Spruz Owners' Community For owners of websites powered by the Spruz Platform

New and Improved Game Roster

There had been some confusion and difficulty with the old roster system that was located in the community area.  To make things simpler we have taken it out as a backend system.  We have added a much improved game roster with easy member adding, plus making it simpler to give awards and keep your clan or guild organized.  You can add a game roster to your site through the new page dialog.

Additional information is on your old roster page if you had a roster already.  You have the option of importing old roster information on that page.

Layout Generator – R.I.P.

It was old, I’m sure that is no secret.  Designed before the official launch of Spruz, the Layout Generator has seen its share of action.  As with everything, there is a beginning and an end.  The only hope is that the end of one thing is actually the beginning of something better.

That being said, it is my great pleasure to present to you the successor to the Layout Generator. Taking up residence in the same place under the Design tab, the new editor allows you to modify your themes like never before.

The new Design Editor was a complete rewrite, so to list out all the changes would be quite lengthy.  Instead I have listed out below some of the new highlights.

Easy to Find Controls - All the option are right at the top and instantly visible. They are separated out into logical sections, to help you find exactly what you need.

Real Site Preview - The preview area shows you how your actual site would look with the changes you make.  It is fully functional, so you can even navigate to other pages to see how they look with your new style.  All changes give you instant feedback in the preview area.  You can now full test the design with your content before you save it to your site.

Smarter Colors - Color schemes allow you to change groups of colors at a time or even suggest a color scheme for you with the Smart Color Selector option.  There are also several preset color schemes to get you started. If you want to change individual colors you can do so with the sections color buttons next to the section title.

Image Uploading - Upload or browse for images directly and add them to your style instantly without ever leaving the page.  Easily change between images that you have used during your design session.

Undo Option - You can undo changes that you make by clicking the undo button; which is located next to the save button at the top of your design controls.

Presets - We have added more presets for various styles.  Font sizes, navigation styles, color schemes and border sizes all have easy to use presets to make designing even easier.

We know one of the major reasons that people create websites is to make money.  With this in mind we have been working for some time putting together systems that will enable website owners to benefit from traffic and leverage their user base.

First we released a shopping cart that lets you sell products and services on your website quickly and easily. (This is accessible on the Shopping Cart page under the Content tab.)

Next we launched subscription services that allow you to charge for access to specific site pages and content. (You can use this by adding the Subscriptions page when you add a new page to your site.)

Now we have just released another key component to help you monetize your site and community; full advertizing management. If you have the upgrade (now called Spruz Pro), you have the option of using built in ad spots on your site to display the ads you choose. We even make it easy to find ad content for your site by providing you with a list of several great advertisers you can hook up with.  When using this feature you will get 100% of the revenue from ad sales on your site!

We have also changed the upgrade pricing to scalable format that opens up the option to many more site owners. Now, starting at just $9.95/mo, Spruz Pro is ready for anyone that wants it.

Our desire is for you all to be able to make money with your site, if you choose, and have fun while doing it.

grow yourself.™

When you first create your site, getting started can sometimes be intimidating. You're sitting there staring an empty page, and thinking "what do I do now?"

With the new content wizard, accessible from the site properties section of the admin, we are working to take the "what now?" out of your initial site creation process.  After just a few questions we will create an entire working site based on what you answered.  After that it's easy to add your own stuff and tweak things out.

We feel this is a great new tool, especially for new site creators, but if you have content on your site already be warned.  This will remove any existing content and replace it with the content that is generated by the wizard. In essence if you have stuff you want to keep on your site, don’t use this feature.

I think that about wraps it up for this update, more great stuff is on the way.

grow yourself.™

I know we haven’t really said much regarding the holidays this year.  Also we have not done anything really in the way of decorating the site to lend to the merriment of our visitors.  Instead this year we decided to focus all of our energies into improving the feature set of the sites here so that you have long term benefit.  As far as I can tell it has been paying off, but my perspective may be a little distorted from lack of sleep…

We thank each of you for your support and for using the system.  You have found bugs, suggested important features and most of all your use of Spruz encourages us to keep moving forward.

Spruz has come a long way in a year. In fact this time last year it was only a name and short page of teaser text.  I am certain that this year will move even faster than the last, improvements and updates around every bend.  But don’t just sit back for the ride; tell all your friends, everyone can be a part of the growing phenomenon that is Spruz.

We wish you all the best in the coming year. May you prosper and may your communities grow.

As Spruz gets closer to version two we have been working more and more to add features and functionality that have been requested by users through feedback. A major theme in the feedback has been requests for more help and more documentation; also to make the administration easier to use, with less clicks to get where you want to go.

In answer to our users we have released an update to the site administration that brings better functionality (one click to the most commonly used features like adding a new page), as well as support and information at your fingertips.

This update opens the door to better features and easier management.  Be sure to check out the new video, showing you around the administration area.