We've been so busy lately, the Blog's been left a bit cold. A quick update is in order to say a big thank you to all GameSquat's users in 2008 and best wishes for 2009!
We working real hard on some big updates due early in the new year and other cool new stuff planned throughout 2009. Keep it Squat and have a good holiday!
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
YAHOO!
Following our Apple Widget and Vista Gadget, we've just released our 3rd Widget, this time for the YAHOO! platform.
(GameSquat's YAHOO! widget)
The new widget is a faithful replica of our popular Apple Widget but is compatible with any Mac or PC running the YAHOO! widget engine.
Get a copy and have a play. Keep checking GameSquat's widgets page for future updates and new tools - there's plenty more to come!
(GameSquat's YAHOO! widget)
The new widget is a faithful replica of our popular Apple Widget but is compatible with any Mac or PC running the YAHOO! widget engine.
Get a copy and have a play. Keep checking GameSquat's widgets page for future updates and new tools - there's plenty more to come!
Monday, 1 December 2008
Feedback
Last week we took a break from coding and testing the new features of GameSquat we've been working so hard on during November and had a little downtime.
Downtime in this case meant spotting common threads in the feedback we get from you guys regarding the site and seeing what we could do to improve things - here's the fruits of our labour.
The site uses a few dialogues of this type to describe various GUI elements, when shown it seems folks thought they weren't clear enough so we've designed a new format that all future dialogues of this type will follow. Feeling is that the new look makes things work better.
(New Helper Dialogues)
'Clicking a screen shot on the home page should take me straight to a game' - The new site wide 'screen shot zoom' feature has been well recived but seems some users were clicking a screen shot on the home page expecting to be taken straight to the game, instead they were of course presented with our screen shot carousel.
Our options for a fix were limited to removing the new screen shot zoom feature that we worked so hard on... yikes!
Like most of these things the answer was simple - provide a user with a link to play the game within the screen shot carousel itself, job done. We also added the game's developer an rating within the carousel too making the info it provides even more useful.
(New Screen Shot Carousel)
'How long do I have to stare at your loading window before I can play a game' - Seems the window advertising our sponsor that's displayed just before a game is loaded has frustrated some of our users.
Busted - its an area of the site that we have paid little attention to, its inner workings are dark and mysterious and known only to a few.
We got to work fixing things by giving the area a fresh lick of paint. Loading is now conveyed with a progress bar, delivered in the time honored tradition. A new title bar cleans things up and completes the new look. Personally I think it's a nice improvement to the site.
(New Loading Window)
Thanks for all your feedback. Keep it squat.
Downtime in this case meant spotting common threads in the feedback we get from you guys regarding the site and seeing what we could do to improve things - here's the fruits of our labour.
The site uses a few dialogues of this type to describe various GUI elements, when shown it seems folks thought they weren't clear enough so we've designed a new format that all future dialogues of this type will follow. Feeling is that the new look makes things work better.
(New Helper Dialogues)
'Clicking a screen shot on the home page should take me straight to a game' - The new site wide 'screen shot zoom' feature has been well recived but seems some users were clicking a screen shot on the home page expecting to be taken straight to the game, instead they were of course presented with our screen shot carousel.
Our options for a fix were limited to removing the new screen shot zoom feature that we worked so hard on... yikes!
Like most of these things the answer was simple - provide a user with a link to play the game within the screen shot carousel itself, job done. We also added the game's developer an rating within the carousel too making the info it provides even more useful.
(New Screen Shot Carousel)
'How long do I have to stare at your loading window before I can play a game' - Seems the window advertising our sponsor that's displayed just before a game is loaded has frustrated some of our users.
Busted - its an area of the site that we have paid little attention to, its inner workings are dark and mysterious and known only to a few.
We got to work fixing things by giving the area a fresh lick of paint. Loading is now conveyed with a progress bar, delivered in the time honored tradition. A new title bar cleans things up and completes the new look. Personally I think it's a nice improvement to the site.
(New Loading Window)
Thanks for all your feedback. Keep it squat.
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