Four years ago, on this very day, The Good Old Days first went public. This is usually a time to look back at what has been achieved. This year, I'll break with this tradition. Our newsarchive is stacked with enough historical information.

Instead, I'd like to offer you a look into the future. As those of you who followed the development of the site closely and read the discussion about 'combined view' in the forum know, the site is undergoing major changes. I dare to claim these are the most groundbreaking changes it ever had!

The current system, in spite of being database-driven, is basically not much more than a pure HTML site. That is where its roots are, 'reducing' it back to one would be a matter of less than an hour of work.

The new system has a radically different approach. To use one of these buzzwords: it'll be completely modular. Infinitely scalable (another buzzword).

75% of the coding is done and about 33% of the new directory and file structure (that's more work than you might think...) as well. Having it all ready for the anniversary would have been perfect, of course, but that was completely impossible. Instead, here are a few impressions of the (visible - not the huge changes in the background) 'highlights' of the new site. I hope you enjoy them - comments welcome!

At first, by far the most controversial aspect of the site: the games menu. What's shown on the picture is the fifth or sixth version. Tapuak and I had long discussions about how to make this work (in the end, I overruled his vote for another version . The catch: instead of having 'pseudo static' categories like 'sorted by genre', 'sorted by alphabet' etc., you'll be able to choose from as many (and also as few) criteria at once as you like! Interested in Adventure games made in 1989 by Cryo? No problem. If you however prefer the 'classic' style, nothing's stopping you from choosing just one specific letter and nothing else.

Such a system bears one big risk, of course: the visitors getting lost. That is why you'll always see immediately which criteria you've currently chosen.

Relatively restrictive criteria lead you to a game which has sparked your interest, and now you want to know as much about it as possible? The site will tell you if there's additional information from outside your choices available and lead you there if you like.

Alternate versions of games and their comparison will play a larger role in the future. Covered versions will be listed directly on the games listings.

You're a die-hard fan of one system and you don't want to be bothered with all the other stuff? Every system is available as its own subcategory, easily 'bookmarkable' as a subdirectory. Some aspects of the design will change according to the system you choose to make you feel completely at home with your loved machine.

Last, but not least, with the site getting more 'professional' on the whole, some people might wonder how the reviewers are getting to their opinions. 'Mini-biographies' will tell about the crewmembers' backgrounds, their experiences with computers, their likings and pet-hates.

You're good at making people curious.

No joke! The screen shots are way too small!

The design (from what I can see) looks clean and refreshingly done. Hopefully The Good Old Days becomes the leader in specific game search technology!

Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday!

As I already said in previous posts I don't really like the concept, but I can't really comment until I see the real thing. Looks great so far.

I like cake! Anyway, here's how the upper part of the menu looks when going to http://www.goodolddays.net/pc/. No bothering with 'systems', just IBM stuff.

All the programming and moving of files is now done. I'm now doing the finishing touches, writing the last few missing texts and 'polishing' everything. The new site will be released with the server move.

Everybody who contributed to the site in the past will have a 'profile' on the site, so if you want to provide a little information about yourself for our visitors (about 'computer life', game preferences, relation to the site,...), please contact me. If you'd rather trust me to write a few sentences about you, don't contact me

I would trust you with my life, Mr Creosote

(Okay, I still have to work on my pretense, but I'm getting better.)

Congrats to the new design; expect my profile shortly