So…

site_news
What do you think?

Maybe before you answer, you should look around a bit. Here are some of my favorite new things:

First, look up.
If you want to let us know about something, the Contact page has just about every option you could need. There’s a form for concerts, general news, and contacting the editors directly. You can even send us links to pictures or videos that we should know about.

Check out the calendar in the sidebar, which is now much prettier and includes two big summer tour announcements that were made last night (more on that later!). The events are all entered by the city and state, so you can quickly see what’s near you. All times are local. Just click on the show for more details. If you know about a show that we don’t have listed, fill out the concert submission form, and we’ll get it on there.

If you scroll down, the sidebar also has our twitter feed and a link so you can follow us and know when new posts are up. Or, you could subscribe to our RSS feeds in the top right corner.

I’d also recommend clicking on a Creevey Thursday image to see the full-size version.

I think Aaron is my favorite person today. The Gmail thread between Dinah, Aaron, and me reached 46 messages throughout the afternoon and evening. No matter what we asked for, he made it happen. One last giant thank you to him for his expertise and patience!

28 responses to “So…”

  1. Kathleen Avatar
    Kathleen

    This is amazing! You all did a wonderful job. Thank you Aaron, Dinah and Freya, your hard work is much appreciated!

  2. Michèle Avatar

    Well done, dragons! *Claps, claps*

  3. Aaron Avatar

    Hey, you forgot to put an image in the post =P (Seriously though, every post…)

    I’m really happy to finally see this live!

  4. joan Avatar
    joan

    The new theme wrocks 😀

  5. Lana Alethea Avatar
    Lana Alethea

    Amazing!!!

  6. Nancy (HPhorsegirl) Avatar

    It’s great! Love it!!!

  7. Russ Avatar
    Russ

    Fantastic job all. Love the new layout. Kudos!

  8. Lizz Avatar

    It’s awesome. Well done, guys.

  9. elizawriter Avatar

    I love the new website guys… it’s fantastic. You should be REALLY proud of yourselves.

  10. Ellatrix (The Lost Diadems) Avatar

    The new website is epic! I love it, thanks guys! <3

  11. Fred Avatar

    Well done guys, I like it! 🙂 I also like the abundance of contact forms you guys added. I am sure the whole community will dig it.

    Tiny little nit-picky thing I noticed though is the background behind the “the …pedia” banner on the top is black-ish, while the whole menu bar is gray. You may want to make the background of the banner transparent, or so.

  12. Freya Avatar

    @all: I’m so glad you like it!
    @Fred: Weird, that doesn’t show up in Firefox for me, but it does in Chrome and IE. Thanks.

  13. Marauder Avatar
    Marauder

    Oooh, I really like it, it looks cool. 😀

    So if you could update the site like this, is the band section update possible now?

  14. Dinahsaur Avatar

    @Marauder We’re way ahead of you! Just give us a little more time and those band pages will be freaking awesome!

    And I’m so glad you all like it! Huzzah!!!!

  15. Heather R. Avatar
    Heather R.

    I love the flickr group thing on the side. The site looks amazing!

  16. Zivlok Avatar
    Zivlok

    So, I’ve already said this, but this was on another post, and this is basically what I think aesthetically about the new ‘pedia:

    “Can I just say that I LOVE the new layout? Like, I literally gasped when I saw it. Well, more like my breath became really shallow. But whatever. Anywho, LOVE this new layout. I really like how this still has the “world” theme, but now more headlines than old maps. It’s really bold and fresh. I appreciate that you guys are still working on this, but even right now, in the middle of redesign, it looks FANTASTIC.”

    So, I love how it looks. However, that’s almost nothing compared to the site map changes. I LOVE the new contact us. Firstly, I just like that everything is in typewriter font, which just works with the new aesthetic. Secondly, giving each type of submission its own box is great, and allows you to put what you’re looking for right there, instead of having to go to the submission rules page, and then switch back and such. Also, YOU MADE THE BOXES BIGGER. THANK YOU. The previous ones were insanely tiny. Also, nice touch putting your email addresses there just in case the form doesn’t work on someone’s browser.

    In no particular order, other things I’ve noticed and love:

    An easy-to-find RSS feed

    Twitter feed, and comments feed has been kept

    A search that not only exists, but blends into that top bar very nicely

    The new pages, like the FAQ, guide, and intro – EXCELLENT. Makes the wizrocklopedia not just a resource for established fans and bands, but also works to introduce people to wizard rock.

    The colorful banners at the head of each post – LOVE ‘EM!

    And lastly be certainly not least, the easy-to-scan archives, with all the titles of the posts in a nice list.

    Now, there are a couple problems, and they’re pretty major ones. Firstly, in Aaron’s staff page, it says “Since it’s what he wants to do with my life…” You should probably get rid of that sudden tense change. Secondly, THE WIZROCKLOPEDIA STILL DOES NOT DISPENSE CANDY. How long is it going to take for you guys to implement that? Sheesh. I mean, candy-dispensing is practically standard for Web 2.0! Get with the times!

    In seriousness, though, the only problem I’ve found is a tiny grammatical error – the rest of it is FANTASTIC. Thanks SO much Aaron, you did an absolutely amazing job!

    I’d love to see the wiki make a comeback at some point, but you guys have definitely earned a break with this awesome makeover. Also, someone mentioned making a list of band’s twitter accounts, and I highly approve of that. I’d be willing to help compile that list, since I follow pretty much all of them already! 😉

    Ooh, and I just noticed all the many options for sharing an article! Neato!

    So, yeah. The tl;dr is that I love pretty much everything, and WAY TO GO AARON!

    P.S. Damn, the search is spiffy. I know from personal experience that adding a simple search function to a blog-based website can be an absolute BI… uh… an absolute BELLATRIX to do. So, again, props to Aaron.

  17. Freya Avatar

    @Zivlok: You misunderstood. Aaron wants me to work with computers as my life. I wrote that page.
    (Seriously, I noticed that yesterday and never fixed it. Thanks for the reminder.)
    The candy dispenser is an Easter egg that you have to find. Good luck!

    And stop asking about the Twitters! =P
    It’s been a draft almost ready to publish for awhile now. I promise Dinah will do it soon.

  18. Christie Avatar

    The site looks great! Definitely different, but very cool. Way to go you guys 🙂

  19. Jayen Avatar
    Jayen

    This has a lot of energy, like.. well, Wrock music!

    I took a quick tour and found that my wishes had been granted. It’s easy to get around and find things. The new History is very good and I know that when I send someone new to the ‘pedia they can find out what it’s all about right away.

    The Flikr link is a nice surprize.

    Thanks to everyone for all they put into this!

  20. obockstal Avatar

    I like it very much ! great work !!

  21. Georgia Riddle Avatar

    :O Wow! I had to click on it twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. “Whuh? This isn’t Wizrocklopedia… this is… OMG! It is! :D”

    I love the background, and the navigation is really easy! Well done, you guys. Butterbeer’s on me :).

  22. Justin Avatar

    I really like it, both in look and functionality. Not quite as utilitarian as the old layout (which had it’s own appeal), but not so many bells and whistles that it becomes unusable to the novice.

    I will say however that when I tried to view it yesterday on my iPhone it hated it. The whole think locked up and I needed a restart. Ever thought of making a mobile friendly version of the site? You could consider designing a general mobile site for phones and put it at m.wizrocklopedia.com and if you were really ambitious and nice you could make an iPhone version of the site as at least a few fans and wrockers I know have the device and put it at iphone.wizrocklopedia.com. Just a few thoughts for future development.

  23. Justin Avatar

    I would also like to now request an edit button on the comments.

    Correction: … on my iPhone and it hated it. The whole thing locked up…”

  24. Aaron Avatar

    @Justin Done, done, and done. You can now edit comments for up to 5 minutes after you post it and the site should look better on your iPhone.

  25. Justin Avatar

    Thanks Aaron! Keep wrocking guys!

    I just checked out the mobile theme option that you turned on! Very good!

  26. Alex Avatar

    I strongly dislike the “Question Tuesday”, “Weekly Wrock Wrack Up”, “Contest”, “Article”, “Site News”, etc ‘banners’. They take up half the page. I suggest removing them, not creating different images. Thanks.

  27. kathleen Avatar
    kathleen

    I <3 mobile ‘pedia!!! So pretty, so made of awesome. Utterly fantastic. Yay.

  28. Kjetil Avatar
    Kjetil

    It works at the school computer now also! Yay for sneaky ‘pedia checking at school!

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