• PSO-World Site Upgrades



    Welcome back everyone! Virtually every portion of PSO-World has received an upgrade as part of the site's 15th anniversary. Here are some of the highlights:

    Updated Forum Software
    The forum software has been upgraded to the latest version of vBulletin 4. The upgraded forum software offers several bug fixes, security improvements, updates to existing features, new features, and better compatibility with the latest generation of web browsers.

    Social Groups Overhaul
    Social Groups (AKA Groups) has received several updates. To access the groups area, click on the "Groups" link on the secondary navigation bar of the forum index. That will present you with a GUI interface to your groups, the most recently updated groups, and newly created groups. As for individual groups, instead of having what is essentially one long thread, Social Groups will behave more like individual forums. Members will be able to create new group threads and post pictures. Group leaders will have the ability to moderate these threads.

    New Search Features
    This might seem like a mundane detail, but PSO-World has a new search interface that provides faster and better search results. You will now finally have the ability to search your private messages!

    Activity Stream
    You can access the "Activity Stream" by clicking on "What's New" on the navigation bar. The Activity Stream offers a new way to keep track of the latest forum content including group discussion, news articles, forum posts, and several other content types. The Activity Stream offers several secondary navigation bar links if you want to browse a specific type of content.

    Updated Photo Gallery
    The PSO-World Photo Gallery has always been an easy to miss site section. Featuring game art, screenshots, and fan art, the Gallery has always represented a visual history of PSO-World. With the upgrade, the Gallery link has been moved to a more prominent position and several forum integration components have been installed. The Gallery itself has received several new features. Users now also have the ability to create albums under the Gallery system and upload pictures to those albums.

    New Themes
    As part of the site upgrade, PSO-World is receiving a new default theme called "Cosmic." This scifi theme was inspired by the early-years of Phantasy Star Online 2 and is optimized for a wide-range of displays. If you don't like it, you can choose from a selection of other themes by using the theme picker at the bottom of the page. You can set a permanent default choice by editing the Details area of your Profile.

    Here is a brief overview of the other available themes:
    • Blue-Steel - This was the default theme for the site for the last 8 years. Pick this style if you want to stick with a familiar look.
    • Darkness - A modern all-black theme.
    • Midnight Blue - A variant of Darkness with blue highlights. This is a good choice if you previously used the Classic Blue-Black style.
    • Vanilla - A light-colored theme that was designed for readability.
    • Classic Mira-Bluegray - This is primarily dark gray and blue theme. It is based on PSO-World's original default theme.
    • Classic Blue-Steel - This style emphasizes a variety of blues and is based on one of PSO-World's early default themes.
    • Mobile - This theme only works with the site's news/forum sections and is optimized for ease-of-use on mobile systems.


    Don't see your favorite old theme? There is a good reason for that. The forum upgrade process rendered the old themes incompatible with the current version of the site. Any returning old theme has to be rebuilt from scratch and that is very time-intensive. We're still taking a look at the old themes and seeing what is possible to rebuild.

    Simplified Site Navigation
    The clunky left-column link boxes have been replaced with a simplified top bar navigation scheme. There are four main tabs on the navigation bar corresponding to News, Forum, Guides/Databases, and the Gallery. Each section has several helpful links that appear below the main navigation bar when you browse to that section. The Guides/Databases choice will take you to a helpful link page that will allow you to access PSO-World's resources for that specific game.

    New Front Page
    As part of the upgrade project, PSO-World has a new front page article system. This new system integrates more seamlessly with the forum software. You can search the news section using the forum search feature. When a person replies to a news article, a new thread is automatically started in the News and Comments forum.

    Video Tag
    Use the updated [video] tab to embed Youtube videos in post. This works more reliably than the old video management system.

    Mobile Features
    PSO-World offers an easy-to-use mobile theme for the site's forum and news section. You can select it by picking "Mobile" from the quick style picker at the bottom of the page.

    Older Content
    The older content sections like the PSO Item Database and Guides system received several aesthetic and usability upgrades.

    The Future
    We view this as a starting point for further enhancing PSO-World and have several exciting features in the pipeline. We are very interested on hearing your feedback on the site upgrades and what else you would like to see.

    Bugs
    If you see anything broken or something that just looks weird, let us know by posting in the bug report thread.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: PSO-World Site Upgrades started by Ryna View original post
    Comments 57 Comments
    1. landman's Avatar
      landman -
      And for 15 years more
    1. lostinseganet's Avatar
      lostinseganet -
      I made it. I made it. I was a little worried that I might not be able to log in or something >_>....
    1. Ryna's Avatar
      Ryna -
      Quote Originally Posted by landman View Post
      And for 15 years more
      Here is to hoping.

      Quote Originally Posted by lostinseganet View Post
      I made it. I made it. I was a little worried that I might not be able to log in or something >_>....
      Looks like you made it. Welcome back.
    1. PhotonDrop's Avatar
      PhotonDrop -
      Although I was one of two people that used the theme, I would like to see the return of Cherry Coke.
    1. lostinseganet's Avatar
      lostinseganet -
      Maybe we can have a thread with the favorites and a little example of each. Then people can vote on the ones they want to keep?
      PS i really like it here that is why I could not help but be a little worried. This is one of the few sites I still go to from back in the dreamcast days of lurking (^_^)
    1. Etherwolf's Avatar
      Etherwolf -
      The site is so sexy now. ;__;
    1. DreXxiN's Avatar
      DreXxiN -
      Wooooah, fancy.
    1. Anduril's Avatar
      Anduril -
      Image scaling. So long I have wanted it, now I am completed.
      That said, I do have a bit of beef with the new theme in that it doesn't stretch to the screen size. I'm browsing on my 1920x1080 monitor and I have just big columns of background on either side of the actual site. Switching over to Blue Steel fixes that, but it's a shame since I do like the look of Cosmic.

      EDIT: I think I'll stick with Cosmic. I'm sure it will just take a little bit, but I'm sure to get used to the size.
    1. Ryna's Avatar
      Ryna -
      Quote Originally Posted by Anduril View Post
      Image scaling. So long I have wanted it, now I am completed.
      That said, I do have a bit of beef with the new theme in that it doesn't stretch to the screen size. I'm browsing on my 1920x1080 monitor and I have just big columns of background on either side of the actual site. Switching over to Blue Steel fixes that, but it's a shame since I do like the look of Cosmic.
      Thanks for the feedback.

      We'll look into building a a version of Cosmic that stretches with screen size if there is enough demand. The current version was built so we'd have good control over the position and look of all the design elements.
    1. Selphea's Avatar
      Selphea -
      Thanks for the revamp! It's an improvement although there's still a few things that I think need fixing.

      The biggest one for me is when I click a forum like PSO2 General, I want to see what the current theads are. However, I see this:

      Spoiler!


      Or from the top down,

      1. Account-related navigation
      2. PSOW Logo
      3. Forum-related navigation
      4. Forum breadcrumbs
      5. Post New Thread
      6. Forum Header
      7. More forum navigation
      8. Sub-Forum
      9. 8 Stickys


      So the threads I actually want to see are nowhere in sight! On a notebook or tablet this would probably be worse.

      Some other minor stuff: consider using Google Fonts for certain elements like headers instead of Arial for everything. Also the Facebook button at the bottom seems to be broken.

      Regarding the white space, I'm agree there's a lot of white space on the left and right at 1920x1080 but I'd rather have the text wrap so that the eye doesn't have to travel across a wide screen to read everything. Maybe consider adding widgets based on detected window size to fill the space.
    1. doomdragon83's Avatar
      doomdragon83 -
      Can the green version of Blue-Steel site theme be added back?
    1. Ryna's Avatar
      Ryna -
      Quote Originally Posted by Selphea View Post
      Thanks for the revamp! It's an improvement although there's still a few things that I think need fixing.

      The biggest one for me is when I click a forum like PSO2 General, I want to see what the current theads are. However, I see this:

      *snip*

      Or from the top down,

      1. Account-related navigation
      2. PSOW Logo
      3. Forum-related navigation
      4. Forum breadcrumbs
      5. Post New Thread
      6. Forum Header
      7. More forum navigation
      8. Sub-Forum
      9. 8 Stickys


      So the threads I actually want to see are nowhere in sight! On a notebook or tablet this would probably be worse.

      Some other minor stuff: consider using Google Fonts for certain elements like headers instead of Arial for everything. Also the Facebook button at the bottom seems to be broken.

      Regarding the white space, I'm agree there's a lot of white space on the left and right at 1920x1080 but I'd rather have the text wrap so that the eye doesn't have to travel across a wide screen to read everything. Maybe consider adding widgets based on detected window size to fill the space.
      I agree that the PSO2 General Sticky List was becoming a bit excessive. We've removed a few of them so you can view the latest threads faster. Did that help out?

      The facebook page isn't live yet.

      In regards to widgets, would you like for them to appear outside the main content body on the sides of the page?
    1. D-Inferno's Avatar
      D-Inferno -
      By any chance is a PSO2 Database coming with this? Cirnopedia has been dead for ages, so if we could get a community-maintained database, that would be great. Could also ask Ricardo (owner of psublog) to list some of his guides here.
    1. CocoCrispy's Avatar
      CocoCrispy -
      Ooooo, this place is nice. Loving the dark, edgy colors! The dropdowns for the old database is also a nice feature.
    1. Ketchup345's Avatar
      Ketchup345 -
      Quote Originally Posted by PhotonDrop View Post
      Although I was one of two people that used the theme, I would like to see the return of Cherry Coke.
      I wasn't alone? I remember getting asked to switch to something else because no one else used Cherry Coke. I may ask to take a look at how the current themes look, and see if I can get a Cherry Coke style done at some point.


      Quote Originally Posted by Ryna View Post
      Thanks for the feedback.

      We'll look into building a a version of Cosmic that stretches with screen size if there is enough demand. The current version was built so we'd have good control over the position and look of all the design elements.
      Count me as another vote for the stretch Cosmic, I'll switch to that once available (using Darkness as a temporary).
    1. Tomeeboy's Avatar
      Tomeeboy -
      Quote Originally Posted by Ketchup345 View Post
      Count me as another vote for the stretch Cosmic, I'll switch to that once available (using Darkness as a temporary).
      Maybe we'll set up a poll here after everyone has had a chance to settle in with the new site. I can see a fluid version of Cosmic happening if there is demand for it. Each style that gets added to the site means more work every time something is changed, which has always been sort of a bottleneck with all of the styles we've had available in the past. I'm a bigger fan of quality over quantity, so hopefully we can have a good selection, but also continue to improve the existing styles based on visitor feedback. In the long run, though, I'm sure users would rather have us working on new features and content over creating endless themes

      There's one new feature we have that hasn't been unveiled yet, and I think it's going to be a really nice addition to the site once it's ready to launch.
    1. Selphea's Avatar
      Selphea -
      Quote Originally Posted by Ryna View Post
      I agree that the PSO2 General Sticky List was becoming a bit excessive. We've removed a few of them so you can view the latest threads faster. Did that help out?

      The facebook page isn't live yet.

      In regards to widgets, would you like for them to appear outside the main content body on the sides of the page?
      Yea it's better now

      As for widgets, I think anything goes as long as the information is there and looks consistent with the rest of the theme. I wouldn't make it a priority though - if you can do it with a couple button presses then sure. If not, things are functional as-is.
    1. [Ayumi]'s Avatar
      [Ayumi] -
      I might be the only one, but I'm find it a bit harder to read in the new style formats.
    1. Triste's Avatar
      Triste -
      Quote Originally Posted by [Ayumi] View Post
      I might be the only one, but I'm find it a bit harder to read in the new style formats.
      Taking some time to adjust to the changes will probably help a little, though I also find the themes a bit 'busy' visually. Even the updated classic themes are missing the simplicity that the originals used. I'm the kind of girl who values pleasing aesthetics, and tend to lean heavily towards flat design. The classic themes had a clean and minimal approach, and I think if they were to be updated for a more modern style, looking at UI languages like Metro or Material for inspiration would make for some beautiful takes on Bluegray and Blue-Steel.

      Quote Originally Posted by Sun Sol View Post
      By any chance is a PSO2 Database coming with this? Cirnopedia has been dead for ages, so if we could get a community-maintained database, that would be great. Could also ask Ricardo (owner of psublog) to list some of his guides here.
      I doubt the staff have the energy left to think about such a huge project so soon after the new board rollout, but I hope it can be looked into. Swiki is a great place for information if you can manage to navigate it! Yet, the language barrier means not everyone will be able to take advantage of all the info it has. A community-maintained English database would be of help to a lot of players. There's just... almost 4 years of content to catalog, so I can understand why it might not happen.
    1. Freshellent's Avatar
      Freshellent -
      DAMMIT, my fav theme is gone.

      Whelp, time to pack it up.
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