Anyone visiting the site in the last few days will have noticed that we have adopted a new look template. We did this for three reasons. Firstly AmeriCymru has looked the same for the last three years and we felt that it was time for a change. Secondly the new two column layout allows us to present more content and links on every page on the site whereas the old left hand column only appeared on the homepage. Last but not least.....Ning, our platform provider, has introduced a new Design Studio and will be ending support for our old template sooner or later .

We recognize that the new layout will wreak havoc on existing page customizations. Indeed we have weeks of work ahead re-formatting blog posts etc BUT the new Design Studio makes it very easy for members to customize their home pages in a great many interesting ways. We will be holding a 'Homepage Layout Design Competition' later in the year once people have had a chance to familiarize themselves with the new feature. Home pages on AmeriCymru can be personalized and used to promote goods and services and we will assist anyone who opts to use the platform for this purpose. Of course home pages can be customized 'just for fun' as well.

To access the new feature simply click 'My Page' on the top navbar and look for 'Customize my page' in the left hand column. Click on 'Customize' and the 'Design Studio' drop down will appear. Please have fun and feel free to be creative with your page but bear in mind that we will NOT be providing technical support, SO unless you know what you're doing ( with CSS and LESS ) don't alter anything in the 'Advanced' tab. There is plenty that you can do without editing the code directly, but if you are able to do this or get someone to do it for you, then the sky is the limit.

Another side benefit of all the recent upheaval is that we were able to examine every element on the old site and analyze its effect on page load times. As a consequence we ditched a great many features that were slowing the site down. We also decided to do away with background colors in page modules in order to facilitate easier readability. Soon we will introduce a number of new features in the activity feed which should greatly increase participation and interactivity.

So there you have it We have been striving recently to increase speed, interactivity and readability. We even coined a cheesy marketing b/s acronym especially for the occasion:-

Welcome to AmeriCymru S (peed) I (nteractivity) R (eadibility)! Because your time on our site is special to us

OK...once you have finished groaning and guffawing at the apocalyptic awfulness of the above piece of over ripe gorgonzola, please try out the new Design Studio and let us know your thoughts below in comments.

The New Design Studio