=][= SITE RESTRUCTURING =][=

[Brother Tyler]

By now, you’ve probably noticed that we did a little restructuring to reduce the vertical scrolling. We observed that the restructuring we implemented last year forced a lot more vertical scrolling for those members who focus on the (sub)forums for the (sub)factions since those categories were moved to the bottom of the site (even though we reduced the overall number of (sub)forums in that restructuring). There was a purpose behind that change, and that hasn't changed, but we still want to reduce scrolling where possible. To do this, we changed the forum hierarchy so that many forums that used to be top-level are now one level lower, becoming subforums under a top-level forum. Here’s a summary of the changes:

• The ++ GUESTS, ADVERTISERS, AND LOGGED OUT MEMBERS ++ and ++ WELCOME TO THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD ++ categories (you can’t see the first category unless you are either an administrator or are logged out/not a member, and you can’t see the second category unless you are either an administrator or a Frater Novus) have been merged into a single category, with all of the “forums” (actually, they’re links to topics that appear in the + ABOUT THE COMMUNITY + and + BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 + forums) becoming subforums under a new + IMPORTANT INFORMATION + forum.
• The “forum” links in the ++ SITE FEATURES ++ category are now subforums under a new + SITE FEATURES + forum. The tutorials for each of these features will be moved from the + BOLTER AND CHAINSWORD 101 + forum into this new forum.
• The + EPIC SCALE HORUS HERESY GAMES +, + KILL TEAM +, + NECROMUNDA +, and + ROLEPLAYING GAMES + forums have become subforums under the + OTHER GAMES + forum.
• The + ADEPTUS ASTARTES / LOYALIST LEGIONES ASTARTES + forum and its subforums have been pulled out of the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category and now form their own ++ ADEPTUS ASTARTES ++ category above the ++ IMPERIUM ++ category.
• The + ADEPTA SORORITAS AND THE ECCLESIARCHY +, + ADEPTUS MECHANICUS / MECHANICUM +, + ASTRA MILITARUM / IMPERIALIS AUXILIA +, + IMPERIAL KNIGHTS +, and + TALONS OF THE EMPEROR + forums are now subforums under + THE IMPERIUM OF MANKIND + forum.
• The + CHAOS DAEMONS / DAEMONS OF THE RUINSTORM +, + CHAOS KNIGHTS +, and + HERETIC ASTARTES / TRAITOR LEGIONES ASTARTES + forums are now subforums under the + REALM OF CHAOS + forum.
• A new + XENOS + forum has been created in the ++ XENOS ++ category and all the other forums in that category are now subforums under the new forum.
• All the ~ Albums & Images and ~ Blogs “subforums” (actually, they’re links to the corresponding (sub)categories within the Blogs and Gallery features) have been shortened to simply Albums & Images and Blogs.

The net result of all these changes is that there is far less vertical scrolling. In the vast majority of cases, forums that appeared on the front pages are still visible on (and accessible from) the front page. However, any subforums beneath those (now) subforums are not visible. This affects the traitor legions who have their own codices (Death Guard, Emperor’s Children, Thousand Sons, and World Eaters). We may adjust that portion of the change if we determine that it is adverse to those subfactions.

 

Regarding the (new) + XENOS + forum, that now provides a place where members can discuss all the other xenos species that populate(d) the galaxy. This includes the Megarachnids, Enslavers, Rangda, Zoats, etc. We’ll be moving discussions about those xenos species from where they are currently found and into this forum, but you are welcome to report any such topic to speed the process up.

[Adeptekon]

I was actually just thinking about this when I saw this topic. There are no coincidences under the Emperor's light.

[Mazer Rackham]

Feels a lot smoother - my compliments to the team for their hard work. 

[Adeptekon]

Some thoughts. 

[Brother Tyler]

While there are a lot of things that might be done, aside from the possibility of pulling the Heretic Astartes out into their own category, this is all we're likely to do for now in terms of restructuring. We need time to (a) let the dust settle, and (b) see how things work before we consider another round of changes. There are a few things that we've put on the back burner, but those require some preparations elsewhere to be supportable.

[Brother Tyler]

Minor follow-up...

 

The Latest Club Activity and Recent Blog Comments blocks have been moved from the sidebar to below the forums (but above the other blocks that appear there - Who's Online, Member Statistics, and Forum Statistics). 

 

The goal of this change is to make the height of the main content relatively equal to the height of the blocks that appear in the sidebar. The height of both areas will vary. The main content may be affected by the colored site announcements, the number of lines in the Thought for the Day block, the amount of content in each of the Recent Blog Comments, and the number of members currently online; and the sidebar will be affected by the number of upcoming events, the length of blog entry titles, the length of topic titles, the length of recent article titles, the length of recent file titles, the length of album titles, and the length of member names (in the Recent Achievements block). So there will almost always be some difference between the height of each, but they should be close.

 

It's also important to note that anyone viewing the site on a mobile device sees the sidebar blocks below the content that appears in the main area, so this change won't affect them except that some blocks now appear higher than they were before. In this, I had to balance which of the higher priority blocks appeared higher, understanding that there would inevitably be some variation between the highest priority blocks depending on how someone viewed the site.

 

We may make further tweaks here, so this is somewhat experimental at this point.

[Brother Tyler]

Another minor follow-up...

 

+ THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD + forum was turned into a club.

 

What this means is that + THE BOLTER & CHAINSWORD + club was created and that within that club the following features are available:

• discussion topics just like in the Forums ("Topics")
• a Blog ("Blog") for the Legio
• a Gallery category for creating albums and images related to the Legio ("Images")
• a Downloads category for your Legio files ("Files")

All topics that were in the old forum have been moved into the club forum, all albums/images that were in the Gallery category have been moved into the club category, and all files that were in the Downloads category have been moved into the club category. Unfortunately, while we can move most content around between features, we can't do that with blogs. There was only one blog in the Blogs category, however, and that one belonged to me, so I moved it into the Adeptus Astartes category.

 

The old forum and the Gallery, Blogs, and Downloads categories have all been deleted. The new club appears in the exact same location as the forum did, and you can also access it from the main Clubs page. And big fans of the Legio can follow the club to receive a notification whenever new content is submitted therein.

 

By creating a club for this purpose, all content related to the Legio can be located within (and accessed from) that club. In this way, members who want to see Legio content don't have to manually bounce around between the main features. Instead, you can just open the club and it's all there (minus my blog, but I may recreate it in the club later).

 

Another side benefit, and the real impetus behind doing this, is that the club takes up less vertical space on the site's main page, decreasing your vertical scrolling. It's only a little bit, but it's a small quality of life improvement. The one downside to this is that the icon for the club doesn't fade/disappear even if you've read all the content therein. So small gain with the vertical scrolling, small loss with the non-fading icon, big gain with the aggregation of all related content in one area.

 

It's worth noting that all imagery I've used for the club was created by @BLOODSAINT. He is the one who created the Bolter and Chainsword [website] in the first place and it was under his stewardship that the Legio B&C was created. His fantastic artwork created the whole atmosphere of the site and, though we've also included fantastic artwork from @madscuzzy and others, I felt it only right to use the seminal artwork for the community's mascot. The Legio's resident mad prophet, @Atticus Rage, is the actual club creator (but don't irritate him or Very Bad Things might happen).

 

It's a public club and anyone can participate therein, so you don't need to join the club and be a member to see/do anything.

 

+EDIT+

 

It turns out I was wrong about blogs. When you create a blog in a club, there is just the single blog that is specific to the club. I'll probably delete this feature in the Legio B&C club and return the Legio B&C blog category in the Blogs feature, with a link to that category from the club. And this will have cascade effects on my plans for other clubs. 

Edited Tuesday at 03:05 AM by Brother Tyler
Update about blogs

[RolandTHTG]

Count me down as a vote for making the Traitor Legions forums visible under Realm of Chaos, instead of having to dig through the Heretic Astartes forum before I get to the Emperor's Children forum.