About the new version of the site

Obviously you've figured out by now that we've launched a new version of PointBuzz, the first since its debut in 2004 as the combined efforts of Guide to The Point and Virtual Midway. We have a lot of goals in mind with his new version. Here are a few of them:

• Concentrate on where the people go. We realized looking at the stats that Walt, who serves more as the content guy while I act as the programmer, was spending a lot of time on content that no one was really using. The volume was so enormous that much of it became very outdated. For that reason, we're going to concentrate on news, community and the gallery (photos and video). This isn't to say there aren't other things we'll add, but that's the focus. There's no point in duplicating a bunch of stuff that's already on the official Cedar Point site.
• Fast, fast, fast. The old site was based on four-year-old code I wrote, which was in turn based on code from three or four years before that. It hasn't scaled well. So far, most pages are rendered in less than 1/10 of a second, and averaging 5/100 of a second. Long threads will no longer bog down the server.
  
• Search. Yeah, I'll take responsibility for that one. The old search code was so bad that I turned it off. It's back. It'll take another hour or two from the time of this post before it's done indexing, but it's getting there.
• Beautiful images. Walt and I both love photography, and Walt in particular is out of control with the scope of his photos. We wanted to really show that stuff off. You've been using the photo app for months, but now it fits within the site. There are some photos that are too big, but we'll fix that eventually. Also, we've got a lot of work to do in terms of tagging. Please be patient.

There are some known issues too...

• PointBuzz Premium isn't quite working, but it's at the top of my priority list, and I'm working on restoring it. I appreciate the patience.
• "Missing" forum features. I know that there's no avatars or recent topics, and I'm working on those.
• Formatting weirdness can be found here and there. It may take awhile to clean that up.

Overall, it may feel like it's not totally done here and there, and I'm OK with that. Waiting for a big bang launch would have denied you the chance to start playing today, and I didn't want that.

Have fun... we're looking forward to a great 2008 season!

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Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Webmaster - PointBuzz - My Blog

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Again; great job Walt and Jeff! Its a great!

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The off season is coming too fast!
--Zach

Re: About the new version of the site

It's all Web 2.0-like, very well done!

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Tommy
generationprime.net - I has blog. You can has blog too is gift.

Re: About the new version of the site

I really like the new way the site looks. Is this officially "PointBuzz 2.0"?

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-Larry T.
May is here!
Geauga Lake 1888-2007

Re: About the new version of the site

Great job Walt and Jeff! This new version is awesome!

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Millennium Force
The Future is Riding On It.

Re: About the new version of the site

It's awesome. You guys obviously put a lot of work into this site and getting the updated version launched. Great Job!

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My signature was more like a resume instead of three lines.

Re: About the new version of the site

I love the look of the new site and look forward to seeing the updated Coasterbuzz site as well.

Great work!

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Keith

Handle every stressful situation like a dog. If you can't eat it or hump it.

Piss on it and walk away.

Re: About the new version of the site

It's so Web 2.0. I love it.

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Jeff Young

Re: About the new version of the site

I was a bit surprised to see this webpage load initially, I was like, "what is this?" I am glad to see/read the updates on PB and look forward to the added features.

Thanks Jeff and Walt.

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Cedar Point, Americas rip- rockin', high flyin', sky defyin', record breakin' roller coast

Re: About the new version of the site

I don't care for it at all. I'm sure you put a lot of work

into it, and I guess you can call me old fashioned, but the

old site was a lot easier to navigate. I was comfortable and

used to where everything was, and I don't see the need for

the change. The old site was great.

Last edited by DRose, December 17, 2007, 1:17P

Warehouse Analogy

Think of the changes you see as just some re-arranging of minor things at the front desk of a warehouse.

The entire warehouse has been gutted and rebuilt to be more efficient. Its just that they rearranged the pictures on the receptionists desk when they did so.

**EDIT**

I wouldn't mind seeing theme's for the site. Each user can choose their own color scheme and background settings to kinda make PB custom for each user. It'll still look pretty much the same just with different colors for everyone. Just a thought though.

Last edited by JuggaLotus, December 17, 2007, 1:24P

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Goodbye MrScott

John

Inmate 25330-08 needs to resign now.
And Judge Townsend should be disbarred.

Idea

I wouldn't mind seeing theme's for the site. Each user can choose their own color scheme and background settings to kinda make PB custom for each user.

Almost like Ask.com.

That would be really neat. Where someone could pick a ride and a background color. But I do love how the site looks now. I can't say enough. Great Job Jeff and Walt!!

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-Cedar Point Pics-
http://www.cedarpointpictures.webs.com
http://www.cedarpointpics.com

Re: About the new version of the site

A great Christmas present to all of us! Thanks very much Jeff & Walt!!!

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Tim Howe--Lansing, Michigan
34 consecutive years of CP visits!
1974-2007.

Re: About the new version of the site

What the old pointbuzz had was the posts that someone had just recently posted in on the front page. How do you find that here on the new site?

Re: About the new version of the site

Hmm, that's odd? Anyone else showing the posts that they posted showing that they posted it yesterday when it was actually posted it today?

P.S. Also thanks for the expandable text box too!

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-Larry T.
May is here!
Geauga Lake 1888-2007

Re: About the new version of the site

The time formatting should be fixed.

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Jeff - Advocate of Great Great Tunnels™ - Co-Webmaster - PointBuzz - My Blog

Re: About the new version of the site

Great job Jeff and Walt! I like the new look.

Re: About the new version of the site

site looks great guys

Re: About the new version of the site

Oooo, I like the dark blue title bar. That separates the "re" from the response better. I noticed the "full profile" doesn't have a link now.

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randi <><

Two roads converged in a wood & I, I took the one less traveled by...& it has made all the difference

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I like the new color for the title bar. Nice work!

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The off season is coming too fast!
--Zach