The "Change" - New Website in the works READ HERE

[Evolve]

Hello, fellow members:

Now, I know what most of you are probably thinking.. "Where is the change?!"

This change was announced last summer of 2009, then delayed until this summer because I had university during the year which kept me busy and I did not have enough time to fully put my time towards the website.. even though ConsoleSpot means a lot to me, any sane person would put their education over a website.. so unfortunately, the community (you) were left waiting. Now, I have reopened the website today without the change, but for a good reason. Before I get into those reasons, I'd like to share with you what has been going on behind the scenes over the past year.

Why did I want to change the website?

Clearly, the current website is not structured or developed as best as it could have been, and if you know me, I am a perfectionist. People have always told me that I have a very creative and unique mind, and I am always thinking of ways to improve this website. So, I began conceptualizing the idea of the new website in late 2008/early 2009. Initially, I had a professional designer along side with me, essentially we were a two person team responsible for designing and creating the different aspects of the website as I planned them. About 3 months in (about March of 2009), I had a good idea of what I wanted and everything was looking good, design wise. That is when I announced the change on ConsoleSpot, and I thought it would be ready by the summer of 2009. There were still a number of pages to be planned and designed, because of the scope and complexity of the website. Unfortunately, the designer dropped out in April, he had been hired by a company, and even though he was contracted to finish my design, he decided to abandon it and leave, so I was left designing the remaining pages of the website. Now again, if you consider the time that this occurred (around April 2009), and knowing that I am a university student, exam time was coming up soon so I had to put the project on hold. When summer of 2009 rolled around, I began designing and planning the remaining aspects of the website, and started looking for a proper coder for the website. I had hired a coder in early July of 2009, and he began developing the website, but, he was not able to properly program the different modules required for the function of the website, and eventually began stalling. He ended up wasting a lot of my time and money, and without much results, I had to drop him from the project early August of 2009. I then looked for another coder around the same time, and a similar story occurred. This is the problem with looking for talent on the internet, you are never sure of who you are dealing with and it can become hard to cope with deadlines. By this time, we were heading into September of 2009, and I was starting another year university, so again I decided to put the project on hold and work on it if I got any free time while studying.

Now, almost a year later, we are into the final development stages of the website (index, forums, and the news sections of each category is what we have worked on so far). I had originally planned to launch early August of 2010, a couple of weeks ago (that is why the downtime was announced between August 8th-10th).. Now that we've been through 2 vbulletin upgrades during the development process, one of which had failed, and the few other issues that turned out to be bugs, I believe there is no reason to get worried, the outcome is still great, assuming the project complexity. We've lost some of our work during the upgrade failure, and we can't explain why it didn't pass through successfully.. it will take another few weeks for us to fully establish the website. So, we're doing our best to win back the time, but if it has to take until early-mid September to complete, I'm afraid we'll have to take the time.

I'm sure all of you are dying to see the change, so without further adue, I present to you the next iteration of ConsoleSpot:

http://www.fave.im <-- click that link to see the test server!

Here is what we are planning on making it look like: http://www.consolespot.net/Main-Index.png

This is our test server, so it is in no way or means the location of the new website, and the forums are empty with the exception of a few registered members.. I recommend that you do not register or post on that site, as everything there will be erased when we port everything over here.

This is in no way the final product of the website.. we are still working on adding the functionality of many aspects.. though you are free to comment and suggest in the thread below.

What can you do?

Simply wait for the change and discuss it in this thread, and let other people know.. and keep the forums active! Like I said, it could take us until early to mid September to make the site fully functional, and that is why it has been delayed.. I would rather release a stable functional website rather than rush it and release an unfinished one. I kept the website down over the past week thinking we could make it, but apperently it wasn't possible... so we'll just need a bit more time. I'll keep the forums open, and hopefully all the members can keep it active. When we are finally ready to launch the website (for sure), then I will turn the website off again for the change.

Let me know what you think of the new design and sections, what you might suggest to change, general comments and feedback are always appreciated.. considering the amount of time, money, and effort I've put into this.



Undoubtedly, this is a very costly website, (the hosting, the development, the designing).. we are a website that provide all our content for free, so if you would like to help me out with some of the costs, please feel free to donate through PayPal. As you know, I am also a student, and sometimes I am having to pay for the website from my own pocket because enough revenue is not being generated from the advertisements (the only way we make money).. so even if you could donate a little amount, it would go a long way.

PS. We turned 3 years old early August 2010.. lets hope the coming year will be the best this site has seen.

Thank you,

Evolve (founder)

[spike_132000]

This is brilliant!!! Thank you soo much Evolve! I've been keeping an eye on the site for days Thanks for the update *hugs* !!!!

[NightCalyster]

I love the design. But it also reminds me of a qj look with a little more of a fancy design to it. Its been a long wait but i can't really blame you for the problems.

Thanks for the update on the site.

[UrbanHybrid]

I really like the colors and how its designed. Btw Evolve your an Awesome Dude Maintaining this Site.

[tetsu86]

great design

[Mr. Shizzy]

Oooohhh

That new design looks schmexy !
CS is an awesome and unique site, glad to see it changing with the times.
Great work evolve

[petfood56]

nice but i like the recent threads thing and i cant seem to find it any where

[brad_snake412]

that looks great i have been waiting for the site to be updated but don't rush you don't want to wreck it i have been on here since 2007 i still will like this site as i come to here everyday it's a good thing that your updating it congrats for all the years consolespot has lived ^_^
LONG LIVE CONSOLESPOT

[Anonymous Blah]

F***ING AWESOME!!!!!!
It's beautiful and i can't wait for it to be implemented!
I am really excited by the RSS feature!

[UrbanHybrid]

i know this is a dumb question but we all will have our names and stuff still right?