"Thanks for making the [name] change... I hate forcing it on people, but we've
already delayed this feature for too long due to internal debates about
how to handle user names. I made a complete user page system layout
based on Stampers current NG layout more than a year ago, and even then
it was long overdue... Now we are waiting until we launch the redesign,
so it just drags on forever. I have been quoting a deadline of November
15th for the redesign... I hope we pull it off. Otherwise, I am still
demanding we launch before the year ends. I don't want this to drag into
2007.
It will be interesting to see what the response to the redesign is...
Much like the new tank logo, I am trying to not make the change so
drastic that is scares people away. The new NG is basically identical to
the old NG, just with a more polished front-end done in CSS, and a huge
overhaul of the invisible back-end systems, making it easier to make
future changes and have more flexibility with the data. The only huge
new addition will be the user pages, which are starting off as basically
glorified full-page profiles with user blogs. Part of me wants to launch
them under the current layout, just to make the transition more gradual
- I do fear that when the entire site changes all at once, users might
have a knee-jerk reaction of "They changed Newgrounds to Myspace" - but
in reality it will all be laid out the same, only profiles will now be
full page user pages.
Right now we are laying the groundwork for the redesign, but the
redesign is just laying the groundwork for all the other new features we
hope to add over the upcoming year. The fact that it is CSS and that we
want to make a 100% face-lift means that every part of the site is
basically being rebuilt from scratch, only to function much like it does
now."
-Tom
Here's an image Stamper posted not too long ago. It's the NG Mag layout:
