Your Handy-Dandy Guide to the New Layout

With the coming of the new layout, a lot of loyal Neopets users are being confused by the complexity of the new layout. Many find themselves trapped by the limited top drop down menus while others are searching themselves silly for the search bar. Well, if you're just as confused as I was, read on to help yourself navigate the changes and bring peace and order back to your daily Neopian life.

Let's start with the search bar: It is currently located at the bottom of every page next to the language selection menu. It still performs the exact same function as the previous search bar.

The Front Page:

Ah, the new front page. Seems simple enough.

On the left there is the status of your current Neopet including everything you would see in a "Quick Ref" as well as the names of your online neofriends (cool!). There is a big News Flash box across the top which is a flash version of the old front page news box. This box also tells you how many players are online, how many neopets have been created, and the Neopian stock market index. The daily puzzle allows you to win some points and some cool stuff for answering questions based on the Neopian world. For gamers, the latest games box is located right below the news box. Beside that is a random poll as well as New Items. Below all of that are the most recent winners of Neopian competitions and then the search box. Now, the bottom box, the one that is the same on every page, contains the Privacy Policy, tips on staying safe, contact info, the about us section as well as 'link to us' and the all important Help option!

Moving on...

The "My Account" Menu:

Contains: Control Panel, Edit Profile, Preferences, Neomail, Neofriends and Create a Neopet.

These are all pretty self explanatory. The difference is you can access your neofriends list right from the front page instead of going through the neomail option first. The control panel page allows for changing your preferences and options as well as your neopets customization center including the dress up, description and pet page options. The neofriend box is also in the corner of this page. The preferences page is exactly like the old one. So basically the My Account menu takes you to everything to do with... well... your account!

The "Pet Central" Menu:

Contains: Main, Calendar, World Events and Neopian Pound

The Main Pet Central option takes you to a page filled with everything that could possibly be of use to you concerning your neopet. This page contains the calendar, the downloadables section, how to draw, literature, Neopian stats, contests and activities as well as a bottom menu for everything else relating to your pets such as "Send a Neopet to a Friend", Neopets popularity chart, Pronunciations, a list of all the species, Neogreetings, All the Petpet Species, a link to the Faerie Quests page and the Link to Us page.

The Calendar is the same as the old one with all the National Neopian holidays listed.

The World Events page is also the same as the old one.

The Neopian Pound is once again the same, no major changes. At the time of this writing, the adoption page was down for maintenance while you can still disown an unwanted pet.

On to the next menu...

The "Explore" Menu:

Contains: Map of Neopia, Weather, Pronunciation, and the Neopedia

The Map of Neopia is basically the same and will take you to all the same places as with the previous layout.

No major changes to the weather page. There are still links to find out the weather of every region on the Neopian map.

The Pronunciation page has no major changes. Everything is very organized.

The Neopedia will bring you to a list of all the articles. It goes in alphabetical order but that is no news.

All in all, the explore menu just brings you to the same pages that existed before but in a more organized manner.

The "Games" Menu:

Contains: Games Room, Top Rated, High Scores and Favorites

The games room is completely reorganized. It breaks down the games into their rightful categories as well as provides the feature game and new games right at the top! More organized, less cluttered.

The Top Rated games page will break down most of the games in the orders of: Alphabetical, Newest, Easiest, Hardest, Most Popular as well as an option for your favorite games. The most popular game at the time of writing is Meerca Chase. =]

Not too much new on the high scores page.

The favorites page is, well, a link to your favorite games!

Neeext...

The "Boards" Menu:

Contains: Neoboard Index and Preferences

The Neoboard index is the same with all the boards from Avatars to Sloth. The preferences option takes you directly to your Neoboard preferences including your avatar and signature. Nothing new at all in this section.

The "Shops" Menu:

Contains: Neopia Central, Shop Wizard, Your Shop, Auctions, Trading Post and the Bank

You'll notice that so far, there is no direct link to your guild (if you have one). This is because not all Neopians have a guild and some would be bothered by the extra space it takes up. (Personally, I love guilds and would love to be in one). To access your guild, you will have to click on any of the other options under the Shops menu and follow the link to your guild from there.

Neopia Central is exactly the same so once you get yourself onto this page, you can access your items, your stocks, your notices and everything else that was on the previous menu. All the links in the Shop Menu drop down menu are the same; simple, right?

The "News" Menu:

Contains: New Features, Coming Soon, Neopian Times and the Merch News

The New Features page got a nice little re-vamping. All the latest news is right in the middle of the page. Beside that is the box containing new items in the shops, New Games, and below that are links to the Neopian Times and the Contests and Spotlights. Below all of that is a little box for items, games and website content that are coming soon.

The coming soon page has a nice little list of the events that are coming up soon in Neopia.

The Neopian Times link will take you to the Neopian Times page (really?).

And Merch News is basically the same. Updates on merchandise you can buy in Real Life!! (What? Neopets isn't real life??!?)

Extras and Things You Might Be Looking For:

The Time in NST is beside the News Menu. Above the new menu bar is your username, Neopoints that you are carrying with you, and the logout option.

The monthly freebies option has been taken off the front page and so far, I have not been able to find a link for it anywhere on Neopets. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. But the link for your monthly freebies, until Neopets finds a place for it, is //www.neopets.com/freebies/index.phtml.

Anything else I might have missed, you'll have to explore around for yourselves to find. These are the basic options that you will use in your everyday Neopets life.

Thank you for reading my article and I hope you find the new layout as awesome and exciting as I do!

xoxstellar