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Site upgrades on the way

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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
Hey Newschoolers,

Hope you guys have been having an exciting summer so far, maybe some of you even got to stay in close proximity to the snow. Well, not NoPoles or I. We've been working hard getting the site ready for another season and there are a few changes we wanted to give you a heads up about.

First off, as of tonight (August 1st) we'll be changing our Banner Ad serving system to support industry standard (gasp!) banners sizes and get on board with the system the good people over at Studio411 are running. Here's what you'll notice tonight:

- The site has been widened to 955px. Real estate was added to the right-hand sidebar to allow for a new vertical 160x600 banner size which will be placed below the quick links of each page.

- Our old 468x60 banners, the ones you see in the forums and throughout the rest of the site, are being replaced by now-standard 728x90. The banners will be moved from below the navigation in the content area, to the header. Which brings us to...

- The header, which has been heightened to allow for this new banner space. Banners will show up on all but the portal and login pages. It's our hope that we've been able to implement these larger banners in a way that still puts the focus on the content of each page.

There are a couple of screen captures posted in my blog if you want to check out how this will look. Once this change has been implemented Paul and I go back to work on the site, getting all the new features dialed and styled for the beginning of October.

Still to come: changes to profiles, the login page, portal, and a tweaked new look and navigation. We've also got an upgrade to the cults system that we think everyone's going to be really stoked on. Until then enjoy the rest of your summer and please feel free to let us know what you think of the changes via PM or e-mail (cko@newschoolers.com).



Jul 31 2007 1:10PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
would you mind elaborating on the other changes you mentioned towards the end?
Jul 31 2007 1:15PM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
^ What he said. I've got faith, as I always do, in NS.
Jul 31 2007 1:17PM
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skodeo7
Posts: 14949 - Karma: 9,234
It's all happeningggg
Jul 31 2007 1:21PM
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steezyjibber
Posts: 15967 - Karma: 11,016
LAST LOGIN FEATURE IN PROFILES!!!!!!!
Jul 31 2007 1:45PM
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SkiMN
Posts: 4005 - Karma: 38
Kind of a tough upgrade to get stoked on but its a nice reminder that there are always people trying to make the site better.

I wonder.....

Click for larger image
Jul 31 2007 1:49PM
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killabees
Posts: 8558 - Karma: 494
Y2K!!!
Jul 31 2007 1:50PM
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SkiMN
Posts: 4005 - Karma: 38
Click for larger image
Jul 31 2007 1:51PM
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Ericpbp
Posts: 3161 - Karma: 24
hmm, interesting
Jul 31 2007 2:05PM
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bp.lando
Posts: 9297 - Karma: 1,495
horrray
Jul 31 2007 2:42PM
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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
Can do. Here's a brief rundown:

- Portal page is being updated with a new News area and hopefully some cool video stuff too. This will take advantage of the podcast/rss stuff that Bp. has been helping us out with lately.

- Profiles will be more robust. We'll be adding some new fields and sections, allowing for larger pictures, and the tools to add and edit your profiles and other account tools will be more streamlined.

- The navigation on the site will likely change, though nothing is finalized yet. We'd like to get rid of the drop downs and make it easier to get to the major section of the site.

- The login/front page will be changed to accommodate both portrait and landscape images and we'll also be adding a peak inside the site. An effort to make the site more inviting to first time or newer users.

- The cults section is being reworked alongside blogs, and team and park updates to create one unified system that will allow better linking and exposure to all the content that's available. Cults will get new homepages and member tools including mass messaging all the members in your cult, and a "request invite" button for prospective members. There's really a lot more to it but without writing a novel, that's the main idea.

I think that's about it from my previous post. There's more but we want to leave some surprises for the fall.






Jul 31 2007 2:50PM
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mothaeast
Posts: 2923 - Karma: 13
good idea with the cross-cukt and blog integration, but I feel like a lot of people will complain about the request invite thing, especially the more exclusive cults. just an, get ready for some bitching.
Jul 31 2007 2:59PM
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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
It's something that we did think about, but the way it is now, the cult master gets PM'd or there's an entire thread created asking for an invite. Hopefully this system will cut down on the clutter and allow the cult masters easy access to manage their membership. I guess we'll see :)

Jul 31 2007 3:03PM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
Is that where the banner's gonna be? I'm not too stoked about that....



AHhhhhh it's all happening now!!
Jul 31 2007 3:04PM
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TheButterHashira
Posts: 9691 - Karma: 1,702
awesome. change is good
Jul 31 2007 3:18PM
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Ericpbp
Posts: 3161 - Karma: 24
its going to be a new start for everyone... Most people (not n00bs) know their way around this site with out even thinking about it. This change is going to be hard
Jul 31 2007 3:26PM
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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
Well tonight's change won't be much to get used to, other than the new banners, but hopefully the changes for Sept 1 won't be too much of a shock the system. While there might be some navigational changes we certainly won't make anything harder to find, it should all be at your fingertips with the old stand-by's like the quick links ready to rescue you in case anything gets too unfamiliar :)

Jul 31 2007 3:39PM
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andy_boy
Posts: 4434 - Karma: 107
I sure hope the novel includes a Cult search bar... for everyone's sake.

Oh, and is the main search bar itself going to get revamped? That thing is terribly inefficient, as you have to get the exact word right, and 90% on this site of the time people spell stuff wrong so you can never find the thread you are looking for. Not to mention the fact that you can only see 50 threads, no choice.
Jul 31 2007 3:50PM
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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
yep, the search is getting fixed! And the searchbar will get smaller and integrated in the header/nav better. The big one was fun while it lasted but it's time for a change.

Jul 31 2007 4:10PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Liking the few new little things i've seen around
Jul 31 2007 4:39PM
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skijunkiedtm
Posts: 9229 - Karma: 61
looks good cant wait
Jul 31 2007 8:01PM
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eheath
Posts: 61100 - Karma: 118,250
requesting for cult membership eh? That will make some cult leaders mad.
Jul 31 2007 8:06PM
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skijunkiedtm
Posts: 9229 - Karma: 61
yea that does kinda sound like myspace a bit
Jul 31 2007 8:16PM
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eheath
Posts: 61100 - Karma: 118,250
420 forum, black watch, ppp, etc elite cults will be getting soooo many invites and they will never accept/approve of anyone.
Jul 31 2007 8:23PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
maybe the leader can have an option to turn it on or off? that way the cults (such as the appleheads) who are always looking for more members can still benefit.
Jul 31 2007 8:24PM
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skodeo7
Posts: 14949 - Karma: 9,234
Yeah this is a really good idea. Please for the love of god make us have the option. It should be like facebook where you can have 3 options for the cult:

open (anyone can join)
closed (with request to join option)
closed (invite only)

More features for the cults sounds primo. Like cult search, so necessary.
Jul 31 2007 10:15PM
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skijunkiedtm
Posts: 9229 - Karma: 61
its so awsome and legit when you do that, makes me check the apple heads more often
Jul 31 2007 10:15PM
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JGP.
Posts: 2785 - Karma: 474
will you please update the messages to work with safari 3.0??? please???
Jul 31 2007 10:44PM
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skijunkiedtm
Posts: 9229 - Karma: 61
just get firefox!
Aug 1 2007 12:01AM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
.
Aug 1 2007 12:22AM
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SkiMN
Posts: 4005 - Karma: 38
Man a cult wide message would be so sick. I remember the time I messaged all 153 members of a cult to see if I could get it active again, it worked, but I kept thinking- "Fuck if I ever do that again, and there will probably never be a tool for it...."
Aug 1 2007 12:29AM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
Word. Sometimes cults just die... and you need a cult wide message tool.
Aug 1 2007 9:32AM
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Bigwoods
Posts: 3116 - Karma: 76
how come i dont see any upgrades.. thats weird
Aug 1 2007 10:49AM
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Franny
Posts: 3980 - Karma: 77
Nice that looks a lot better.
Aug 1 2007 12:12PM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
^its not night yet.

but i'm really stoked for the searchbar tuning. its been needing it. hopefully the change of the dropdown bars won't make it too difficult to navigate, i use them alot.

props all around guys. i love seeing progress
Aug 1 2007 12:12PM
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cko
Posts: 1869 - Karma: 31
Ok, so we're a bit late on this upgrade but everything is ready to go. At this point we're just waiting for all of our current banners to be imported into the new ad system. Once that's done we'll be good to go!

Aug 1 2007 12:54PM
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Bo_bot9
Posts: 1437 - Karma: 275
can you upgrade the front page. i dislike it
Aug 1 2007 2:55PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
Hah aw come on... its different! How can you not like it? I love that shot... oh well.

The new banner spots will be interesting, but I think its for the best. The biggest thing now is that they'll support flash, so we can see cool shit like flash video ads. I think those are super neato if you ask me!

Things will tweak around in the upcoming months, as we try to dial in the site as best as possible. Please keep providing your feedback because if you guys leave then we get fired, NS dies and nobody is better off! Well maybe those colonies guys...

Aug 1 2007 4:31PM
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bp.lando
Posts: 9297 - Karma: 1,495
^ amazing signature
Aug 1 2007 4:36PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
1. The searchbar needs revamping. It needs to be able to search cults, and also not search like you're using quotes. You could match all words or one word or the exact phrase.

2. Being able to put an order to your cults. That would be pretty sweet.

3. Song title option in the video upload!

4. Don't do an edit button, but rather a "preview."  This makes sure that people can see that their pictures worked and links and stuff.  Have it right next to the reply button it would be spectacular.

5. i know it would make it somewhat myspaceey but i think a good idea would be to notify users when they have new picture or video comments.  i like to see what people say but i hate having to click on myself on my friends list then looking through and seeing which pictures and videos have new comments. just an idea, i guess it could be a section of my threads, or maybe just integrate a new page that tells you about new threads, pictures comments and video comments.

6. It would be awesome to be able to set a default region for when you click on regional forums.  every time i have to scroll and find montana, it would be sweet if regional forum just took me to montana. OR being able to create your own quick links! similar to boomarks toolbar in firefox, that would be raaaddd.

Aug 1 2007 5:22PM
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dowalibeast
Posts: 3339 - Karma: 207
sorry if that was repetitive i just copied and pasted my posts from another thread.
Aug 1 2007 5:23PM
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lyndon
Posts: 7266 - Karma: 127
I have an idea to add to the video section next time NS does a full site re-vamp. This is particularily for the edits/shorts catagory. You know how there is a "location", "skier", "photographer", and "description" bar to fill out, I think it would be neat to add a "song used" in there. Alot of the songs used in edits arent known to alot of us, so that would eliminate the first 10 comments of "what song is that?". Do you know what I mean?
Aug 1 2007 5:37PM
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skodeo7
Posts: 14949 - Karma: 9,234
I completely agree. FLASH ADS CAN BE SO FUCKING ANNOYING!!!! Please don't let these get out of control admins! So damn distracting more than anything.
Aug 1 2007 5:58PM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
Word. Flash ads are insane. I hate them, they annoy the hell out of me.
Aug 1 2007 6:49PM
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JGP.
Posts: 2785 - Karma: 474
would flash adds also greatly increase the bandwidth used per page? because that is not good new for many that have to live with a bandwidth limit in some aspect of their lives....
Aug 1 2007 7:12PM
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TheButterHashira
Posts: 9691 - Karma: 1,702
myspace is big but so crappy.
Aug 1 2007 9:39PM
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~Joe~
Posts: 2631 - Karma: 57
i cant wait
Aug 1 2007 10:51PM
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*cowboy*
Posts: 8830 - Karma: 214
Looks GREAT guys! Love the direction you are going here.
Aug 2 2007 12:01AM
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Jorgen.
Posts: 1361 - Karma: 35
The adds haven't been changed? there still in the same places
Aug 2 2007 2:24AM
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ski_cartel
Posts: 6598 - Karma: 18
so its now the second and the changes dont seem to have taken place, i smell a problem
Aug 2 2007 2:27AM
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skodeo7
Posts: 14949 - Karma: 9,234
The ads have changed. Also this is going to take time guys so please be patient.
Aug 2 2007 10:55AM
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