Welcome To The New Phoronix

New Phoronix Site Offers Improved Usability and Introduces New Features

In a little over a month from now Phoronix will be turning three years old, but today we have an early present for our readers and the alternative OS community. As you should be able to see right now, we have a brand new layout. This new user interface is powered by our sixth-generation content management system, PHXCMS, and it sports an overwhelming number of enhancements.

One of the most noticeable changes with the new Phoronix web-site is the color scheme. We have finally eliminated the white-on-black style in favor of a white background with black text and the rest of the color pallet is based upon our previous layout. We are also working on adding support for multiple CSS styles so that you may customize the color scheme based upon your personal preference (stay tuned). With PHXCMS-6 we have also went from a dual column layout to a widened single column. This widened column features the latest articles at Phoronix, recent Linux news, recent Solaris news, blog posts from the editor, a random collection of our most popular articles, Linux software screenshots, and various links to the Phoronix Forums. At the top of Phoronix are links to the different categories as well as to other areas on Phoronix.

On a technical level, PHXCMS-6 is much more efficient than PHXCMS-5, which should result in faster load times, improved browser compatibility, and much more. PHXCMS-6 is also powered via a new database design, which is the first complete redesign and rewrite since PHXCMS-1 that Phoronix started out with in June of 2004. At this point PHXCMS-6 is not optimized for any mobile devices, but that support should arrive shortly.

Our global review/article database can be accessed using the "Global Database" link at the top of the site or through the "Reviews From Around The Web" area on the homepage. Our database system has now indexed over 9500 reviews in 23 categories. Content from the Redblog (the ATI Linux blog) has also been integrated into Phoronix as the ATI Linux Chronicles with the successor to the Redblog being at michaellarabel.com.

Phoronix LCH has been integrated with the Phoronix Forums as we prepare to take Phoronix to new heights and introduce several new web-site features for making known compatible hardware.

PHXCMS-6 and this new site revision is coming after months of intense work as well as evaluating the feedback from our readers and other stakeholders. This redesign is coming sooner than originally anticipated, but we have already begun to formulate some new features and possibilities for PHXCMS-7. PHXCMS-7 will not create API breakage or result in a complete rewrite of any critical components, but it will be yet another step for Phoronix either towards the end of this year or in the first half of 2008. We are also investigating the possibility of making PHXCMS an open-source content management system project that then can be utilized by webmasters as a viable alternative to Joomla/Mambo, phpBB, WordPress, and the rest.

Our three RSS feeds have also been updated to implement the pubDate support so that you may properly merge RSS feeds. You may also notice there are a few Solaris things floating around Phoronix... That will be explained in another announcement shortly. We will be making minor tweaks to the layout in the coming days and weeks prior to the third anniversary of Phoronix. Without giving too much away, we are also looking at venturing into other forms of Internet media in the near future along with FreeBSD coverage.

You can share your thoughts on these improvements and any other suggestions in the Phoronix Forums. As a reminder, you can subscribe to our RSS feeds here.

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