New Changes For 2014

[zyzzyva980]

Scioly.org is proud to ring in the new year with a new look. Over the past several months we have been looking carefully at ways we can improve the web site, and today we’re happy to unveil a product that brings us forward to a more professional and modern look.

Many of the parts of the site that you know and love- the forums, the wiki, the image gallery- remain relatively unchanged. But there are plenty of new features that we hope all of our users take full advantage of, in order to make scioly.org a better, more productive place.

I’m sure you’ve already noticed the new landing page and navigation bar. Rather than redirecting straight to the forums, entering http://scioly.org/ directly into your address bar will take you to this new page. On this page you’ll be able to see featured images, important announcements, and the most recent posts and updates to the forums and wiki. Our new navigation bar is designed with simplicity in mind. Gone are the bulky (yet nostalgic) navigation images; in their place is a toolbar with a minimalist design that can be easily and efficiently utilized.

The image gallery, under the direction of iwonder, has also undergone some major improvements in the past few months. We hope that you’ll find it easier to navigate and upload pictures. As an added treat, we’ll be selecting one of your images to feature on the home page every week. Be sure to submit some of your own Science Olympiad images- you could make the front page!

For those of you who have utilized the chat feature- and really, there should be more of you- you’ll notice that the default client has changed. We’ve made the decision to upgrade from Mibbit to Kiwi IRC. This will allow you a greater range of options to improve your chat experience, while maintaining a simplicity that allows for anyone to easily join the discussion.

Furthermore, keep an eye out for announcements of more events happening in the scioly chatroom over the next semester. We have a lot of great stuff in the works, so we encourage you to stop by and become a part of the conversation.

We hope that you’ll like the new look to the website. The improvements aren’t finished; they’ll continue throughout the season as we constantly strive to get better. If you have any suggestions, don’t hesitate to leave them for us in this thread

Any issues can be placed in a feedback thread.