Big changes have been afoot here at AGOT.Cards, even if they haven’t all been obvious at first glance. Let’s walk through some of the changes and updates, shall we?
Improved Performance
One aspect of the site that has seen considerable improvement recently is site speed. This is due to a variety of factors from ending functionality that never hit desired usage such as the gold store as well as completely replacing other functionality such as the forum software. Additionally, an error in CDN (content delivery network) service has been corrected.
All together, these changes result in a greatly improved experience in load times, particularly on repeat visits, once users have many of the images in their local cache. You can see some of the improved worldwide times in the image.
Tweaked Menu
You may also notice a tweaked top bar menu. This has been streamlined a bit by removing content sources that are no longer being updated and moving those to the archives section. Additionally, the far right login menu has been tweaked to make it clearer that you can use it to submit posts and events to the site.
Streamlined Widgets
Along with the streamlined menu, you will also notice that the widget section on the lower right has now been trimmed as well to just include a login and registration form and a short list of upcoming events.
Do be aware that the login form takes just a moment to refresh the page and show everything as logged in.
New Comments and Forum
Below the various posts on the site including articles, videos, and podcasts, you will see a brand new comment form! This form ties in directly with the new forum system, so when you post to it, youre actually posting in a forum thread attached to the content post. This way, folks that want to keep up with the discussion can do so all from one place.
Speaking of the forum, if you head straight to it, you’ll this landing page with all the individual forum tags (categories/subforums) where you can click down to see what’s going on there or hit All Discussions above in order to see all the recent posts.
Note the Post Discussion tag. That area starts an automated thread each time a new post is made on the site and houses any of the comments made on that article, podcast, or video.
Here you can see a sample of the All Discussions list of new posts as well as a sample of a new post that someone has made right there in the forum.
Starting your own discussion discussion or replying is as easy as hitting the appropriate button and typing away in the post box that pops up at the bottom of the screen. If you are starting a new post though, don’t forget to select what tag (category) it should have.
The Conclave
Last, and certainly note least (heck, maybe most important) you’ll also notice a brand new section on the far left of the top bar menu. We’re excited to announce that this is the brand new home of The Conclave. Head straight here to see the latest news and updates from the council elected to shepherd the AGOT community in the post FFG era.
Here, you’ll also find a contact form that you can use to pass along any thoughts, feedback, or suggestions straight to the Conclave. This can even be done anonymously if needed.
All told, we hope that these tweaks make the site a more useful resource to everyone in the community and we’re excited for them. In particular, we know there are several folks that would rather not have to use Facebook as their main source of information and discussion about A Game of Thrones, so we really think these new updates make AGOT.Cards a much more attractive place to do so.
