New YWS Update

Since this is the first time I’ve done an update on the new YWS for a long time, I think it’s desirable that I go over what the heck it is again.

First, why are we doing the upgrade in the first place?  There’s a couple reasons.  One, the programming behind YWS is outdated.   The danger behind using outdated technology is that it opens you up to hacking exploits.  It also does not allow you to take advantage of the newer, better technologies out there.  Two, YWS is looking increasingly outdated.  While old and current members may not mind this much, an outdated website does not attract many new people.  If YWS does not attract new people, it will eventually disappear.  In fact, I’ve been seeing a steady decline on a number of levels over the past six months (although, the number of visits & unique visitors continues to increase).

So is the upgrade going to be worth it?  Definitely.  I imagine it will take getting used to, and I have no doubt there’ll be a number of people who say they liked the old YWS better.  We’ve experienced this in the past, but the thing is, we have to do something.  Even going backwards is better than standing still.

With that said, lets get into what’s going on:

Front Page of the New YWS

The front page of the new YWS captures pretty well everything I’m doing.  First, note how much shorter it is than the current front page.  This is done to make everything more manageable, and better looking.  The front page also makes much better use of the space available to it, whereas the current front page has a ton of white space.

However, the featured works are still there, and so is Recent Posts, Featured Member, New Literary Works.  In fact, what will be really cool is that you will be able to scroll through everything.  As an example, take a look at Recent Posts.  Right now, only five posts are shown.  But pretty soon, I’m going to add a button at the bottom that allows you to see the next five newest posts, and so on and so forth.  Without ever leaving the front page, you could check to see if you missed anything interesting.

There’s also a big blank space right above New Literary Works.  This is where “Staff Picks” will go.  Staff Picks is an area where mods (Big Brother) will be able to choose what they want to feature.  It could be an outside link, a story, an article, or a member.  Each mod will be able to make their own pick.

That’s just a brief run-down for now on what to expect.  Tomorrow, I’ll talk about how forums will function, and hopefully I’ll have some screenshots to show you as well.