BIG CHANGES - Features and UX overhaul
Sharing!
- Sharing is now "pretty" before we didnt have any sort of thumbnails or embedded pop up when you share Dollvale's link, i forgot to add any metadata to add this, I discovered it when I shared the link in Discord and saw nothing embedded popped up >~<.. So now it shows! This will NOT overrule privacy, it takes profile and doll privacy into account, sharing the URL of a private member or doll will display "A member of the Vale" and NOT the user's bio, dolls, etc!
Homepage:
- Our index was a lot of "hey sorry we're scraping gum off tables and chewing on fake plants" and not a lot of "what you can do here" so I cleaned it up, it now has more of a feature sample feeling, displaying dolls and not filling the first homescreen with apologies about smelling bad (and being in beta).. Now you can see dolls on the Dollvale homepage, whaaat?! An incredible achievement xD!
- Features! Dolls, Members, Posts, Doll Town moments of the week are now part of the home page <3!
Shoutbox:
- I've always loved shoutboxes on websites, but i realized you can only access the shoutbox from the index and forum page, so i gave it its own dedicated shoutbox page so conversations dont have to stop when you leave the homepage >:3! ((Default "whatever this is" icon is accross all icon set themes until artist completes the new icon!))
Dolls:
- Family/lineage! We already had a doll family tree, but it was so hidden, no one knew it was there, but if you add relationships to your dolls, a family tree/lineage is formed, so now its visible and you can see at a top down view how big your doll's world/family has branched out and grown! (this retained privacy! If i am family with a hidden member's doll, you will NOT see that hidden member's doll on the family tree)
- There is now a dedicated [Vale Lineage](https://staging.dollvale.net/vale_lineages) page where you can see the families/relationships of the Vale! This is the place to show off your doll's relationships, families, large mafia related pizza crime syndicate, or anything at all! It goes accross collections, so if I have a doll thats married to someone elses doll, it will show in the lineage (as long as that member is public and not private of course, we respect privacy consent here y'all!)
- WORLDS!!! I realized that relationships might not really be enough for people that have giant all encompassing worlds that extend to other peoples dollies, so Worlds is where you can create a World, a Space, where dolls of all collections can join, you can create a space named "TidalWave of the Gods" and you and your friends can put all your awesome characters (dollies) in there in one space, without having to push them into the relationship in order to link them! The world shows up on their profile as "Lives in: worldname" so theyre still linked together, but youre now not forced to select a relationship to link them! ((Default "whatever this is" icon is accross all icon set themes until artist completes the new icon!))
- Timelines! You can now add a full timeline of events to your doll's page, when they got home, when they got a faceup, when they got some new hot shoes, when they got a manicure, when they ate their first uncooked meat from a dare, when they were released from the hospital from said dare xD!
Security:
- Im sorry, im just one person, i did not test the stability of folder directory structure and the .htaccess allowed folder lurking, this was not an open gate of information, this wasnt a breach of security, this was a fix in the .htaccess to ensure directories and subdirectories cant just be pushed into (a pre-emtive fix!)
Navigation:
- The nav bar was getting a little silly in size 9 standard base and 4 more for user specific, so i put it in a grouped rail (if this is bad or uncomfortable UX, please let me know and I will try a different way to organize the UI/Navigation!)
Marketplace:
- Added an extra layer of verification and security to the marketplace, Users must now have a account 14 days or older, 4 unique forum posts (across multiple days, cannot have all 4 on the same day), and have a verified account to even see the username of the marketplace poster - this is to prevent scammers, bots, and underaged buyers that cannot legally make purchases.
Forums:
- Condensed the forum down so it doesnt feel as much like a ghost town
Admins:
- We can now see ID numbers on pretty URL pages so we dont have to fight long workarounds to get the information for featuring in the Admin panel >:3
Users:
- Badges! Unlockable little profile badges for accomplishements <3! ((Temporary art until we can commission some real ones, sorry for the lopsided mess lol))
Doll Town:
- Rehauled the UX, it was confusing how to get started at first, but now im hoping it makes more sense and is easier to understand and read and navigate!
- Sharing is now "pretty" before we didnt have any sort of thumbnails or embedded pop up when you share Dollvale's link, i forgot to add any metadata to add this, I discovered it when I shared the link in Discord and saw nothing embedded popped up >~<.. So now it shows! This will NOT overrule privacy, it takes profile and doll privacy into account, sharing the URL of a private member or doll will display "A member of the Vale" and NOT the user's bio, dolls, etc!
Homepage:
- Our index was a lot of "hey sorry we're scraping gum off tables and chewing on fake plants" and not a lot of "what you can do here" so I cleaned it up, it now has more of a feature sample feeling, displaying dolls and not filling the first homescreen with apologies about smelling bad (and being in beta).. Now you can see dolls on the Dollvale homepage, whaaat?! An incredible achievement xD!
- Features! Dolls, Members, Posts, Doll Town moments of the week are now part of the home page <3!
Shoutbox:
- I've always loved shoutboxes on websites, but i realized you can only access the shoutbox from the index and forum page, so i gave it its own dedicated shoutbox page so conversations dont have to stop when you leave the homepage >:3! ((Default "whatever this is" icon is accross all icon set themes until artist completes the new icon!))
Dolls:
- Family/lineage! We already had a doll family tree, but it was so hidden, no one knew it was there, but if you add relationships to your dolls, a family tree/lineage is formed, so now its visible and you can see at a top down view how big your doll's world/family has branched out and grown! (this retained privacy! If i am family with a hidden member's doll, you will NOT see that hidden member's doll on the family tree)
- There is now a dedicated [Vale Lineage](https://staging.dollvale.net/vale_lineages) page where you can see the families/relationships of the Vale! This is the place to show off your doll's relationships, families, large mafia related pizza crime syndicate, or anything at all! It goes accross collections, so if I have a doll thats married to someone elses doll, it will show in the lineage (as long as that member is public and not private of course, we respect privacy consent here y'all!)
- WORLDS!!! I realized that relationships might not really be enough for people that have giant all encompassing worlds that extend to other peoples dollies, so Worlds is where you can create a World, a Space, where dolls of all collections can join, you can create a space named "TidalWave of the Gods" and you and your friends can put all your awesome characters (dollies) in there in one space, without having to push them into the relationship in order to link them! The world shows up on their profile as "Lives in: worldname" so theyre still linked together, but youre now not forced to select a relationship to link them! ((Default "whatever this is" icon is accross all icon set themes until artist completes the new icon!))
- Timelines! You can now add a full timeline of events to your doll's page, when they got home, when they got a faceup, when they got some new hot shoes, when they got a manicure, when they ate their first uncooked meat from a dare, when they were released from the hospital from said dare xD!
Security:
- Im sorry, im just one person, i did not test the stability of folder directory structure and the .htaccess allowed folder lurking, this was not an open gate of information, this wasnt a breach of security, this was a fix in the .htaccess to ensure directories and subdirectories cant just be pushed into (a pre-emtive fix!)
Navigation:
- The nav bar was getting a little silly in size 9 standard base and 4 more for user specific, so i put it in a grouped rail (if this is bad or uncomfortable UX, please let me know and I will try a different way to organize the UI/Navigation!)
Marketplace:
- Added an extra layer of verification and security to the marketplace, Users must now have a account 14 days or older, 4 unique forum posts (across multiple days, cannot have all 4 on the same day), and have a verified account to even see the username of the marketplace poster - this is to prevent scammers, bots, and underaged buyers that cannot legally make purchases.
Forums:
- Condensed the forum down so it doesnt feel as much like a ghost town
Admins:
- We can now see ID numbers on pretty URL pages so we dont have to fight long workarounds to get the information for featuring in the Admin panel >:3
Users:
- Badges! Unlockable little profile badges for accomplishements <3! ((Temporary art until we can commission some real ones, sorry for the lopsided mess lol))
Doll Town:
- Rehauled the UX, it was confusing how to get started at first, but now im hoping it makes more sense and is easier to understand and read and navigate!