Monday, July 11, 2011

New Website? Really???

Well after all that I have to wonder was it worth it... I really dont see much of any changes, but the new looking website has certainly caused some problems! 3 pages worth of problems infact, im still not sure if all was fixed. Then there was the Big Error made by the website developer that could have been a lot worse. Had that been any other grid, we Residents would not have been alerted to it, as it was InWorldz, we residents were kept fully Informed.

 This screenshot is from inside on my Account... dont see much of any changes there apart from it now looks like the forums :/
 This is the main website view & apart from some new pics & a rolling background... I dont see any real changes here either... oh yes the new login... whoopidoo!
Oh Transactions!

yes i see they now have lines between each transaction... hmmmm.. still doesnt add up though & i still dont have 0 transactions, suppose I will still have to charge 1 izzy for things i need to track :(







When I look at the new website though & I am not seeing anything really new... I mean, no market, no avatars for New residents, same old ruthie... I have to say to myself WTF! For the problems it caused, was it worth it... not in my book. It just made delays in other things as the Founders had to spend their time fixing all of this up... I really do hope the Contractor they hired wasnt paid yet!

Some Residents scream out for shinies, but I am of the mindset... if it aint broke dont fix it, at least for the time being.. at least until all the other little bugs & fixes are sorted, at least until we do have a stable grid, at least until we do have physics on board... shinies like this are just not needed.

See you InWorldz
Rosa ;)

7 comments:

  1. This is one step in a path that will require many steps. It is a visual refresh, with small functional improvements, but I think the main benefit of the new website is to freshen it so that it better represents what InWorldz is to potential *new* users.

    Acquiring and retaining new users will give InWorldz a larger resident base, which will put more residents into each social event, raise the overall economy and increase the number of regions, something that will fund further developments. A fresher, more modern website will help attract those initial logins, or at least not scare them away with an dated website that was obviously lacking tender loving care.

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  2. I agree with Jim - the website needed a facelift. I've heard many a person comment on how it looked unprofessional and outdated. Hopefully this will make them see that things ARE professional and improving all the time.

    Marie

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  3. I really dont believe People would have been scared away by the look of a website.... especially once they stepped through that porthole & found just how professional InWorldz really is... Never stopped me nor countless others from joining up & the 1st website, that I joined through, was a really, unprofessional looking one...

    If the facelift does attract more Residents then thats all well & good... I personaly still think it was something that could have waited a bit longer ;)

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  4. As I said, it's one step in a path of many steps. It is a prerequisite step for other new initiatives such as the new avatar selector and other work that I'm thinking you agree should be done soon or is even overdue. You can also buy a region directly from the world map now, which seems much improved.

    And in a world of few staff and too many work items, a website update would seem to be something that can be outsourced, so that other work can proceed in parallel. However some aspects of the work should not have been outsourced -- lesson learned -- and even the work that was done wasn't always up to InWorldz reliability/QA standards. It shows how difficult it is to staff a project and why it is the people who make or break a development. It's very difficult to outsource a project and get the kinds of results your looking for. The web *design* itself was a done by a different outsourced web designer who did excellent work. The application of that design to the web site did not go as well, but now that step is done and work can proceed on the next ones. There is a LOT of stuff coming still.

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  5. It certainly is exciting times Jim, that cannot be denied & to think its only been little over 2yrs since all this began. The grid has come a very long way since then. When I 1st heard about the launch of the new website, I was excited, but was hoping to see a return of the Avatar for new residents & perhaps the beginnings of the Market, for all I know these things may already be in place but just not activated yet... in that case I would see this as a Necessity, rather than the shiny I am viewing it as.. Perhaps too had it not brought so many problems with it... yes a lesson learnt indeed. Dont get me wrong I am not knocking the new website at all... even if i do think it could have waited a while longer... it does look good..very good, I suppose I just expected more...

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  6. Changing things like the website-design or engines is always a risky business.Even more if you give it out to people who should handle it in a professional way. There are/where a lot of mistakes made but we can not all blame the Inworldz founders for this. But all has a price... We have to admit that Inworldz is coming out of the Pioneer period. The Forum spirit has changed too you can see it very clear. Just the urgent things are said now...and we even have time for a word game on top of the list ! And yes me too like more and more to have, like the 0 transaction noted in my account,or a marketplace, but for me they can skip wiggling boops :-)

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  7. hahaha yes can skip those for me too... has those pains rl why would I want them in my VL ;)

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