I made this quickly in Paint:

 

 

Basically, my idea for the homepage is to:

- Remove the "links" sidebar on the left

- Increase width of news slightly, and increase width of righthand section slightly

- Increasing the width of the righthand section will allow us to have 2 elements side by side (eg. Recent Topics & Poll of the Day)

- Have a wide "community events" section on the righthand side, top. Aim to update this bi-weekly

- "Community Events" would include stuff such as Fan-art Competitions (both announcing the event, and the results), AMV competitions, writing competitions, community showcases (where we show off particularly impressive KH creations), maybe "show your collection" events, KH superfan competitions, Christmas parties, who knows! The possibilities are endless

 

This should hopefully bring more action to the homepage, and encourage a lot of creative works. The main cost is, of course, the loss of the "links" bar-- but that doesn't get much use, right? It's actually quite irrelevant now that we have the games bar across the top.

 

Difficulties involve me having to design and program this idea (might take a few days of solid work, not sure how long that would take me in real time), and structuring a staff team that will run and organize these events, and keep them up-to-date without me having to spend a lot of time on it (as we don't want the news and other sections of the site to suffer). However all of these seem manageable!

 

What do you think? Something I should go ahead with?

Yes! I personally think it would be a great idea and people would know about events on the home page rather than seeing it in statuses/forums. Good luck if you do it!

I'd say go for it!  The links on the left is kind of handy for navigation to those who are new and/or lost to the Kingdom Hearts series, but really, I think the majority could do without.  I like the new design because it looks less cluttered and easier to navigate.  Also, I love the idea of adding in a Community Events section.  It might really bring more members to the site.

I like it. As long as doesn't take 24 hours to load like Tumblr. It's awesome. 

Personally DC, this is a great idea! Especially the Community Events, that way members on here can be more active and participate in those contests

woooooooooooooooooo yeah do it!

That is a great idea! I really like the idea of having Community Events. ^^ I'll definitely participate in a few if you go along with the design

The new design makes things look less cluttered, but I think it'll look nicer. Go for it!

Seems good to me. Go ahead with it

Seems legit.

 

Looks goo. Change would be nice, everyone likes change.

It looks good too.

Google Chrome!!!! =D

Go for it bro. It's a much easier access for the site. =)

Looks good. But as you said yourself it'll take some time to design and program it.

 

And another thing, It's really the only thing remaining from KH13 V2 if you don't count actual content and Zenphoto for obvious reasons.

 

I'd be happy with the change. But I'd suggest asking if anyone would be interested in running that first. 

I like it c:it's good to have a change of view once in a while

I like it. We should do it. Oh, and I love Portal too.

Cool,you should upgrade into a new level!  ^_^

Communit Events deffintely has my attention. I agree it would boost regular activity! The project has my full support!

I thought we'll have the santa hat logo dayum D:

 

I love the community events bar

 

I SHALL SUPPORT THY DC!

I like it Maybe for the new year you should do a new theme design for the website too? Just a suggestion ;3

That actually looks really good, and it'll make it much easier for new members around here^^

I love how he's listening to "Still Alive" from portal. New Design looks great! I guess I was the only one left who still used the link bar on the left. Oh well I can get used to the game bar.

HA I had to open up KH13 in a new tab to realize what links bar was gone.   I personally never used it so I wouldn't miss it and I think the new design is cool. You have my full support DC. 

Seems legit that new design. I approve