Posted June 6, 2015 in Campfire Chess

The Updates Continue

As with any good design philosophy, I make every effort to create a sense of unity among the different pages and social media sites used for Campfire Chess. It has taken a few days to fully implement, but the new design language is now fully implemented across every element of the blog, the shop, and the social media pages. Perhaps the most exciting part of the entire transformation is a complete re-write of the downloads section and long overdue updates to the publications and reading list pages. Since its inception, the site has maintained a downloads page with free wallpaper, game collections, and other exclusive goodies for online chess fans. Some of these items were taken from long-gone chess websites while some of it, including most of the wallpaper and game collections, was created exclusively for Campfire Chess. Here is a breakdown of what has been updated since June 1st:

The Downloads Page
  • New Wallpaper:
    Added two new Campfire Chess flame logo (light and dark options) to the list. More new wallpaper is on the way in the coming days!
  • New Sizes:
    Support for non-retina display iPads and iPad Mini (1024×1024) added to all wallpaper downloads. Support for iPhone 6/6+ is being phased in over time, but is only available for the Campfire logo downloads at this time..
  • PGN Format:
    It is no surprise that I am a huge fan of ChessBase, but there are many chess players out there today that utilize iOS tablets, MacBooks, Linux, and other platforms where using ChessBase is not an option. Therefore, to increase the universality of use for the files distributed here, most of the ChessBase file formats have been removed and left with PGN-only download options. Users of ChessBase can convert these files into CBH format if they want to take advantage of the software’s more advanced referencing functions.
  • Opening Trees:
    In addition to adding new players including Judit Polgar, Garry Kasparov, and Susan Polgar, each player now has an exclusive opening tree for use in ChessBase, Fritz, or similar chess program that supports the CTG file format.
Other Pages
  • Publications:
    The publications page has always been a challenge, but some new HTML and CSS has finally brought the cover displays under control. In addition, any reference (other than cover images) to OffMyChess.com were removed.
  • Reading List:
    The reading list is one of those places that received a lot of attention when the site went online last year, but it had fallen into serious disarray. Some of the links to game collections were broken and there were still references to the old OffMyChess.com rating review scheme on some of the books. Fortunately, the entire page has been re-written with new HTML and CSS to bring it into compliance with the new design philosophy.
  • Online Shop:
    Fixed problems with the logo header in the shop, created new merchandise categories, and finally merged the design philosophy of the blog and the shop to mirror each other. There are also new stickers, calendars, and t-shirts available for those moments when you gotta have that Campfire swag!

There are many more updates coming, but this represents the bulk of the major renovations that will be most apparent to readers and regular users. I thank every one for their continuous support of the site and look forward to offering many other game collections, commentary, and other exclusive chess goodies!