It's finally here! After months of planning and lots of hard work, I'm pleased to introduce you all to Batman News 2.0. I started Batman News back in September of 2010 because I wasn't happy with the design and tone of other Batman websites. I felt that Batman fans needed a better website to call "home", one that had a modern design, was easy to navigate, and brought fans together like never before. I was quite happy with the old site, but as we got closer to 2013 I knew it was time for a change. Technology is always changing and people are browsing the web with more devices than ever before. Batman News had to change with it and get ready for the future. I hope you like what you see, let's walk through all the new features...
Responsive Design
The biggest new Batman News 2.0 feature is its responsive design. As I mentioned, people don't just browse the web on their desktop or laptop anymore. With its responsive design, Batman News will now scale to any device, automatically. If you're reading this post on a desktop or laptop right now, pull out your smartphone or tablet. You'll see that there's a version of the site optimized for each device... making the whole website much more enjoyable, no matter what device you're reading it on. I hope you like the new logo too!
Retina Ready
Apple changed the way we look at our devices when they introduced the iPhone 4 with Retina display in 2010. With iPads, MacBook Pros, and more devices shipping with these super high resolution screens, I wanted to make sure the new website looked amazing. Batman News 2.0 was built from the ground up with Retina displays and other HiDPI screens in mind. Every part of the new design, including the images in posts, will look crisper and clearer than ever before.
Updated Comments
I've updated Disqus, the commenting system here on Batman News, to the latest version in preparation for the new design. Not only does it look a lot cleaner, there are a ton of new features as well. One of the biggest features is "real-time updates". You no longer have to refresh the page to see new comments, you'll be notified of any new replies that come in as you're reading through the comments section. You also have the ability to "like" or "dislike" comments now.
Reviews, Photos, and Videos
Now it's easier than ever to scan through the Comics section and see the score that Andrew assigned to his detailed reviews. Photo and video posts have received a visual tweak as well. If a post contains a photo gallery, the number of photos will display on top of the preview thumbnail. You'll be able to quickly spot videos by the video play icon overlay as well. I've also reorganized every post and added "Photos" and "Videos" links to the main navigation. Finding the content you want has never been easier.
Under The Hood
The entire website has been rebuilt from the ground up. There's not a single bit of code that's been reused from the previous design. The home page is about half the size that it was previously... Batman News should be faster than ever before.
Blazer Six
I had big goals for Batman News 2.0 and knew that I needed to find a company that was as excited about the future of the web as I was. Working with Brady and Brody at Blazer Six was an incredible experience. They took my idea and turned it into something I never could have dreamed of! I can't recommend them enough.
Wrap Up
Feel free to explore the site for even more, but that covers the majority of what's changed. I really hope you all love the new design as much as I do. Go grab your tablet or smartphone to see how the new design automatically adjusts itself to the screen you're reading on. Please leave your feedback (good or bad) in the comments below, I can't wait to hear what you guys think! Please bear with me as we work out the kinks over the next few days, and feel free to contact me if you find any bugs. Batman News 2.0 is just the beginning. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for another surprise... it's pretty amazing!
