Before I go into more detail about the new site design, I would like to thank the many users who have contributed to the TBL community and EHM over the past six years. Without your contributions TBL would never have lasted this long. I don't want to try to list the users who have made contributions to TBL because there are so many and I wouldn't want to miss anybody out. However I would in particular like to thank Lidas for the mammouth work he has put into his roster updates and also Bruins72 who has put in a huge amount of work in running and constantly improving the Challenges (and thanks to the many users who have helped them with their work). Both the Challenges and the roster updates are essential for keeping EHM and the TBL community alive and kicking.
As this is quite a large post, here are the contents of what I have listed below:
- A work in progress
- A note about Internet Explorer
- New logo
- New features
- Still to come
The new design is still a work in progress and so I expect there will be a couple of minor design flaws/oddities/inconsistencies. However, the actual features of the site should work fine. I have tested the site extensively on my offline server but obviously it's not until you get the site live online that issues may crop up. Thus I have set up a couple of threads:
Click here to report any design issues or inconsistencies, or any errors or difficulties.
Click here to make any suggestions/feedback on any extra features you would like to see added or any general feedback about the site.
I am very keen to hear what the community doesn't like and what could be improved. I would like to make the site look and work as well as possible so I'm very happy to hear of any issues or anything you think could be improved.
A note about Internet Explorer
Owing to the way in which Internet Explorer parses CSS and the fact that it cannot process some of the newer CSS code, unfortunately not quite all of the site is compatible with IE. At the moment, the drop-down menu, Facebook Share buttons and multi-quote do not work with IE. Therefore when you view the site in IE you will see a slightly different version of the site (e.g. you will see you have a "myTBL" navigation bar rather than a drop-down menu). I will be continuing to make the site as IE-friendly as possible and hope to eventually make all site features compatible with IE. In the meantime, I would strongly recommend viewing the site using a different browser (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc).
New logo
As you can see, we have a new TBL logo! This, however, isn't the final logo. We are in the process of designing an alternative logo but unfortunately this couldn't be completed in time for the site release. Once the alternative logo has been completed, we will hold a poll so that users can vote for which logo they would like for TBL. The square logo you see above is based on the very first TBL logo whereas the alternative logo we're designing is based on our most recent logo. More details will follow in the next week or two.
New features
We have implemented a large number of improvements and new features. Some of these are very small and some will only be noticeable to the Admins/Mods (i.e. features which make running the site a lot easier and less time consuming). I have tried to list all of the major features below but this is by no means a comprehensive list:
Navigation Menu
You can now navigate the entirety of the site using the new drop-down menu, making it a lot easier to browse the site. There is also a search box located in the right side of the nav bar - now there are no excuses for not finding the search function!
Facebook Intergration
It is now possible to share a thread, individual post, or a blog entry on Facebook. To share a thread, click on the "Share" button. To share an individual post or a blog entry, click on the
mini Facebook logo above an individual post.You can also add to your user profile a link to your Facebook page: Control Panel -> Edit User Profile -> Profile Information -> Facebook URL.
Useful Post / Thank You Button
If you find a thread particularly useful then flag it up to other users by clicking on the "Thanks" button located at the top of the thread. This also thanks the user for starting the topic. In the future I will introduce a star rating system based on the number of users who have marked a thread useful.
Multi-Quote
It is now possible to quote multiple posts from a thread in one post. Simply click on the multi-quote button for the relevant posts and then click "Post Reply" (you cannot use Quick Reply for this). Yan can select posts from different pages of a thread - just browse through the thread using the page number buttons and then click "Post Reply" when you're ready.
Trophies & User Profile
Every time a user finishes in the top three in a competition they will be awarded a gold/silver/bronze trophy in addition to the usual TBL Points. This will be added to the user's trophy count which can be viewed below their avatar in any thread or in their User Profile. The User Profile page is now a lot better laid out and, in particular, the user's competition history is now a lot clearer.
GM Profile
Every user now has their own GM Profile (click here to view yours) which shows EHM-style GM attributes according to their performances in the TBL Challenges. Have a good couple of seasons in the Challenges and your attributes will go up; however, have a bad few seasons and they may start to creep down. Your "potential ability" will increase with the more complete seasons you play. You can add your own face picture for your GM Profile by uploading your image to an image hosting site (e.g. PhotoBucket) and adding it to your user profile (Control Panel -> Edit User Profile -> Profile Information -> GM Profile Picture).
Challenge Career History
From here you can view your career history for the TBL Challenges season by season, challenge by challenge (click here to view yours). It also shows your career averages and totals (both overall totals and league by league).
If you want to view another user's Career History or GM Profile then click on the profile button below a user's avatar or find them via the Member List. Alternatively, click on a username in any of the Challenge Stats tables. You can access your own Career History and GM Profile by clicking on Control Panel from the navigation bar.
Challenge Centre
The all new Challenge Centre is the hub of the Challenges. From here you can discuss anything Challenge-related as well as view the latest winners, tables, and stats for all challenges and seasons.
Challenge Improvement Stats
The navigation of the Challenge Stats pages has been significantly improved. The Challenge Stats mini nav bar is visible on every stats page and makes it easy to browse through the stats for a particular challenge or season. Further, there is a new Improvement Stats page which compares users' performances for any season with the previous season. Improvement is shown as a percentage for each stat category.
Facepacks and the Facepack Updating Tool
The new Facepacks Page makes it easier to find the facepacks you want. The facepacks are categorised with an example thumbnail so you can see exactly what they look like. The page also features the Facepack Updating Tool which will generate the .bat file code to adjust the years of birth for your facepacks by a user defined number of years.
Blogs
The TBL Blogs have also received a make-over and are much more tightly integrated into the site. The Latest Blog Entries Page lists and previews all of the latest blog entries. From this page you can browse the latest entries for any that may interest you. Additionally, we have relaxed the rules on blogs so that you may use your blog for anything that may be of interest to the TBL community - thus it doesn't have to necessarily be about EHM. Obviously the Mods have the final word in the event that subject matter is contentious.
Individual Post Link and Printable View
By using the icons below you can link to a specific post within a thread (
) or view a printable version (
). To link to a specific post, right click on the icon and click on "Copy link/URL address". Then paste the URL in your new post.Still to come
There are a number of features that I will be adding to the site in the coming months. In addition to addressing any errors and improving the design of the site based on user feedback, I will also be working on introducing the ability for users to upload their Challenge stats directly to the server. Adding the Challenge stats by hand currently takes a very long time indeed. By enabling users to upload their stats directly, it will cut out all of this work and so the Challenge stats will be much more up-to-date.
I'm also going to be looking into adding an unread posts mod which will remember which posts you haven't yet read as well as allowing you to mark threads unread. This is a complex mod and is quite out-dated so there is no guarantee that I will be able to install it but I will do my best.
Another feature still to come is a Challenge Records Page. This will show the best performances for different categories of stats (e.g. most wins in a season, most goals, etc) league by league.
I'll also be looking through all of the suggestions made over the past ten months by the users and Mods as well as any new suggestions. There have been a number of good suggestions made so far which I'm going to try any implement.