New Homepage
by mp3unsigned on Jul.27, 2010, under Site functionality
Part of the redevelopment of the site involved a completely new look and feel. Even we have kept some many of the original elements we have also added some new features including a Top 100, Social Networking feeds (Facebook, Twitter, Forum and Blog). Let’s take a look at some of these new elements which are bringing the site up to speed.
Top 100:
One of the key changes here is the update to the chart. Besides tidying up the look and adding artist icons and links to artist pages and/or the specific track, we have also provided for a Top 100.
On the bottom right of the charts now you can see a new button title “Next 20″, clicking this will shuffle the charts along to the next set of 20 eg 21-40, 41-60 and so on, all the way up to 100.
It is important to note that if you don’t have an image on your artists page this will appear blank on the charts. So everyone is advised to update their images ASAP!
In addition to the extending to a Top 100 we have also upgraded the way in which they this chart operates. On the old site a track position within the Top 20 would remain live for one week only. This has now been extended and includes a weighting system based on when tracks are uploaded and when votes are received. The ’Charts’ (formerly Classic Charts) operates differently to the Top 100, this is where you can see which tracks have the most overall number of votes on an annual basis. So now we have two relevant charts that users can become more involved in.
More on how the charts operate later! Suffice it to say, we expect the new system to give users a much better opportunity to see how their tracks fare beyond the Top 20 while giving them the chance to work their way up the chart to a higher position on a week by week basis.
Social Networking
Facebook: Maybe not everyones cup of tea but there is no denying that Facebook and Twitter have become hugely important and popular. As such we have embraced these new tools and ask you to do the same. By ‘Liking’ our Facebook page you will get unintrusive updates on important events and updates on the site including competitions, new features and a link to the charts. Adding us to your page will help to spread the word and drive traffic to MP3Unsigned - this is what we need to be able to keep the show on the road so please, if you have a Facebook account
Twitter: Directly below this we have also included our Twitter feed. This is a handy little tool for us to post small updates and pieces of information to the homepage without having to create a whole new blog entry. Again, if you have a Twitter account please follow us on www.twitter.com/mp3u
User Activity: Many of our long term users will welcome the return of this feature. This is where you can see a brief intro to the most recent posts made on our #mce_temp_url# It’s a handy way of scanning activity from the homepage and something that ties in with the other social elements.
Blog: Well this is the blog that you are reading right now, basically it’s our newsfeed. This is where we will pass on information about how the site works, any updates that are planned and detailed information on competitions etc. If you choose to, you can follow the blog by clicking on the RSS button on the top right, this will give you an email alert any time we post up something new.
Featured Artist
If you want to be chosen as the Featured Artist you need to have a high quality image on your artist page (without this you won’t be considered). It is also important to note that this same picture will now appear beside your artist name and track title on the list of latest uploaded tracks AND chart position in the Top 100. So what are you waiting for, start pimping up your artist page with some high quality images!
Slideshow
The slideshow you see at the top of the homepage will be an ever changing feature. We will use this area to graphically communicate with our users, to promote bands and artists and to announce competitions and sponsors etc. We are always open to new ideas so if you think you have an idea or some fitting artwork that you would like to share then don’t hesitate to contact us!
So there you have it, we hope that you like the new look of the homepage, as we have said before, this is Phase 1 of an ongoing development so the homepage is going to grow and evolve as we move forward.
July 31st, 2010 on 7:38 pm
The site’s new appearance certainly has a more mainstream look and functionality. It certainly compares with many of the other sites on the Internet favorably. I guess that’s a good thing for most artists that are serious about their music and careers in that field. It certainly is obvious that a lot of time and effort went into it. Since change is inevitable, I suppose it is a good thing. Being an old fart, I do resist it however in most of its forms. The one thing I liked about “the old” mp3unsigned is the feeling and reality of it being a more personal site where it just felt more like a family. That, IMHO has changed for the better or worse. Time will tell I guess. The two things that are functionally not as good are: First, the inability to review the latest tracks posted by artists (more than 10 anyway). This is a biggie to me since I don’t like going to the forums to find new material from our artists and they don’t always post there anyway. It also makes it almost impossible to catch all the new music especially when an artists posts material “en masse” and overwrites any material posted just prior. While I understand this may change in the future, at the moment I really think this is a big mistake. The main reason I come here is to listen to others’ music. That will not happen as much anymore I’m afraid to say. I may be in the minority on this one but listening and downloading the wonderful artists’ music on this site is more important to me than posting and getting feedback on my own music. Second, I kind of liked the ability to only nominate three songs (or less). It appears, and I may be wrong on this one since I might just not understand the new format, that the charts are determined by how many people recommend the song as opposed to the pieces that are thought to be really special. I think this kind of cheapens the meaning of a song that makes it to the charts. This one is not anywhere near as big a deal for me as the first issue. I certainly hope nothing but the best for MP3Unsigned and wish it well in the future. I certainly have enjoyed the site in all its forms and wish all its members well. I certainly will be stopping by from time to time to enjoy and participate in finding new music and getting feedback on my endeavors when I post them. Perhaps a little less frequently but hey, acceptance will come eventually I’m sure…:-O. Congratulations on making the site more commercially viable. It certainly is that. Well done!
August 4th, 2010 on 4:07 pm
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the feedback, long term users like yourself are very important to the site so everything you say is taken on board for consideration.
Re the latest tracks being restricted to 10 - this was a design issue, unfortunately we are restricted to that number given the space we have (especially if we want to get everything in). However, we do plan on introducing a feature that will improve this:) We can’t do it at the moment but hope to introduce this in the next Phase of development. The plan is to introduce a tab that will shuffle through to the latest tracks (similar to the way you can flick through the charts in blocks of 20 all the way to 100). More on this in the future!
Re voting, the new system is a working experiment and will probably evolve along with the site. The previous system was quite restrictive, only nominations by VIP members counted toward chart positions which in itself was not a very democratic solution. Ultimately, we want to have the fairest voting system that helps the best songs shine and succeed on the homepage. We’ll have to live and learn through this process, feedback and ideas from the community are always welcome and are an essential part of how we want the site to develop in the future.
Thanks again for your feedback, it’s been a real labor of love with a scary number of trials and tribulations over the past year. Sometimes I realise that I am too close to things and it takes feedback like this for me to realise that we are on the right or wrong track.
A
August 4th, 2010 on 9:20 pm
I strongly echo Dan Michaelson’s observation about not being able to see more than 10 latest tracks. Many new post will be lost to view and will not get the audience they used to. Also, I don’t like the limitation on viewing the number of people recommending an artist. Instead of seeing the full list we now only see a handful represented in pictures with text rollovers, with no ‘more’ arrow. This conceals the popularity of an artist. I view the site using Safari and I have come across a number bugs eg if you play an artist’s track and view the accompanying comments and then move on to listen to another track on the same artist’s page, the comments drop down does not refresh, i.e. you continue to see the comments pertaining to the first track you listened to. No amount of page refreshing seems to resolve the problem, Also, the top r/h corner Home button often doesn’t respond to a mouse click. I appreciate that the site now has a more contemporary (dare I say Corporate) feel, but it is definitely at the cost of user friendliness. Everything could be seen / found at a glance on the old site, not so the new one. I used to work in web design / content management and I’ve seen this scenario so many times before. One size fits all template-driven sites may look slick but it is invariably at the expense of functionality.
Sorry to sound so negative, but I would strongly urge you to reinstate every feature of the old site in terms of user friendliness or you WILL lose a good many users. I say this from experience. Having recently upgraded to a VIP account, I will be very saddened if my humble tracks do not get the exposure they used to. Nothing to do with money btw, they’re all free, but I really enjoyed the strong community aspect of the old site. As for the chart nomination issue, (no longer just VIP noms) I thought that was one of things we were paying for when we upgraded to VIP. Oh and btw it will be a tragedy if the likes of Dan Michaelson walk elsewhere. My iPod is full of his tracks!
August 5th, 2010 on 9:27 am
Hi Pete,
Most of the bugs you mentioned were updated yesterday - we had some teething problems but seem to have managed to get all of them under control now. As I mentioned above we will be adding a scroll/more feature to be able to see more updated tracks and latest artists. This is something we will be doing but it will be a few weeks down the line before we can implement it.
Even though we are only up and running for a week now, and even though we have yet to contact all of our subscriber (we are waiting until all of the bugs have been identified and fixed) the traffic to the site is up. We’ve had more comments on users pages and forum activity than we’ve had for a long time so things are looking good.
Once we are satisfied that all of the bugs have been fixed we will be contacting all of our members and traffic should start going back to where it used to be.
As Dan said above, changes always take a bit of getting use to. We plan to continuously develop and upgrade the site so what you are seeing at the moment is just Phase 1 of a series of planned phases. The look and layout is likely to evolve along with functionality and new features.
Also, we will be reintroducing the VIP accounts with additional features in Phase 2. First we want to focus on getting traffic back with the current revamp, next we need to scrape together some funds for the development work required for Phase 2. The whole rebuild has been self funded and bootstrapped by the new administrator (who is a long time member of the community) so it’s important to bear in mind that the site is not in the hands of a corporation. There will plenty of discussion in our forums as we move forward looking for feedback on how we can improve the site and develop the community - looking forward to moving forward!
Thanks for the comments Pete, all taken on board.
A