So are you saying that the forums site it's self is going to remain basically the same with all of it's current problematic issues?

If time permits, we may be able to address some forum issues.  But the only thing we can really say for sure is that the visuals of the forum will be changed to match the site itself (headers, colors, footers, links etc).

looking good..

 

I would LOVE to see the "watchlist" come back and send me email again.

@Zoomba -

Thanks for the clarification.  Please re-file my comments in the 'Forums' suggestion box.

A follow-up, since there seems to be some confusion over how the whole wincustomize site is broken  apart and what is actually part of the main site and what isn't...

WinCustomize as users experience it has three components:

• WinCustomize Main (www, skin galleries, uploading, downloading, skin pages, skin comments)
• Personal Pages (i.e. zoomba.wincustomize.com, has photo galleries, guestbook features, stats etc)
• Forums (forums.wincustomize.com)

The forums, due to their cross-site nature (every Stardock site shares the same core forum code, with each site having it's own forum "skin") need to generally be worked on as a separate project.

WinCustomize Main and the Personal Pages are where this project comes in.  A complete update of those systems to make them perform better, look better and provide a much better user experience than the site we have today (which is difficult to navigate to say the least).  This is a massive undertaking given the complexity of the site and the volume of content we work with.

The obscured preview at the start of this thread is only the beginning.  Like I said, the mockups I saw last week were impressive and far-reaching. 

Now, does this mean no forum love is upcoming?  Not necessarily.  We have been rolling out fixes and updates to the forums continually over the last year that have added considerable functionality and speed improvements.  When we have spare dev time, we take a crack at the forums again.  My earlier point was just that this major rework is focused first and foremost on the main site (and personal pages) and not the forums.  I apologize if it came across as anything else.

Thanks Mike for the clarification. I think this explaination should clarify things for many users as to how the site is actually broken down. I can't wait to see the final results. Thanks again!

I like this idea a lot. It is great to keep up with Web Standards and Technologies for sure. Frogboy, part of your article ("Instead, the site will feel more akin to a desktop application.") says to me that you plan to make use of Silverlight 2. I don't want to assume anything, so I will ask you, "Is that true?" If so, way to go! I really think that Silverlight is an important platform in terms of the future of the web. Keep up the great work guys.

If they use Silverlight, themes would be very easy to implement! Here is hoping! lol.

and a microsoft employee perhaps??

what I hope is that someone has sense enough to follow the KISS principle when they make these changes.

I can't wait to see the final results. It looks a lot like your desktop apps. I hope the site functions just like your apps! What would cooler than that is if registered users can skin their personal sites with their favorite skins. That would be SO Awesome!!!

As far as it will be at least accessible ...   

A DA style personal page would massively increase the desirability and potential of the site.

i have to agree with vStyler.., right now DA has a really cool personal site futures., i was able to try it while i was subscribed and it was awsome., now that my subscription run out the personal site is just great..., bah., i goin back to my inloved DA personal site