Ok, so I know that I've been rather on the quiet side lately, but there's a reason for that.
I've spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to make things around here more appealing, and after a few talks with folks, I have started mapping some actions out.
To start!
The Portal.
To me, the portal is nothing like what its' name suggests; let alone you have to essentially guess where it is and hope that you get the front page. 'What's New' does not exactly scream 'THIS IS OUR PORTAL/HOME PAGE CHECK IT OUT', and I feel we need to fix that. To that end, I have started to put together a portal page that is a bit more in tune (rather than old old articles and polls and recent posts) with what happens here. Sections that are blurbs for Daily Character Spotlights, RPers of the month, forum events (to be explained later), and yes, a spot for recent posts that is shored up a small bit.
This is very incomplete, but it's still a start imo, and right now we need a start.
Just like we used to have back in the day, it's time we brought the counter back. And with Ep 7 on its' way, I can think of no better reason.
As you can see the main center section would be a small blurb about the site, and maybe a nod to its' history.
The boxes for SW RP and General RP would send folks straight to those particular subforums, so that they can get an immediate look at the RP that happens here. According the proposed portal page, the SW and General verses would have a defining line between them, and there would be a separation between the two. You can still go to the overall forums that would have everything, but from the portal page the lines would be far less blurred, which in my opinion would greatly help with first impressions for folks giving us a gander for the first time.
Below those two links would be the section for articles and possibly even blog entries.
Left Column:
Kale brought up a very good notion I thought, in integrating member created music to pages, and it got me thinking about the old 2advanced pages that had both ambient and cinematic style music that you could play, so I added in a music player that would allow visitors to have a choice on whether they would like to play music on the site or not.
The Forum Events section would highlight a boardwide event that would be taking place that isn't long, yet would allow all members who wish to participate the chance to do so. The Vangaurds series would be a good example I think, and any sort of MU or WoD event would certainly be able to be featured as well.
The Daily Spotlight functions as a sort of character of the month, but on a - you guessed it - daily basis. If we can get a code that randomizes member characters and swaps out their avatar each day that, when clicked on, sends someone to that character's wiki page, I thought that something of that nature would be pretty awesome to have.
Of course we would still have RP of the Month, and would still cast votes etc in the planning forums, so that would not change; only showcase the winners on the portal for all to see.
Jace's map is something I feel needs to be offered, since it is so well done and useful. I added it on a sidebar section, but it can also be easily moved to the upper main navbar, which might be better.
Right Column
Recent posts. Self Explanatory.
Polls for whatever recent polls were made.
Affiliate list. This is something that gets brought up every so often, but now is the time I think that we actually take the time and effort to get the old program up and running once again. It's a really good idea I think.
There is a lot more that I have plans to address, but I thought that it would be a good idea to start this off now with our portal page. As I said before, this is very basic. I did not even add the main navbar sections since I wanted to get the overall look of the portal mostly reworked.
The easiest stuff in layout terms can be done first, and if others have ideas on things to add to the sidebars, definitely speak up. All of what you see now is just stuff that I thought would make a good springboard, and even after I'd gotten it to the point it is now, I had the thought to take the map off of a sidebar and add it to the top main navbar. Of course, I say that now, and it's entirely possible that the SW map can stay on the side, with other maps of sorts for WoD and MU (And Myth too if we ever revisit that ^_^).
So yeah, start with the easiest things first I think; basic content changes since I built off of the existing framework. Finding a counter that we can use.
Things such as the Daily Spotlight we need to find out if there is such a code or even possibly a hack that would allow us to do that, and the music player I feel would best be brought up in a voting environment, so that members can weigh in on what they think.
I'd like to move on to content overall. I have a small list of ideas and thoughts, so I'll go ahead and write them out.
Stylesets
I've already mentioned elsewhere that it'd be nice to go back to having locked stylesets for factions/groups subforums, and if there's a way that we can go back to that I think it'd help with immersion and give each place an identity through not only content, but aesthetic as well.
Many of the stylesets I feel to be ho-hum. Holly did a great job on the Mutants style, but a majority of the styles are simply recolors, and others can simply be gotten rid of/repurposed (Looking at the Myth styleset on that note). I'll be spending the next week trying to work on making more engaging visuals for stylesets, so if you have ideas speak up.
Creation
This was brought up to me and I thought it very handy and helpful - A resources forum. Here would be found things such as bios, custom weapon and ship specs, info about non-canon races that members have come up with, and other informative subject matter.
Dovetailing neatly from above, I think it would be a good idea to have a small wiki staff (if we have one already that's great) that are able to go into the resources forum and pull approved bios and whatnot to insert them into the wiki for members. It would be a great service I feel, and while no one is barred from adding content to the wiki, this sort of option being available would be great.
While there are indeed plenty of ships all throughout the SW universe, I think it's also important to provide an environment for folks who like to shipbuild. It wouldn't be a setup that allows any and all ship designs to be allowed, but rather to go through a small group of appointed folks who know the process and have common sense. There would be submissions to be gone over, and if something is in need of changing, that call is made by the ones chosen to head that particular group of overseers.
Character porting and rank transfers are - I feel - far more nebulous than how they used to be. Most of us follow the old guidelines, and we should, but with the exception of the Jedi subforum, there is nothing anywhere to let knew members know about fresh character creation, let alone rank transfers. Perhaps a sticky thread in planning and discussion would be a good idea.
On the writing front
As I mentioned a few posts up, the forum story events would be smallish stories thought up that any who wished to participate in could. The original Years From Now thread, and Vanguards are good examples, and when we decide to do such events I think it'd be a great idea to feature them, and have a small 'movie poster'/graphic made to put in the designated feature box on the portal.
RP Challenges are a great idea, and we should get back to them in a small capacity to start.
The Most Awards were always great, and I'd love to see them again.
Bonus - if anyone can think up a way for us to incorporate those playing cards I made ages back, that'd be awesome. I have been entertaining the thought of updating those who've had their image claims changed, and if there's interest in that, I'll get on it. Hmmm, possibly using them as the character graphics for the Daily Spotlight (sized down a bit, of course)?
I'll try to break down the process I have in my head.
1 - A member proposes an idea for a starship with specs etc.
2 - The starship overseers go over the submission.
3 - If they feel something needs to be tweaked then they say so, or if they feel that the submission is good as-is, then they greenlight it.
4 - Now the submission is accepted, and ready to be ported into the wiki.
On the surface it will be the same information, but a resources forum would allow the submission process to take place without fussing with multiple wiki edits, and if there are small (2-4 people) overseer groups for say, starship design and functionality, character bios, etc to handle the different submissions made, I think that would help spread out the experience we have already here. Basically the resource forum is the test grounds and working stage, and the wiki is the polished product.
Also a thing I thought would be neat; canon planet development. Members can take a canon planet and flesh it out a bit more, like how I did with Cathar, and make it unique to our forums.
I guess that works in the sense that you could have folks with eyes for detail giving additional info a glance before putting it on the wiki. I know next to nothing about wikis so I'm not sure if there's something like an admin approval setting where you can have a proposed edit that then goes to an administrator to check off on. Probably not since wikis are to my knowledge more open edit only.
I like the idea as long as there's someone who's okay with editing the wiki, because it sure ain't me because I'm pretty bad at that sort of thing.
One thing I'd like to see is a community blog that's not just something that's tucked away on each forum user's account, but something where we can submit various articles about things we're doing in our lives that may not be SW or RP related, but may still be interesting or fun. Have those entries put into a bucket so to speak where the person managing the portal can take one of those articles to slap on the front page for a week. That way we get shifting content that can cover any number of interesting things such as Holly's amazing garden or Chris doing rally work or Mitch showing off a rifle restoration project or Peter showing off a step-by-step food recipe thing. We all have rich and varied lives away from writing about star wars and it's kinda cool to keep on that pulse.
The current news articles can do just that, Charley, and when I went over it originally I added a bunch of...interest friendly sections, like Homebrewing, for instance. All anyone has to do is submit content.
Another thing that I thought would be neat was awards that could be displayed in character profiles. They would be small and icon-sized, but still a nice reward to display for possibly participating in an RP of the month, winning a 'Most' Award, completing an RP challenge, coming out on top with a pick-em, etc. It would be a great way to show appreciation for members and also show off their achievements.
I also made some quick icons to give to affiliate sites:
So this is going to be a redesign of the Articles page, right? And then when someone goes to theholo.net it will redirect someone there instead of the forums so it will be the portal?
I think the articles page can do a lot of what you have listed. And I like your ideas, but I don't like that tattoo design being featured so prominently all over the boards, tbh.
Is this something you and the staff are proposing and are going to do, or is this just you?
I suppose a redesign of the articles page is one way to define it. I'm personally looking to turn it back into something that gave it a 'This is what we are' at a glance. Something that encapsulated us as a site in a quick glance that doesn't involve indepth analysis of the threads we write. Not trying to make a tiff out of it, and this thread is something that I embarked upon of my own volition because I felt it necessary. With Episode 7 on its' way, we need to look at ourselves and re-assess what made us great in the past. That's why I started this thread; to revisit and look at expanded options that would take us past what we used to be.
But there is so much more that I am proposing here than a simple redesign. A way of recognizing our members, a way of calling to attention our writers, and a system that rewards and gives those who contribute something to work towards. Even if it's recognition in a small form, it's something
Let's be relevant again.
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