[Max]

It's been a long time coming (over 2 years), but the announcement of Golden Sun DS has prompted me to finish things up and get it launched. So here it is, and I hope you all like it.

The design is courtesy of old-time forum member Andrew Hefter, with my own tweaks where needed. You may be familiar with the design theme from the forums.

One of the great things about the new site is that virtually every object has its own page, and everything is hyperlinked. Whenever you are looking at a listing, you can almost always click on the thing's name and go to a page with more details. Many of the tables are also sortable by clicking on the headers.

Be sure to check out the new music library to help you remember the feel of the old games.

I've added a new GS DS section where I will be collating everything we learn about the new game. I've included quick links at the top of the homepage to make it easier to find.

I'll be rolling out some final things (a new sprites library, more maps for some parts, etc.) over the coming week, but I wanted to get this out the door quickly. Let me know if you find anything that doesn't work or if you have ideas for content we could add.

[My Best Wishes]

Maybe do something to the GSW page other then "coming soon", some screenshots from the past tests or something.

[Lightning Star]

Looks great-- nice and clean. I like how the color scheme matches the forum :]

I was going to say the same thing as Watch--I think I may have some goofy screenshots packed away in the depths of my photobucket album if you need any. ;)

[My Best Wishes]

I've got that map editor you released years ago tucked away in my hard drive if you lost that.

[Toasty]

Sweet. Now I can listen to the OST. The Calm Wind Project is pretty cool too.

[puritania]

nice,, more user friendly ;)

[Mathak Kraven]

Why is the link to GSR's Music library just the HTML code :(

Othwise, I like the look.

[Neon]

Very nice. I bet you're looking forward to all the data mining next year when GS DS comes out ;P

[Kaj]

Great work. Though I liked the old style better, 'I'll be rolling out some final things (a new sprites library, more maps for some parts, etc.) over the coming week' is alright for me. In my opinion this has always been a great site and it still is. And the best reason is that I now have a reason to come back on these forums regularly, due to the confirmation of Golden Sun DS! :lol:
Keep up the good work with the site, and like I said I'll be visting the forums regularly again (like about four years ago ;) ). Once again, great work! Especially the music library is a valuable addition to the site.

[Split Infinity]

Is it just me or did I forget to finish typing the Cheats section in the end? :x

[Drizzy Drake]

Yeah, TLA has jack shit, Jack.

[Max]

Some of the pages still require a bit of tweaking or work, but the content pages on the old site had become really broken and included some misinformation. I'll be going through things tonight to clean them up and finish some things that are currently still WIP.

Please continue to report anything you find amiss, and I'll be sure to take a look at it.

[Someone Else]

http://goldensun-syndicate.net/

Anybody else being linked to a page that says "Hello, world"?

[Nosferatu]

Someone Else, on Jun 4 2009, 11:17 AM, said:

http://goldensun-syndicate.net/

Anybody else being linked to a page that says "Hello, world"?

Hello webpage, how are you doing today?

[Someone Else]

Just to clarify http://www.goldensun-syndicate.net/ works just fine.

[Nosferatu]

Max, on Jun 4 2009, 08:43 AM, said:

Some of the pages still require a bit of tweaking or work, but the content pages on the old site had become really broken and included some misinformation. I'll be going through things tonight to clean them up and finish some things that are currently still WIP.

Please continue to report anything you find amiss, and I'll be sure to take a look at it.

Firebrand is missing it's item symbol. Shows the green E instead.

[Drizzy Drake]

Someone Else, on Jun 4 2009, 02:17 PM, said:

http://goldensun-syndicate.net/

Anybody else being linked to a page that says "Hello, world"?

This.

[Lukar]

Nice layout, in my opinion. It could use a bit more color (Alternate layouts with the same design, maybe?), and one of the links on the Soundtracks page is the actual HTML code, but other than that, I love it.

[Max]

Ok, I fixed the non-www URL issue. I was aware of that, just forgot it in the madness that was the migration. I'll look at that icon and the broken link this evening.

There's some potential for alternative color schemes like we used to have, but my Photoshop skills are lacking and I have other things to tackle first. If someone wants to volunteer to do the work, I can give them the PSD file.

[Mathak Kraven]

Max, on Jun 4 2009, 10:32 PM, said:

Ok, I fixed the non-www URL issue. I was aware of that, just forgot it in the madness that was the migration. I'll look at that icon and the broken link this evening.

There's some potential for alternative color schemes like we used to have, but my Photoshop skills are lacking and I have other things to tackle first. If someone wants to volunteer to do the work, I can give them the PSD file.

I'd help, but I've got finals. (If I could help)

[Golden Legacy]

Excellent job and highest standards as always, Max.

[gsninja]

Good ****, Max, I really like the new layout. Thank you for putting the work into it. ^.^ And you also fixed the Links section! Niiiiiiiiiiice.

[raylinth]

I'm new, but may I suggest adding RSS. At least of the News updates, best case all sub-forums. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this silly video explains - http://tinyurl.com/25b9qn

Basically I would pay more attention to you via RSS and it has potential to attract new users. And it should just be a simple IP.Board plugin... maybe a line of code to add to the homepage.

Besides that, site looks clean. I like clean. :lol:

[Max]

raylinth, on Jun 4 2009, 10:18 PM, said:

I'm new, but may I suggest adding RSS. At least of the News updates, best case all sub-forums. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this silly video explains - http://tinyurl.com/25b9qn

Basically I would pay more attention to you via RSS and it has potential to attract new users. And it should just be a simple IP.Board plugin... maybe a line of code to add to the homepage.

Besides that, site looks clean. I like clean. :lol:

I've added an RSS feed for the Site News subforum here. I'll add it to the main site soon.

[raylinth]

Max, on Jun 4 2009, 11:23 PM, said:

I've added an RSS feed for the Site News subforum here. I'll add it to the main site soon.

OH fantastic! Straight into google reader.

Easy way is to add this to the HTML header.

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.goldensun-syndicate.net/forum/index.php?act=rssout&id=3"/>

[Toasty]

Max, on Jun 4 2009, 01:32 PM, said:

Ok, I fixed the non-www URL issue. I was aware of that, just forgot it in the madness that was the migration. I'll look at that icon and the broken link this evening.

There's some potential for alternative color schemes like we used to have, but my Photoshop skills are lacking and I have other things to tackle first. If someone wants to volunteer to do the work, I can give them the PSD file.

I'll take a crack at it. School ends next week, so I won't have much work (besides a final for my Cisco Networking college class).

[Nick Presta]

Very nice!

Django app? :lol:

[Eugine]

Looks great Max. And lol @ raylinth. I do not think you need to tell Max about the internet. I am confident Max knows more about computers [and the internet] than the entire forum combined...

Btw Max, you need to increase GSS page rank on Google >.>

http://www.google.com/search?q=golden+sun+...art=80&sa=N
PAGE NINE!!! THIS ISN'T ACCEPTABLE!!!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz...oq=&aqi=g10
LAST RESULT ON PAGE ONE!! UNACCEPTABLE ALSO!

[Max]

Nick, yes, it's a Django app. It's a lot of fun playing with all the data, and there's potential for some cool mashups if I ever have time.

Eugine, I think the reason the google ranking is abysmal is because Google couldn't get past the cookie-based skin selector on the old site. I'm going to be using Google's Webmaster Tools and employing SEO strategies to make sure the site raises in the rankings for GS.

To everyone, I'm working on some updates right now which I'll push out to the live site later tonight. I'm also working with a former webmaster of one of our partner sites on some ideas for potential community projects. More info forthcoming on that front as well.

[MetalHacker]

everything seems perfect, nice work Max :lol:

[Toasty]

I used to get GSS as the fifth result on google. Can't remember what search terms I used though.

[Neon]

probably "golden sun" lol. GSR was above it I think, and IGN or something, who knows.


I thought you had lost interest in the site Max. It's cool seeing you pumping out new stuff and planning new content.


edit: is the GSDS article not showing up for other people? It just has the title, link to the comments and no content between .-.

[Toasty]

Everything comes up for me. Except for the official artwork section under Multimedia. That's blank.

[Neon]

i'm talking aboutt he news page. there's the article about the new site, which we're responding to now, then there's...

Quote

Golden Sun DS Announced on 06-02-2009

Posted by Max

View 236 comment(s)

where's my news!? :lol:

[Aquamarine]

I think something must be wrong with my computer, because the new site looks pretty awful on my screen. The bar at the top is the same that the forums have, but the left side with all the links and stuff has a gray background, while the rest is simply white and has a blue WELCOME sign at the top, with all the site news below it. :\ I'm guessing that's not really what its supposed to look like?

[Eugine]

Kinda accurate description if you ask me Aqua. Let me take a screenshot.

Don't know if it's your browser or resolution because it looks fine for me (I use Chrome btw)

http://img190.images...4/screenrrl.jpg
Looks like this?

[Someone Else]

Bwahaha...

I'll be honest here, I wouldn't mind some alternate skins for GSS either.

[Max]

Aquamarine, on Jun 6 2009, 11:12 AM, said:

I think something must be wrong with my computer, because the new site looks pretty awful on my screen. The bar at the top is the same that the forums have, but the left side with all the links and stuff has a gray background, while the rest is simply white and has a blue WELCOME sign at the top, with all the site news below it. :\ I'm guessing that's not really what its supposed to look like?

What browser are you using? I'll admit I didn't give it a proper browser testing round before pushing it out.

To whoever mentioned it, yes, the news thread for some reason doesn't show up in the news feed on the main site. I have no idea why it isn't working, but I figure people can click the "View Comments" link to read it.

[Aquamarine]

I use Firefox.

Eugine, on Jun 6 2009, 08:39 PM, said:

http://img190.images...4/screenrrl.jpg
Looks like this?

Exactly like that. I guess I'm just not a fan of the new look. Looks a bit.. unfinished if you ask me.

But hey, you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

[Max]

I'm more than open to suggestions on how to improve the look; I'm certainly no designer, and Andrew is no longer around to offer his services. If you have specific suggestions or ideas, I'd be willing to try them out and see how it looks. Alternatively, if you can articulate what about it makes it look unfinished to you, perhaps we can brainstorm ways to improve it.

[Split Infinity]

I think he was expecting something more graphical, eg. GIF buttons instead of text?

[Aquamarine]

In all honesty, I don't really care about the site looking fancy or anything as long as it works. And text is fine by me, we don't need GIF buttons, what I mean is not having a simple white background. Have the colour of the background be something that actually goes with the games. For instance, the colour of parchment. Also make the welcome sign a little more stylized if possible; perhaps in the style of the Golden Sun logo. However, changing the colour of it would be enough. Have it be a golden colour or something like that.

Overall, the new site is good because everything is working swell. What I'm suggesting is only makeup, to make the whole thing a little easier on the eye.

[Neon]

textures are evil. You can keep it simple if you like, but if it doesn't work visually it's probably a problem with composition, type, stuff lie that. You can't just go nuts with graphics without purpose.

I might try making a few different designs and see what you all think, but I'm a lazy bastard, and also meant to be working on a few projects of my own :P

[Toasty]

^Same as above. I've thought about throwing together a few things.


Anyway, I like the site the way it is. I mean, it could use a little improvement visually I suppose, but it's nice and clean and gets the job done fairly efficiently.

[happysister]

Toasty, on Jun 7 2009, 05:38 PM, said:

Anyway, I like the site the way it is. I mean, it could use a little improvement visually I suppose, but it's nice and clean and gets the job done fairly efficiently.

my thoughts exactly. i'd rather it be plain and easy to navigate through than uber fantastic-looking while you can't figure anything out.

[Toasty]

Just noticed, under the weapons guide in the TLA section, the icon for the Fire Brand appears as the icon for the Masamune, and the Masamune's icon is something I don't recognize. Thought it was the Arcitc Blade at first, but it wasn't.

And under the GS1 weapon's guide, you can see the Giant Axe, which isn't introduced until TLA.

[EDIT] Wait, wtf. Can you actually get a Giant Axe as an item drop from an earth golem?

[happysister]

Toasty, on Jun 11 2009, 03:44 AM, said:

[EDIT] Wait, wtf. Can you actually get a Giant Axe as an item drop from an earth golem?

yes. yes, you can. i didn't even know it was in TLA. XD

[Toasty]

You get it from a forged golem core.

[happysister]

i don't think i ever got that item, so that would explain why i never got the weapon.

[Ironsight]

So whatever happened to that Advanced Wars minisite, Toasty?

[Split Infinity]

No longer necessary.