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- Posted: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:09:21 +0000
Welcome to the official feedback thread for the new, updated site navigation. These updates came after loads and loads of research, contemplation, and hard work, and we're pretty happy with them.
We know a lot of you are resistant to us making changes on the site, especially important parts, but we ask you give the new navigation a few days to sink in. We think you'll find it as good as the last one, if not a little better.
We're still eager to hear your feedback, though, so please post away. We're already working to incorporate some earlier suggestions from you guys, and are always interested to hear more of your thoughts!
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Update 7/24
Thanks for all the feedback so far. We wanted to point your attention to the FAQ which addresses many of the questions you raise. To help make things more convenient, we've pasted it here below:
Hi everyone,
We wanted to give you a heads up that we will be making changes to the site navigation menu and provide some answers to the common questions you might have about the update.
Here we go...
Why did you launch a redesign of the site navigation?
The main goal of the redesign was to give Gaians some of the old color and flavor that infused Gaia in the early days. We wanted the site navigation menu to speak in livelier, Gaian tones and bring more focus to Gaia being a community site. In addition, we wanted to make it easier for users to find stuff - for that reason, we simplified the menu and did away with the sub-menus.
Why did you remove links from the menu? How do I get to the pages that were previously linked from the old menu?
In order to make the new and simpler design work, we've had to trim away some of the old links. You can get to most of the old links from the landing pages associated with each tab on the menu, although we realize it will take an additional click on your part. For example, all the My Gaia links can be accessed along the horizontal tabs on the My Gaia landing page and all the Games can be accessed from the Games landing page.
We asked the community for feedback on the links that were removed and you told us that Trade, My Posts and My Latest Topics are really important. To make these popular links just one click away instead of two, we've added them to the Shortcuts menu in the header.
Known issues: For a period of time, the following pages will be more difficult to get to, since they are not linked from the menu or a major landing page. We've added them here in case you wish to bookmark them as a temporary workaround.
Clans - will be added to Guilds page next Tuesday. In the interim, you can access "Find Clans" through the zOMG! microsite which is linked to the menu as "Learn about zOMG!" or type www.gaiaonline.com/clans.
Evolving Item Museum - you can access this by clicking on the Cash Shop page within the Shops directory and looking under Forums and more. We'll be making additional changes to make this page more accessible.
Conventions - We will be making additional changes to make this page more accessible. In the meantime, you can look this up under Forums - Gaia Online - Gaia Convention Tour.
To help with the transition, we have published a list of all links that were available through the old site navigation menu here. Feel free to bookmark to your heart's content!
Is this going to cause performance issues or lagging?
We heard concerns during a preview that the new menu would cause lagging and performance issues. Because this was mostly done in CSS, there should not be any perceivable differences in performance for most browsers. The only exception is if you use Internet Explorer 6 as a browser. Due to the limitations of IE6, we have had to use more Javascript which will be slower. IE6 users, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to IE7 to make the most of your Gaia experience. (IE7 or Firefox are faster and safer browsers, anyway.)
Will I get an option to revert to the old menu?
We considered this option, but truth be told, it's actually pretty complex from a coding perspective, not to mention expensive, to maintain both versions of the site navigation menus. Every time we make a change in the future, we would need to update both versions of the menus. This is not ideal, and you'll probably want us working on something else of more value anyway.
Will I be able to customize the menu in the future?
For the same reasons as above, it will be difficult for us to make an entirely customizable menu. We are, however, considering a customizable shortcuts feature that will help power users get to the features they use the most. Stay tuned for more news on that.
We know a lot of you are resistant to us making changes on the site, especially important parts, but we ask you give the new navigation a few days to sink in. We think you'll find it as good as the last one, if not a little better.
We're still eager to hear your feedback, though, so please post away. We're already working to incorporate some earlier suggestions from you guys, and are always interested to hear more of your thoughts!
------
Update 7/24
Thanks for all the feedback so far. We wanted to point your attention to the FAQ which addresses many of the questions you raise. To help make things more convenient, we've pasted it here below:
Hi everyone,
We wanted to give you a heads up that we will be making changes to the site navigation menu and provide some answers to the common questions you might have about the update.
Here we go...
Why did you launch a redesign of the site navigation?
The main goal of the redesign was to give Gaians some of the old color and flavor that infused Gaia in the early days. We wanted the site navigation menu to speak in livelier, Gaian tones and bring more focus to Gaia being a community site. In addition, we wanted to make it easier for users to find stuff - for that reason, we simplified the menu and did away with the sub-menus.
Why did you remove links from the menu? How do I get to the pages that were previously linked from the old menu?
In order to make the new and simpler design work, we've had to trim away some of the old links. You can get to most of the old links from the landing pages associated with each tab on the menu, although we realize it will take an additional click on your part. For example, all the My Gaia links can be accessed along the horizontal tabs on the My Gaia landing page and all the Games can be accessed from the Games landing page.
We asked the community for feedback on the links that were removed and you told us that Trade, My Posts and My Latest Topics are really important. To make these popular links just one click away instead of two, we've added them to the Shortcuts menu in the header.
Known issues: For a period of time, the following pages will be more difficult to get to, since they are not linked from the menu or a major landing page. We've added them here in case you wish to bookmark them as a temporary workaround.
Clans - will be added to Guilds page next Tuesday. In the interim, you can access "Find Clans" through the zOMG! microsite which is linked to the menu as "Learn about zOMG!" or type www.gaiaonline.com/clans.
Evolving Item Museum - you can access this by clicking on the Cash Shop page within the Shops directory and looking under Forums and more. We'll be making additional changes to make this page more accessible.
Conventions - We will be making additional changes to make this page more accessible. In the meantime, you can look this up under Forums - Gaia Online - Gaia Convention Tour.
To help with the transition, we have published a list of all links that were available through the old site navigation menu here. Feel free to bookmark to your heart's content!
Is this going to cause performance issues or lagging?
We heard concerns during a preview that the new menu would cause lagging and performance issues. Because this was mostly done in CSS, there should not be any perceivable differences in performance for most browsers. The only exception is if you use Internet Explorer 6 as a browser. Due to the limitations of IE6, we have had to use more Javascript which will be slower. IE6 users, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to IE7 to make the most of your Gaia experience. (IE7 or Firefox are faster and safer browsers, anyway.)
Will I get an option to revert to the old menu?
We considered this option, but truth be told, it's actually pretty complex from a coding perspective, not to mention expensive, to maintain both versions of the site navigation menus. Every time we make a change in the future, we would need to update both versions of the menus. This is not ideal, and you'll probably want us working on something else of more value anyway.
Will I be able to customize the menu in the future?
For the same reasons as above, it will be difficult for us to make an entirely customizable menu. We are, however, considering a customizable shortcuts feature that will help power users get to the features they use the most. Stay tuned for more news on that.
