[RyanThunder]

Hey all. RyanThunder here.

I'm liking the new stuff so far, but what happened to the front page? Whenever I go to a web page, and the first thing it brings me to is a forum, it's extremely uninviting to me. It's almost as if it's a conveying a feeling of "Sorry n00b. insiders and 1337s only lolooll"

So, I think bringing back the front page would be the first step to attracting new blood into the MegaZeux world. Have a frequently updated blog, start up the Game of the Month thing again, or Featured User of the Month or a Tutorial of the Month; stuff like that.

[ajs]

I agree with Ryan. The new forum is great but it's terrible you have to click through The Vault -> MegaZeux and Forks -> (Scroll to bottom, wtf happened there anyway?) -> MegaZeux 2.83 to get MZX itself.

I also think the front page should have game screenshots etc. as the old entry page did.

--ajs.

[Jester]

Yup, i also think that the front page should be brought back. maybe we could advertise games that have just been released, even though those kind of updates would be really really rare.

[asgromo]

Yeah, really. Who's working on this as of now? Or plans to? Is there anything in the pipeline? Anything concrete? Drawings? Code? Big, general ideas? Or is the situation depending on MZXGiant, when he has time, doing it from scratch?

[Dr Lancer-X]

I'll do it.

(haha, only kidding)

[mzxgiant]

*peeks nose up from beneath the metaphorical waves, makes a screaming noise, then goes back to drowning*

That's about how I feel lately. While I agree with the gung-ho initiative, 15 people standing around saying "man that's a great idea" doesn't actually create the underlying code. Any help is appreciated.

[ajs]

Is there any plan to unify the forums and vault? The vault's design seems to be 90% of the way there to fixing the landing page, but it doesn't blend with the forums too well. TBH, I'd prefer it if the vault was the default location for http://digitalmzx.net/ ; we know that http://digitalmzx.net/forums/ will get us the forums, and there's a direct link there from the vault's page anyway.

Enhancing the vault a bit might be more straightforward than brewing a new landing page.

--ajs.

[RyanThunder]

ajs, on 17 May 2010 - 04:50 PM, said:

Is there any plan to unify the forums and vault? The vault's design seems to be 90% of the way there to fixing the landing page, but it doesn't blend with the forums too well. TBH, I'd prefer it if the vault was the default location for http://digitalmzx.net/ ; we know that http://digitalmzx.net/forums/ will get us the forums, and there's a direct link there from the vault's page anyway.Enhancing the vault a bit might be more straightforward than brewing a new landing page.--ajs.

I like this idea. The Vault is basically what the front page was. All that would need to be done is to put the new dMZX logo on it. There's also plenty of room for a blog on the right side, too.

[allison]

asgromo, on 17 May 2010 - 06:37 AM, said:

Yeah, really. Who's working on this as of now? Or plans to? Is there anything in the pipeline? Anything concrete? Drawings? Code? Big, general ideas? Or is the situation depending on MZXGiant, when he has time, doing it from scratch?

I might be able to do some screenshots...

It would be fun.

[asgromo]

Here's an idea. I don't mean to be Mr. Delegator McUseless.



You need friendly bog standard welcome text that explains what the hell is going on and where to go and what to do to get started, and it needs to sound (preferably be) easy.

Assuming the vault and the portal page were one and the same, you'd keep all the content and most of the layout of the current one, only you'd harmonize the header navigation and drop the left search bar in favor of one that looks just like the forum's, only it searches the vault.

Assuming you had distinct vault and portal pages, you would, for the portal, if possible, steal the Recent Games list from the vault and throw in a Recent Posts list. That ought to be trivial, right?

[Dr Lancer-X]

Here's my idea:

Front page is exactly what vault looks like now, except with hoof logo instead of mzxgiant logo (sry mzxgiant, your logo rules and all but) and with the window of text in the middle being the introductory thing asgromo proposed. I admit it's not the most inspired thing but my view is that if it takes less than about five minutes to do it might actually get done and any front page > no front page. I know the vault is still in beta but I think it's pretty swell stuff right now and it can't hurt to make it the front page.

[mzxgiant]

Rudimentary front page has been implemented. Suggestions for alternate first-page text are welcome, along with someone re-drawing the architecture icons.

[Dr Lancer-X]

Good stuff. I approve.

[ajs]

Great job mzxgiant. Thanks a lot.

--ajs.