Ok.. so.. the new website is here.

I spent a lot of time going over different ideas and different CMS and forum software (and I even wrote one myself) but couldn't find something that was more suitable than our current CMS (Drupal for those who want to know).

So, I stripped everything out till we got back to just the barebones and added in just a little.
The idea is that the site is now driven via the "Calendar" and its events - and every user's own "blog".
I'll go over these in a bit of detail in a minute...

If you're reading this, then you'll know we also have a forum, but it's only ONE forum.
The reason was that many of you stated there were too many forums in the old one, and you were
never sure which was the right one, or what do to etc... so now we have just the one, it should be a little easier on everyone :)
(It'll also make it more likely people will read the posts in it!)

Before the changes, we had set areas for IC and OOC posts.. now (as hopefully you would have noticed) we simply ask that any and all OOC (Out Of Character) threads are prefixed with (OOC) in the subject line (see the subject of this post for an example!).
Simple eh? :)

If more forums are needed or requested, then we can look at expanding, but for now, we'll employ the KISS principle ;)

Next are the blogs...
These are exactly that, your characters own blog, or journal. How and if you use this is completely up to you.
Ideally, we'd like to see them written IC (In Character), perhaps as a way of recording your characters activities and adventures within the game.
As an example, please take a gander at my own blog entry regarding the last Troll Deed rampage we participated in..

Finally, the Calendar.
This is the biggest, and most important part of the site. Here you WILL find all of the planned events and activities for the kin.

All officers can and will be adding events to the calendar on a regular basis.
If you are not an officer, but would like an event listed, simply send an in-game mail to any one of the officers and they'll set it up for you. (The reason we ask for in-game mail is two-fold: 1. No need to know peoples email addresses & 2. If you mail them, they cant forget or get mistaken!)

Once an event has been added to the calendar, every member has a few options they can do.
The first is adding comments and discussions to events - simply click on a day or an event and you will see any comments people have made about the event and even add your own (again, as per the forum rule, please prefix any OOC text with (OOC)).

The second is "Signup". This allows you to register yourself as "attending" an event.
This allows the officer / member running the event to guage interest in it, as well as vastly improve the organisation of the event!

Signing up couldn't be easier! The whole right-side of the website is solely devoted to events. As and when events are created, you'll see a couple of lists appear over there : "Available Signups", "Current Signups", "Upcoming Events" (as well as small version of the "Calendar" itself).

The "Available Signups" list will contain a clickable link for all of the upcoming events you have not already signed up for (except those you have chosen to ignore, or have no spaces left).
Clicking the link will display the event details for you, and provide you with the option to "Sign up".

The "Current Signups" list contains a clickable list of all the events you have already signed up to (except those in the past).
Clicking the link will again display the event details for you, but this time it'll give you the option to remove your "Signup".

Finally, the "Upcoming Events" list is exactly what it sounds like - a list of all the events that are within the near future (whether you can sign up or not).
As per the other lists, clicking the link will display that events details and a list of people currently signed up.

If you want to see a bigger version of the calendar, with all the event names and details written within it, you've got a "Calendar" link within the menu structure over on the left side of the page. Clicking this will do exactly that.

And that's about it.

We are planning to make MAJOR usage of this website now, especially the calendar system. So please ensure you signup and have a playaround.
If you have any comments or questions, please post away.