Habbox.com Idea

[hah]

Since Habbo introduced the news into the client i don't think people really read the news on fansites anymore because of this. So i think instead of having the news on the main page when you first load up Habbox, have an events timetable with that days events and competitions because i know its real hard for them to advertise and i think this would be a great way for them to do so. Also the Main page wouldn't be solong :P

There would still be news but you would have to click the "News" tab to see it.

What ya think?

And i know there is events thing at the side but you could replace that with another advert or nothing... because i dont think people notice it :P

[scott]

The news doesn't open up straight away don't you have to type for it to come up? If people go on to check values or listen to HxL then they mite want to read it and see a different view point rather than habbo's. I think it's alrite to stay the way it is, but still a good idea :P

[hah]

The news is on the very first page lol???? under habbox rare update w/e its called :P

[Meanies]

I did add an events thingy up at the top of the site so they would be more visible, but it wasn't updated daily as it should have been and so it was removed. When we get around to creating the new layout for the site, they will be drawn from the forum calendar and displayed a few hours before it's due to happen. However, I don't see why we couldn't chuck this in on the current layout somewhere to make it more obvious

[scott]

The news is on the very first page lol???? under habbox rare update w/e its called :P
Um i meant habbo

[Martin]

I am about to go to work, but Part of me died inside when I saw this thread, so I best leave a small reply. :'(


The News department is already discussing new reporting methods for 2010 which will make our News different from the usual Habbo offerings. We like to make the news more interesting.

People (believe it or not) DO read the news articles. We get comments on the vast majority of articles.

Popular News events (Such as the Habbo awards 2009 winners) do attract people's attention. There was (as far as i'm aware) no solid list of winners written on Habbo itself at the time, and us getting the complete list up within 10 minutes of the event finishing is quite good in my opinion, and the "hits" for that particular article were good. I feel if we can offer up Juicy News articles that are "current", then we can gather more readers.


Having to click a tab to get to the News would just reduce our views even more. Our Reporters work extremely hard when writing reports to include different content to the actual Habbo News article, and I feel they deserve the right to have their articles on the front page.

As dinasaw rightly said, people looking for rare values could notice an article that they like and decide to read it.

Some people won't appreciate what work we do to, but there are some Habbo users who do. Like I said, we are currently in discussion with the Content AGM, who is going through some new ideas with us.

News has been on the front page of habbox.com for a very long time, and at one time was a very popular part of the site. I intend to bring back that popularity. Just because Users can now see the News on the Habbo client itself does not mean we can't work hard to make our Articles more interesting whilst making it more of a "peoples" view of the News, in terms of what we as a Habbo community think of the latest goings on.


Sorry if this makes no sense at all, I will try and get some proper views up tonight, but all I can say for now is- bare with us and hopefully we can bring something which News departments on other fansites do not.

[Immenseman]

Habbox news should be more gossipy and conversational in my opinion but then it isn't really news, I know!! At the moment it's just basically a clone copy of the news posted on Habbo UK - if we wanted to see the news we'd check the article written by a professional, with all due respect.

[Meanies]

Habbox news should be more gossipy and conversational in my opinion but then it isn't really news, I know!! At the moment it's just basically a clone copy of the news posted on Habbo UK - if we wanted to see the news we'd check the article written by a professional, with all due respect.
My thought exactly. They need to be more friendly and informal to the reader and not so in your face with it.

I also suggested in discussion with the news peoplee that what you see on the front page should be a 'dumbed down' version of the full report for the audience that are going to read it. Not get rid of all the information, but leave the minor bits out and include them in the 'read more..' section

[Alkaz]

What if there was a scrolling thing for news? which would then leave more space for other things on the front page.

[Gibs960]

has a point, me personally I read the news on habbo... but I've never read off a fansite

[Mathew]

I agree with the gossipy, more personal touch to news. Previously (and I daresay right now) it is simply a combined version of the Habbo articles, and BBC news.

I can only speak for myself here, but I would rather get my news concerning both Habbo and the real world from the main site, where I know none of the info has been misinterpreted. Therefore, let us hear what the News Reporters think of it (Jeremy Clarkson's column in the Sunday Times is highly controversial due to his nature, which makes him a success) and make it something different; not just a copy! You've seen in the "ludus alerts" thread that "noobs" love all this gossipy, personal and sometimes silly chat - so go for it. :)

If this happens, it would deem News "less-pointless" too.. :P
Good luck.

[Black_Apalachi]

This isn't a good idea cos you're not well known :lol: xoxoxox

Makes sense tbh, although I reckon the Rare Values would be a good thing to have on the homepage instead. They are what make Habbox after all. Even though it breaks my heart, I think the day of Habbo news on fansites has passed for the reasons you mentioned.

I remember years ago, Habbox was the first thing I'd look at when I came to my PC because there would always be something interesting that I didn't know about. Back then, there were lots of aspects of Habbo that seemed really secretive or mysterious but now, there's not much to learn about Habbo that isn't already thrown in your face on the client and everyone knows all the staff etc.

At the end of the day though, I haven't been on the Habbox site for months now, so it should really be up to the people who use it most. Therefore I think a poll should be displayed somewhere on the homepage for a month or so before any changes are made. If it turned out that most people do like seeing the news as soon as they visit, changing this would only upset them.

[Blob]

Makes sense tbh, although I reckon the Rare Values would be a good thing to have on the homepage instead. They are what make Habbox after all. Even though it breaks my heart, I think the day of Habbo news on fansites has passed for the reasons you mentioned.

Good idea, maybe in the new version of Habbox it will be implemented, or maybe you could choose what is on your homepage.

[Inseriousity.]

I'm sure Drakee would be more well known if he didn't change his username every 5 minutes :P (yes, I'm joking)

I'm all for more competitions advertising but I wouldn't want to push out another department because of that... oh who am I kidding? when can we start?

I don't think it would make much different news being personal or not, the main source of news is the client then it's the forum to discuss it tbh. No offence to the news department though, who all do such a lovely job.

[Meanies]

To those saying about rare values on the homepage, they kind of are. The rare values search widget is more efficient than having an entire list of rares show up when you load the site. At least with the news articles they load pretty quick, whereas the rares page takes an age sometimes

[Yonder]

Well the new layout will bring a lot of change with the way articles and modules are laid out.

[Blinger1]

When we get around to creating the new layout for the site, they will be drawn from the forum calendar and displayed a few hours before it's due to happen.
cba to read the whole thread, but wouldn't it be more prudent to display them a day or so in advance?

[The Professor]

Why are we having a new layout anyway? its changed every 3 minutes and never really gets any better, everything just gets moved around a bit. Are we gonna have cool stuff like chooseable/moveable modules like igoogle? that would be awesome

[Blob]

Why are we having a new layout anyway? its changed every 3 minutes and never really gets any better, everything just gets moved around a bit. Are we gonna have cool stuff like chooseable/moveable modules like igoogle? that would be awesome

Wait and see ;)

[Immenseman]

they will never lose their 'traditional' colours which always makes it a vile orange

[hah]

looks like someone threw up all over the classic skin / site init

[Grig]

Well I suggest there be more special reports. For example, a week or so ago Undertaker did a special report on rare values in 2009. That bagged in a lot of comments. Sure, you may say well that's going to the articles side, but as long as it is an issue people are interested in then it's ok.

Of course, the climate of news has changed over the years, and there is now spoon fed new by Habbo. I have always told Martin about the need for creativity, add a few nice jokes in there related to the article. Make it simple, yet interesting and professional.

Also, NO, I do not think news should be removed from the homepage. Sure, the comments for news are quite low. But stats still show that the articles are read and they do generate hits.

Overall, news that goes beyond borders is what we need. Although, we are all trying to achieve this now with a slight re-vamp of the news with the help of infrquent. Hopefully in a few months time we would have gained a lot of appeal etc.

[Meanies]

they will never lose their 'traditional' colours which always makes it a vile orange
we're having a few styles of the new layout dw

[Black_Apalachi]

Good idea, maybe in the new version of Habbox it will be implemented, or maybe you could choose what is on your homepage.

That would be cool, would make the whole site a lot more interactive :).

[AgnesIO]

My view on this thread:


Tbh the news department's articles are pointless being on the front atm, as they are just articles written by people, that basically HAVE to suck up to habbo, and say how good it is they now charge double the price for everything :P
Ideas:

More community based things need a place on the front page - I would rather have someone to generally be hired just to change the notices each morning about todays events etc etc.
Advertisements for competitions.
Staff spotlight updated weekly
User spotlight updated weekly
User sent-in pixel art, small preview of the users work
More ideas, that I will talk to the Content Department about.