Windosill by Patrick Smith

"Like Patrick’s pervious game,"

Pervious = permeable, approachable ??

I know it should be previous. :P

Good find. I love this guy's work.

As for site recommendations? I think you need to freshen up the layout and move to three columns. Navigation and important permalinks on the left (the nav tabs are easily overlooked in the current position), content in the middle and ad's on the top and right. The logo could also be more prominent. Finally, I think you need to start (tastefully) injecting ads (including pimping your own store) every 6th post or so. You gotta pay the bills right?.

The only other nitpicks I have are being able to log in from a comment box without being redirected away from the post/site and to allow the UQ to go three pages deep. That's free content for users to browse, click and hang around so why let posts disappear after they drop off page one? Another reason is that some popular posts have been bumped off the Que by unpopular/spam submissions and they need another page or two to stay in the game.

the ability to log in without leaving neatorama would be nice.

also being able to leave comments from the home page.

and maybe let users edit/add tags to stories posted. :)

Crowdsource designs for the apparel part of the online shop.
The blog is already fantastic.

oh yeah! and instead of having several different things on the front page of the store for different types of shirts, why not clean it up a bit and have just a link for shirts that then gives you the ability to select more specific types. i think it would make the store a bit cleaner cut :)

This is a simple suggestion, but I think that it would make viewing Neat-o-rama far more enjoyable: Make it so that there is an option to make all links open in new tabs. I hate following a link (forgetting to hold "Ctrl" down), accidently closing it intead of hitting "Back" and then having to track down where I was on your site...

*previous - fixed now, thanks Frau!

You might consider getting a graphic designer to re do your homepage. While simple is good, neatorama does need an update.

Also, maybe consider getting a tumblr or twitter to expand your online presence.

As much I would love a smoother login system, my suggestion is that you need to put more of the store items in line with the posts. I understand that it might make you feel a bit whorish, but I actually like seeing your picks.

I love this game - played the first few levels and I'm addicted already.

The front page can be cleaned up a little. If possible, it would be nice if the front page displayed the thumbnails of some feature posts/items from the store (moving the posts and the navbar on the right down a bit).

And perhaps you should add some more color to your layout - I think the ads would definitely blend in better that way.. The ads just.. don't seem friendly at all right now.

Also.. have you thought about getting twitter to get more followers..?

I LOVE Neat-o-rama in small doses. Unfortunately, I can't read my RSS aggregator all day, so there are occasions where I scroll through the first six or seven posts at the top, and then "mark all read" something on the order of 60+ posts. Could you consider offering some options to the RSS subscription settings? Maybe a way to subscribe to favorite categories, or just offer a "lite" version of the RSS that isn't so post-heavy?

Also, I would love a code -- fun game! Glad I had a chance to read it rather than skip past.

I think it's a great store, so the only recommendations I have is, how about some more awesome products?

What's so hard about holding down Ctrl?

I think Neatorama is, at the moment, perfect. The Queuebot is finely tuned, following his recent acid bath (Thank the Maker!), and there are lots of cool posts by the authors. Keep rockin, don't change. :P

I understand that having some comerciales on the side bares contribute to fund the well-being of the site, but it can be rather annoying. The best improvement I could proposed would be to reduce the size of the ads-banners or put them at the end of the page in order for people not to see them too much.
Also, some section of the site could have some multi-langual translation ? :)

I'd look into developing an iphone/smartphone friendly option; i don't have the technical knowledge to speak on it fully, but i mean in the way that myspace and facebook have mobile browser "versions"

windowsill - beautiful game!

I think the blog is excellent, but i think you should have some sort of a contest in order to redesign the background (don't chnage the posts, though!) I also think that as far as the shop goes, you should 1.)have more diversity of products and 2.) have a place where people could post links to their etsy shops.

Whatever you do, don't follow mental_floss's decision to tax comments with those annoying flyby ads that you have to scrutinize in order to close.

Patrick Smith's stuff is awesome, thanks for the update

As for the site I'm a fan, but you could do more with the retro style found elsewhere in the blog (Like the nifty watermark in this text box). Also the text on the bottom and sides turns into an absolute jumble on smaller screens, If you guys re-worked it a little, maybe dividing up the text a bit...

Finally, ask for user input like this more often, you never know when a web author might stumble upon the post and give some helpful hints.

1. Use advertising space on the right to present items in the store... scrolling images of the newest and best selling products.

2. Ability to view upcoming Que links based on current link that is used... I know, I'm confused too... each blog post is listed in a category, so a post for Arts and Crafts would have a link to view Arts and Crafts in the upcoming Que.

3. New merch

Does Neatorama really need a change?

Well ok...but if you do change anything then make sure that people can give feedback on it. And if the changes are mostly unwelcome then make sure you can change things back!

One idea i have is to allow people to subscribe to certain posters and receive an email anytime that that person posts an article.

Another idea is to pretty please give me an activation code because WINDOSiLL is amazing!

I'd like to see neatorama offer, date browsing, so incase if you miss one days posts, you don't have to go through each page looking for them, you could select from a calendar the date of the posts you wish to see. This type of indexing is a little different that what everyone else offers, and in the case of neatorama that has a plethora of posts daily allows you to keep up with the content easily.

Also, consider setting up a page number selection format rather than having to scroll through each page to get to older content. similar to what is available at the bottom of a google search or other sites.

I also like the idea of setting links to open in a new window, every so often if I forget to hold CTRL I hate that it takes me away from neatorama.

I'd love a code and thanks for all the great work and content keep it up :-)

I don't think it needs much of a change to how it looks. I agree with the login bit. I read most of the site from Google Reader and only go to the site if I want to comment.

I also would encourage a user submitted product gallery.

I like how the site looks, but I think you might consider the idea of placing the ads of the right banner lower, I think "categories", "last posts" and "collaborations" should be placed above the ads

I believe that you should try to put more ads in the right banner and not in the upper banner, because now I can see an ad that is totally green and it doesn't look good over the grey.

I wish that helps and that I get rewarded as well :P

Change nothing. Why fix it if it isn't broke? (can I have the access codes cause you guys are so awesome)

Not enough political posts.

I'd also like to see the store become more "Neatorama" and less just random stuff.

I doubt there are any more activation codes left, but what I would like to know is, how do you know you can go no further in the demo version, as the key blocks are not so obvious to find.

By the way, I was extremely pleased to find windosill to be the open ended exploration game that it is, I thought it might merely be something more conventional with neat graphics.

Not to be a suck up but I think the best thing you could do to Neatorama is advertise it more: it rocks. Oh and maybe a slight refresh of the logo (I don't mind the rest of the design).

As you know, blogs have begun to adopt some aspects of conventional pre-IT revoution business models. One of the most obvious and general of these is loosely phrased "createing stakeholder ownership." While that seems like trite business jargon, it simply refers to the act or series of acts in which an organization allows personal investment of some kind from all of the people who have at least some interest in the organization. The methods are various and many. Companies ofering profit-sharing exhibit this phenomenon. Wal-Mart is famous for its success in creating local ownership via sponsoring community activites and carrying local college mechandise. Neatorama (and other blogs) ususually implement the function by facilitating a blog-exclusive social community via subscriber posting, profiles, chat options (of course comments), giveaways etc. This has been one of the leading factors in the expanse of blogging as a viable business. While not practical in traditional organizational structures, blogs further support decentralizing command and control (not complete dectralization). This stands to reason as a blog's value derives from its popularity. One option is to increase the association between posts and people who post. This could include adding his/her profile image (or another image of choice) next to his/her name as the post author. Increasing incentives to post would be another good option. This could include randomly draw giveaway or better yet, competitions based on some formula derived from the authors number of posts, average number of views per post, average user rating of posts. Additionally, neatorama could sponsor something like a recruiting program by providing incentives for neatorama users to refer other users to the site. An example of this would involve various strata of giveaway items. When a new user registers, offer a field for a referal user name worth some some value to the new user if they provide a valid user name for the person who recruted him/her. The value for this field could include some point system related to the aformentioned formula for calculating the value neatorama associates with a blogger. For this system to work effectively, neatorama must implement it as a comparative system rather than an absolute point value per reward system, the latter of which would actually motivate fraud. I don't want to take the time to go into further detail as this comment is already too long, and neatorama may have already adopted similar systems. However, should this suggestion be of value to neatorama, simply email me and I'll gather and organize the information into a detailed plan based on precedent systems and relevant business models based on scholarly journals, textbooks etc. I'm a project manager by education, but I like to do this kind of stuff for fun too.

stickers! i'll design them for free

now gimme that code please

for FREE

Hi..I loved the windosill free stages too..They reflect style and hardwork..really looking forward to playing the full version..problem is I cant buy it where I live(India)!!
SUGGESTION FOR NEATORAMA!!
you know neatorama is pretty good but you could improve the site layout and other teeny-meeny things!! Small contests and other indirect forms of advertisements wouldnt hurt either!! Just stick to the basics and do what you know you are suppposed to, to promote the site and I am sure you will get several others who love it as much as do!!

Gray is sort of a bad color for a site like this, maybe adding more color to the layout would help make everything look less bland and empty.

adding cool pictures and color might attract more people.because (this is just me) i like sites that are fun and colorful

To make the blog a little better, I would suggest adding a feature that would allow fans of it to submit content to already-made entries (extra stuff that you missed and/or didn't get to).

pimp it out with cool graphic and stuff

if anyone has a unused or reusable activation code please send it to hiphophopey@yahoo.com PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE??????!!!!!!

It would be nice if there was a clock here according to other countries. Also different themes would make the page more "attractive"

best game ever!

best game ever!!!

anyone have the code?

A re-mixable screen so you could make it a little more like....home, and maybe some sort of list of categories of all of the reviews so it is easier to find stuff here. And a update on the site's logo would be nice....

a game that is ''reflecting'' this site so that more people would join, perhaps pun it on other game sites.

I really liked the first half of the game. What would maybe make it more interesting, is by putting more things that you can click in one room and do not let them all be a part in getting the box. So you will need to think harder to find out witch object you will need to succeed. You could even make it possible that you could succeed in multiple ways, so it would still be fun when you play it another time.

Make it free! please *happy face*

How can we improve Neatorama (blog and/or online shop?
------------------------------------------------------
ahhh.... lets see, ahhh..

YOU CAN NOT!

( Is that right answer ?! )

i think it is pretty good as it is but you could add some color

well i think it's fine but maybe add a cool backround sort of related to Neatorama or just some color would be fine. Its just really bland if you ask me.

Should i Get Activation Code.........??

You can link your products through google image. Also use mass social networks such as myspace or facebook, like ads on myspace, or "Become a fan of Neatorama" on facebook. Your products are fun and interesting, all you need is the right publicity to really expand your customers :) just by looking at the products show above comments im interested and thinking about a purchase.
I'm also intriqued by the free offer of an activation code for windowsill full version. Things inexspensive to you guys like that as a fun thing we can try to win or get already makes you more popular. Alright now i'm going to look at your store. I would love a free activation code, but still happy without one :)

windosill is rubish

i actually love vector parkk ;D

awesome game love it so much neatorama is sweet

neatorama is cool, but is missing something.
its on the tip of my tounge!

when do i get the code?

i got it!!!
it needs more graphical stuff

to get money, post some ads. you can be rich!!

you can also use some more color and pictures.
you can attract more people to this site.

when do iget the code????????!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!

Patrick - this was back in 2009. We've given out all the codes already :(

Maybe add more good reviews for big games on the consoles, like infamous 2, halo reach, svr 2011, etc. If u know the code for september 2010, please post it.