Introducing the new "Inside Universal" homepage

[Brian G.]

It is done! After many of months of work and hiccups - we are proud to roll out the new homepage for Inside Universal.

Inside Universal | News & Info on Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando, & More!

This was a massive undertaking not only with design, but with merging two hugely popular sites. As to be expected, there should be hiccups that you may encounter. If something sticks out as broken, just let us know here or shoot an email over to me at brian.g@insideuniversal.net

As a heads up - since 2 sites are merging, it may take an hour for web directs to work 100%. Should be smoothed out within the hour. Try hitting F5 as a way to refresh your browser with the updated site. Also, we are aware some image galleries are currently not showing up. We are working on that next, as we had to wait for the full-on transfer. So bear with us on that fix.

Either way, we hope you enjoy the new home page for Inside Universal.

I want to thank Jon Fu, not only for this opportunity to head the ship, but for his advice (and patience).

I want to thank Joel aka @ConvolutedFrippery for his help in our planning stages.

The Staff for keeping on keeping on, especially @Jonathan while I got this up and finished.

@Drew for being a perfect consigliere whenever I needed an opinion or advice.

And of course you guys, for keeping the forums going, as well as your patience and support.

Enjoy!

 

[Viator]

While I am glad to see more changes, I do want to mention that perhaps it's just me, but I do feel that the homepage is a tad bit cluttered. Otherwise, it's great to finally see that updated afterall.

Will this mean that the forums will see a new design to be similar to what is now at the homepage?

 

[Liam]

Looks good, congratulations I'm sure the hard work will be worth it in the end.

 

[Brian G.]

While I am glad to see more changes, I do want to mention that perhaps it's just me, but I do feel that the homepage is a tad bit cluttered. Otherwise, it's great to finally see that updated afterall.

Will this mean that the forums will see a new design to be similar to what is now at the homepage?

The forums were just redesigned a few months ago....

 

[Scott W.]

I like it. :thumbsup:

What software are you using to design it?

 

[Drew]

I helped.

(inside joke)

 

[Viator]

The forums were just redesigned a few months ago....

I was asking if it's receive updates, even after when the forums merged.

That said, I still stand my case to where the homepage is albeit cluttered.

I helped.

(inside joke)

Congratulations, have a cookie.

 

[Brian G.]

I was asking if it's receive updates, even after when the forums merged.

That said, I still stand my case to where the homepage is albeit cluttered.



Congratulations, have a cookie.

Maybe it's just sour grapes - but thanks for pissing on our hard work.

 

[Scott W.]

Maybe it's just sour grapes - but thanks for pissing on our hard work.

When life gives you sour grapes, make wine.

 

[Viator]

Maybe it's just sour grapes - but thanks for pissing on our hard work.

I wasn't trying to be completely Negative, Brian.

I do like that Hollywood and Orlando share it, and I'm glad to see that other parks (and the largest event for the company, Horror Nights) will get the recongition on the homepage. I enjoy seeing that the column's are still able to be seen as people can scroll down and that I can see why people may like it cluttered.

But, just because I don't like one thing, it doesn't meant that I hate what you, @Drew, @Jonathan, and good ol' @ConvolutedFrippery have done.

 

[Brian G.]

I like it. :thumbsup:

What software are you using to design it?

An amalgamation of resources and help.

 

[Andysol]

Maybe it's just sour grapes - but thanks for pissing on our hard work.

Ya- the whole thing sucks. Says the guy who doesn't have a webpage, hasn't designed one nor has helped in any way whatsoever.

Looks good Brian, and it doesn't look cluttered whatsoever. Coming from a marketing guy.
Thanks for all the hard work from everyone on the team. It's great to have a dedicated universal forum in a sea of Disney ones.

 

[Viator]

Ya- the whole thing sucks. Says the guy who doesn't have a webpage, hasn't designed one nor has helped in any way whatsoever.

Looks good Brian, and it doesn't look cluttered whatsoever. Coming from a marketing guy.
Thanks for all the hard work from everyone on the team. It's great to have a dedicated universal forum in a sea of Disney ones.

And I don't, but that doesn't mean that one's opinion shouldn't be completely wrong. There will be people who will like the layout of it, but I don't, I find it with too many articles to where there should be a headlining article that gets updated; and that there is a link to that section, so it doesn't take as much space.

I am not trying to piss in the crew's boots, because as I stated on a previous post; I do like most of it. It's just one thing, that I find as a negative and that's completely fine, as it's a free opinion. It doesn't mean that people should have to abide by it like it's the law.

An amalgamation of resources and help.

And I do see that. It's amazing to see the Inside Universal crew grow, especially with the merger of the two groupsof IU and OU to one full fledged site of information to the Universal Parks and Resorts around the globe, as I hope we eventually see some things from Singapore and Osaka every once and a while.

 

[Andysol]

And I don't, but that doesn't mean that one's opinion shouldn't be completely wrong. There will be people who will like the layout of it, but I don't, I find it with too many articles to where there should be a headlining article that gets updated; and that there is a link to that section, so it doesn't take as much space.

I am not trying to piss in the crew's boots, because as I stated on a previous post; I do like most of it. It's just one thing, that I find as a negative and that's completely fine, as it's a free opinion. It doesn't mean that people should have to abide by it like it's the law.

It doesn't mean it wasn't a jerky comment.

An artist just finishes working his ass off on a painting and proudly displays it- Lots of people enjoy it although it doesn't suit your particular taste. Do you go up and out of your way to tell him you don't like it before the paint even dries?
I love ya Alex- but it's still a dick move. Lol. Just sayin man...

 

[Viator]

It doesn't mean it wasn't a jerky comment.

An artist just finishes working his ass off on a painting and proudly displays it- although it doesn't suit your particular taste. Do you go up and out of your way to tell him you don't like it before the paint even dries?
It's a dick move. Lol. Just sayin' man...

Then if you were to make that comparison, reviewing a piece of anything from the entertainment industry should be taken with that decree.

Just because one may not like a certain thing, it doesn't mean that they think the entire thing is terrible or garbage. And as I mentioned in previous posts, I did like the changes made for the Inside Universal site; excluding one thing.

As a content creator myself, trying to do something as a hobby; I take the constructive feedback and criticism, even if it's one day after it releases, to try to improve off of the content that I myself create. This should not go any different regardless of if you create a website, or do something as trying to maintain a video outlet.

And I love seeing you post, just the same I do with Brian; but that I do believe that you shouldn't have to wait a long stretch of time, just to bring one's true opinion out. As I said, I do like most of the changes to the homepage, and I'll leave it at that.

 

[Teebin]

Are we discussing the new inside universal homepage or the forums home page? All these home pages...

 

[Viator]

Are we discussing the new Inside Universal | News & Info on Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Orlando, & More! homepage or the forums home page? All these home pages...

The main site, the site where you can find articles of some of the most recent park updates to direct articles of new episodes of the IUPodcast.

 

[Teebin]

The main site, the site where you can find articles of some of the most recent park updates to direct articles of new episodes of the IUPodcast.

Aaah... well it looks fine to me, keeping in mind that it is a news site. I have watched CNN .com go through tons of changes over the years, the worst of which was big splashy photos and very little text. It looked pretty but I wanted news article links, in text form.

 

[GadgetGuru]

The new website looks fantastic! I especially appreciate how great the mobile version looks.

Out of curiosity, what's the plan with the old Orlando United domain name? It looks like right now, some of the redirects work and some don't.

http:// www. orlandounited. com-> http:// www. insideuniversal. net (good)
http:// orlandounited.com -> http:// www. insideuniversal. net (good)

https:// forums.orlandounited .com -> https:// forums.insideuniversal .net (it's the IU Forums but all the pages use the orlandounited.com domain name)
http:// forums.orlandounited .com -> http:// forums.insideuniversal .net (same as above, but no HTTPS certificate!)
http:// orlandounited .com -> a weird 301 page that doesn't have any link or redirect to IU
https:// www.insideuniversal .net -> BAD_CERT Chrome error page.
https:// insideuniversal .net -> BAD_CERT Chrome error page.

All variations of orlandounited .com/forums -> a IU 404 page.

Looks like the forums are using a CloudFlare SSL cert, but the actual IU website is using a self-signed certificate (all major browsers should give a nasty error page unless you manually add IU as a trusted site which is a pain and bad practice).

Could I make the suggestion that all of the orlandounited.com domain names immediately redirect to insideuniversal.net and all of the http:// redirect to https://? I know that redirects work weird with SSL certs. Also, the IU website should probably get a real SSL cert, either from Cloudflare like the forums or Let's Encrypt

Happy to help / explain any of this more if you end up making these changes!

EDIT: Grrr... it changed all of my links

 

[Brian G.]

The new website looks fantastic! I especially appreciate how great the mobile version looks.

Out of curiosity, what's the plan with the old Orlando United domain name? It looks like right now, some of the redirects work and some don't.

http:// www. orlandounited. com-> http:// www. insideuniversal. net (good)
http:// orlandounited.com -> http:// www. insideuniversal. net (good)

https:// forums.orlandounited .com -> https:// forums.insideuniversal .net (it's the IU Forums but all the pages use the orlandounited.com domain name)
http:// forums.orlandounited .com -> http:// forums.insideuniversal .net (same as above, but no HTTPS certificate!)
http:// orlandounited .com -> a weird 301 page that doesn't have any link or redirect to IU
https:// www.insideuniversal .net -> BAD_CERT Chrome error page.
https:// insideuniversal .net -> BAD_CERT Chrome error page.

All variations of orlandounited .com/forums -> a IU 404 page.

Looks like the forums are using a CloudFlare SSL cert, but the actual IU website is using a self-signed certificate (all major browsers should give a nasty error page unless you manually add IU as a trusted site which is a pain and bad practice).

Could I make the suggestion that all of the orlandounited.com domain names immediately redirect to insideuniversal.net and all of the http:// redirect to https://? I know that redirects work weird with SSL certs. Also, the IU website should probably get a real SSL cert, either from Cloudflare like the forums or Let's Encrypt

Happy to help / explain any of this more if you end up making these changes!

EDIT: Grrr... it changed all of my links

Orlando United domain will site idle. Everything else is being worked on.

orlandounited .com/forums hasn't been an active page for some time. It's been a redirect for about 3-4 years now.