OtakuElite Online has made many accomplishments in the year 2011! The goal of 2011 was to continue to push forth for site awareness and social networking. As a result a slue of social media outlets were added to the site. With that said I bring to you the
Webmaster Blog for 2011 raw and uncut! Grammar and spelling goofs included!
The site as of the end of 2010
At the end of 2010, the android application had lunch along with the anime character database. As well the site had finished being upgraded to the 3.0 design. The design was to enforce a fixed layout which allowed for adding new features at ease without
having to worry about the constraints of users' browsers.
In 2010 the site was still in the early developmental phases with minimal content. As the year ended there was much to be done on the site.
2011 goals and features
Beginning in early 2011 a decision was made to take a break from adding normal site feature to do some out reach projects. These projects included the Android & Facebook application along with the mobile site. Once these projects were complete the
focus was brought back to upgrading the site.
Mobile Site
The first mobile site was completed in 2011. This site was basic, and still is basic, to allow users who didn't have an android phone to access the site. The downside of the mobile site is the limited accessibly to user features. The site had minimal
user interaction and severed mainly as a "static" reference for users.
Facebook Application
With the completion of the mobile site and Android site a decision was made to focus on creating a Facebook application. The Facebook application was designed to allow users to browse the database directly from the OtakuElite Facebook page as well as
install the application on their pages as well!
Anime Database 2.0 for Android
After the completion of the first Android Application there was a huge void. The program was buggy and didn't really feel right. It was a great first attempt at an android application but there was still much to be done! As a result a complete overhaul of the
application was done and Anime Database 2.0 was born! The application included image advancements, more advanced filters, a cleaner interface, and paging of results.
OtakuEliteTweet
As an attempt to continue with social networking OtakuElite created an official twitter account! The purpose of this feature was to allow users to see daily tweets showing that the site was alive and well! The concept was to allow visiting to feel that their
time would not be wasted by contributing to the site!
OtakuElite 4.0
After Anime Database 2.0 there was a huge void on the site. With a new slick android application it felt like it was time to start working on a brand new polished version of the site! The site was still using an out dated fixed 800 pixel layout. A decision
was made to increase the width of the site while stripping away the ugly colors of the prior layout. After days of research of color schemes, design attributes, and logos, the 4th design phase started!
The objective of the 4.0 design was to remove excess overhead on the site and improve overall performance. As a result prior versions of the AJAX Control Toolkit were stripped out of the site and replaced by JQuery controls. JavaScript offered much faster
results and did not have the lag that sever side controls used. As well images were compressed using Smush.it. Smush.it allowed for multiple database images to be compressed to a much smaller size without lowering the quality. This helped increase performance
and speed around the site! Images were about 25% smaller in download speeds! This was an extremely important feature for the mobile applications.
As an outreach for speed and fluid designs a new image uploaded and text adder was added to the site. After a lot of consideration a decision was made to use TinyMCE and Plupload on the site. These tools appeared to be the top in the industry. Many well known
sites around the web were using these tools.
With the design changes a new focus was set on upgrading the character search page. The new search page would include having filters at a fixed location on the left side of the page, while simplifying the user interface. The filters were designed to be quick
and easy to use. Another decision was made to use a "feel instant" approach to the site. By using JQuery updates to the database were now one way. Eliminating half of the server's call backs. This once again improved performance and increased the enjoyment
of the site. The downside of this was not knowing 100% of your updates went through. To get around this prompts were added to the lower right of the site to inform users that the server was still updating. Plus if the user left the page immediately after submitting
an update the server would still process the request. So far this process seems much more effective!
Crunchyroll
In 2009 OtakuElite started added videos from Hulu to the site. The problem was that these videos were slow to search through and very limited as to who could access them. Another issue was there were no real features. It was a "legit hack job" to say
the least. And it was an outstanding feature at the time, but offered poor service. As a result attempts were made to sign up for a media feed with Hulu. Being a small site, Hulu ignored the request.
Continuing to look for a video partner features were added in 2009 for YouTube, but once again this was very limited and poorly done. Joost videos were also added, but all videos on Joost were already on YouTube and Hulu. Around that time Crunchyroll started
to become more and more popular and I had started to move away from Hulu and just use Crunchyroll as my sole source of anime entertainment. Crunchyroll had also had a rich connection with the anime community! Being an anime driven site a decision was made
to attempt to become a partner with Crunchy.
While working on the new design layout, OtakuElite was approved! This was a huge advancement for the site! The following month was spent creating a brand new video page! The old design was poorly done and had limited content. It was horrible! The new video
page finally had full length episodes that could be sorted by series and episode number. There was still a problem with Crunchyroll though, it was still very limited when it came to accessing video data. As a result several tools were added to offer a much
faster and richer experience. It also caused the database to blow up in size!
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a dirty term to many web developers. The truth is it's extremely important, but some people follow the dark side of SEO, while others embrace it for all it's glory. Thanks to Matt Cutts the SEO guru of Google a ton of changes were made to the
site! Links were restructured along with images to help search engines properly index pages. SEO Optimization, YSlow, Smush.it, JQuery, and W3C were just a few of the tools used to update the site behind the scenes! As far as SEO? You'll learn that most of
it comes down to common sense and not being lazy!
CSS 3.0
After years of wanting to make the switch, OtakuElite finally jumped on board. The site has moved up to the latest technologies embracing 3.0. CSS 3.0 allowed for more vibrate content and simplified coding. Improved CSS practices improved the overall
quality and organization of the site. Of course, organization is not easy with CSS! As a result some changes are coming up in 2012.
New Logo
While mentioned briefly before, one of the biggest changes to the site was the new logo! It took months, and I do mean months, researching logos to come up with something catchy. It had to be simple, easy to remember, and captured a broad audience. OtakuElite
had already been using an "Eye" as the focus on the site. Eyes in anime have always been an important part of the culture. It's probably one of the most distinguishing features that separates anime from other forms of animation. I wanted to use the eye to
represent the site. As a site focused on educating people on anime I felt the eye was a perfect fit.
Like most great things, the logo was discovered accidentally. The original logo was going to be designed with the eye lash above the logo, but when in the middle of positioning the eye on top of the logo I had placed it on top of the O in OtakuElite, and it
just meshed beautify. I instantly knew I had found my new logo!
Outreach
On March 18th 2011 Japan was hit with a major earth quake and tsunami that killed thousands. I was on my way to work when I learned the news and was completely divested. I haven't felt a sense of shock like it since 9/11. As I mentioned in my post
that day, Japan has always been considered a second home to me. I like most in the anime community have come to not only love anime and manga, but Japan itself. The hardships met by Japan were like no other. To this day I worry about those hurt by the tsunami
and hope all of you keep them in your heart. 10 days after the earthquake OtakuElite donated $500.00 toward relief efforts.
NYAF 2011
After attending my first anime convention in 2010 I had made the decision to start a small marketing campaign. 250 totes were ordered with OtakuElite's logo along with some fillers. This was the first marketing campaign for the site! It was a huge success,
but was too small scale to make a major impact. The success was that the totes were all handed out in less than 5 minutes! Next year in 2012 there will probably 500 totes, which will be larger in size and without the postcard flyers and bookmarks. Three things
were learned with that campaign. Simplicity, targeting, and people love free sh*t!
2012!
So with 2011 gone, where do we stand in 2012? 2012's theme will be to continue outreach, but with a new focus on renewal. With that said the following is planed for 2012! (Keep in mind these may change!)
Complete Layout 4.0
There are still a ton of pages left to be updated! As mentioned in prior posts the entire site will be revamped with the new layout!
Anime Database 3.0 for Android
With the huge success of the anime character database the android app will be revamped to now include the character database! The database will also include several other features. At this time it's not certain of all of the features. One feature that
is really needed is to allow users to start accessing their lists from the mobile app.
Mobile Site 2.0
The mobile site will be completely revamped to include a new layout a richer content. As well the anime character database will be added to the site.
Person/Music Database
Two new databases are expected to be added this year once the other features have been upgraded. The music database will allow users to add opening and ending themes to the site while being able to look up information on their favorite bands and artists.
This will be a major task and there is no set time frame. Hopefully this will be completed this year, but there are no promises.
Social Tools
For a long time I've been wanting to add widgets! I actually want to add an entire developer's page to the site. I want other site owners to be able to easily add features and have access to the database. I would love to be able to do an XML page to
allow other sites to connect to the database. There is one problem, I don't want other sites stealing the entire database! So until a way to prevent that is done, XML plugins will be postponed.
Other tools expected to be added is Facebook connected. Though I'm starting to debate between Facebook and Twitter for registration purposes. I love the simplistic and creativity of twitter. Twitter adds more to a unique online identify, while Facebook is
more about connecting to friends and family.
In closing
2011 has been a great year! I did a lot more than I thought I did! I was fearing that I wouldn't have anything to write about, but I'm really surprised how much was done in a year! Now I just have to find a way to pull myself away from Skyrim and focus
on the site more. It's StarCraft 2 all over again!
Also to briefly mention, 2012 will also focus heavily on the Anime Character Database. It's probably going to become one of the most important features on the site. With this said, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I wish everyone the best of luck!
And don't worry, if this year sucks, we'll all die in December anyway! Just kidding! Come December 2012 we'll just be waiting on the next doomsday. Maybe Harold Camping will come up with something else for us!
Your friendly webmaster,
Nyo
PS: I want to thank everyone who has put forth their time and effort to the site! Without you guys I couldn't have done it! And it's because of everyone that I will continue to put forth my best efforts in this coming year! <3