For some of you regular visitors you probably noticed the newly improved Lolwp. I’m a noob when it comes to design and coding but after about 2 weeks of hard work I managed to piece it all together. Since the new look is live for almost 24 hours now without a hitch, it’s safe to say it’s here to stay.
I won’t even post a screenshot of how the old site looked, because I’m hoping you’ll just forget about it (I called it WebEloHell). Frankly it was awful and this change was absolutely necessary, and my only regret is not doing it sooner. Since my web-making skills are poor as I mentioned I do sincerely hope you like the new version.
What’s new?
- Champions can now be browsed alphabetically in the navigation menu just below the header. That should make finding your favorite champion a lot easier and faster. Old navigation was different on certain pages so it took awhile to get used to it.
- Site’s colors are (in my opinion) better and more consistent across the entire site. There might be some changes to it in the future, we’ll see about that.
- When viewing a single image within a champion gallery you’ll also be able to access any other image in the same gallery with just one click. For example if you open Feral Warwick you can see thumbnails for all Warwick images in the sidebar. On the old theme you had to click the “Back” button or find the “Warwick” gallery somewhere else in the clumsy navigation which obviously wasn’t ideal.
- I also cleaned up the site and especially sidebar overall so you only see the most relevant and important stuff now. I might add something like “Recently uploaded” or “Featured images” to the sidebar in the future to help you find even more great artwork.
- New design also looks better and more consistent across different browsers. There are still issues with Internet Explorer (particularly older versions like IE8) but that may never be resolved. If the layout is broken in your browser you are more than welcome to contact me and I’ll see if I can fix it, but if you’re using a 5 year old browser you might consider upgrading it.
- New theme also makes it easier to showcase great artwork and its creators. More about that soon!
- I also made some custom improvements to a super-secret page I’m hoping nobody will ever see. If you can figure it out you know who’s fault it is so type the culprit’s name in the comments below and I’ll believe you :).
That being said, despite the new theme the site still has some background limitations due to my poor decisions and laziness back when I started this little project. Unfortunately manually uploading well over 1,000 images and adding descriptions again would require a gigantic amount of time and patience. I’d love nothing more than to implement features such as filtering images by resolution, but honestly that day may never come.
I will also try and test some advertisements in the coming weeks, so in the unlikely event the site earns a few bucks I’ll happily hire someone who knows what they are doing and see if some of my ideas can come to life. If not at least you’ll get more RP and skin codes, so it’s a win-win.
Just in case you hadn’t noticed I already did a few giveaways on Facebook and Twitter with RP cards and skin codes so I recommend you follow Lolwp there: usually it’s on a first-come-first-serve basis so you’ll want to snatch them as soon as I post it. In the last month I gave away 4 Arcade Sona skin codes and a $10 RP card code, and I’m hoping it’ll only increase in the future. If you want to participate in these contests and giveaways you know what you need to do. To paraphrase Deman, hit the damn like button!
On a side note, if anyone happens to come across an extra skin code I’ll be thrilled if you decide to donate it. If you want to donate 10 or more skin codes I’ll also be happy to mention your website or stream as well.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. New site theme is now up and running and is definitely here to stay. I’ll continue improving the site both in looks and functionality, and your input is more than welcome. If you have suggestions or notice any problems with it feel free to contact me anytime.
