Man I just finished studying for somewhere around 9 hours and just flipped my computer on for the first time today…I don’t know how I do it.

    Anyways…

    Thanks for the input everyone. If you really don’t think the site needs a forum, then I could keep things the way they are.

    What I would like to optimally do would be to create a “quasi” forum, basically make a page that lists categories and their posts, in list form, and would have the posts list in order of the one commented on last, like how a forum would look.

    Ya know what I mean? Just so it would be easier to see what posts are being commented on at the moment, so that discussion can keep on going.

    I really have no clue how to set that up, but I think it would be cool. What do you guys think of something like that?

    The recent comments sidebar thing sorta helps but I think it’s hard to follow.

    Oh yea and for anyone that is registered for submitting articles, when you log in, can you see comments listed there? I know when I log in I can see all the latests posts, but that might be just cause I’m the admin…

    No new post for tomorrow, let’s just keep the discussion to ways to improve the site. Monday I’ll get posts going again. :)

    • Dave Hueglin

      What you are describing sounds good Adam – but doesn’t the grey bar at the top already do that? Maybe if you could somehow set it up so the bar changes colour if there is a new comment added in that category. As we don’t log in to view the site, it could be time based – say any new comments within the last 24 hours cause it to change to a different colour. I do use the “Recent Comments” or exactly what you are describing.

      As to the “comments” for people who do log in, I can see them if I hit the “Comments” tab in the upper left.

      One other point, the rotating Amazon ads look cool but when the top one is there it seems to cover up the drop down menu for the resources category.

      Keep up the excellent work

    • quaziko

      I like the idea of a quasi-forum, mainly so that older posts would still be discussed for a longer period of time. I think that would greatly help the community aspect of the site, without having a complete forum and all of the consequences that go along with that.

      • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

        a quasi-forum for quaziko ;)

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    The grey bar only lists the post in the order that they were posted. I want to make something that lists the posts in the order of which have been commented last, and maybe have an indicator of which articles have been commented on since you last visited (that would be difficult to implement I think just because you don’t have to register for the site or anything).

    Ideally it would be a forum version of the site basically, but when you click the topic it would take you directly to the post.

    I did notice that the amazon ad was blocking the drop down menus, I’ll fix that sometime late this coming week when I have a chance.

    Alright well I’m off to study for another 9 hours today…wish me luck!

    • http://twitter.com/poteet24 Graham Poteet

      It also blocks when you try to magnify a card next to it, in case you haven’t noticed. And the more I’ve thought about it a forum is not the way this site should continue to grow, I like your ideas Adam, a sort of quasi forum would be ok, just to make sure any new discussion is encouraged on any topics.

    • http://twitter.com/poteet24 Graham Poteet

      It also blocks when you try to magnify a card next to it, in case you haven’t noticed. And the more I’ve thought about it a forum is not the way this site should continue to grow, I like your ideas Adam, a sort of quasi forum would be ok, just to make sure any new discussion is encouraged on any topics.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    The grey bar only lists the post in the order that they were posted. I want to make something that lists the posts in the order of which have been commented last, and maybe have an indicator of which articles have been commented on since you last visited (that would be difficult to implement I think just because you don’t have to register for the site or anything).

    Ideally it would be a forum version of the site basically, but when you click the topic it would take you directly to the post.

    I did notice that the amazon ad was blocking the drop down menus, I’ll fix that sometime late this coming week when I have a chance.

    Alright well I’m off to study for another 9 hours today…wish me luck!

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    The grey bar only lists the post in the order that they were posted. I want to make something that lists the posts in the order of which have been commented last, and maybe have an indicator of which articles have been commented on since you last visited (that would be difficult to implement I think just because you don’t have to register for the site or anything).

    Ideally it would be a forum version of the site basically, but when you click the topic it would take you directly to the post.

    I did notice that the amazon ad was blocking the drop down menus, I’ll fix that sometime late this coming week when I have a chance.

    Alright well I’m off to study for another 9 hours today…wish me luck!

    • Graham Poteet

      It also blocks when you try to magnify a card next to it, in case you haven’t noticed. And the more I’ve thought about it a forum is not the way this site should continue to grow, I like your ideas Adam, a sort of quasi forum would be ok, just to make sure any new discussion is encouraged on any topics.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    errr one more thing I just found this, it’s some message board thing made by wordpress (wordpress is the program I use for the site), I bet there is some way to integrate it the way I want to:

    http://bbpress.org/

    If anyone is bored and wants to look at it, let me know if it could be a solution. :)

    Not totally sure because I just glanced at it, but it looks like it pulls the comments straight from the articles and turns it into a forum? Dunno I’ll look at it later.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    errr one more thing I just found this, it’s some message board thing made by wordpress (wordpress is the program I use for the site), I bet there is some way to integrate it the way I want to:

    http://bbpress.org/

    If anyone is bored and wants to look at it, let me know if it could be a solution. :)

    Not totally sure because I just glanced at it, but it looks like it pulls the comments straight from the articles and turns it into a forum? Dunno I’ll look at it later.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    errr one more thing I just found this, it’s some message board thing made by wordpress (wordpress is the program I use for the site), I bet there is some way to integrate it the way I want to:

    http://bbpress.org/

    If anyone is bored and wants to look at it, let me know if it could be a solution. :)

    Not totally sure because I just glanced at it, but it looks like it pulls the comments straight from the articles and turns it into a forum? Dunno I’ll look at it later.

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