Upcoming: Pulse
By proph3t Apr 4, 2007 · 0 Comments
This one is pretty exciting for us. Within a few days we will be announcing "Pulse", a widespread update to the way GameGum and ToonGum will function. The Pulse will actually be implemented in a few places across the site initially, and a few more places after its initial launch. The general idea of Pulse has been done in many places in different fashions such as with Digg Spy and Facebook's new Newsfeed feature. Basically, it is a easy place to see whats happening around the community.
For now we are limiting its scope. There is a new, dedicated "Pulse" page that tracks the basics: submissions, comments, and forum posts. In the future we may add ratings and favorites depending on how useful or helpful we deem them to be. What we are trying to avoid here is invasion of privacy, and so as far as the site-wide "Pulse" goes, we are narrowing the scope.
We added Pulse in two other locations as well, both with a broader scope. The first is the profile page, which has been entirely revamped for the next release. The new profile pages are an incredible improvement. They now are restructured for ease of use and redesigned from the top down for clarity. Featured on the main profile page is now a user Pulse. Each user has their own Pulse viewable from their profile, and we have found this feature singlehandedly makes the profile pages worth a visit. The second location is very similar: right in your control panel. In fact, the "Profile" or "Control Panel" pages have been redesigned in a very similar fashion to the public profile pages, making them just as useful.
Plus, we have a brand new, very good looking slide-out menu for logged in users that provides an easy snapshot of your profile, favorites, submissions, and even has links to the most common places in your control panel.
As of now we are putting on the finishing touches on the Pulse and other renovations planned for this soon-to-come update. Pulse feeds will most likely make it into the release, and possibly some new preferences that allow users to control their visibility in the various Pulse locations. Hopefully, this will all see the light of day shortly, and if not we will be checking in with an excuse as to why not 
. Looking at the progress made so far, it should be the former.
