Reorganizing the site and homepage some
Freestar Collective
This labor of love will always be a work-in-progress :)
Just wanted to share some of the latest changes already live and those coming very soon on the site.
Main Menu Updates
Those familiar with the site will notice the main header menu has changes for desktop and mobile. On both, the Mods, Discover (renamed from Community), and Dashboard sections have dropdowns/expansions to give quicker access to some areas of the site.
I moved Collections, Load Orders, and Ratings/Reviews under Mods where they belong and kept the rest under Discover. I moved Quizzes under Discover and added Trivia + Tips there as well.
The photos section, one of my favorites on the site, stays as a top-level link and one under Discover, but I may move Videos under Discover as well to keep the menu smaller initially.
Added the Big News to the Homepage
Created the new Game Updates page and featured it near the top of the homepage. My plan is to keep updating that page with follow-up releases as they make announcements. I'm sure there will be more bug fix or tuning releases. They've said there will be more content, too. The volume of preorders on PS5 certainly shows an eagerness for more Starfield. If they can add at least first-party Creations on PS5 that will certainly give them a much larger audience for more DLC expansions in the future.
Latest in the Starfield Feed Updates
The homepage feed has been busy featuring all the new content on the site plus all the new YouTube clips and Reddit posts as the community becomes reenergized with the upcoming Free Lanes update and Terran Armada DLC story expansion. I have been updating that feed a good bit to try and surface as much as I can for those that want to follow everything about Starfield. I'll continue to work to bring more items into that feed and provide a good way to consume it.
Updated Game Photos on Homepage
The game photo section, where we show only photos that have likes, now mentions the poster of the images. I also wanted to feature some of the photo tags there so they are surfaced to visitors better with a count on each.
Dashboard Management of Collections + Load Orders
I realized a bit ago there wasn't a good way to get to management of the content in a collection or load order from the dashboard, so I've updated that a good bit to surface more there and provide better access.
Video Ingestion
I've updated the site to be scanning for more Starfield content and boosting the tool I use to review those from unrecognized channels. In general, I try to filter out anything that is apparent rage-baiting content.
I've also been upgrading the tool I built to import from approved channels as I get ready to add to the list. I have a few extra channels I've been wanting to update the site to monitor more channels regularly. I just have a cap on how much I can scan YouTube per day without it costing me more. 😅
More to Come
- I want to reorganize the homepage a good bit more to bring the "Latest from the Starfield" much higher on the page. I'll probably drop the "Most Favorited Mods by Category" or move it somewhere else, and I'll combine polls and quizzes sections on the homepage.
- Add more ways to monitor for news, especially from the bigger outlets, as it releases
- Forum updates: provide a better layout, better use of flair, integrate image comment feed, fix spell check abilities from browsers, etc.
Promoting the Site
I'm basically gearing up to promote the site on r/Starfield between now and April 7. I know in the past there was quite a few disgruntled folks that tended to dominate the subreddit, but I'm hoping the influx of new Playstation players will help offset that enough to help make such a thread mostly positive. We'll see how that goes 🙂
I wanted to create an album for all the secret Wilby pics I find throughout the Settle Systems for better tracking, but I realized there's no way to upload picture if it's not uploaded to the game photo section prior. I don't want to upload all those pictures when they exist in another form already. Feels like I'm causing a congestion if I did that.
Will there be a way to upload pictures to an album without needing to upload them to the photo section beforehand?
Can't wait to see what else you have in store for this site.
I think an album for them is a great idea. I also don't mind you reuploading them to be in the game photos section. Then you can put a caption with each and tag them and link ones from BGS mods to the appropriate mod.
I do, however, think we might need some new tags for them. Got any ideas there? Maybe collectible? Easter egg? Secret?
A Secret tag will work perfectly for the hidden Mr. Wilbys. 👍 Saying that, I recall seeing a few Easter Eggs in-game, so having a tag for those for anyone finding one and wanting to share them will be helpful as well.
I added those game photo tags, so give them a try and let me know if they work for you. Also, if you can think of any others that could be useful, let me know. Thanks!
They work perfectly, thank you!
Perhaps there could be a tag for dlc to prepare for the big update?