Yes, this once again mimics the main site newspost. But this is better than Status Update #2, I guarantee it.


Congrats on helping us reach the halfway point of our donation drive. We're that much closer to the new layout - but there's a bit more in store, and I promised you all something.So, I'll keep it short: We're not just swapping skins for this one.

As I've said before, we're moving to a whole new backend system. For the technofiles among our visitors, the site currently runs off of the free and open-source software known as "Joomla!". Joomla! runs everything on the site, and lets us make news articles and publish Zelda pages easily. It even categorizes everything for us and makes pretty URL's.

But that said, it's pretty buggy. It's pretty slow, too. And, let's face it - it doesn't do as much as we can do with ZU. So, we're sorry to say good-bye, but Joomla! is going down the toilet. For good.

In its place, we'll be switching to the much nicer software, Wordpress. Wordpress is constantly being updated, is lightning-fast, easier to use, and more configurable. Which means we can get (and already have gotten) new features added to ZU in a flash, and implement more right from the start. In addition, Wordpress is hardly buggy at all - so things that don't work right now and have no hope of working in the future (main site login "remember me", anyone?) will work flawlessly in Wordpress. We've already got a way to link Wordpress to the forums, so your forum account will automatically work with Wordpress once we switch.

But that's just the backend. That's on our side - that makes it easier for our staff (and me) to add pages that you'll get to enjoy. But what the heck do you care? You're not running the site. And we know that - so we're not just switching the site software, either.

In the past, ZU's "revamps" or "relaunches" have all been, as I feel, halfway done. ZU got a fancy layout, or switched software, or did something else that, in theory, sounds great - but a big step was left out that kept the revamps only half complete. All they did was switch the skin. Or all they did was switch the software. Meanwhile, all of the information and images left over from the old site version got left behind, and began to look obsolete.

We've still got that problem. And we're not ashamed to admit it - we've still got pictures with blue backgrounds from the olden days. And then we've got some random pictures that are nice, but with weird white backgrounds. Do we have any sort of standard with those things? Not yet.

So, my first little tidbit to all of you: We're not just switching skins. We're going to replace every image on the site. They'll do more than fit into the new layout. They'll provide quick information on the enemy or boss you're looking at, like only a few of our images do right now (and those still have the ugly white background). And, when you click on them, a high resolution shot will popup - in lightbox.

That is, if it isn't already part of something else we've got planned. Then it won't pop up in lightbox. (If you don't know what "lightbox" is, it's even more software - it's that cool shapeshifting box that darkens the rest of the site and stretches out an image. Some galleries use it. And it's cool.)

But you'll have to raise a bit more money before we let you know whatever else we're doing with ZU. And we're doing a lot more than replacing images. So keep donating - I can already smell that hot fresh ZU Revamp.

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