[WEBSITE v2] MusicBee website and forum redesign

[phred]

Correct.  But not an issue at this point.  I will take care of this when I get the files for proofreading.

Ok, sorry, spoke too soon ;-)

No, not really.  I'm sure I'll miss one or two of these and it's always good to have another set of eyes.

[AvikB]

Very nice AvikB, you've been spreading some more magic dust over the site.
The non-blurred fonts are loading quickly now, great.

Glad it worked out.

- I noticed that when you open the homepage for a first time (clear cache), the MB screenshot does not display. It will as soon as you scroll down a little bit.
Wouldn't it be better to have that one displaying immediately? Now the homepage looks quite empty and a bit bland to start with, and it doesn't invite, or suggest you to scroll.

Seems like a bug. Will be fixed in the next update. Thanks for pointing it out.

- I do like the design (and the icons etc.) of what you created as a footer.
But, the "Add-ons for MusicBee" links there are a bit superfluous, since they are also at the top of the starting page, but in a different design.
That could be perceived a little bit confusing, 'is there a difference between header links and footer links'?
Maybe the menu on the top could get a little design magic dust too, a bit similar to the looks of the footer?

No, they are not different. I put them there for better SEO, and noticeable for users. The old one has a description and just a link to wiki, i though it might good idea to make it a bit more inline with the design. the different design is because that it is on the footer and not in the navigation bar. I might add those icons in the nav bar too, haven't decided it yet.

- I notice there is an 'Equalizer' category under Addons. Do 'equalizer' addons actually exist?

Well there is equalizer presets and DSP plugins, which is really nice. Since there are thousands of presets that can be achieved(i am sure you guys have some nifty custom one too), i though it might be a good idea to add it. It will save headache for new or even existing users to get the equalizer right.

As for DSP plugin, i have no idea if i should put it under plugins or not, BUT since Steven added it With Equalizer, i did the same just for the sake of similarity.

- there is a mention of your favourite artists and albums. (Nitpicking mode enabled), but I learned that preferred spelling was going to be US English, in which case it would be 'favorite'.

Phred is going to help me with the spelling correction thingy. I send him the download page today(since, it is final). The home page needs some few more element and then it will be final too. You might wanna check those spelling mistakes after Phred is done with it.

- There is this text:
"Edit/View all tags with the extensive tag editor and the tag inspector. Manage duplicates, custom tags, Automatically organise library file names and structure, get song tags from online sources .... and a lot more"
There are some small errors in it, and to me it doesn't read too fluent.
Maybe change it a bit to something like this: ?

Edit and view tags with the extensive tag editor and MusicBee's Tag Inspector.
Explore near-unlimited possibilities by using virtual tags.
Manage duplicates, and have your library and it's structure automatically organized.
Get song tags from online sources .... and a lot more!

Thanks, i just copy and pasted some wording from the current website feature page , i thought it sounds weird, i will make the correction, and then rest is upto Phred to correct.

[AvikB]

Yes.  I found this quite annoying.  The entire home page was like this.  Nothing showed until I scrolled down.  And then it faded it.  It should all be loaded when it first appears.  We don't need fade ins, we don't need blinking.  We don't need bells or whistles.  Just let it be.

Well first Impression matters but anyway, this is mostly an experiment. even If the bug is fixed do you think i should remove it? i might need some input on these.

Again I agree with hiccup.

It seems adding those icons in the nav bar will be a good idea.

Correct.  But not an issue at this point.  I will take care of this when I get the files for proofreading.

already sent the download page, the home page will reach you tomorrow.

[hiccup]

Well first Impression matters but anyway, this is mostly an experiment. even If the bug is fixed do you think i should remove it? i might need some input on these.

Personally, I don't care much for eye-candy which doesn't seem to serve a specific and useful purpose. (not saying yours doesn't!)
Like most 'ingredients', such as flavoring food, dsp effects on music recordings, and maybe also eye-candy on websites, it's often at it's very best when you are not consciously aware that, or where it has been added.

But a very important thing is, the same as we all here appreciate that MusicBee only exists, and continues to develop and improve by the grace of Steven having fun doing it, I have a similar feeling about everything you have been doing lately. So please keep listening to constructive comments, but also keep having fun doing all this and keep making your own decisions. (as long as supported by S. of course ;-)

[phred]

already sent the download page, the home page will reach you tomorrow.

You posted this about an hour ago and I haven't received any email from you.  I'm heading out for a couple of hours and hopefully it will be here when I get back.

[AvikB]

Personally, I don't care much for eye-candy which doesn't seem to serve a specific and useful purpose. (not saying yours doesn't!)
Like most 'ingredients', such as flavoring food, dsp effects on music recordings, and maybe also eye-candy on websites, it's often at it's very best when you are not consciously aware that, or where it has been added.

Well according to most research humans always tends to like shiny things ,i have fixed that image displaying issue. an update is pushed. Also addon drop menu now has icons.
As for those fancy animation, i did put some though into it, only the home page will have those animation, since the it is the MAIN LANDING PAGE for new visitors.

For regular users i HIGHLY doubt they even go to the main page. Most of you probably have bookmarks to the forum or the download page. So the home page eyecandy should not get annoying since you rarely visit it. But for new users it is a completely different story.

You can say that it is one page presentation of what MusicBee is capable of. A little bit of animation won't put new users away.

But a very important thing is, the same as we all here appreciate that MusicBee only exists, and continues to develop and improve by the grace of Steven having fun doing it, I have a similar feeling about everything you have been doing lately. So please keep listening to constructive comments, but also keep having fun doing all this and keep making your own decisions. (as long as supported by S. of course ;-)

To me MusicBee is a godgiven product i have longed(except for few annoying pesky bugs ). I appreciate the work steven has done, and most importantly his daily role at the community. As for fun part, i do have a lots of fun while creating a new feature for the site...... BUT THEN COMES THE HORROR OF DEBUGGING :O and few hours of head smashing at the deck.

But to be fair i started this project as a simple site redesign(no complicated addon center and dashboard stuff)  and thanks to you guys helping shaping the site, i can keep going on with those awesome stuff

KEEP THOSE IDEAS COMING

another thing i confirmed with the steven is that there won't be any award section, as steven is not interested, so i decided to not include it.

[AvikB]

already sent the download page, the home page will reach you tomorrow.

You posted this about an hour ago and I haven't received any email from you.  I'm heading out for a couple of hours and hopefully it will be here when I get back.

Okay now this is embarrassing. :S
i mistakenly sent that email to myself(not much of a email user), i just sent you this time FOR SURE

[hiccup]

Please ignore this, if I am repeating myself, and a decision on this has already been made and explained.
(I don't remember all conversations)

On the forum main page, the large blue button says:
Get the latest MusicBee. Make sure you always have the latest version.

This is fine, and useful for the purpose of drawing attention to using at least the latest stable release.

But on the forum, users reporting bugs and looking for solutions to a problem are very frequently told to "install the latest patch, since that probably already solved your issue". Also, it is not always clear to everybody where to find these patches.

It would be very helpful to also have 'a big button' with a download link to the latest patch. No need for explanation such as version history, solved issues etc.
But at least a link to it, and a short explanation: "download, copy files over to existing files in your MB installation folder blabla." would be very helpful.

So: one button "Get the latest MusicBee (stable)", and another one: "download the latest patch"

?

[hiccup]

another thing i confirmed with the steven is that there won't be any award section, as steven is not interested, so i decided to not include it.

I wasn't aware an 'award section' was brought up or discussed, but thinking about it:
Wouldn't a link on the MB homepage to the forum's 'official MusicBee's appreciation thread' be good to have?
It's filled with positive and enthusiastic testimonials from users, and it could help warming the cold feet of new potential users.
It's also much more personal and trustworthy than a reward or review from some website.

[AvikB]

Please ignore this, if I am repeating myself, and a decision on this has already been made and explained.
(I don't remember all conversations)

On the forum main page, the large blue button says:
Get the latest MusicBee. Make sure you always have the latest version.

This is fine, and useful for the purpose of drawing attention to using at least the latest stable release.

But on the forum, users reporting bugs and looking for solutions to a problem are very frequently told to "install the latest patch, since that probably already solved your issue". Also, it is not always clear to everybody where to find these patches.

It would be very helpful to also have 'a big button' with a download link to the latest patch. No need for explanation such as version history, solved issues etc.
But at least a link to it, and a short explanation: "download, copy files over to existing files in your MB installation folder blabla." would be very helpful.

So: one button "Get the latest MusicBee (stable)", and another one: "download the latest patch"

?

That would've been a good idea. But there are few reasons i haven't done it.
If i link to get latest patch, then it has to be a download link rather than a forum link, as it will confuse user more. And with this there comes the responsibility to maintain for steven. And Steven is not willing to do that.
As for patches (since it is way too frequent) they are mostly beta/test patches(some fixes feature and some breaks), which then come out as MusicBee x Update X, so there is no need for another link to patch, as they are not stable.

It is Steven's decision and i think it is right since we don't want every user to get the beta patches(even if they have no issue with musicbee) and break something.
Latest patch is only for those who have some bugs not fixed in the stable.

[AvikB]

I wasn't aware an 'award section' was brought up or discussed, but thinking about it:

The discussion was on the PM, since i wan't his input first in this particular matter, then involve the community.

Wouldn't a link on the MB homepage to the forum's 'official MusicBee's appreciation thread' be good to have?
It's filled with positive and enthusiastic testimonials from users, and it could help warming the cold feet of new potential users.
It's also much more personal and trustworthy than a reward or review from some website.

That sounds like a brilliant idea. I will add it on the homepage.

Also can you confirm that image not showing until scroll issue is gone on the home page?

[hiccup]

Also can you confirm that image not showing until scroll issue is gone on the home page?

Confirmed, it now shows. (Firefox, cleared cache)

I notice that that screenshot is drawn from top to bottom.
That is what I would call 'functional eyecandy', since it kinda suggests there is more to be seen when scrolling down.
The only thing is that that drawing is not done very smooth (it's a little bit jerky) Is it a very large image file?

[AvikB]

Also can you confirm that image not showing until scroll issue is gone on the home page?

Confirmed, it now shows. (Firefox, cleared cache)

I notice that that screenshot is drawn from top to bottom.
That is what I would call 'functional eyecandy', since it kinda suggests there is more to be seen when scrolling down.
The only thing is that that drawing is not done very smooth (it's a little bit jerky) Is it a very large image file?

Well that is a big relief as the bug fixed.
Yes the images are a bit large(around 500KB), i haven't done any optimization on those images, as they are from MusicBee 3(which is not finish), and also some skinning issue is visible in there, so those image will get a new update.

[Steven]

i really like the way the images smoothly show on the main page when scrolling down. I guess that also improves the load time to get the initial page which is important as well.
For the download page i am not 100% happy with the beta wording.
This is how it is now:
MusicBee Beta
BEWARE THINGS MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY AND EXPECT BUGS!

This is mainly for testing purpose, do not use it as your daily driver.
Also check out the forums for bug fixes and latest update news.

----------------
just as a starting point for suggested wording (anyone feel free to improve it)
MusicBee Beta
The Beta version is under active development and not the final stable version. It is intended for anyone interested to try the latest features or bug fixes.
You should regularily check the forum for updates


-----------------
for the forum page, i think the boxes at the top could be reduced in height so more of the forum page is visible.
For the wording in the "Get the Latest MusicBee" i was wanting it (or somewhere on the forum page) to show the instructions to get the latest patched version
I guess thats going to be potentially confusing to some people so the wording would need careful consideration. I dont have the inspiration at the moment for that but perhaps others can chp in?

[phred]

Also can you confirm that image not showing until scroll issue is gone on the home page?

Confirmed, it now shows. (Firefox, cleared cache)

I notice that that screenshot is drawn from top to bottom.
That is what I would call 'functional eyecandy', since it kinda suggests there is more to be seen when scrolling down.
The only thing is that that drawing is not done very smooth (it's a little bit jerky) Is it a very large image file?

Using Firefox and IE - both installs have never looked at the test site before - whatever doesn't fit in the open window does not show until I scroll down.  And then the text and images slowly fade in to view.