Nexus Biographies 2012, I'm back baby (New first post 11-12-31) Options

[Dritz]

http://www.nexusbio.org

Another year, another update to Nexus Biographies. The latest update to the site got a little out of hand as I kept on trying to do more and more with what little time I gots to do anything. So not much has changed on the site since around June. So this is an extra big update worthy of the title 2012.

So what's the big difference between 2011 and 2012. Well the site is once again quite a bit more dynamic, using fancy pants AJAX for page loads. For those who remember some of the pre-2011 versions some of these effects made it difficult to navigate the site via your browser's back and forward buttons. That problem has been quashed (baring any bugs, so contact me if you have problems).

A lot of the new stuff on the site requires that you are using a modern browser however unlike past versions of the site 2012 is a little more graceful when dealing with outdated browsers. The static version of the site should automatically be used for older browsers/people with javascript disabled, this should be familiar to those of you who have used the 2011 version of the site.

Here's some of the other changes:

1. A way to switch between the dynamic and static versions of the site has been added to the toolbox (top right).
2. As you browse stories on the site you will be able to go back to easily go back to previous stories. Once you've viewed two or more stories there should be a 'Previous Stories' heading near the top left of the page.
3. Point 2 can also be saved across visits to the site. There is an option to 'Store story history' in the toolbox.

As for the future of the site, I noticed that a lot of the features of the site are not exactly mobile friendly. The overall design actually works quite good on mobile devices but a lot of the stuff which requires hovering over elements obviously aren't there for touch devices. So I'd like to work on getting the site working well on mobile platforms or maybe even a simple mobile version.

So all of that is very nice but Nexus Biographies is all about the stories. I have to admit the stuff I've been doing on the site is a bit academic as I rarely seem to get stories to add to the site. There are already over 120 stories on the site so there is a lot to look at. If I get stuff I will add it the site but don't expect to much activity on that front.

Please post any questions, comments, or bugs.

If you haven't seen the site for a few years and want to know what the big changes for the 2011 site were please take a look at the news page on the site and the original post I put up here which just so happens to be down there \/.

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Original Post

http://www.nexusbio.org

Nexus Biographies is back and better than ever. For those of you who were following the testing site I set up, there isn't anything too amazing or new (unless you haven't checked the testing site in awhile). I've finally got the latest version to a stage I'm happy with and replaced the main site with it.

The new version should address many of the complaints I've heard from people over the past few years. I'm sure new ones will sprout up but I think most people will be happy with the new site.

www.nexusbio.org now leads you to the main stories page rather than the news page. This simple and obvious change should make the site much easier to use and navigate. This page links to every single story on the site and (I think) is quick and easy to navigate through. Even when you focus on an individual story you'll still be able to easily navigate to any other story.

Your browser's back button makes a triumphant return on the new site. The new site sacrifices all it's AJAX effects to allow for this and to make sure I got the new version out sometime before 2020. However AJAX will make it's return sometime this year along with the ability to turn effects on and off.

The new submission page makes it easy for people to submit their stories to the site. I'll even be able to quickly approve the stories submitted, which should hopefully encourage people to actually contribute to the site.

There you go.

[Skum]

Always enjoyed your site, glad to see it up again.

[Dritz]

Small update today which allows people to filter through stories by type (story or poem), subpath, and clan. I kinda hope to one day provide some way for other subpath websites to access Nexus Biographies data. If anyone is interested in something like that feel free to contact me. Already got something similar for the Chongun website which I also made.

[Dritz]

Hey look another update.

I added the ability to switch between two different colored versions of the site. So now you got blue or yellow to choose from. It's a bit of a first step toward making the site a bit more dynamic (as it used to be). However don't get any nightmares about it being impossible to use the back button again. As I mentioned in my first post any effects added to the site will be easily disabled.

[Dritz]

Hey Nexus Biographies 2012 is here. Check out the first post for info.

[Interstate]

This is awesome. Can I write one? What about collections of others' I have? Can I send them in also, or do I have to be the author?

[Dritz]

If you get permission from other authors you could submit theirs.