Welcome To The New FYA

Hey Ladies and Bryan, we moved!  Can you tell?  Huh?  Huh?  Where's our blender or our bottle of scotch?

Okay, so, I don't know about you guys, but I actually HATE it when websites change looks/formats.  I DON'T LIKE CHANGE OKAY.  But sometimes change is necessary, like when you go through puberty and grow breasts and underarm hair, or like when you graduate college and realize your douchey boyfriend is NOT invited to be part of your new awesome grown up life.  OR when you're super broke and pump hundreds of dollars a year into a website and want at least enough ad money to cover cocktails at BEA.  Whatever!  Change is not always bad, is what I'm saying.

But!  This is a totally different layout and look, so I thought I'd take you guys on a little tour.  Any question I don't answer, or something I have missed entirely, or general thoughts, whatever  - PLEASE feel free to leave a comment and ask/yell away!  We'll try to get to everyone this week, but we're working on a skeleton staff right now, so be patient with us.

Okay!  So let's do this!

What the hell is that stuff at the top of the webpage?

Oh, hey!  Ever heard of the Alamo Drafthouse?  They're an Austin-based theatre (expanded to Dallas, Houston, Virginia, San Francisco and New York!) where you can eat and drink while watching awesome movies and doing things like going to a Princess Bride quote along or Pretty Women Girlie Night.  "Big deal!" you think.  "I can do that at my local Studio Movie Grill."  Yeah, that's cause the Alamo did it first.  Also, we're part of the Alamo Drafthouse!  And those other links are other parts of the Drafthouse!  There's our brother site, Badass Digest, as well as the super-cool Mondo Tees and Posters site, which does custom-drawn, limited edition tshirts and posters for different movies and tv shows.  Plus the different film-related branches of the Drafthouse.  Check them out!  We're super excited to be part of the family!

Yeah, but is that an ad?

Yes.  Yes it is.  We're poor and champers doesn't buy itself.  Deal with it.

What would your mother think?

Are you kidding?  The Parents of FYA are well known for their common refrain, "when is this thing going to start making you money?  And no, you may not borrow five dollars to get a bottle of Andre.  What is Andre?"

But how do I get around??  I feel so lost!

It's cool!  Click on the FYA tab to access most of the tabs we used to have across the top of our old site - Book Report list, Book Club Schedule, Lexicon, Book Report Grading, etc.

Your book report list is empty!!

I know!!  It didn't copy over with the links, since the site has changed.  We're in the process of rebuilding it.  Yeah, we're sad too.  We're going to try super hard to get it fixed ASAP but it's going to be several hundred hours of work, and we have jobs and kids.  Patience, please.

I HATE CHANGE!!!!  I WANT THINGS MY WAY!

Yeah, that really sucks for you, doesn't it?

What's with the Featured posts?  What are those?

So glad you asked!  I like you much more than I like that cranky person from earlier.  The Featured posts are posts that have generated a lot of traffic or comments or great discussion within the comments.  We'll change those up from time to time - basically think of it as a way for you to see what other people think are cool.

I don't really understand the Categories part?

We've always put our posts into certain Categories in order to keep them nicely sorted.  Unfortch with Wordpress, it was kind of hard to navigate those.  Hopefully this will be easier!  Just click on the Categories link and scroll down to find the type of posts you're looking for!  Fair warning: we categorize these ourselves, and drunk monkeys are more technically adept than we are, so don't be surprised if you pick something like "Cheers!" and see a post from me about ear wax or something.  I cannot be held accountable for my own actions.

And the Features?  What's that?

Sort of the same thing as Categories, but more specific.  For instance, ANYTIME we write a LadyNerd post, it becomes part of the LadyNerd feature.  In other words, think of Features as posts that we do as part of a series.

WAH!!!  TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!  I WANT A NAP!  GIVE ME A COOKIE!

Settle down, Chuckie.  You can have a nap after you finish your applesauce.

Okay, so . . . where are the latest posts?

The latest posts will always be on the main page, just like before.  The big change here is that we no longer have a "before the cut" intro section of text.  Which is great news for me, because I find those AGONIZING to write.  (Of course, now that we've mirrored all of the posts over to the new site, so many of mine look like they were written my a sixth-grade journalism student, what with the now meaningless lead paragraph and all.)

But what about that stuff on the side?  The Latest Badass?  The Latest Features?  Huh?

Don't be confused!  Let's take it in steps, shall we?

What's On Badass Digest will have a link to a recent Badass Digest post.  You should check them out!  We write there, too!  In fact, Badass Digest Editor In Chief Devin, Managing Editor Meredith and I will be doing a TV Throwback discussion about Firefly every week for the next little while!  Come read me in my appeals that Captain Tightpants is the greatest tv hero (other than Coach Taylor) of ALL TIME!

The Latest Features sidebar will have a smattering of recent posts of different types - tv reviews, book reports, Dr FYA, Cover Story, etc!

And the Latest Book Reports are just that!  The last five book reoprts will always be listed in this sidebar.  So don't worry about going on vacation!!  We got your back!

Okay, this is all GREAT and FINE and WHATEVER I HATE CHANGE but WHATEVER.  But can we PLEASE talk about the comments?

Yeah, the comments.  I know, the comments!  So by now (since we rolled out the comment platform last week) you know about Disqus and its hatred of older browsers.  And your work's hatred of Disqus.  And how it's all totally different and you hate it now.  I know.  WE'RE SORRY.  But Disqus isn't all bad!  It allows you to "like" comments!  Liking comments is the lazy person's way of saying "I read this and agree!"  And you can collapse and expand comment threads!  And you can log in with your Twitter or Facebook account, therefore allowing other FYAers to stalk you on the interwebs!

Yes but I STILL HATE IT AND YOU AND YOUR STUPID ASSFACE.

Eh, well, can't win 'em all.

Hopefully this little guide helped you figure out the new site, but if it didn't, or you still have questions, or you just want to say something like "GOOD JOB GUYS I BET IT WAS A HELL OF A LOT OF WORK TO GET ALL THIS MOVED OVER WHILE YOU WERE STILL HUNGOVER FROM POSH'S WEDDING" or whatever, please feel free to comment below!  (And, of course, if you can't comment, just tweet us @4everYA and we'll try to help you out.)

Oh, and also?  Can everyone please give MAJOR PROPS to Roger, website designer extraordinaire and SUPER PATIENT DUDE?  Cause he's awesome.  Thanks, Roger!!  We owe you a cocktail (or three)!!