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Sonic

New & Improved CNCNZ.com Launched

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After many long nights for the past month, and many months before that testing various concepts, we can finally make the new look and vastly improved CNCNZ.com public. Its been hidden away for awhile now, behind the scenes. So its good to finally lift the lid of everything so to speak. Many things have changed, lots of things have moved and there all sorts of new features added. We now have a Responsive design so you can browse the site on your mobile devices, its all fully searchable and more! We have put together this quick Layout Guide & Site Features guide to give you an overview of everything that has changed.

 

0lvP4El.png

Many hours of work has been poured into this transition project. And guess what, its not exactly complete. It has reached a stage where we feel it can be made public. But we still have a few annoyances to that we haven’t be able to solve just yet. These problems don’t impede moving around the site at all. In time we will iron out these bugs. In most cases moving to another page or reloading the current page fixes these.

  • Sometimes the Feature Slider images fail to display or partly display
  • When viewing any image inside a “lightbox” the mobile navigation menus can appear one the main navigation menu once the “lightbox” has been closed.
  • All downloads are currently off-line until further notice

So please take a look around. If you come across any problems, no matter how major or minor, please report it to us via this new topic. Your feed back is very important to us, so feel free to share.

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Guest Stevie_K

Looking good. :thumbsup:

If I where to give any critique then I'd say that 'forums' should have a button of it's own on the front page. Since it's the button I use 90% of the time I end up there, I don't want to be searching for it.

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very nice and modern

still there are some small issues, (if its not on purpose)

there is a small gab between the menu and the drop down menu.... (chrome 31)

HygPyNg.png

 

 

and is the gallery going to be updated in the future too to match the modern design? something like light-box gallery maybe?

Edited by Johnnyxp64

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Shiny!

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Guest Stevie_K

It does have that, right at the top of the page.....

 

guide-newstips-forums.png

 

Reading this helps http://www.cncnz.com/site-info/layout-guide-site-features/ ;)

 

Honestly, I didn't notice that at all, which is a problem because it should be dead easy for any user to find really.

 

As with most people, I wouldn't spend 2 seconds reading a guide on how to navigate a website. It's not 1995! ;)

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Honestly, I didn't notice that at all, which is a problem because it should be dead easy for any user to find really.

 

As with most people, I wouldn't spend 2 seconds reading a guide on how to navigate a website. It's not 1995! ;)

^_^:thumbsup:

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It actually has - http://www.cncnz.com/gallery/yuris-revenge-concept-art/

 

Also, the link for the Aug 2012 Roundtable (#33) is broken.

 

:worried: ? maybe not everywhere, or the old articles are still using the old gallery?

 

like this

http://www.cncnz.com/image.php?image=http://i.imgur.com/g1tYfjc.png

on this article

http://forums.cncnz.com/topic/18471-play-tiberian-sun-online-with-cncnet5/

 

or its because thats an external url?

Edited by Johnnyxp64

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I don't like the new layout. I can live with it but I'm not sure others can. Like already pointed out the forums button is hard to find. Another issue (and a very big no-no) is the fact I have to scroll down a gigantic image before I can see the actual list of news post.

 

I feel this might drive away readers as they're extra nuisances. Like I said I can live with it but I'm not sure others can.

 

Here's a screenshot of how the frontpage looks for me right now:

 

UqlP2pR.png

 

Giving me tips on dealing with this doesn't solve the issue at hand, this will drive away readers as not anyone can find these tips.

Edited by Sonic
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:worried: ? maybe not everywhere, or the old articles are still using the old gallery?

 

or its because thats an external url?

What you linked to is a newspost. Newsposts and the main gallery are completely separate.

 

And yes, the coding for the newsposts depends on external urls. This is an example of the coding for news images from your link, which you can see when quoting the post in code view:

[img=http://i.imgur.com/3HiWTUZ.png]

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What you linked to is a newspost. Newsposts and the main gallery are completely separate.

 

And yes, the coding for the newsposts depends on external urls. This is an example of the coding for news images from your link, which you can see when quoting the post in code view:

[img=http://i.imgur.com/3HiWTUZ.png]

 

still we need in the news section to be able to see all the images in slide mode with thumbnails and not as it is today!

none is visiting anymore a specific category to see the new gallery. most if not all of a website readers, are looking the news and if the news has images more than 1 i want to be able to click and see the 1st in a lightbox style, then click to see the next etc etc, not popping up new tabs then close open the other one etc etc....

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very nice and modern

still there are some small issues, (if its not on purpose)

there is a small gab between the menu and the drop down menu.... (chrome 31)

HygPyNg.png

 

 

and is the gallery going to be updated in the future too to match the modern design? something like light-box gallery maybe?

 

That's part of the design. Never really noticed it until now actually. But I'll see if I can tweak it.

 

Honestly, I didn't notice that at all, which is a problem because it should be dead easy for any user to find really.

 

As with most people, I wouldn't spend 2 seconds reading a guide on how to navigate a website. It's not 1995! ;)

 

So you don't read anything posted on a website? I can't fix the fact your not very observant. The short guide is not telling you how to navigate around the site, its simply highlighting what is new and what has changed.

 

Also, the link for the Aug 2012 Roundtable (#33) is broken.

 

Oops. All fixed.

 

I don't like the new layout. I can live with it but I'm not sure others can. Like already pointed out the forums button is hard to find. Another issue (and a very big no-no) is the fact I have to scroll down a gigantic image before I can see the actual list of news post.

 

I feel this might drive away readers as they're extra nuisances. Like I said I can live with it but I'm not sure others can.

 

Here's a screenshot of how the frontpage looks for me right now:

 

Giving me tips on dealing with this doesn't solve the issue at hand, this will drive away readers as not anyone can find these tips.

 

Your screen resolution is tiny, I guess not every is at 1920 x 1080 like me ;) But seriously yeah I see a problem here and I'm already rethinking this area. Currently looking as some alternatives here. Because sometimes the slider images don't display at all.

 

still we need in the news section to be able to see all the images in slide mode with thumbnails and not as it is today!

none is visiting anymore a specific category to see the new gallery. most if not all of a website readers, are looking the news and if the news has images more than 1 i want to be able to click and see the 1st in a lightbox style, then click to see the next etc etc, not popping up new tabs then close open the other one etc etc....

 

What your viewing are 1 off images used it news posts. They don't use the lightbox effect because of some damn problem with the forums that I've never been able to solve. It has been this way for over a year now and has nothing to do with the updated main site. As mentioned, all of the images in http://www.cncnz.com/gallery/ used the lighbox. And others around the as well.

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I like the new site's design, it's pretty sleek. But on to another tiny matter...

 

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I pointed out that the Attack Buggy was missing from Nod's Tiberian Sun unit list on CNCNZ's main site. A small thing like that is probably low on the priority list compared to bug fixes and site upgrades, but for it to stay neglected for such a long time isn't really something a community site that praises itself for being a community veteran and keeping C&C alive should be proud of. So it would be a good idea to input any missing content and fix missleading information to go along with the site's new look.

 

utfv.jpg

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I don't have much to say about this, the new website looks good, except that I wish the splash logo of CNCNZ had a new change.

 

I still want the old retro version of that groovy Pepsi logo of CNCNZ back. :(

Edited by zocom7

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on the resolution side, yeah it has to be clear and visible in 1366x768 which is many laptops standard resolution today.

 

the slider need to shrink if possible and not have a fixed size. but a percentage one.

i had the same issue in one of my word-press themes in the past, very annoying, but with the help of the theme developer we tweaked the code so that the slider will always be like 10% of the site and leave x% amount of space from left and right borders. i am sure with some resource you will find something similar for cncnz.

 

also an similar "issue" that will help you solve the resolution one, is this

Try to drag and drop in windows 7 the windows to fill only HALF of your screen! even if you have 1920x1080 (like me) try to hover over the menus and you will see what i am talking about ^_^ the slider is gone, the menu takes all the site's space and looks really not good :rolleyes:

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Well I've been searching for and testing some other slider plugins, haven't one that I like, the ones that offer the best features cost money. Not going to pay for something like that. So until I can find a better solution I'll leave what's currently there. I have another idea to test, but it will wait for awhile.

 

I have done some tweaking to the main navigation, particularly the GAMES menu. Its now sorted by Universe, each one pops out the right. I felt the GAMES menu was to long before.

 

Its not easy to make changes to this design, I did not make this one. It was simply downloaded off the internet, installed. All I did was modify some of the colours and put the CNCNZ.com logo in. The original one can be seen here http://smthemes.com/alium/

 

Oh yeah, I was asked today what happened to all the C&C 2013 content? Well we didn't really have much other than images. We have no info about it in the GAMES section. But it does have the unfortunate honour of being added to the Cancelled C&C Games page found here http://www.cncnz.com/other-specials/cancelled-command-conquer-games/

You can still view the image galleries as well

And did anyone notice this page? Used to have a page about many years ago http://www.cncnz.com/games/command-conquer-sole-survivor/

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I do belive the latest version of SS is 1.05.

 

You missed C&C95 which has the version number of 1.04a. The page says there were two versions of C&C released. This is wrong C&C had 6 releases: DOS, Macintosh, Playstation, Saturn, Windows and N64:

http://tore.cnc-comm.com/stuff/thereturnofcncmanialogo.png

 

The latest version of RA is 2.0 (Aftermath) (or 3.03 if you include official beta versions)

 

If you include community patched versions then the latest version of C&C is 1.06c r3 and the latest version of RA is 3.03p. These are the versions used by the community.

 

As for the website itself I don't know what to think of it. The main menu looks a bit cheesy, there seems to be a weird disconnect between content and background - hard to see when the content ends and the background begins, the image carusel is too large it takes up more than half the screen.

Edited by Tore

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I do belive the latest version of SS is 1.05.

That data was, obviously, taken from EVA Database, it was my fault that I didn't know about 1.05 when I wrote it. Fixed it now.

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I do belive the latest version of SS is 1.05.

 

You missed C&C95 which has the version number of 1.04a. The page says there were two versions of C&C released. This is wrong C&C had 6 releases: DOS, Macintosh, Playstation, Saturn, Windows and N64:

http://tore.cnc-comm.com/stuff/thereturnofcncmanialogo.png

 

The latest version of RA is 2.0 (Aftermath) (or 3.03 if you include official beta versions)

 

The cool thing about WordPress powered sites, pages can be updated on the fly in a matter of seconds. Made the changes here.

 

If you include community patched versions then the latest version of C&C is 1.06c r3 and the latest version of RA is 3.03p. These are the versions used by the community.

 

The version numbers for all GAMES section have only ever displayed the last official release by Westwood and/or EA.

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Guest Stevie_K

So you don't read anything posted on a website? I can't fix the fact your not very observant. The short guide is not telling you how to navigate around the site, its simply highlighting what is new and what has changed.

 

You really shouldn't rely on your users to be observant. Clever design wouldn't demand users to be observant, while bad design would.

Neither should you expect users to keep up to date on what is new and not (we are talking simple navigation here, not rocket science ;) ).

 

Thank people for pointing out what works and what doesn't, instead of taking defensive stances to defend your design :) (else they simply stop giving a coin about it, and issues could go along unnoticed)

 

I do read things posted on websites, and what an odd question actually.

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The addition of Sole Survivor is a step up in it's own right, but I just noticed another thing and I have to ask why is the Ultimate Collection listed in the games list, for example? Wouldn't just leaving them in the separate section be more appropriate for released game packs?

Edited by AZ-Stalker

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The cool thing about WordPress powered sites, pages can be updated on the fly in a matter of seconds. Made the changes here.

 

 

The version numbers for all GAMES section have only ever displayed the last official release by Westwood and/or EA.

 

Still doesn't give the version number for C&C95 (1.04) and it gives the impression that the Windows release was the second release which is wrong. The Macintosh, PS1 and Saturn versions were all released in 1996. The Mac version was the first version with WChat support and "SVGA" resolution. The N64 version was released in 1999 and was the first 3D C&C game.

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why is the Ultimate Collection listed in the games list, for example? Wouldn't just leaving them in the separate section be more appropriate for released game packs?

 

Because The Ultimate Collection is a pack of games so it goes in the GAMES section, just like The First Decade pack in 2006. I have plans to add pages about other collections released as well.

 

Still doesn't give the version number for C&C95 (1.04) and it gives the impression that the Windows release was the second release which is wrong. The Macintosh, PS1 and Saturn versions were all released in 1996. The Mac version was the first version with WChat support and "SVGA" resolution. The N64 version was released in 1999 and was the first 3D C&C game.

 

Fixed again, should be correct now.

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