Last month we announced that JoeUser 2 was under development.  You got a few very early mockup shots of what the site was going to look like and I talked a little bit about the improvements everyone will be able to expect.  Well, a month in and we've made some excellent progress, and we're even getting ready to start having select users test the site (more on that in a future update).

Today, I'm going to take you on a tour of the site, showing off what has been implemented so far, and what you'll be able to expect when you get your hands on the new site.  Just like the announcement article, I have screenshots to prove to you that the site is in fact real, that we are making solid progress and you WILL be getting a crack at the site soon.

The Front Page

At first glance there are a number of major differences between the two sites.  A major goal in the design of JoeUser 2 was to make the site much more visually appealing.  The current page is an intimidating wall of text that gets crammed in pretty tightly.  The new design spaces things out, tosses in some graphics and breaks up the page better, making it easier to scan and read.

Immediately you probably noticed the change to the Popular Channels section.  On the current JU, it's a series to text links at the top of the page.  JoeUser 2 however takes a different approach.  The popular channels are still calculated, but instead of it just being a link to the article list, it shows you the most recent article in that channel, and displays the author's user icon next to the story.  Much easier to read, and it even gives you a little bit of content.

Another cool change (in my opinion at least) is to the Top Users lists.

Instead of a text list, we're displaying user pictures.  Hovering your mouse over the image would tell you who the user was specifically.  We're hoping that the user icon will become the main tool in quickly establishing who wrote a particular article or comment.

Other changes to the front page include a 3-column layout, abbreviated featured article display and RSS feeds for just about everything.

User Tools

Currently, if you want to access anything related to your account, you do so via the box on your sidebar.  For JoeUser 2, we've moved those controls up to the top of the site, out of the way of the page itself so it doesn't clutter your blogging experience.  From this bar you'll access your account information, your dashboard, write new articles as well as log out from the site.

User Dashboard

You've seen a preview of this section before, but a lot of work has gone into improving the tool even further.

This is where you control your blog from.  You can write articles, manage your current articles, comments, check on your referrals, edit your blogroll/links list, manage your blacklist and make any necessary changes to your account.  It is going to be a LOT easier to manage your blog in the new system.

New Post Editor

The web editor used to write and edit articles was completely rewritten for JoeUser 2.

Huge difference huh?  The focus of the page is given to the writing space, so no more scrolling when writing those really long articles, and all the options are moved off to the side, out of the way.

We've also added "tagging" to JoeUser.  Whenever you write an article, you can specify keywords, or "tags" that describe the content of your article.  So lets say you're writing an article about the 2008 Presidental race.  You may use the tag "election" among your list in the tags field.  Now, with your article tagged like that, users can search for specific tags and see all articles that match.  So you'd be able to search for "election" and find relevant articles.  When you see it in action, you'll immediately see the value.

Better Admin Tools

I know for the vast majority of you, me saying that our admin tools are 1000% better means very little.  But believe me, it will make a huge difference in terms of how smoothly the site runs. 

Admins like myself, Brad and Angie used to have to go through and delete individual spam posts, and then go and disable the account.  This was hugely time consuming especially when someone managed to spam several dozen articles overnight.  Now, we just hit one button and they're gone.  Articles, blog, account, everything and they're never coming back.

The new tools let us better deal with problems that current are incredibly time consuming to take care of.

Wow this got long, and it's really only scratching the surface of what's coming up in the new site.  I hope this has given you a better idea of what to expect and if you weren't excited before, you should be now.

Expect more information in the coming weeks about beta testing the new site before it is officially launched, and when you might be able to expect the new site to be fully live.