Addicts Housekeeping: Site Changes and How to Use This Website

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

So, as many of you know, over the last week or so of downtime in the game I’ve been slowly posting highly requested posts to this site (i.e. Charts…how-tos etc) and I’ve also been doing some behind the scenes maintenance on the site to clean up some older areas and make things easier to find.  Now that the projected down time is almost up (we’re thinking something will hit Tuesday Oct 4th), I’ve completed most of the additions and maintenance for this go round.  So I invite you to explore the site, check out the changes…and be prepare for what’s next!

One thing that surprised me in my “What should I work on post” is many of you were looking for additions to the site that we already had (like a quick access link to all posts about a particular event). That that prompted me to think many of you aren’t exploring the site or using the menus and widgets that are available.  So for my final downtime maintenance post, I’m going to detail how to use this site..and show you how to find many key features this site has to offer.  So indulge me for a moment if you don’t mind 🙂

One of the very first things I want to mention…be sure to check the site often.  And not just through your email or blogger applications.  Actually visit TSTOAddicts.com fresh in your browser and explore the latest post (which is always at the top of TSTOAddicts.com).

Often times we’ll see someone commenting on a post from weeks ago about an issue that just popped up (my guess is through a Google Search), and instead of looking at the most recent post they comment on that older post.  And more often than not their problem is addressed (and solved) by going to the latest post.

During the weekdays we post at least 2 times a day, more often than not 3 times a day (and in some cases 4 times a day).  And on the weekends we post at least once a day.  So every day there’s at least 1 new post from us…and if there’s an issue we always cover it.  So I encourage you to always check the newest post on the site by just going to TSTOAddicts.com (or hitting the home button on the menu, or clicking the header). 🙂

So now let’s get into where everything is….

There are two different views of this site.  There’s a desktop view, which occurs when you visit this site from a desktop/laptop computer (or when you view full site from a mobile device) and there’s a mobile view, which you see when you visit this site from any mobile device (unless you hit view full site from that device).  So I will show you the perspective from each view…

Menu

Across the top of the Desktop view (just above the header/banner) you’ll see the website menu.

From the mobile view you can access the menu by hitting the menu button in the top left corner when viewing the site (it’s a drop down list of the menu items):

The menu is broken up into 9 Headers….hovering over any of the headers with your mouse will expand the dropdown menu (if that header has one) for more info…

Home- Which Takes you back to Addicts Homepage a.k.a the latest post

About Us- 

The About Us Section is just that, All about Us.  From there you can check out the About the Addicts Page, view the Addicts Guidelines, Check out out Social Media Pages & Contact Us via email or snail mail.

Also important to note..the About the Addicts Page has been FULLY updated to include profiles of the 3 original Addicts, Patric and we’ve added fun profiles of our two frequent contributors Totbox and Safi.  We’ve also added a photo gallery for y’all to enjoy.  So I encourage you to check out the updates on the About the Addicts Page.

Add Friends- 

Add Friends is just that…the place on this site where you go to find and add new TSTO Friends.  Clicking this link will take you to a category page where the latest Add Friends post is always on top (latest Vandalize Free page is the second post listed)

Help Me!-

The Help Me! Section of the site is broken up into four sub categories….

Your Questions– Where you can see an FAQ of the game and ask any question (on or off Topic) you may have about the game.
Technical Support– Where we post the latest troubleshooting posts
What the Glitch?!– Where we post details about the latest Glitches impacting the game
Addicts How To– Just as it says..this is where we post our How-To Posts about various areas of the game (like building bridges, what happens when your game resets to level 1 etc)

Tips and Tricks-

The Tips & Tricks section is where many of you will want to spend your time.  This is where we post just about all of the hot button topics for TSTO & it’s broken up into 8 Sub Categories…

New Tappers Guide– Just as the name suggests.  Here’s a collection of everything you need to know to get started playing TSTO.
Walkthroughs– A detailed breakdown of all of the walkthroughs for TSTO, including Full Dialogue and the Turbo Tappin’ (no dialgoue) versions
Conform-O-Meter– As the name suggests, here’s our collection of posts all about the Conform-O-Meter
Expansions and Additions- This category actually contains several more sub categories, where you can find everything you need to know about Krustyland, Springfield Heights, the Monorail Mini Games and more:

Tapped Out Events- Again as the name suggests here a list of every Tapped Out Event we’ve ever covered and a link to the Event pages that contain every single post we’ve ever written about those events.
Premium Guide- A full breakdown of every Should I Buy Post we’ve ever written (Premium Index is included here), as well as numerous posts we’ve written about donuts (how to get free ones, and some suggestions on what to buy)
Daily Challenge Rundown- As it suggests, details about the new daily Challenge system.
Charts and Data- This section contains links to every single chart and data post we’ve written…including premium bonus % breakdowns, premium index, character skins, character lists, KEM farming etc… 

Behind the Game-

This is where we have our fun outside the game details and it’s broken up into 7 sub categories…

Where Did THAT Come From- A collection of the Addicts look at just what episodes the items inside our games came from
Character Guide- A breakdown of all the characters in TSTO and an in-depth look at many of them
Realty Guide- Here’s where we’ve broken down the cost and earnings of all of the regular buildings in TSTO
Episode Re-Cap- As the name suggests, here’s where Wookiee’s Episode recap posts are posted.  So if you ever miss an episode you can find it here.
Throwback Thursday- Here’s where all of Tot’s Throwback posts can be found, as Totbox takes a detailed look at each episode of The Simpsons, starting from Season 1.
Live From the REAL Springfield- A new series here, but it’s where you can find Patric’s detail look on the Real Sprignfield origins and have some fun in the process
Simpsons News- Here’s where you can find the collection of Wookiee’s posts as it relates to news in the World of the Simpsons (not just TSTO).

Community-

The Community section is just that, Community inspired posts.  This section is broken up into 9 sub categories…
Addicts Open Thread- Where you can find the latest Open Thread to talk about anything and everything
Discount Donut Deals – Where you can share your Discount Donut Finds with your fellow Tappers
From the Mouths of Addicts- A Collection of posts on this site written by YOU!
Caption This!- Funny screenshots submitted by YOU
What the Addicts Want- A collection of posts about what YOU want to see in TSTO
You Might Be An Addict If- A fun series of posts about things that just might make you a TSTO Addict
TSTO Anonymous- A collection of posts by the one, the only, Wookiee..as he leads us all in our meetings about being a TSTO Addict
Bracket Challenge- A collection of posts written by Safi, where we explore your favorite elements of the game or show.
Addicts Live- Here’s where you can check out the latest edition of Addicts Live! The live video stream where we discuss the game, the show and life in general…and you participate live right along with us.

Design Guides-

Here’s our collection of Design Related posts for TSTO…it’s broken up into three sub categories…

2D/3D Designs- Our collection of posts showing you how-to design in 2D and 3D
Addicts How-To: TSTO Designs- Our collection of design posts (not 2D or 3D), for awesome design ideas for your Springfield
Springfield Showoff- Here’s our collection of Showoff posts where you get to put your designs on display.  Get some inspiration from fellow Addicts when it comes to designing your town!

Search

And finally, Search.  This I think is one of our most underused tabs but honestly it’s the best.

Clicking this link will take you (off site, briefly) to a Google Search of TSTO Addicts! Where you can get a detailed search of anything you’re thinking of.  When you first click on it, it does take you offsite to a Google Search Engine page that looks like this:

Under the TSTO Addicts name where it says Google Custom Search..type in a word, question, phrase..whatever you want about what you’re looking for and it’ll show you every post we’ve written about the subject…

Here’s a search I did about Donuts:

Anything in the white area is a post written by TSTO Addicts (the yellowish color at the top is ads from google)…and it’ll bring up everything we’ve written about the subject.  Simply click on a link to be redirected back to Addicts (and the post).

This search option is by far the BEST search option on the site.  it’s significantly better than the WordPress Search you find at the top right of the mobile view of the website, and the Search bar in the widget sidebar on the Desktop View of the site.  If you’re looking for something on this site…use this search option, you won’t be disappointed.

While I used the Desktop view to break down each heading I wanted to still show you how it would look on the mobile view fully expanded.  The headings all still apply as they do above….

---

Widgets 

We use Widgets on this site to allow you to quickly access the most common topics/areas you’ll want to visit on this site.

On the desktop view the Widgets are found to the right of the main page.  On the Mobile view their found at the bottom of the page.

There is one thing to note of difference between the Mobile and Desktop view….

On the Desktop view there are two rows of widgets to the right.  On the Mobile view only that first row of widgets is viewable at the bottom of the page. So we do our best to put critical information in the first row of widgets, so it’s viewable on both devies…

Here’s a quick breakdown of the Widgets…

Desktop view

Left side…you’ve got a Follow this Blog by Email option (if you’d like to get notifications when the newest post goes live), then the link to the Add Friends page, (NOTE…IF there’s an event going on, the next spot (as shown above) will be the quick link dedicated to that event page.  If there’s no event you’ll see the next icon instead) followed by a quick link to all things Springfield Heights.  This is followed by a link to share your discount donut deals and then a link to our Premium Guide and Donut Tips page (i.e. Ultimate Premium Guide from the Tips and Tricks section of the menu), then there is the Charts and Data section is quick linked here as well.  And finally, we round things off with a quick link to the Addicts Live! Page, where you can see the latest episode of Addicts Live!, or re-watch one you may have missed.

Important to note…during events we put a quick link to the latest event in this first row of widgets.  And that link (and image icon) is placed ABOVE the Springfield Heights icon….so during events you can use that quick link to quickly get the details on the latest event. 

Right side…it’s the WordPress Search Option (not as good as the Google search I discussed above) and links to our Flickr, Twitter and Facebook pages. Followed by a list of the most recent posts written and posted and a quick link to Family Guy Addicts (should you happen to play that game).

Mobile view..

Remember on the mobile devices the widgets are located at the very bottom of the page and only the first row (left side above) of widgets is viewable..

Here’s how the event icon looks, when there’s an even going on, on the mobile version of the widgets…

You will also have a link at the very bottom to View Full Site, which will show the desktop view on your device.

---

And that’s it!  Thank you for indulging me and allowing me to post a detailed post about how to use this site.  Many of you already know…but I’m sure this will benefit some of you, as well as new readers to this site. 🙂

Be sure to take some time and explore the new/updated areas of the site 🙂

What are your thoughts on the changes?  A little easier to navigate the site now?  Happy with the influx of charts and data over the last week?  Ready to just get down to the next update? (I know I am) Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!