It is with great joy that I announce the completion of the Blue's News
responsive redesign and the launch of the ad-free version of the site for our
supporters. Though conversion of the news pages was done a while ago, the
responsive forums were a temporary fix, and they are now
properly mobile-friendly as well. Please join me in thanking Kxmode and Frans
for all the hard work they put into this project, as it took a lot more time and
effort than you might imagine to drag our 20+ year old code into the present.
The entire site including the forums should now properly scale to any mobile
device. Whether you visit the forums with your desktop or mobile you'll also
notice some visual improvements and changes, including the use of new icons for
some functions that I think turned out great. Frans made
this forum post with complete patch notes and other information about what's
new and different.
As I say, this also marks the launch of the promised ad-free
version of the site for our backers. Ads are now off by default for supporters,
though you can opt to turn them back on through your
user settings.
As Frans explains in
his post about the news, we are carefully monitoring the impact of this on
the server. There's a chance ads will have to resume for all on the main page if
the load is too much, but so far this has not been a problem. We have plans to
upgrade the server hardware fairly soon, so if we're forced to revert the
ad-free code it will return on the new server. These changes also mark the end
of founder's program, which will conclude tomorrow, so if you want to have the
coveted founder's status as part of your profile or have been waiting for
supporters to receive native ad-free viewing, now's the time jump in and
become a backer. To
all of you who do back the site, here is another huge thank you, especially
considering these tough times. Ad revenue has fallen off a cliff lately, so your
contributions are more vital than ever to help keep the lights on here.
Responsive Links
Thanks Ant and Neutronbeam.
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