Yes indeed, welcome, everyone, to the brand spankin’ new Zelda Universe! It has been months in the making, with many long hours of me staring angrily at a collection of scripts, blocks of PHP, HTML, CSS, and all the other things that go into making a website these days.
I hope everyone can agree that it is all well worth the effort and the wait. There’s many things to see all around – including a media player at the bottom of this post (read for more info on a new podcast we’re releasing today!) – and there will be more to see as the rest of the week unfolds with new features and articles rolling out continuously. Click on the nice little link below to see details of what we have to show you today – and beyond!
UPDATE: We got dugg! Digg us and spread the word about the new ZU around the internets!
Welcome to the New ZU! (Or, “Nuzu,” if you say it fast enough.)
Glad you decided to keep reading – that means something on this new and shiny (sparkly?) site got you interested. For those who were around just two days ago, the most obvious change is that we have a fantastic new design. I, Jason, and the entire staff of ZU heartily thank Anton Wiklund, our incredible designer, whose site can be found here. He did more than an amazing job of making all these lovely visuals you see all around. All site coding and templating was done by yours truly (that’s me, Scott), and that’s why I decided I get to make this newspost, and not Jason. (But Jason snuck in here to edit other things in. This is one of them, so don’t be surprised if this sounds like a weird mix of Scott and Jason talking. It could be like the Fusion Dance from DBZ.)
I could ramble for a long time about what new pretty features we have scattered around, since I wrote the code for a bunch of it. Obviously, I didn’t write the whole thing, since we’re using WordPress, which is a very good base system. But if you haven’t noticed already, I suggest you wheel your mouse around that pretty header up above, see what happens and what you can click. In fact, I’d run around the entire site and click on just about everything you can find, because there’s more to the new ZU than what you can see once the page loads. A new comments system, working contact forms, lightbox galleries (oh yes, we have those, and they are pretty) – just to name a few of the new features.
I don’t think I could name them all in one shot, so I’ll trust you to run around and find out for yourself what the new ZU holds.
New Content, Better Content, and More
All the rest of the site staff has been working vigorously for literally months to redo and update all our content, specifically the Zelda information and help pages that are the backbone of ZU. The vast majority of that is completely re-done, and the rest that still has the old versions of our pages will be replaced in the next couple of weeks. All the guides have been improved considerably for readability and use. We urge you to take a look around your favorite games and see what’s new – there’s a lot to see, including three new upcoming sections – Link’s Crossbow Training, Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland, and that holy mother of games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
In addition, we’ve redone ZU’s Timeline Theory entirely – thanks to mmmmm_PIE from the forums. He brilliantly created a timeline theory to be proud of. The theory is now more of a theory than an order set in stone – it actually discusses arguments for where Zelda games could be placed chronologically. We’ll be asking mmmmm_PIE to update the theory as the Zelda series evolves.
ZU is a big place, so don’t be alarmed if something’s missing – we’re still putting a good portion of the pieces back together. While all of the text is in place, Jason still needs to run around and put images into about a quarter of the Zelda section pages. Until he does, you may see these types of odd empty boxes scattered around (they have a red X inside in Internet Explorer):
Don’t be alarmed when you do! They will disappear once Jason (read: guy who’s writing this particular sentence) places an image on the server that corresponds with the one missing in the box. And once we fill in all the boxes, we’ll begin creating the three new upcoming sections of ZU.
Because this is all-new, we do want your feedback – and your help to build an even better ZU. So, if you find anything wrong with our game sections, or think of a way to improve a section – be it an image, rewriting a particular sentence, or expanding an entire section, PLEASE use the contact form on the Contact Us page and let us know! We are dedicated to improving all of our content regularly, so tell us anything you want to see improved, and most definitely tell us if you find information that is wrong. We’ll be constantly keeping up all the Zelda sections from this day forward.
And a BB to Match
As if all of that isn’t enough, I (read: Scott) have made a new forum style to match the new design, and it has a markedly different feel than all our earlier skins, I think. It came out quite well. Once again, the visuals are mostly thanks to Anton, although Jason made a bunch of the little icons scattered around while I was busy being angry at the templates. It has turned out quite well, I think.
For the first day of launch, we are disabling all other forum skins so that everybody has a chance to see and use the new Temple skin. The other four skins with be re-enabled on the 26th so that those who do not (for some reason) enjoy the new theme may switch to their personal preference.
Credit Where Credit is Due
Before I finish up, I (read: Jason) would like to thank those involved in this revamp. It was a ten month process that couldn’t have happened without the following incredible people…
- Anton Wiklund, our designer sent from the heavens (and your donations) to make this amazing layout.
- Scott Smallback, the man who brought this amazing layout to life. Also fueled by donations.
- EA, who bugfixed a bunch of the new site voluntarily. Thanks to him, you can enjoy polls and more.
- Hylie, Son of Mido, BigGoronSword, GDwarf, HastinaFleeginLish, insaney, Kitsune, Rew, Daphnes, Galedeep, Cody and Shigeru – these guys proofread and/or rewrote ZU’s information and content so you could enjoy it more. Amazing work, guys; I’m humbled to have you and people like you on ZU’s team.
- Asia Alfasi and the Podcast Staff for meeting their first real deadline with a minicast (more below) today!
- Everybody who donated to Zelda Universe, because YOU guys made this whole revamp possible!
One more thing…
We’ve got more than just new content, a shiny new forum, new images and a layout for you today – we’re actually dragging this out longer. We’d like to make this fun for all of us, so we’re going to have an update a day.
Today, we’re ecstatic to bring you something straight from the ZUBC: a “minicast”, a short podcast they graciously agreed to put together for the launch. Have a listen… with ZU’s brand new, shiny, chromy Podcast System. At the bottom of this post, notice the flash media player embedded. Use it to hear the new podcast without downloading it – or subscribe via iTunes with the link on the sidebar to the right.
There’s more to come. We’ve lined up great updates back to back. We have new article segments from your favorite authors coming later on, and an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine coming tomorrow.
It’s going to be a wonderful week, and it’s my (our) pleasure to finally set free the brand spankin’ new ZU.
~ Scott Smallback and Jason Rappaport
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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June 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am
1st! :B
June 25th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
2nd! *laughs*
well done, everyone!
June 25th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
3rd, I hope…
Very nice layout!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
4th.
Finally, now to explore the podcast!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Very nice! Well done! And I’m gad to see the forums haven’t been restarted.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
WOOP WOOP New site y’all!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
OMG, it’s sooo pretty.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I can’t log in….
I know you are likely fixing this little error, and more…..
THE NEW SITE LOOKS AWESOME!
…THANKS FOR ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED MAKE IT WHAT IT IS!
-STAFF MEMBERS
-PATRONS
-ETC.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Omg this is super spiffy and awesome xDDDD
*and that cast made me CRACK UP*
June 25th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
4th bitch, also the old layout was better
June 25th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
wow you try to get the 4th, and this is what happens, I HATE YOU ALL!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
This layout is much more detailed and is much better than the other one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
On the whole, awesome. There’s a few bugs here and there, particularly in Safari. The top isn’t properly “connected” to the content body of the design, and the bottom for some reason extends beyond the actual visual contents of it (quite a bit further actually).
The “Articles”, “Mailbag” top menu buttoms are also slightly misaligned.
The last is also the only bug I notice in FireFox, only there they seem to shift placements after a bit of scrolling.
Oh and also, I can’t vote in the polls!
Those are the bugs I’ve seen, other than that, well you know that I love the design, except for the (hyper)link colour inside the content, I don’t think it fits very well with the rest of it.
Great work all of you, and I’m excited to see what this new era of ZU will bring
June 25th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Eh, my comment wasn’t actually supposed to be a reply to Eternal Paradox’, but it seemed to be the only way to bring back the comment form after I accidentally hit the X!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Simply Amazing work i hope Nintendo’s next Zelda game is as good as this site is great work
June 25th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I POSTED HERE IN MY OWN WAY! HAHA! NO EQUALITY FOR ME! TAKE THAT COMMUNISM!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
WE LOVE YOU TOO LEFTY 8DDDDDD
June 25th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Awesome site. Love it. Rocks yay!!!!
June 25th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I had to use the tab button to get to most of the buttons with links…..
All of you can thank the Patrons now.
YAY PATRONS!
YAY FOR SPENDONG OUR/SOMEONE ELSE’S CASH TO HELP PAY FOR THE NEW DESIGN!
Even though you do not want to, I will take credit for giving ZU some of my money. If you see a member with a patron banner, give them respect. For the design would not be here if it wasn’t for them.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I’m not too fond of the new design; it just looks gritty and dark. I hope the site’s lagging due to a large amount of people being on it, because if not this is going to be a pain.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Eh it’s alright.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Nice job guys
June 25th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I love the new layout, but a lot of times I post in the forums I get a 404 screen. And the one time my post got through it double posted and the topic didn’t bump up. You might wanna fix these bugs.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Amazing. I love you.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
its a very niiice
Good job
June 26th, 2008 at 12:47 am
It’s perfectly understandable to not like the look of the site (as several have expressed already); however, it takes a good understanding of web design to truly appreciate the masterpiece that stands here before us. The graphics are amazing, and it is beautifully coded (I’ve taken a few peeks). Props to all those who worked on it. So, even if any of you do not like the design, please at least show your respects to those who worked on this glorious creation!
June 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
so I definitely had like the fifth reply, but when I tried to post it the whole website crashed with a 405 internal server error, and I was unable to even view the website until now.
So as I would have said before: great job on the new layout!
June 26th, 2008 at 2:38 am
This is amazing! I would’ve never seen this coming.
June 26th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Looks good all.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:19 am
By the way, just thought I’d let you know, when you click on the link to the Cell Phone ringtones, it gives you the original ZU header.
I mean, it’s unimportant as everyone knows it’s just an advertisement, but still.
June 26th, 2008 at 3:58 am
Congratulations on the new design. It looks really nice.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:04 am
http://digg.com/nintendo/Zelda_Universe_2000_Revamp_Finally_Complete
June 26th, 2008 at 5:50 am
The new site looks amazing! Great job! I’m loving the matching forum layout too.
June 26th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Geez, the waiting main site said, “Just a minute, i waited 20 minutes and even then it wasnt on… It was 11:23 PM!!!
But, i’m happy it is up now, good work!
June 26th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Fantastic!
I really can’t add more than what has already been mentioned. Phenomenal effort and phenomenal results =)
June 26th, 2008 at 9:16 am
So this is what my five dollars went to? …It’s lovely! XD I think it suits the main page better than the forum, but it is amazing nonetheless!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am
well this is pretty good i like the lay out and all. there are minor problems that need to be fixed over time but what do you excpect with a brand new web site. great work.
p.s. is ther suppose to be all those white parts around like on the bottom and top of every page or is that just me or the server missing images there?
June 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Amazing stuff dude, turned out great! Betcha didn’t envision this awesomeness at first!
June 26th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
The new layout is pretty good, but I expected something a bit shinier and better. The bad thing about it, is that the layout doesn’t go across the screen, and has a plain background covering for what it should be stretched over.
It does remind me a bit of the World of Warcraft layout (I think), but other than that, it is still pretty good. I still prefer the old green main layout, though.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The site is awesome. There are some, well, a lot of minor problems. But I can’t expect them to be fixed right off the bat since it is a new and improved site.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Not even in my wildest dreams can I comprehend how such a graphical layout could ever be fluid width as opposed to fixed.
Plus, it’s more than wide enough. Browsing fullscreen is for newbies and windows people anyways. Us hip Apple fanboiZ know that our screenestate is valuable, and that we can be more productive if we do several things at the same time. This includes but is not limited to reading Zelda walkthroughs while we simultaneously look at what our internet friends are doing through the awesome iChat webcam thingy, while we also check the latest from our favourite RSS feeds.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
The new layout rocks, congrats to you all!
June 28th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
It’s AWESOME!! Great work ZU!
July 1st, 2008 at 11:46 am
i like it a lot , but how do you log in
May 21st, 2009 at 4:45 am
Без дела жить — только небо коптить.