Monthly Archives: July 2014

Site Maintenance Notice

Our website will be getting a major overhaul on Tuesday, July 22.  In theory, it should only take a few hours.  However, expect to see things missing, or out of place for  a few days.

Courtesy of verydemotivational.com

Courtesy of verydemotivational.com

Upcoming Website Overhaul

I really like the look of our website.  Occasionally, we will change the top banner to give the site a different look, but I really like the current concept.  A Boeing 747 clumsily taxiing through a wall kind of sums us up, really.  Our users tell us that our games are fun, but we see a great deal of room for improvement.

My website is beginning to feel a bit like the Winchester Mystery House.  Ever heard of it?  The owner of this mansion continuously built additions to the structure, until it became a 7-story monstrosity.  She did not use an architect, and added on to the building in a haphazard fashion. The home would eventually contain numerous oddities, like doors or stairs that go nowhere, windows overlooking other rooms, and stairs with odd-sized risers.

Anyone remember our very first website banner, back in 2008? What were we THINKING?

Anyone remember our very first website banner, back in 2008? What were we THINKING?

I met with my new web designer the other day, and we both agree that it is time to bring the website up-to-date.  It is full of dead links, incomplete pages, and inconsistency across product pages.  It needs organization, and should be more responsive to whatever device it is being viewed on.  It’s called Responsive Web Design, and all the cool kids are doing it.  The site will fit it’s elements appropriately to whatever screen size and device you may have.

As we discussed what needed to be cut from the site for sake of cleanliness and simplicity, I had a very difficult time agreeing to any change at all.   I felt like one of those hoarders on TV, who stubbornly refuse to change a single thing.  “What do you mean, ‘messy’?  I like it this way.”.  Eventually, we came up with a plan that should make things a little easier for visitors.  And, I get to keep my clumsy Boeing 747.  Here’s a screenshot of where we are going with the website:

newSite

The image above is a bit meaningless, since it’s look will change, depending on the device.  Here, have a look at it on the test server.   I’m sure some will like it, others will hate it.  We hope to have it online in about a month.