I've been begging for a total revamp of the site for a few months now. I'm looking for a centered justified look instead of left aligned. People aren't running1024x768 anymore. Hell my phone is running 1920x1200. I'd like an em based system so the site stretches to accommodate people's varying monitor resolutions. This site still screams 2002.

if you build it they will come...

http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/content/forum/showmessage.cds?id=118258&page;=1

Revamping this entire site is easier said than done. Everything is coded from scratch. It's not like those phpbb sites where it's simple.

Last I thought I heard, the mods where expecting the revamped site to go live some time last year. Things are just taking a little longer than expected.

The next major overhaul of the site (V.8) is being worked on. I know it's been a long time coming, but we are a lot closer than we've been. In the mean time we will continue to roll out minor updates to this theme like the new theme images. I'm on my mobile device but somewhere on this forum is the feedback thread. Now is the time to leave your feedback. I don't want to say when we it will be done, as honestly it depends on a few things, but my personal goal is to launch sometime this year.

Regardless, it is coming. You have my word.

Here is the feedback thread! You can post suggestions there.

Thanks! And obviously we will utilize today's standard of screen space. Also to add to a remark earlier we are rewriting the code from scratch so V8 isn't just a flashy new theme. Some V8 code is already in place for site administration purposes. Once the backend is done, then we paint the new purdy outside. That's the easy part.

Don't hold your breath anyhow, it has been said over and over since a very long time. Anyway, what the fuck are you doing checking MKO on your cellphone? Computers are there for that.

Oh I was just joining in on the discussion, I wasn't sure the revamp was that close at hand.

Then again I only Konw XML and CSS outright. if you dont mind my asking, what languages does this site utilize? I'd like to do this sort of thing myself someday.

These threads popup periodically and as I've fairly definitively ended my tenure as a staff member on the site, I feel more comfortable rejoining the community in discourse and opinion about these things. Really, I think we can all observe the state of the site fairly readily, and if you understand that there are legitimate scripting obstacles, you know a massive hard reboot of the design is a big ask. That said, there are some tidbits that have probably gone unnoticed, and some less flattering myths that could be busted...

Personally, I'm of the opinion that MKO's bigger issues are about quality of work and maintenance. As another member since MK5.org (circa '99), one of my most consistent criticisms over the last decade-plus is the fact that things tend to rely heavily on the message board. Modern games have helped give the front page a jolt every couple of years, but content has never been all that strong on the site. I was hoping to have a positive effect on that, but there are a lot of obstacles on the staff side of MKO that require a lot of dedication to accept, ignore, and partake in. I felt I contributed to a noticeable shift in perspective and quality, but it's crumbled pretty quickly and pretty devastatingly, (but I digress...)

For my money, MKO still works pretty well, and with some more tasteful adjustments to use of colour (in the custom layouts) and those orientation fixes (centre it up, put firm borders in place), I think it'd be doing just fine.


This is a no brainer and obviously naturally leads to that issue of content.
The less flattering myth of MKO's stagnancy is that there's an undeniable component of complacency and apathy. It might take a little bit of extra effort, but there are definite, obvious updates that can be easily made.

I'd personally really like people to know that there indeed was a long overdue plan in place to get game sections integrated into the site. For me, this was part of a bit of a halcyon period where the rest of the staff had gotten quite quiet, and I felt I was able to fulfill the Senior Editor role with access finally granted to do so, even though I'd grumpily and melodramatically rejected it some months earlier. I went down very hard with the flu for a week and a half, which meant things got pretty well derailed, leading to now, and the incomplete status of such.

http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/content/games/mk2011/test.cds

For the time being, you can see the test phase of the current game section as it was intended. One of those long overdue, simple updates to the site was the game menu bar, which I updated with the intention of including not only this new "MK9" sub-section, but also revamped versions of the other existing game pages. This led to arranging access and building the basic site template for Crow's Kreate-a-Kharacter contest, and was also intended to lead directly to a Legacy sub-section, and then other media, such as the movies, and a long overdue Conquest section (which I've always wanted to see), and possibly MKO Fight Klub (depending on success). These look likely to be replaced by moderated Wiki entries, instead. Something I think is a real step down and disappointing way forward for MKO, even though it's all the rage right now, and common on less personable sites. [FYI; like V8, this development has no date, so don't start thinking MKO is becoming another Wiki tomorrow.]

The impetus of this was TonyTheTiger's desire to get basic movelists up as something of a strategy guide -- which he went to the trouble of typing out and laying out very well for construction reference -- to support the new "Strategy Zone" forum. The tangled web of things is that I think the forums have been somewhat mismanaged to really condemn that rarely utilized forum, which I had attempted to bolster with the character-specific 'superthreads' that would've worked to integrate the 2011 section further [apparent if you click on one of the available characters]. Like the rest of that forum, the status of the superthread situation has been a big question mark since lodging my departure, but I think that's another digression. Really, this is starting to look like a cry for credit for services rendered (fair enough, if you ask me), but I think it's also healthy to lift the lid on the flow on effects of running a website, and also the neurotic tangled web that lurks behind MKO, interrupting progress. This is stuff anyone savvy would've already speculated about, and/or observed.

It goes without saying that the guard through the years have done a bang-up job building a successful website and maintaining it through the years without devastating implosion. Stuff does get done, too. I was really happy to be able to initiate something as small as getting a clickable link on the front page news feature's title -- a useful and conventional detail that is the kind of little, purpose built tweak that is enough to bring MKO up to speed, and is certainly do-able. News staff also got long overdue access to HTML coding that allowed for a better sense of design on the front page -- where a more careful graphic approach was applied for a while (twin pics and headers, which Crow has picked up well). There's stuff I had nothing to do with, too, [I just can't think of any right at this moment]. ;-P

We all have to give credit and appreciation for that stuff that is done! Not to mention the drudgery of day-to-day website maintenance, which as we all know, has included hassles with servers and hosts and all of that junk. So big ups to the peeps taking care of the paperwork! *salute*

At the same time, I would stress the fact that I don't need to break ranks to talk about the observable issues as I think they exist. Complacency is the big one, leading to incomplete news, lacklustre editorial communication, a lack of content (possibly good thing; per quality), aborted and malnourished topical forums, and the little absent layout tweaks that are routinely noticed in threads like these.


Image purely added to curb "TL;DR" and cuz it's (more of) my work.

As I scrub plans for articles, sub-sections, comic strips, more interviews, [second try] podcasts, and maybe even an MKO print project off my white board, I can't help but lament what is well within MKO's grasp, and be very frustrated that my time on staff wasn't more fruitful. MKO purports to be the "ultimate Mortal Kombat experience" -- and is arguably still the best MK website option on the web right now -- but feels utterly dedicated to being a message board fan-site. Which is well under par, I think.

It'll be reassuring to hear from anyone who feels similarly, but I know I don't necessarily represent the majority of the current clientele. Somehow, I think we all want the same thing, though. Even if some of us don't have the skills, ideas, or inclination to make it happen. At this point, I know I don't! Maybe getting it out into the public domain will help things along for someone out there.


EDIT: Oh, yeah. It'd be awesome if we could ditch the idiotic moderating (which was at least temporarily admin policy), too. Like closing topics because someone answered a facet of it, ignoring masses of threads in the wrong forums, and not allowing people to post in an appropriate topic because it fell off the first page of the forum.

I wouldn't want to come off like a disgruntled ex-employee, though, so I won't bring that up. ;-D

EDIT Aug 3: For anyone interested, I recently made an attempt to pursue the issue further, as I often did during staff status. From mismanaged forums to Evo coverage that paled in comparison to the initial announcement, I think the problems remain obvious for MKO. I'd like to think experienced people would be able to recognise this and rectify it, but instead, I'm apparently being threatened with 'personal removal' from the site by the "webmaster."

If I'm not around in the immediate future, you'll know why.
If I am to be removed in such a manner, based on these quantifiable criticisms, which don't strike me as very criminal, I would expect and formally request that the content I have generated also be removed, to follow through on what is apparently a thoughtless binary reaction.

<3 <3 <3

I must say we should emphasize some MKO Exclusive content, too.

I feel like KaK tournaments, Podcasts (Which we don't have, but would be a great idea) MKO Fight Klub, all of these things I have not seen on any other MK sites.

Instead of being a site dedicated to MK and MK only, maybe have a sidebar advertising KaK, MKOFK, maybe a new comic strip once a week.

MKO should be a place not just for MK news, but MK fun, and I do understand it already is, but for awhile, I was a lurker, and I only checked the frong page for news, and the KaK registration was in the MK2011 Forum by the time I next checked, because the news story on the tournament was gone with a new story taking it's place.

I feel like this would be a great time to add a feature which lets you browse the site's tournaments and upcoming event, which leads me to this...

I'v never been a God, Mod, or Sub-mod, so I wouldn't have the slightest clue what the rules are on this, but I think if you are on Staff, your ideas (Such as special events or podcasts) should be more welcome.

All in all, I feel like MKO is stuck in MK News mode. While you do give the community what they want, I don' think you should shy away from doing your own thing. Not just news.

I think you should embrace the idea of a fellow MK member making a comic and asking if he can show it on the front page for all to see.

Or making an MK fan film which is talked about, maybe even as an MKO exclusive, on the front page. Hell, it might be good to be listed as a producer of a fan film, because after all, everyone on MKO is nothing more but an MK fan.

I think V8 needs to be more then just an update, it needs to be an all new experience, so please, take your time, but make it worth it.

I would love to see a new MKO with all new features, and I know it takes time, so please, take all the time in the world.

In the meantime, however, I think instead of flooding the feedback thread which is for feedback on this curent version, a new thread should be started (If this is cool, I'll even start it) with everyone's realistic suggestions for V8.

Stay cool, and look into making me a Sub Mod.

This forum is actually pretty cool once you get used to the layout. It's entirely unique, everything's coded from the bottom up, which can be great sometimes, and annoying others, like implementing changes can take a ridiculous amount of time (Version 8 of MKO has been delayed more times than I like to admit).

ya i was told that ^^ ..... to be honest i like this site way more than alot of others.. and it works on my phone just fine as well. But it's nice to know it's in the works.

There's always one in every crowd... Cheers! Appreciate it!

While I like the site I think it could benefit from a thread content area much wider than it currently is.