Site Updates - Nintendo Nerds - Home http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:53:21 +0000 43200 More Prominence: Article Comments, Read More An... http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/more-prominence-article-comments-read-more-an-r239
Firstly, I'd like to talk about the cosmetic updates that have taken place. I usually only announce style changes if they're significant enough to impact your normal browsing experience. I figured that it would be nice to throw them in though.

1) Article Comments
The "blue bubble" that encapsulated the number of comments for each article is now gone. I have replaced that with some simple CSS styling to make it look less tacky. The blue bubble was never meant to be a permanent viewpoint for housing the quantity of comments per article. It was merely a placeholder, to remind me to change or update it at some point. Now, as you can see in the image below, the number of article comments are enclosed in a little green box. For some reason, green seems to be one of the key colors for the website, so I left it as such. Plus, green seems to contrast nicely with the other darkish colors on the site.

2) Read More
Out of the three changes, this one probably bugged me the most. The previous "Read More..." link for the articles seemed to blend in with the tags, which are shown directly to the right. I used the same green styling as I did for the article comments link above. Previously, there wasn't anything that separated the Read More link from anything else so it was more difficult to tell that there might have even been such a link that took the viewer to the full article. Now, without a doubt, it sticks out and is much more noticeable.

3) Page Navigation
Last, but not least, is a minor change that I made to the page navigation (pagination) system. While I didn't include a before and after look for this part of the update, it's worth noting that the numbers and the buttons are significantly larger than before. Not only is the pagination visually larger, but it's way easier to navigate through the pages via a mobile device. I'm sure some of you, besides me, will be happy to hear that. Doesn't it bug you when button links on websites are too small? For me, I can't stand it because I have to zoom in on the page. Anyway, that area is visually larger now for the site and forums.

Below are the before and after shots. Click each one to view the full size of the image.

Before:
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After:
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If you're unable to see any of the changes that have been made, you might need to clear your Browser cache. First though, I'd try pressing Ctrl+F5 on your keyboard to hard-refresh/reload the Browser window. Quite often, I make a lot of minor changes on the fly so it might be a good idea to do this periodically so you're seeing the latest and greatest.

Finally, I'd like to close by saying that I've been hard at work designing the new "Reviews" system. I know, I know..."ANOTHER SYSTEM," right? Well, trust me on this. It's going to be a significant enhancement over what's already in place. I mean, nothing is really changing to the point where it's annoying. Basically, it's getting a nice upgrade! Wouldn't you rather have a Fire Flower over a Super Mushroom? Members (yes, YOU!) will finally be able to submit their very own review to the site. Once submitted, it just needs to be approved by one of the staff. That's it...simple! Also, games can be reviewed multiple times. For example, we used to just have one review per game. Let's say Chris submits a review for Ogre Battle 64. Now, you can submit your own Ogre Battle 64 review, along with all the other members who want to review that game...or any other game! This submission system is way better in my opinion. It will give our audience a broader and more thorough perspective on games. Multiple opinions are better than just one. I'm really excited about this. I should have the new review system wrapped up in about another week or two. I'm at the mercy of one of our coders for specific tasks and he's extremely busy. Also, I'm going to get with our Lead Reviewer, Chris, to go over/ update the review guidelines.

One last note. I've had a lot of requests for a Friend Code feature and a Mii Center. I've added those two features to my constantly-growing list of "things to do for the members."

More updates to follow soon...]]> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:26:42 +0000 b3ba8f1bee1238a2f37603d90b58898d A New Foundation Comes A New Future http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/a-new-foundation-comes-a-new-future-r227
A cramped rear end, an aching back, and a few extra pounds are entirely worth the near 700 (currently 673 records) records that are housed in our new "Games" database. During the design process, I went through many different variations and revisions. Finally, a standard design was solidified; one that will continue to be flexible for a very long time. In the Games database, you'll find that the game records are displayed in a standard, yet fashionable table format. Each record, as it's listed, includes several pieces of information; game title, publisher, year released, genre, number of players, and system. What's even better is that filters can be applied to the database if you choose to extract specific information. This information is also included when viewing individual game records.

As far as individual game records are concerned, each game has its own page. Those pages include all the information I noted above, and then some. At the top of every page, there is a nice big, vivid banner. The purpose of the banner is to simply give a visual of the game. Underneath each banner, you'll find the game's overview, as well as a gameplay video or trailer for the game. You can also see that there are ten games listed on the right-side of the page, with their corresponding thumbnail. These ten games are filtered (by genre) according to what game page you're viewing. For example, if you're viewing the "Xenoblade Chronicles" (a RPG) game record, you'll see ten role-playing games. The ability to comment on each game record page is possible, but I have that disabled for the time being. In the future, I might enable it; not too sure about that yet though.

Other than that, feel free to share our game records with anyone via the social media share links at the bottom.

Lastly, I'd like to make it known that this wasn't a single man effort. None of this would be possible if it weren't for the handy coding knowledge of Robert. Man, that guy has done some truly amazing things with this product. The things that I wanted were sometimes nearly impossible to achieve, but he made sure I was happy. For that, I appreciate his hard work and dedicated work ethic.

Another huge factor, that greatly contributed to the expeditious unveiling, was Classicgamer's (CG) effort. CG spent a ton of time creating roughly 90% of the game banners for the NES game records. Without that help, I'd still be cropping out images for at least another month or two...or three. This helped tremendously, as it allowed me to focus on other aspects, pushing the Games database further toward completion.

I also created a few topics in the forums about different things that related to the Games database. I appreciate everyone's help with that stuff. It really did help me sort out a few things for the layout of the database.

As for the actual visual appeal and design, I coded the layouts and looks for everything. In the general scheme of all things, all of the visual appeal in the world wouldn't matter without all the other help that was provided.

Now what?

Well, now that the foundation has been poured for the Games database, I plan on adding more games throughout the year. My goal, for this year, is to have around 1,000 total game records for the Games database.

For the next part of this project I'll be finalizing the incorporation of reviews into the game record pages. You guys are really going to like that. I promise.

Another thing is game play videos/ trailers for each game page. It's already there, and fully functional. There are games that have videos already but additional video content is still in the process of getting added. CG has been doing a great job with getting those submitted.

Lastly, I'm going to be concurrently working on designing a Pokédex and a 3DS Friend Codes database. The Pokédex will be a gigantic database of all the Pokémon, along with all of their information. That's going to be a huge project. I can assure you though, that it's going to be bigger and better than anything you've ever seen anywhere else. The 3DS Friend Codes database, on the other hand, is a much smaller project and will allow members to add their own record to the database.

Thanks again, everyone! I look forward to continuing to grow with everyone here and complete more milestones!

If anyone has any suggestions or feedback, I would love to hear from you.

To access our Games database, go to:
http://www.nintendonerds.com/games

Additionally, you can click on the "Games" link at the top (or bottom) of the page.]]> Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:21:11 +0000 c4851e8e264415c4094e4e85b0baa7cc Our New Official Logo http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/our-new-official-logo-r214
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In time, I may have him slightly alter it to take on the appearance of a more "Nintendo-ish" look. The new logo flies high above the top of our board, nice and proud. Thanks, Death Dealer!]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:02:21 +0000 c8ba76c279269b1c6bc8a07e38e78fa4 New Footer In Progress http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/new-footer-in-progress-r196
(click image for full view)
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If it doesn't look like that, then you need to clear your cache. I've tested the styling in all major Browsers, including the mobile versions of Safari, Opera and Dolphin. The only Browser that doesn't want to play nicely is mobile Opera. I really don't think anyone uses that much, anyway.

Don't worry about anything that's missing at the moment. I plan on filling in the gaps very soon. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. As far as design goes though I might not budge much. Other than that, expect to start seeing some real content roll out within the next few weeks. Designing the new footer was a necessary implementation as it will serve as a great secondary navigation system for our soon-to-arrive content.]]> Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:54:32 +0000 9adeb82fffb5444e81fa0ce8ad8afe7a Our Homepage Now Has More Flavor http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/our-homepage-now-has-more-flavor-r195
Each image is linked to it's respective location. In addidtion to finalizing the first list of games (some of you know what I'm referring to), I'm concurrently designing a staff page and a few extra goodies. More to follow on that...

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The great part about Google Plus is that it's very user-friendly. I find the interface and navigation much more user-friendly than the other social networking sites out there. If anyone here already has a Google Plus page, let us know and we'll make sure to add you to the NintendoNerds circle. I'll be using Google Plus a lot more when it comes to sharing our content, to expose it to communities of similar interests. I'm sure you guys will find it just as easy to use and maintain.

More to follow on the Google Plus system...]]> Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:43:20 +0000 9a3d458322d70046f63dfd8b0153ece4 Welcome Your New Leader http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/welcome-your-new-leader-r186 Chris, our new community forums leader. Chris has demonstrated a sincere and honest devotion and interest in the NintendoNerds community. Not only has his duties as moderator been exceptional, but he's even took the initiative to claim Lead Reviewer for our game reviews. Even through trying times, he has stuck with us while others flocked away to other communities. He's been part of the staff, as a Moderator, since August of 2007. That's a hell of a long time, don't you think? Please welcome him and treat him with the utmost respect. Chris, I appreciate your time, devotion, and unwavering loyalty to our community. Thank you, and I look forward to working along side you for many, more years to come.

Future staff (among other items) changes may or may not take place and are dependent upon Chris' judgment and decisions.

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As for me, I'll be focusing on other tasks, specific to the site.

Now...how about a speech, Chris!?]]> Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:47:07 +0000 2b6d65b9a9445c4271ab9076ead5605a Bank of NN Now Available http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/bank-of-nn-now-available-r159 Bank of NN can be found in the navigation menu (see image below). Once you go to the bank, feel free to make as many deposits or withdrawals as you please.

Also, 5% interest is accrued daily! Have fun and enjoy.

If you're in the battle and want to stash your coins away so they can't be stolen during battle, use the Bank of NN.

Make your deposit today and start earning!

(click image for full view)
Posted Image]]> Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:52:28 +0000 16e6a3326dd7d868cbc926602a61e4d0 Member Battles! http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/member-battles-r155
I'm proud to announce that the NintendoNerds community now has a battle application, in which members can battle each other. By battling, you gain experience which in turn increases your level and strength. You also earn coins, where you can buy and sell some really awesome shop items. There are currently 38 different weapons to choose from. Use anything from a Banana Peel to a Blue Shell!

Members are already waiting to take you on. Do you have what it takes to fight your way to the top?

Check it out today and have a good battle round!

I owe some thanks to some people for helping me get this put together. In no particular order, here are the people who I'd like to thank that helped me make this possible.

Death Dealer - Graphics! DD designed all the graphics that are available with the battle applications. He designed 150+ different graphics! Thanks for being there when I needed you and thanks for the quality custom work.

Shady - Code Work! This man just happens to be one of the coders that has taken the application to the next level...and beyond. This application is only getting better in time. I'd like to thank him for the many, many questions I had along the way while getting this beast set up and configured. He's also taken a great deal of time providing excellent support for issues that I've encountered. Thank you.

sabby - Sheesh. Seems like forever since you and I worked on the details for some of this stuff. Thanks for helping me get the targets (bots) rosters set up and ranked as closely as possible, as well as the naming of their respective guilds. Your names were far better than mine were. Just so you know, SLIME wins!

And to everyone else, thank you for having the patience while all of this was made possible for you.

With that, join in and have yourself a nice battle!

Go to the battle!]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:50:59 +0000 285f89b802bcb2651801455c86d78f2a Reviews Have An Official Home http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/reviews-have-an-official-home-r154
http://www.nintendon...gories/reviews/

Or, you can simply click "Reviews" in the sidebar to the right of any page on the site.

Just a quick note. The reviews are automatically sorted by most recent. If you want to view then in any kind of "filtered" order, you need to click on the first little icon for the archive listing. In the archive listing, you'll be able to sort and filter the reviews as you wish.

(click on image for larger view)
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I'm currently in the process of designing a "Reviews" page, where we'll be able to see all the reviews in a nice listed fashion.]]> Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:02:24 +0000 e8b1cbd05f6e6a358a81dee52493dd06 Cheats Section http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/cheats-section-r127
For a listing of current cheats, please go to the Cheats Category on the site.

There aren't too many (currently 16) games that have cheats so if you would like to submit your own, feel free to do so.]]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:47:57 +0000 678a1491514b7f1006d605e9161946b1 Tagging And Page Navigation Now Available http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/tagging-and-page-navigation-now-available-r116 Simple, elegant, and fully functional. Those three adjectives, in a nut shell, sum up a few of our newest site features. With the help from a friend, our site just became a bit more better, and shinier. I'm proud to announce that full page navigation and article tagging has been incorporated into our site's articles system module.

To many of you, these two features may seem standard and I'd have to agree with you 110%. The fact though, is that they're not standard for the application we're utilizing for our article content; IP.Content (IPC). Unfortunately, these features had to be custom coded. I won't even get started as to why tagging and full page navigation haven't been included into IPC's default out-of-the-box installation. While these features are scheduled to become available in future versions, some people (like me) didn't feel like waiting around until developers decide to include them.

The page navigation system is really nice, and functions exactly like the page navigation in the forums. Prior to adding full page navigation, only limited page navigation was available. By that, I mean that only the "Next Page" and "Previous Page" options were available. Even worse, they were only available on the home page. Now, the page navigation shows:
  • total number of pages
  • current page
  • first/ last page options
  • previous/ next page options
Here's a good look at what I'm talking about.

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Our tagging system for our articles is very simple to use and allows the author of the article to select tags based on the content that is being published. Each tag "acts" like its own category. For example, if you click on a tag labeled "Pokemon" you'll be able to view all articles that have been tagged as such. This makes navigation that much easier when it comes to trying to find something specific that you're looking for.

Well, that's it for now. While these additions are basic features, they're very significant for our site.]]> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:56:13 +0000 dd77279f7d325eec933f05b1672f6a1f Upgrades Update: IP.Board, IP.Content, IP.Calendar http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/upgrades-update-ipboard-ipcontent-ipcalendar-r84
  • IP.Board - version 3.2.2 --> 3.2.3
  • IP.Content - version 2.2.1 --> 2.2.2
  • IP.Calendar - version 3.2.1 --> 3.2.2
    • These application upgrades were maintenance releases, which fixed many noteworthy issues discovered by the product's community. Most, if not all of the issues, were unnoticeable at the user level. There is one small feature that was included with the IP.Board upgrade however. Members are now able to change their profile photo using a URL. Our prior version of IP.Board did not allow this and members were forced to have their custom photo saved to their computer or local storage device. The added feature gives members more flexibility for their profile photos.

    Posted Image]]>     Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:12:00 +0000 6cdd60ea0045eb7a6ec44c54d29ed402     Contributor Badges http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/contributor-badges-r57 THIS FORUM TOPIC. Additionally, your Mii can be created on your 3DS and saved to its SD card...making it very easy to send to me via email.

    Obviously, no one is going to force you guys to make one of those but it would be nice to add to the badge instead of a generic-looking Mii avatar. I might just create one for you guys, but make you really ugly and the opposite sex or something.

    Anyway, the following is the current list of active contributors for the content team. By all means, if you want to help out with News, Reviews, Cheats, Fan Fiction, or any other type of written content let me know. When adding articles to the site, the below images will be used as the article's "Article Image." If you don't know what I'm referring to, go to the site and try adding an article and you'll see what I'm talking about.


    CONTRIBUTORS
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    I'm always willing to accept help so anyone is welcome to do so. If you have any questions regarding any of this, please ask Ninjatiamat or myself.]]>     Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:49:49 +0000 6c4b761a28b734fe93831e3fb400ce87     <![CDATA[Hello! I'm Kevin. It's Nice To Meet You!]]> http://www.nintendonerds.com/categories/site-updates/hello-im-kevin-its-nice-to-meet-you-r45
    Gallery - where members can add, manage, and create their very own image galleries

    Video System - where members can add, manage, and create their own videos

    Community Forums - although never been one of our strong points, many of us are still together and enjoy posting when we can

    Battle Arena - Members will be able to kick each others butts in a simple, easy-to-use battle environment. You'll gain levels by getting experience, Coins (gold) and also be able to purchase items, weapons, and other cool things. Oh, we'll have battle contests, too!

    and, of course...

    ...a brand new site, that's only going to get better in time. Ah, yes...the "site." Yeah, I've been talking about this for quite some time now and it's finally taking shape. Little by little, hour by hour, and day by day it's becoming more and more what I've always envisioned.

    The "site," effective immediately, will be my primary appointed place of duty. I still reload the forums page throughout the day, but not nearly as often as I do for the pages on the site. For the past few weeks, I've been working my tail off to get us a functional site that will host all of our gaming information needs. That might sound a bit broad because, well, it just is. Once I finally get all the sections in order and tailored to my liking, it's game on for content. Members will be able to submit their own news, their own reviews, their own cheats, and their own whatever else I think of after that.

    The forums, as we know it, will no longer host things like news, reviews, cheats or any other type of large categorized section for gaming information. Hosting things like that within topics are a thing of the past. It's cheap, unappealing, and hard as hell to find stuff. There are many different applications out there now that allow admins to implement this type of thing into their communities; seamlessly and fully-integrated. All this might sound like a lot of extra stuff, even overkill but I can assure you it'll flourish in time and you won't be disappointed with the outcome.

    You might be asking yourself "what's the point? I can just go to another website and find information." While this is true, our site will eventually become bigger, better, and offer more features than many other sites out there.

    Oh yeah, the title of this topic...right? I've been known as NintendoNerds for a long time now but I always thought it was odd to have the same user name as the site. This isn't just my site, it's all of ours. From now on, my user name will be "Kevin" but you're more than welcome to call me whatever you want.

    If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.]]>     Sat, 08 Oct 2011 21:11:12 +0000 2b24d495052a8ce66358eb576b8912c8