POCG 2.0: The Phosphorus Update
POCG.net has a new reader-first design, rebuilt from the homepage to the archives without changing our orginal design. I’m calling this release Phosphorus. It is the first complete reader-facing rebuild of POCG in years, but it is not a reset. The reviews, recovered archive, odd corners, my strong opinions (which can be wrong apparently), and history are still here. This release is all about making all of that easier to read, easier to find, and less tiring to use.
For me the last part matters, a lot. My eyesight is not what it used to be, and a strong astigmatism made parts of the old site harder to read than I wanted to admit. Small gray type on a dark screen may look tidy in a mockup and may be popular in retro circles. But after 10 minutes of reading it’s just tiring.
So, I became the reference reader. If a page made me squint, lost its hierarchy, or turned into a wall of tiny labels, it went back for another pass.
Why I rebuilt it
The goal was not to make POCG look like every other modern publication. It was to keep the site recognizably POCG while removing the friction that had accumulated around it.
Long-form reading now uses a larger, stronger type scale. Article prose is generally 18px on the rebuilt surfaces. Interface text starts at 15px. The small mono type is still there, but it is used for the things it is good at: dates, scores, labels, and metadata. It no longer carries sentences or oversized headings.
There is no text glow. There are no scanlines over the words. Dark mode keeps the green-black CRT mood without pretending that a monitor defect is a reading feature. Light mode uses a warm paper color instead of a glaring white field.
The result is softer than some of POCG’s earlier experiments, but I kept it as close to the original teal POCG as I could.
What did not change
POCG is still independent. The promise is still:
No bought scores. No filters. Just opinions.
Reviews still use the same 0.5-step scoring system. The old archive is still part of the site rather than an embarrassment hidden behind a fresh coat of paint. The weird history, recovered Zip-disk material, long-running Feature series, and twenty-eight years of changing opinions all still belong together.
What comes next
The new Workbench starts with the MOD64 review in progress.
On deck:
- Hyperkin Captain+ Hall Effect N64 Controller review
- ANBERNIC RGSP
- Retroid Pocket Nova Handheld, Ice Blue with 12GB + 128GB
- KONKR Pocket ADVANCE
For now, try POCG 2.0 in both themes. Read a review. Dig through a platform page. Search the old News archive. If anything is difficult to read, awkward to tap, or behaving strangely on your screen, tell me. Phosphorus was built through that kind of feedback, and that is how it will keep getting better.