New status page, improved layout and more!

Since we launched version 2.4.1 in February, we have been hard at work with maintenance, bug fixes as well as the next version of Virtual Manager. I'd like to tell you about some of the new stuff that's coming soon to a Virtual Manager near you :)

Virtual Manager is already a great game. I feel that this can be concluded from looking at the number of active users we've got and the number of people who choose to purchase our premium features. However, we've come to the realisation that Virtual Manager can be extremely overwhelming for new users. In fact, the majority of new users give up before their club really gets going. So, in the upcoming version, our primary focus has been make it easier for new users to quickly gain an understanding of the game. This is great news for experienced user as well, since everyone will benefit from our improvements.

Some of the improvements we've made are as follows:

New top navigation

We've rearranged some of the elements of the top navigation bar. The "Office" link has been moved to the far left and now links directly to your status page. This has a number of advantages:

• We can now remove the "Status" link from the "My Club" menu (fewer links make it easier to find the page you're looking for).
• You can now reach your status page faster, since you no longer have to search for it in a sub menu.
• It makes more sense that "Office" links to your club overview page than to have to take you to your mail folder.
• We follow the general convention on the web that you go to your "home" page by clicking on the navigation element in the top left corner.[/list]

Office sub menu

The Office sub menu is currently a drop-down menu. In the upcoming version, the links have been moved out to the side, just like in the forum. The reasons are as follows:

• The top menu (My club, Trade, Office, etc.) is horizontal. By making the sub menu vertical we achieve a greater visual separation between them.
• By placing the sub menu on the left, we decrease the text width (the distance your eyes have to travel before going down to the next line). This means that it becomes easier to get an overview of the page.
• This new type of sub menu works much better on touch screens like you find on Android phones, iPads and iPhones.[/list]

New status page

The current status page is one of the most confusing parts of Virtual Manager, especially if you're a new user. In the upcoming version we've highlighted the most important parts and removed the less pertinent information from the page. For instance, we don't that that it's all that important to see the matches that you've already played, since these are already shown to you when you log in. We've also removed other less important elements and gained a much simpler status page, that makes it quicker and easier to get an overview of how your club is doing. Finally, we've renamed the page to "Overview", since this is a much better description of the actual purpose of the page. You can see a [url=http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/7218/overviewss.png]sneak peek of the new Overview page here[/url].

Other "Office" sub pages

Almost all of the other sub pages under the "Office" heading have had major facelifts to make them easier to understand and use. Here are some examples of the new layouts:

• The new Contracts page (note that player and employee contracts now appear on the same page)
• The new Finances page
• The new Stadium page
• The new Sponsorships page

Bonus!!

In addition to the layout improvements, we've got a little bonus change for you guys: In the upcoming version everyone will have access to banners and logos, even without premium! :D

Future releases

As you may have noticed, this new version introduces and unfortunate disparity in the top navigation elements. The "Office" element uses the new left-hand side sub menus, while the rest use the old-style drop-down menus. Ideally, we would have converted all of the top navigation elements to the new sub menu style, but since this is a very time consuming process, we've decided to delay these changes until a later date.

I can also reveal that we hope to include the much awaited Achievements system in one of the future versions. This'll give everyone lots of new challenges - like, who can win the Virtual Super Cup 5 times in a row? :D More info to follow...

We expect to have this upcoming release ready for you in about a week's timed. We hope you like the changes. Drop a comment here and tell us what you think :)