Hi Nitromians!
With the new design and layout of the site, we have tried to keep as much of the original elements as possible so hopefully, the site still feels natural to navigate for our users.
We have given the site more in every way that we could while trying not to take anything out. We’ve added quite a lot of new things to the site, so this could turn into a long post! This phase of the launch is mainly a revamp to get everyone used to the new layout, before we launch new features. New in Nitrome Version 2.0…
New Front Page
Our front page now has more content!
You can now choose a game from the new games panel, greatest games panel or multiplayer games panel all from our front page! We also have a section that lists small descriptions of the latest two posts, keeping you in the loop as soon as you enter the site. You can also click through the front page animations using the arrows or clicking on the individual circles provided in the animation.
Front Page - Click Here
Featured Panel
This panel is something we will use to bring you new Nitrome content such as videos, walkthroughs game updates and more.
Games Selection Pages
The Games selection areas (main games, multiplayer games etc) have been changed. You’ve now got descriptions to tell you what a game is about and if you heart a game, an icon will appear in the top right corner of the game’s panel indicating that you have hearted it.
All Games - Click Here
Games Pages
The layout of this page has changed to reflect the new design. However, due to a new policy enforced by the Google AdSense Team, we had to make a hasty last minute alteration, leaving it less ideal than we would like. We are going to revisit this soon.
Small Games Page (Canopy) - Click Here
Large Games Page (Rubble Trouble Tokyo) - Click Here
Shop Page
The shop page has been kept mostly intact from the previous design whilst being integrated into the new site layout. We will be reviewing this once we have some new items ready for the shop.
Shop Page - Click Here
Videos Page
We released an early version of our videos page on the old site from which you could select from a list of Nitrome related videos. We have updated the design of that page slightly bringing previews of the videos.
Videos Page - Click Here
Distribution Games Page
This page is used for sharing out the distributable versions of our games. This is for anyone that would like to add our games to their website.
You will be able to get the game in two ways. The easiest way to include our games onto your site is to simply copy and paste the html code snippet into the page that you want our game to load. Adding the html code provided by us into your chosen web page should display our game on that page. We are also hosting a zipped version of the game that you can download for use on websites.
Distribution Games Page - Click Here
Top Games Panel
Currently this is running the same as before. It will run how it was intended next week, so stay tuned!
The Blog
The blog has undergone some functionality upgrades.
Image Linking
We have added the ability for each post author to add links to feature images in the blog. This will generally link through to something relevant to the post’s image. The image in this post links through to our home page.
RSS Feeds
If you are in a compatible browser, you will also be able to read through our RSS Feeds. We have had our RSS feeds on the back of the site before the redesign launched and now we have given the feeds ber site integration making it easier to subscribe and keep up to date with all things Nitrome.
With the launch of the new site design, we also have added in some extra functionality.
Latest RSS Feed - Click Here
Hearting
We have introduced hearting into the new site design. Hearting is our way of finding out what your favourite games are. If after playing a game you find that you really like it, heart it! This is the key to getting that game into the top five games list. The more hearts a game gets over time, the higher it will appear in the list. You can see how games are doing in the Hearted Games area.
Sharing
Each game page now give you the options to ‘Share’, ‘Tweet’ and ‘Heart’ it. If you have a Facebook account, the ‘Share’ button will allow you to post a link to the game on your Facebook wall for your friends to check out. If you have a Twitter account, the ‘Tweet’ button will allow you to tweet a message about the game and will include a link to the game’s page.
The Scrolling system
When we introduced the new blog design in February, we also introduced a new scrolling mechanic. This mechanic has undergone some changes and updates.
Ways to navigate
We’ve added the ability to scroll by clicking and dragging the mouse, using the mouse wheel, onscreen arrow buttons and the up/down arrow keys. If you click any of the buttons or keys, you will navigate one post at a time on the blog. If you hold down any of the buttons or keys, there will be consistent scrolling.
Copying Text
We have also added the functionality of being able to copy text. If you press SHIFT, it will lock the scrolling, allowing you to select and copy text from the scrollable area. Pressing SHIFT again releases the scrolling lock allowing you to scroll freely
Added Game Categories
We have given our game selection pages new tabs. The tabs are ‘Main Games’, ‘Multiplayer Games’, ‘Hearted Games’, ‘Greatest Games’. You already know what ‘Main Games’ and ‘Multiplayer Games’ will hold, so I will tell you a bit more about the ‘Hearted Games’ and ‘Greatest Games’ tabs.
Hearted Games
The Hearted Games tab will take you to a page with a listing all of our games in the order of the most hearted to the least hearted. This order is affected by all of the Nitromians on the site hearting the games. This feature is currently not pulling from the most hearted list, but we are counting your hearts and it will start working from the list next week, so keep hearting your favourite games!
Hearted Games - Click Here
Greatest Games
The Greatest Games tab will take you to a page made up of a selection of games that we have put together which we feel are our greatest games. It’s kind of like an ‘editor’s pick’ of our games. We thought this section might be a good idea for the newer fans that might not have played games that we’re really proud of but are older and further back in the games list. This selection of games is also directly linked to the greatest games panel on the front page.
Greatest Games - Click Here
We will elaborate on more features as they become available to you! Have fun exploring the new layout :D
by Tom
