In the half-year that the Ajika has had the website, we have made tremendous progress. In reorganizing under the page format, the website’s navigation was made much simpler and content was grouped by type rather than publishing date. This has been a tremendous boon. Additionally, the modification of content bundles from Updates to Expeditions has been a success as well. However, we can—and hopefully will—be better. This is not to say that we will be abandoning the Expedition format; our analyses show that while the first Expedition was on par with previous Updates, the second Expedition has been a tremendous success.
But what will we be better at? To answer that question first we should—no—must discuss what we think is wrong. When we set out to revamp the website, and this has likely been an issue with the website for years, we looked to what we knew as familiar models: wiki-like information resources for media. These were websites that catered to video game franchises, movies, and literary media. However, all of these sites exist to be secondary to existing standalone media. Therein lies the problem.
The media this site serves is on the site. Hence, there is a problem with having a site that presents itself and navigates as otherwise. Apart from some relatively short-term and small-scale navigational fixes such as reorganizing the home page and menu, this is going to be a long-term fix to have a proper content stream. We do not know all of the steps we are going to take to remedy the problem, but here are a few:
- Reorganize the home page to more clearly redirect those new to the site, and those who have read through the new guide to appropriate places
- Reorganize the menu to better fit the home page and new directions
- Rewrite and reorganize the Plot-Arc hub and sub-pages
- Reorganize several existing books that fit in currently established Plot-Arcs
- Move towards publishing of new writing for currently established Plot-Arcs
- For new and existing writing, appropriate artwork to accompany text on book pages
- Increase use of existing methods of internal navigation such as relevant article galleries, and make clearer the conditions for their use on articles.
Some of these steps are easier than others and will likely happen first, and it is likely that several are partially undertaken concurrently. As mentioned earlier, we may develop additional ideas to be clearer and provide better content, but this plan going forward takes into account content we already produce. You may have noticed that we have already changed the website’s theme/design. Some article formatting will have to be reconsidered in light of this, but the change makes possible a more dynamic home page and generally simplifies design. We believe it also improves text legibility.
Rest assured that Expeditions will continue to be our way to release content, and as they prove to be quality and clear examples of directing readers around the website, we look to simplify and clear up the experience outside of the Expeditions as well. Please stay tuned to the social media pages of facebook and twitter to be apprised of changes as they happen, otherwise Baic will explain changes made the previous week during forecasts.
Skeli'n Studios 