Sunday, June 28, 2009

Blog Future, Thanks and Changes

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is now out in theatres but that doesn't mean the blog will go on hiatus. There will be a third film, the only questions is will it be in 2011 or 2012. This blog will be here to continue the mandate to be the source of movie information. The immediate future brings box office results, award season, DVD/Blu-ray releases and more.

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone that made this last year so successful with their pictures, links, reports, and help. This blog's 1100+ posts in the last year have "thanks" credit on most due to the help of so many site fans and readers and that is greatly appreciated.

For those that have been on in early mornings for the last week you probably noticed strange things occasionally happening to the blog (including accidently breaking blog posts so couldn't see anything but the title) in an effort to try and improve the blog. This started as an attempt to do something about the Archive section which got really long especially as the stories piled up and things just went from there. List of changes after the break.

The changes:

Added Recent Posts - Part of solution to archive problem. Lists 10 most recent posts should be easier then checking the archive.

Added Tabbed Navigation Widget - Use tabs to find recent posts, archive and labels (also removed the label count as served no purposed). This removes the archive and tags so only visible when you want to view them yet still see what recent posts have been added to the blog.

Removed the blogger Navbar - Mostly to improve the look of the blog

Added "Read More..." functionality - Make it easier to add more videos, pictures, or long text without it driving other articles way down the screen and hopefully improve load times

Added Email and Social Section - Right column, four icons for different functions
     AddThis icon - bookmark functionality, everyone seemed to have it so figured why not
     RSS feed icon - I had 15 different RSS feed site links that the one link handles just as well, once added proper redirection.
     Twitter icon - Changed it to a single picture for consistent look
     Email icon - Click it so can email me questions, tips, whatever. No guarantees will be able to provide but I try to.

Moved various counters - Various site counters, creative commons license, etc moved out of the way to the very bottom of the website
     Added People Online widget - With the other counters, lets you see how many people are on the blog at the same time you are (not sure how well it works)
     Added TwittBadge - Shows number of Twitter followers I have since Twitter Counter didn't allow me to do it on one continuous line.

Added Related Posts section - Added to each blog post is related topics based on the labels (tags). Currently below the comments box, maybe move above but it seemed in the way when tried it there.

For now, with the 20 or so trailers and TV spots in the left column I don't expect much load time improvement but my plan is to replace those with a playlist in a few more weeks once excitement of the movie has decreased. I hope this works out. Feel free to post what you think in the comments.

34 comments:

  1. ight nice to no tat this will stay up and i will keep checkin in to keep up to date with the 3rd film thanks for everything

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  2. Hey, 39.5 Million for Saturday's box Office!

    http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/transformers-2-midnights-16-million/

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  3. Yeah Man!!!!

    ...it was a pleasure to read everyday the news to stay update during the last year.

    Fue un verdadero coñazo!!!!

    Greets and thanks from Chile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Thanks for your hard work on this blog, I really enjoy it. You put a lot of stuff on here that the other Transformer sites don't bother with, like all the talk show interviews and press conferences which I really enjoy. Looking forward to all the news through the next movie.

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  5. thanks for the blog. i found this a year ago in june and have checked almost daily since. thanks for all the work!

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  6. I greatly appreciate you keeping this blog, always fun to read. I'm keeping an eye on your Hobbit Blog now and will find my way back here as soon as they give Bay enough money to convince him to start working on the next one. Thanks again for all your work!

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  7. yeah man this blog has been great...its gonna feel weird not going to check it out every damn day...since the movie is out now...*sigh*...im glad its stayin up tho...

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  8. Idd, I'll just fill in on what everyone else has written here.
    It has been a great ride since I found this blog and I am very happy to have been reading here.
    A million thanks for all the hard work you have done so that we can enjoy all the big TF-news in one place.

    I certainly hope we get to see a third film soon so I can get in here and read with my steaming cup of morning coffee everyday as I have done the last year or so.

    You have done an awesome work TFL-author, thanks a lot, and good luck with anything else you get your hands into.

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  9. I've been checking this site regularly since before the first movie. I want to thank you for bringing so many of us fans this site and I can't tell you how pleased I am that it will continue. It's been a great ride seeing Transformers hit the mainstream on the big screen, and this site has been a major part of that ride.

    Peace.

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  10. Well,if it wasn't for this blog,there won't be any readers too!!! So I'm more than glad to say thank you very much for putting this blog up.

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  11. I would like to thank you for the great work done giving news, updates and thoughts to us for this long ride....
    I'll be there at your side for the future too!

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  12. Eventhough the movie is out, I'll still be daily visiting this blog... because I'm anxious to see new updates regarding the action figures (especially Moonracer, which is not out yet)...
    So please keep updating the blog with fresh news!! And thanks so much for the awesome blog ^^

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  13. Thanks for a great blog! I really appreciated all the hard work you did throughout the transformers "pre-season".

    I'll defiantly keep checking the blog in the future. Great work, and good luck going forward :)

    PS: The flash stuff really takes up a lot of load time, but other than that it's all great ;)

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  14. I've been here since the beginning and I have to say THANK YOU DUDE for your extra hard work! It's been a long hard tough road, filled with delight, emotion, and tense times, but it was worth it. I think that all makes us family.

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  15. thanks for the daily newsreport about transformers.
    now we have to wait until tf3 ;)

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  16. Thanks for everything !!! This site is on the list of my "Must-Visit-Every-Day" bookmark.
    So TFLAMB is a very important part of my life.

    -NIBMRatchet-

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  17. I checked this site at least once a day so I'm always informed on the movie and its been a great site. Thanks for taking the time to all those who participate to get us the latest. I know any information on the new film is sometime away but I'm already waiting for the first bit of it. Great and awesome site and I got it as one of the sites I follow on my blog as well.

    Thanks for everything!!

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  18. Outstandng job!!!!
    I will contiue to check your blog daily!!!!

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  19. Yeah I'm another reader who checks this out daily, via the RSS feed... have been fully into the progress of the movie so I'll have to find another obsession now! Many many thanks, it's been great news delivered objectively & very nicely done. Cheers from Australia!

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  20. I have been reading your blog practically every day since way back when the first Transformers movie was in production. Thank you SO much for all your hard work over the years (wow, has it really been that long?).

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  21. Thank you so much for all of your hard work over the past year. While this wasn't the only TF2 site I visited, it was the only one I checked every day. In addition to your timely and far reaching news coverage, I greatly appreciate the look of your blog; stuffed to the gills with info, but never feeling cluttered or bloated. It's good to know you'll be sticking around. Thanks again!

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  22. Thanks for keeping the blog going! I check it about four times a day. I'm a member at tfw2005.com, but your updates are more frequent and pulled from so many sources that I find more info hear.

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  23. You must have a very boring life if you visit this site every day.

    Every few seconds visiting this blog in a important part of life :)

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  24. I want to thank YOU admin for all your work making this blog... TFLive is a daily MUST visit website...

    I´m from Argentina and it´s really hard to get some info for upcoming movies so this blog was not only helpful but also funny...

    Thumbs up for you buddy and I will certainly keep visiting this blog...!

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  25. I'll continue to visit this blog for the third film too! Keep up the good work!

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  26. I'll be coming to this blog for the third film as well! Keep up the good work!

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  27. I've been checking this site daily (and multiple times daily) for the past 6 months! It's been a great site for getting caught up on new material. Thanks for all the posts and creating an organized site to go to. Looking forward to TF3 :) Glad to hear this site will stay up - keep up the great work!
    - Bryon from Wisconsin

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  28. Yay, the site's staying up! I've been coming here for years, and I'm looking forward to seeing TF3 stuff here! Thank you for all your hard work, this is my favorite TF site!

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  29. i been coming here for tf2 info i lookfoward to tf3 info keep up the good work great site

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  30. thanks for everything!

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  31. The Site is awesome, many thanks for the bunch of intresting informations!

    many greets from germany!!!!

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  32. thanks for the site. i think you should add a second poll asking who saw the movie in IMAX, minIMAX, and regular theater. and thanks again.

    p.s. the people online widget works.

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  33. hey man i would like to thank you for doing this blog. it was awesome i followed this blog since the first day i found it which was around november, you gave me everything to help surpress my anxiousness for the movie come out, i can only hope youl continue to do the same thing whenever transformers 3 starts because your the best. thanks again an a job very well done

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