After six months of hard work, a year’s worth of speculation, and a decade’s time spent on the Web, the new Nuketown is online. The redesigned site features a new look that evokes earlier iterations of the ol’thermonuclear burg, while updating it with a slightly glossier feel. New features abound on the site, which is powered by the open source content management system Drupal. These features include:
- Navigation: After much debate, I’ve returned to Nuketown’s older, thematic approach to navigation, with sections entitled “Theatre” (for movies, dvds and tv) and “Bookshelf” (for books, comics, print, webzines). This allows me to public a wider array of content under each category, and gets rid of some of the more awkward categorizations.
- Comments: Perhaps the single biggest addition to the site are comments, which are available on almost every page on the Web site. Comments are something I’ve wanted for a damn long time, all the more so since I started podcasting Radio Active, and I can’t wait to see what conversations get started. Note: In order to combat spammers, you’ll need to register with the site to post (but don’t worry, registration is free).
- Polls: Once, long ago, I experimented with polls through third-party web sites, but they were never that popular. Now they’re back, and an integrated part of the site.
- Statistics: The old statistics page was a popular one on Nuketown, but it put too much strain on the server. Now it’s back as the Hall of Fame page, which tracks the most popular stories by week, month and year, as well as popular authors and frequent commentors.
- RSS Feeds Galore: Drupal loves to create RSS feeds, and now every major section within Nuketown has its own feed for your subscribing pleasure.
- Tag-based Links: The new Links section has a lot less links than the old one, but folks can now comment on them and they’re tag based, which means I can easily add new link categories as I need them. I’ll be working hard this summer to get all of the old links imported over to the new site.
I’ll be adding other features — such as a new NukeShop — as time and inspiration allow. These initial setup, however, should serve us well enough for the summer months. Like the new site? Hate it? Inquiring editors want to know, so post a comment and let me know what you think.