Update 1.6 – Hostdeko and Captions
It has been a while since the last official update, but no worries the site has improved! Over the past months we have seen a lot of new content, the introduction of Hostdeko, two new affiliates and a few design changes.
Hostdeko
Running a website with a large number of visitors can become quite a challenge. When you overcome that challenge you end up with a lot of know how without a real application. Instead of wasting all this expertise I decided to start sharing it. For this purpose I have started to sell “blazing fast” hosting under the Hostdeko brand. Basically everything that I learned from GameplayInside has been applied to Hostdeko. In fact Hostdeko’s servers are even better.
So if you are looking for a fast loading website (you should because they influence your google rank!) then you should definitely checkout hostdeko’s blazing fast hosting. If you use code “gpi” you can get a 50% discount on your first purchase!
Design changes
New captions
Sometimes an image is not enough. In that case adding captions below the image is a nice feature. The feature itself was always present but it was rarely used because the styling was sub optimal to say the least.
The new caption styling has “cool” black with white lettering. I hope everyone will enjoy it!
New image width
In the past most pictures have been uploaded in 850 width. Unfortunately this is too wide for our template meaning all images get scaled down. After a lot of experimentation we have figured out that 838 pixels width is the optimal size. From now on all future images inside posts will be uploaded with 838 pixels width. This should remove scaling on pretty much any device. Images from the last 3 months have already been re-uploaded reflecting this change.
New content
What good is a website without content? Over the past months we have welcomed a new game: Cities Sklylines. This game has surpassed even the most optimistic expectations and has proven to be a real competitor for the SimCity series. Unfortunately it lacks a proper tutorial so there is a lot of work for GameplayInside! In addition to Cities Skylines there have also been some additions to the Optimize category.
Cities Skylines:
- Cities Skylines Guide – Beginner tips and tricks guide
- Cities Skylines Guide – Electricity and the best power plants?
- Cities Skylines Guide – Milestones: how important are these unlocks?
- Cities Skylines Guide – How residential zones work
- Cities Skylines Game Performance Review
- Cities Skylines Guide – How Industries work
- Cities Skylines Guide – How to use Industrial specialization
Optimize:
- Gaming storage shootout 2015: SSD, HDD or Raid 0 which is best?
- 21:9 Ultrawide monitor review
- Move files to and from your SSD without reinstalling by using Symbolic Links
Other
New Affliates
G2A
Last update I started a pilot with Kinguin. However they proved to be unreliable so I have changed the game purchasing affiliate to G2A. For now this affiliate connection will only show at the bottom of articles.
Amazon
The hardware specific posts in the optimize categories can now contain referral links to Amazon.
Backend
Improved security
A few hundred brute force attacks on the login page were beginning to be “normal” phenomenon. Therefore our administrative and writer access have been masked behind an additional password.
Improved caching
Most pages of GameplayInside.com were already served from a static cache. However category overviews and tags were not cached. This situation has now been resolved ensuring even faster page loads.
Opcache
OpCache has also been enabled on the server. This will allow php on uncached pages to render up to 300% faster. Because most pages are cached the changes will only be noticeable for writers and administrators.
Feedback?
Feel free to post any questions or feedback in the comments, or contact us directly through the contact page.
