Unless your brand new to Camp Sonic, you may have noticed something different about the site today. A few days ago, I hinted that I might have a surprise for all the campers soon, and today, I’m very proud to unveil Camp Sonic’s new look! Reason for not mentioning the update sooner was due to some complications this week. You see, while you’re reading this lovely update, probably sitting at your desk in an air conditioned mansion, I’m driving 400 miles north in a mini-van with questionable road capabilities.
And why exactly am I doing this? Well, it actually happens to be for Camp of all things. This week, I’ll be busy handling avoiding youth while helping with audio visuals on a week long camping expedition. I jest of course, as I’ll be having a lot of fun too, but at the same time, it’s going to be more of a chore to get to working around THIS camp!
At any rate, the update’s here, and I think it’s time to go over some of the new features you may have missed:
- Featured Headlines – Miss an important update? We’ll keep our big & important updates in rotation in our brand new Featured Headline slideshow on the front page.
- News Restructuring – Rather than attack you with thousands of words on the front page, we’ve kindly introduced a new system of displaying the most recent news using thumbnails and excerpts from the posts. You can jump straight to the comments, the full post, or just skip over something without all the scrolling now.
- Comments Feed – Savvy with feeds? We’ve made it a bit easier to find the important feeds around the site, and have added a quick link to the Comments Feed for those who can’t get enough of the discussion here.
- Search! – Finally! A search form! No more going through dozens of archives to find what you’re looking for!
This is only the beginning! There are a few more noticable items (aside from the obvious layout changes) that you can already see, but more importantly are the features that will be implemented as we get closer to E3 (and beyond).
Please leave your feedback and suggestions in the comments! I’ll be sure to check things out when I get out of this van!
@DarkChaos: Sounds great! I only have Wii!
I love SU! And some more serious thing isn’t wrong.
Well, technically speaking, I’m not on the road yet. Just heading to bed… gonna grab 4 hours of sleep, then I’ll be off bright and early. Just in case I’m not around as often as I think I’ll be, hope everyone has a great week!
(I’m bringing a laptop and satellite phone/modem, so I ought to have significant equipment to visit. Either way, I’ve got a weeks worth of posts lined up for all of you!)
LUV THE NEW LOOK!
KEEP DOIN WHUT YUR DOIN!
It is awsome the new look and more original
I like the black colour that’s now in the theme.
Only thing that bugs me a bit is the placement of the search bar…. -.-”
@justam: Hmm. I don’t realize why that would bug you, its out of the way, and still accessable. I like it’s placement. Wow. I like the Night Owl campers. I’m proud to be one of them.
@David Leggett: Actually Dave, the roads are pretty clear, where are you traveling to? Suprisingly they weren’t bad at all, everyone already came home from their fourth of July visits. I drove all the way from Mass. To Pittsburgh and only found ONE Wendys. I was craving a Spicy Chicken Fillet sandwhich. Happy Driving.
Nice job, man. Pretty good!
Very nice work! It’s a lot neater, and easier to find your way around. Great job!
whoa..
looks cool
also nice to find headlines.
I happend to be away next week monday to half in thursday,so I miss the E3.Well,I am sure I can find the tasty news here as soon if I can boot up my laptop again at home.
Well,keep going!
And don’t knock yourself out with working on the site okay?
hands up
E is right on the next door
i meant E3
@WiiFP: I ended up packing three peanut-butter jellys for the road (already downed two of ‘em). I’m not so fond of fast food. You’re right though, roads have been really clear all day so far. On the road right now, but hardly anyone taking up the highway. Guess gas prices are finally getting to people.
@justam: I thought the top right of the site would be the first place people would look for the search bar, which is why it’s up there. I don’t think it would be as visible anywhere else. I’ll keep tweaking things to make things easier for browsing though (I spend a lot of my time here, so things have to work well for me too!)
Thanks everyone! Hopefully you’ll notice a few more changes before E3!
Sweet! Love the look! I hope to get all my E3 Sonic Unleashed news from here!
i like the new look. and also have fun and hope nothing bad happens on your trip!
man this new site is so cool the search bar is in the right place the new black outline a bit o blue looks just right. and the headline add is really cool. has an ign feel to it
@ David Leggett: when you said u had a week of posts do they automatically post or you put em yourself
@Kev: Thanks mate
. Most of the posts here (unless they are breaking stories or brand new informative posts) are written ahead of time so that we can constantly deliver fresh, timely content to our viewers. We tend to schedule the post to automatically go online in the early morning hours (EST) although there are exceptions.
For example, there are currently 4 posts in the system scheduled for publishing before the 15th right now. On top of that, well have our usual coverage whenever news catches our attention.
In the end, what this really means is that Camp Sonic constantly delivers new content to our viewers, and we have more time to pay attention to happenings in the Sonic community.
Excuse my typos. Working from the cell to save laptop battery.
@David Leggett: Ya, they are getting pretty ridiculous, my friend tried to order a pizza last night, and they wouldnt deliver due to gas, haha. I’m not a fan of fast food either, have you ever seen Super Size Me? But that chicken sandwhich is just hypnotizing.
Wow! New layout!
The site looks great! =D
Loving the new look, great site keep up the good work deff the no 1 spot for all things Sonic Unleashed!I need not look any where else!
@WiiFP:
Haha seriously? Because of gas? Hah now thats pretty funny.
The new look is so orginized and “fresh” haha. Its pretty cool with the black layout and the slideshow is pretty looking
Seach bar saves alot of time
Nice layout, not a big fan of a black border but still, I’ll get used to it.
(Off-Topic: My birthday is today. :3 )
Love the new look its very…very organized and also love the slideshow on the main page
pretty amazing stuff
@WiiFP: Oh, gosh. Don’t remind me of that movie, heh.
@D2B: It’s really the background, but probably looks like a border on smaller monitors. On a related note, it WILL change every now and then
More on that later. Happy Birthday mate!
What’s official update time?
can you say it in central greenwitch time?
Then all people here can calculate it with their own timezones.
@David Leggett: hey when are u gonna post the chao poll thing…
sleek and elegant
the new interface is pleasing to the eyes
Wow, the site is looking great! Hands down, this is one of the most dedicated sonic sites ever. Now all we need is a forum. . .
The new look is great, it reminds me of IGN’s front page.
@dragonite:
I think it is Eastern (U.S.) time.
Good look.
Search bar should be lower though.
@dragonite: There’s no real “official” update time, but in general, I try to update fairly early (GMT) to allow readers across the world get timely updates. Probably about 4AM EST, so unless I’m confusing my timezones, that’s about 9AM GMT.
@Kev: Should be up later today. It’ll be rolling around in the features, so should stick out.
I love the new looks guys it makes it alot easier to look around the site
Like I say before, I like the new look.
Nice look! Loving the black and blue colour scheme – Weresonic and regular Sonic, right?
Aww, man, this is awesome. All hail your mad skills.
@D2B: Happy birthday, person whom I do not know personally!
I like it alot, great job , keep it up=)
Nice layout. Looks like you put a lot of work into it! Have a good time at camp and send us a postcard!
Countdown to E3: 8 days!
@Kev: Chao poll, as in the little blue things that run around happily in a garden?
yep those little cute blobs
@Hannah the Echidna:
@Kev: A poll like, if you want it or not, cause i most certainly do. That chao garden made me play SA2: B for a long time.
@David Leggett: when I say placement, mean it’d be better if the search bar was placed where the arrow is in this screenie: http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa222/justtam47/screen-1.png
position wise, it’s good in the top right corner…. just that it’s hanging between 2 lines… which is weird.
Nice work. Keep it up.
sweet