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Pixel2life Version 2 Officially Released!


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#1 Faken

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 07:44 PM

PIXEL2LIFE.COM VERSION 2 IS OFFICIALLY RELEASED!

Before we begin this announcement, I would like everyone to give a HUGE round of applause to Jay, who has sacrificed MANY hours of his personal life and has COMPLETELY coded this new version from the ground up! This project is his baby and the success of this launch goes to him, his dedication, and his passion for this project. I can honestly say that working with Jay continues to be the most enjoyable experience I have ever had in web design and I look forward to working with him for many years to come. Remember, when expressing your gratitude, 99% of your thanks should go to Jay!

Congrats Jay, IT LIVES!


Since August 2004 we have been working on version 2 of both tutorialseek.com and pixel2life.com. We launched tutorialseek.com as a test phase a few months ago to get reactions to the new layout and the coding improvements and see how people felt. Well we received TONS of feedback, and while the coding structure and new features were praised 100%, it seems like a few weren’t too thrilled with the layout. As we continued to work and begin turning Pixel2life.com into version 2, which would share the new TS layout, I began to agree. The overall width was limiting our content areas, the templates were getting jammed up, and quite frankly I was getting sick of it. There was only one thing I could do if there was any hope I wouldn't completely scrap the project and never look at a tutorial again. As much as I’m sure Jay cringed, I scrapped the layout completely and re-designed it from scratch.

Well months later, the amazing coding from Tutorialseek.com version 2 has been improved even further and it now contains a never before seen layout that we feel is much more attractive and has the adequate space needed to support the massive amount of content we hope to deliver. The tabbed browsing we introduced in TS v2 that people loved is still used, but we nuked the tiny overall width, and completely changed the colors. Here’s a list of the new features and improvements this new version brings to the table:

- The need for speed! Of all the sites that are part of the P2L Studios network, Pixel2life.com was the slowest simply because of the sheer coding size and image sizes used all over the original layout. So the first thing was to pitch all the old code out and start a whole new backend from the ground up. In the end, we have a site with many new features, and half the load times!

- All new tab system navigation! Individual tabs lead you to the major sections of the site. We felt this would make the entire site MUCH easier to browse and use no matter what you are looking for.

- Less images! The site uses WAY less images so it loads fast… Twice as fast as the old pixel2life.com website!

- Random tutorials! If you’re a webmaster that has old tutorials submitted to the index and you think no one is seeing them, you’ll love this new feature! Each category view now has 5 random tutorials displayed at the bottom of each page

- BOOLEAN SEARCH! No more exact match folks!!!! We now use the full Boolean search method for search for your tutorials! That means more matches and better chances of finding exactly what you need much faster than before.

- Multiple tutorial submissions! Have 10 tutorials you want to submit for one category? Well now you can submit all 10 in one swoop instead of doing it one at a time!

- Not sure which tutorials require avatars when submitted? The new submission system has you covered with it’s required avatar system. If a tutorial category requires and avatar, the “No avatar” option is no longer displayed.

- The ultimate Source Site Summary! Remember how the old webmaster page would only show the tutorials for a particular website for one category? Well now this extremely advanced tutorial source site summary page will display every tutorial for all categories AND give you valuable stats regarding your tutorials! Webmasters can now see at a glance how many tutorials they have in the system, how many are waiting for approval, how many are approved and in the queue, total categories they have tutorials in, total tutorial views, average difficulty, average rating, and total votes!

- Over 30 bugs that were causing some listing related panics are now gone.

- DOUBLE THE CATEGORIES! We’ve added TONS of new categories that have been requested to us over the last few months!

- Smart category display! When you select a category from the listing on the left, the category and sub categories will automatically move to the top of the category list, so it’s easier for you to use the sub categories without having to scroll down each time!

- New contact form that makes it easier to report issues and comments to the right people! By selecting the correct topic, the person responsible for that subject receives your email right away.

- A new complete Sitemap! Lost? Click the sitemap for a complete listing of every link on the site. The listing automatically updates with any new Categories or Sub-Categories we add to the site.

- All new approval system. When a tutorial is approved, it’s moved to the go live queue and a new tutorial is approved every 30 minutes. So your tutorial is guaranteed at least 5 hours on the main page once it’s released from the queue!

- An all new dead link system that will allow us to correct dead link issues MUCH faster!

- Detailed submission results! When you submit tutorials, the new output system will give you a detailed breakdown of your submission so you can easily correct errors when you submit.

- Over 250 pages of code have been reduced to 60! Aside from the database, this entire site is a re-code from the ground up!

- Source Site Search! This great new tool lets you search for a particular domain name, and the results will show you which tutorial categories are associated with the domains that match the query, AND whether or not those domains are active in the index or are marked as dead links and are not listed in the live index pages.

- Ever wonder what people are looking for when they come to Pixel2life.com? Well you don't have to wonder anymore, because with our new Tutorial Search Statistics page, you can check out the top 30 search terms on Pixel2life.com, and even narrow it down by category and by either single keyword, or search phrase!

- Improved voting has been added throughout the site! You can now vote on POTW and SOTW (Pic of the Week and Site of the Week) submissions and you can only vote once per tutorial to help prevent voting abuse.

- A new and improved newsletter has been created! Sign up to our monthly newsletter and receive great monthly updates put together by our staff!

- Full page forums! The forums now use the entire width of the site, so you can post bigger images without a resize and read content a bit easier.

So that’s a general new feature list and I’m sure I’m forgetting some that Jay will correct me on pretty soon This is an effort consisting of hundreds of hours and MANY sacrifices and I can not thank Jay enough for the EXTREMELY hard work he has put into this, and continues to deliver as we work on new features for Pixel2life.com. Thank you so very much Jay... without you, none of the dream I call the P2L Network would have been this much of a reality. I personally thank you as do the thousands of people that enjoy the site each and every day.

I would also like to thank Donna for her complete re-organization of the forums and contributing TONS of imput to this project! HUGE thanks to her and the rest of the staff that have helped us throughout the site's existance!

So that’s it folks! Go check it out and please provide us as much feedback as you can!!!

Faken

#2 Donna

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 07:55 PM

Wow am almost in tears of happiness here its awesome

Huge Congrats to you both be proud, lost for words lol but I have watched it for months and now its live its so kewl.

Jay go grab a Pizza and take a well deserved break, YOU ROCK!!!!

Dan its full steam ahead, wtg your dream became a reality ;)

#3 TwyLight

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 07:59 PM

It is sooo cool, and yes I AM HERE ;) great job :D I LOVE IT! <3 <3 <3 <3
(3:05 here now :o)

#4 Jamie Huskisson

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 07:59 PM

*eats a mars bar and does a jig*

i think dan sed it all really in that announcement ;)

Please report bugs here and don't post them in this topic, i hate bad feedback lol

*takes a bow*

<3

#5 Dabu

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:00 PM

w00000000t

#6 dEcade

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:00 PM

Wooooooooooo Awesome Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I love it!!!

dEcade

#7 Hoot

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:00 PM

*claps* WHOOO looks awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoot

Edited by Hoot, 21 February 2006 - 10:41 AM.


#8 Sicloan

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:01 PM

Awsome work Jay!!! looks great.

#9 Blitz

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:02 PM

Wow, this's crazily great! Thanks to all le p2l staff!

What's the adbot?

#10 JaYmAn

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:02 PM

nice, nice.. i ;) you all.

#11 Lexxer

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:03 PM

Its just so... ;) Kick ass....great job on it.

#12 Jamie Huskisson

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:03 PM

adbot is simply ads within the forum posts to help support the site

#13 John^

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:04 PM

aha wow this is great i love it woOOhOoO! ;) <3 <3

#14 Zero-X

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:04 PM

yeah, i like it...but the header is very boring <3...no, its very great....good job <3 <3 ;)

#15 r4zor

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:07 PM

very very nice

#16 Kev

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:07 PM

vn jay and others who worked on it. how can i get adbot for my site also?

#17 Bengo

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:11 PM

Dude, so fucking awsome man.

#18 TwyLight

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:11 PM

vn jay and others who worked on it. how can i get adbot for my site also?

Dude, lets celebrate, and NOT ask how to get adbot to? ;)

#19 eVoGre3n

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:11 PM

Very nice job Jay and P2l Staff, lovin it ;) <3

#20 Chaos King

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Posted 02 May 2005 - 08:13 PM

NICE

This is hot!!!

<3 <3 <3 <3




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