Zune Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

We couldn't leave well enough alone, so we've updated the template here at Zune Thoughts. Be sure to clear your browser cache (CONTROL+F5 on a PC) or things will look very strange. There were a few goals we had with this re-design:

• Create a template that all other Thoughts Media Web sites can use.
• Spruce up the visual design of the template by adding new graphics, changing the colours, and adding general polish (the first template was done in quite a hurry for our launch).
• Create a high-visibility area where we can promote our articles and original content.
• Highlight top stories, articles, and recent posts in our forums.
• Expose the power of the network: we want to show you what's going on with the other Thoughts Media sites, from the articles we're publishing on them, to the news items that are being published.
• Speed up page loading: by switching to a new AJAX-based RSS feed solution, the page will load first,then the RSS feeds up top and in the right column. Everything feels snappier.
• Make front-page archives easier to get at by having links at the bottom of the front page.
• Drive added revenue: sad but true, money matters, and since Thoughts Media is what I do for a living, we added one new advertising zone to the front page and recently added a new ad zone to the forums.

Feedback on the new template is welcome, as long as it's constructive and nicely worded! ;-)

What's this? A new layout for a site that's only a couple of weeks old? Yes, that's right dear readers, we've put the Zune Thoughts template through the wringer and come up with something new, and I believe, better. The original template was a departure from the traditional Pocket PC Thoughts template in that it pushed the content up and to the left, making it more obvious. There were still things I didn't quite like about the template though, namely it felt too restrictive from a content standpoint. We've always aimed a delivering a great experience in 800 x 600 browser window, but I felt strongly that limit was outdated. Sure enough, after looking at the Pocket PC Thoughts site statistics, over 96% of our readers were viewing the site in browser windows that were at least 1000 pixels wide. It was time for our template to "grow" and put more information onto the screen. The big deal for me was bigger images - I love big, glorious images, and being limited to 400 pixels wide always felt limiting.

This new template accomplishes several things that are important to me: we now have more room for content, can support 500 pixel-wide images, and we have front page support for 336 x 280 ads (which, like it or not, is vital for the life of my business). We've also added a search box up top (which searches the vBulletin forums), expanded the RSS feeds up top to show more text, and fixed an assortment of bugs and issues. This site is still in beta, but it's inching toward completion. Thanks for your support as we continue to improve things!