Author Topic: [WEBSITE v2] MusicBee website and forum redesign  (Read 551701 times)


phred

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9304
HEY!!!  It's still early here!  I wanna play some more!
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

hiccup

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7790
HEY!!!  It's still early here!  I wanna play some more!

I believe Japan is starting to wake up now. Go make some friends there too ;-)

Bigmelwalter

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 106

phred

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9304
Is this updated site live? If so can we visit it?
It's not live.  It is only in test mode and probably won't be ready for a week or so.  There's a link to the test site in the first post of this thread.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

AvikB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 945
It's not live.  It is only in test mode and probably won't be ready for a week or so.  There's a link to the test site in the first post of this thread.

Is this updated site live? If so can we visit it?

it will take a few more days or week before the new site update is ready for testing.
I did had to redesign some core part of admin panel to utilize the ajax and also some new control for dashboard, so i had to put the dashboard work in halt. I will upload the new new site when the new dashboard and addon center is fully done :)

phred

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9304
There is no functional difference between the Installer and the Portable Editions.

If 'editions' become plural, shouldn't it also become: 'there are no functional differences'?

I'm not 100% certain on this one. I could ask my professional Copy Editor wife when she comes home but isn't this line moot at this point?
FWIW, I was correct.  The words "There is no..." is referring to the word "difference."  If you were to use "differences" then the beginning of the sentence should be "There are no..."
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

Bigmelwalter

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 106
It's not live.  It is only in test mode and probably won't be ready for a week or so.  There's a link to the test site in the first post of this thread.


Is this updated site live? If so can we visit it?

it will take a few more days or week before the new site update is ready for testing.
I did had to redesign some core part of admin panel to utilize the ajax and also some new control for dashboard, so i had to put the dashboard work in halt. I will upload the new new site when the new dashboard and addon center is fully done :)


Sounds like good news!

AvikB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 945
I just pushed another big update for the demo site.
BUT unfortunately, if you visit the demo site now, you will get error! :( This is due to the php version, i assumed that the php upgrade is done, but it seems that is not case right now. I contacted Steven to get a clear picture of it. So you guys have to wait till this is solved.

Here are some screen-shots of what is new. First of all, this is not a HUGE update on the visual side, BUT more of a enhancement and some major improvement and a huge step towards future updates.
Some core features are re-written for ease of maintaining, specially the admin-panel, and dashboard, it is completely based on ajax(like gmail, no need to refresh or reload to submit or go to another page). The main site will still use normal non-ajax navigation.

Also the footer is improved, and thanks to some suggestion from bee-liver i put the beehive patter in the footer, and it looks good.




Another big change for admin panel is the all MusicBee release section. With this steven can update release notes(which is based on markdown format), and allow addon devs to target Major MusicBee releases. This will help maintaining the dashboard more easier. Oh and Steven will be able to disable downloads for any release. I dunno much use for it, but for beta release it will be easier disable and enable beta when Steven feels like being on Fire and do some major upgrades to MusicBee(like now).



here is the editor popup



and when you save or update something, or some problem got in the way a popup will appear at the bottom corner and notify you.



Although the error popup is NOT SO HELPFUL :P

Although this is mainly for admin panel, and that ,means only Steven or any admin account can only access this. BUT this is the foundation or that the dashboard will use, and same design and ajax based navigation and popups.

I am still building the addon dashboard bit by bit. The UI is near complete, the core function is still cooking :), here is a sneak peak:



oh and the forum received theme update too. it is not done yet, but once i managed to get the demo site running i will update to the new theme.
Last Edit: December 15, 2015, 08:46:24 AM by AvikB

Steven

  • Administrator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 34312
the PHP version and MySQL database upgrade is scheduled to happen 2am PST tomorrow
For the PHP version its not clear if the musicbee server will be upgraded to 5.5 or 5.6

AvikB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 945
the PHP version and MySQL database upgrade is scheduled to happen 2am PST tomorrow
For the PHP version its not clear if the musicbee server will be upgraded to 5.5 or 5.6

well i am using php 5.5 as my test server, as long as they upgrade to higher than 5.3 it will be okay :)
damn php 7 just released. They might do another upgrade in few years! that should be exciting.

AvikB

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 945
THE NEW UPDATE IS LIVE FOR TESTING

the new server is now running php 5.5 and the demo site is working :)
Here is the list of changes beside the ones that i posted above:
   - the home page has now slight animation when scrolling down
   - Home page also now uses smooth scroll(firefox has this by default, so firefox user won't notice it, but chromium user will notice it)
   - The download page has new beehive pattern in the beta section. also Admin  will be able to Enable or Disable the downloads at their will(yay, more power)
   - The footer has received a new design.
   - THE NEW UPDATED FORUM IS NOW LIVE, The forum is not complete, i only modified few styles and templates, more update is coming soon.

also the addon page demo that i posted few weeks back has been taken down. I will upload the version when the dashboard is available, or i might post some other demo of the addon page for community feedback.

Another breaking change is the new Schema(database model).

Sorry for this late update, the main reason is the new server and forum upgrade, and as well as i had to check every aspect of the admin panel for security holes, as well as redesign few core aspects. with the admin panel, overall i am really happy of how it turned out, and dashboard will have the same core aspects and security.

Few things I MIGHT ADD in future is the site wide announcement system from admin panel, also updating some headline of the home page. BUT thats really not planned for now.

I will upload the new dashboard in two or three days(i hope so), since the admin panel is done it should not take much time.

http://test.getmusicbee.com Here is the demo site link.

hiccup

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7790
Very nice AvikB, you've been spreading some more magic dust over the site.

The non-blurred fonts are loading quickly now, great.

- 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.



- 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?

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

- 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'.

- 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!


phred

  • Global Moderator
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9304
- 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.
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.

Quote
- 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?
Again I agree with hiccup.

Quote
- 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'.
Correct.  But not an issue at this point.  I will take care of this when I get the files for proofreading. 
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

hiccup

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7790
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 ;-)