Author Topic: [WEBSITE v2] MusicBee website and forum redesign  (Read 551894 times)

Alumni

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Currently we have 'general', which says "Got a question or comment?"

I thought to split questions and comments up, so 'Questions' under 'Support' will obviously be for questions only, and stuff such as "Official MB appreciation thread" and the topic we are actually in right now would go to 'General discussions'.

My two cents - I feel like General Discussion and Questions are too closely related to split off into separate boards.
The same goes for Developers and Questions in the support section. The fewer boards the forum has, the less confusion.

psychoadept

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Currently we have 'general', which says "Got a question or comment?"

I thought to split questions and comments up, so 'Questions' under 'Support' will obviously be for questions only, and stuff such as "Official MB appreciation thread" and the topic we are actually in right now would go to 'General discussions'.

My two cents - I feel like General Discussion and Questions are too closely related to split off into separate boards.
The same goes for Developers and Questions in the support section. The fewer boards the forum has, the less confusion.

I agree.
MusicBee Wiki
Use & improve MusicBee's documentation!

Latest beta patch (3.5)
(Unzip and overwrite existing program files)

phred

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Currently we have 'general', which says "Got a question or comment?"

I thought to split questions and comments up, so 'Questions' under 'Support' will obviously be for questions only, and stuff such as "Official MB appreciation thread" and the topic we are actually in right now would go to 'General discussions'.

My two cents - I feel like General Discussion and Questions are too closely related to split off into separate boards.
The same goes for Developers and Questions in the support section. The fewer boards the forum has, the less confusion.

I agree.
+1
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

phred

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I have some concerns about the use of the expression "nightly builds."  Firefox and others issue nightly builds.  MusicBee does not.  When Steven's on a roll we might get weekly builds.  I think something along the lines of "latest beta" or "latest patch" would be better.

I also think the content of the green box at top needs to be reworded.
The headline should just be "Addons"
The body should read "We have a nice collection of skins and plugins. You can also submit your own addon here."

Lastly, for the time being, you have a comment on the screenshot that "This is how it should look in full HD."  Not everyone has an HD monitor.  How will it look in non-HD? It should be programmed for the lowest common denominator.  It's one thing to create a site that has the latest and greatest coding tricks, but if it doesn't render properly for the average user, they're going to get frustrated.
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

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My two cents - I feel like General Discussion and Questions are too closely related to split off into separate boards.
The same goes for Developers and Questions in the support section. The fewer boards the forum has, the less confusion.

Fair enough, but I disagree on both.

Discussing a new forum, the appreciation thread, psychoadept introducing MusicBee's wikia, are all not questions, and should not be located there. (I'm sure I could find many more examples if I made a little effort)

The developers board is (besides a place for questions indeed) also a gathering place for members working on plugins, skins, api's etc.
I believe it is perfectly legitimate to have a dedicated board for that, also separating 'Developers issues and questions' from 'Users issues and questions'.

Also, it is the current situation.
There have never been complaints about that, and it will also make transferring the old forum to the new one a bit easier.
Last Edit: December 09, 2015, 04:25:44 PM by hiccup

AvikB

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Whenever you hover over that box, you will get two button saying Browser Addons and Submit Addons
By "Browser Addons" do you really mean "Browse Addons"?  As in giving the user the opportunity to look for addons?  Or are there going to be addons for a browser?
[/quote]

 ;D made a mistake  :P
user will be able to browse addons not browser addon  ::)

AvikB

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I have some concerns about the use of the expression "nightly builds."  Firefox and others issue nightly builds.  MusicBee does not.  When Steven's on a roll we might get weekly builds.  I think something along the lines of "latest beta" or "latest patch" would be better.
Don't worry it will be called MusicBee Beta, not nightly, and yes, i will look into that matter. I did consider the availability of beta releases, since steven won't deliver beta every week like now. I am planning to add some beta info into that Get MusicBee box.

I also think the content of the green box at top needs to be reworded.
The headline should just be "Addons"
The body should read "We have a nice collection of skins and plugins. You can also submit your own addon here."
I don't like the headline, it's too..... ... short! a bit long needed. I do like the body content, the change is planned for the body content :)

Lastly, for the time being, you have a comment on the screenshot that "This is how it should look in full HD."  Not everyone has an HD monitor.  How will it look in non-HD? It should be programmed for the lowest common denominator.  It's one thing to create a site that has the latest and greatest coding tricks, but if it doesn't render properly for the average user, they're going to get frustrated.

i test all my work in tablet resolution(1024x768 and lower) :)
except for the menu at the top, most of the pages should adopt nicely to mobile too.  I am not too concerned about the forum being on mobile devices. The current smf forum is not built for mobile in mind. Only the MAIN WEBSITE is going to support RESPONSIVE DESIGN.


hiccup

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I have some concerns about the use of the expression "nightly builds."  Firefox and others issue nightly builds.  MusicBee does not.  When Steven's on a roll we might get weekly builds.  I think something along the lines of "latest beta" or "latest patch" would be better.

I believe we are all mainly throwing ideas up here, and probably sometimes a bit in a mist in searching the right wordings and structures.
It certainly helps when Steven gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down on suggestions once in a while, so we know better how to proceed and optimize further contributions.

AvikB

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Currently we have 'general', which says "Got a question or comment?"

I thought to split questions and comments up, so 'Questions' under 'Support' will obviously be for questions only, and stuff such as "Official MB appreciation thread" and the topic we are actually in right now would go to 'General discussions'.

My two cents - I feel like General Discussion and Questions are too closely related to split off into separate boards.
The same goes for Developers and Questions in the support section. The fewer boards the forum has, the less confusion.

Not necessarily, I like the idea of splitting Questions and General.
General Should be USED ONLY for general DISCUSSION not question.

Here is my reasons.
Keeping the technical stuff or issues in question board will make the forum better organized. Currently DISCUSSION and TECHNICAL STUFF is in one place. it is hard to tell if someone is looking for help or proposing a discussion (maybe reading the title might make that clear, but...), while discussion tends to last long but question tends to be short.

Also maybe a discussion will get buried quickly if too many questions are being asked(since question will get solved quickly). And lately the number of questions and issues are rising so it is needed to organize.


Here is the proposal:
1. Use Question for ONLY SOLVING TECHNICAL ISSUE AND HELP.
2. General will be USED ONLY for general DISCUSSION not question, discussion like: MusicBee New Feature, New Changes, Future of MusicBee, Website Changes, Wiki ....

hiccup

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is BEYOND MUSICBEE  a category? )
while i like it, REMEMBER 5 Category and 10 board will not fit into the view and you have to scroll a bit.
try to use 4 category and
board number <= 10 (less than equal)

In that case 'Beyond MusicBee' could the go under 'General'.
Would this work/fit?


ANNOUNCEMENT

MusicBee Release information on the latest official release version
MusicBee Pre-Release the latest 'nightly' and pre-release versions

GENERAL

Tips and Tricks
General Discussions      Child boards: Discussing MusicBee, Polls
MusicBee Wishlist
Beyond musicBee         Child boards: Related Interests, Rubbish Bin

MUSICBEE ADDONS
Customisations            Child boards: TheaterMode, Skins, Icons, Visualisers, Localisation, Showcase
Plugins

SUPPORT

Questions                   Child boards: Questions on MusicBee, Support in non-English languages only
Bug Reports
Developers                 Child boards: MusicBee API, Skins, TheaterMode

hiccup

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Or, locate your 'Announcement' suggestion under 'general'.


GENERAL

Announcements             Child boards: MusicBee Release, MusicBee Pre-Release
Tips and Tricks
General Discussions       Child boards: Discussing MusicBee, Polls
MusicBee Wishlist
Beyond musicBee           Child boards: Related Interests, Rubbish Bin

MUSICBEE ADDONS
Customisations              Child boards: TheaterMode, Skins, Icons, Visualisers, Localisation, Showcase
Plugins

SUPPORT

Questions                   Child boards: Questions on MusicBee, Support in non-English languages only
Bug Reports
Developers                 Child boards: MusicBee API, Skins, TheaterMode


edit
'Tips and Tricks' could also go under 'Support', I have no strong opinion on that.
Last Edit: December 09, 2015, 04:55:34 PM by hiccup

Alumni

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Or, locate your 'Announcement' suggestion under 'general'.


GENERAL

Announcements             Child boards: MusicBee Release, MusicBee Pre-Release
Tips and Tricks
General Discussions       Child boards: Discussing MusicBee, Polls
MusicBee Wishlist
Beyond musicBee           Child boards: Related Interests, Rubbish Bin

MUSICBEE ADDONS
Customisations              Child boards: TheaterMode, Skins, Icons, Visualisers, Localisation, Showcase
Plugins

SUPPORT

Questions                   Child boards: Questions on MusicBee, Support in non-English languages only
Bug Reports
Developers                 Child boards: MusicBee API, Skins, TheaterMode

That looks good to me.

Only thing I would change is to make 'Skins' its own board rather than a child, since it will probably get as much traffic as 'Plugins'.

hiccup

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That looks good to me.
Only thing I would change is to make 'Skins' its own board rather than a child, since it will probably get as much traffic as 'Plugins'.

That will probably make it impossible to fit everything on one page, but let's wait what AvikB comes up with.

But also, in my opinion it should not be too relevant what child boards are, or will perhaps be more popular than other child boards.
Most important is that the structure is as logical and simple as possible. Removing 'skins' from 'customization' would probably not be an improvement on that.

AvikB

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I have some concerns about the use of the expression "nightly builds."  Firefox and others issue nightly builds.  MusicBee does not.  When Steven's on a roll we might get weekly builds.  I think something along the lines of "latest beta" or "latest patch" would be better.

I believe we are all mainly throwing ideas up here, and probably sometimes a bit in a mist in searching the right wordings and structures.
It certainly helps when Steven gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down on suggestions once in a while, so we know better how to proceed and optimize further contributions.

Well i don't think we need to ask steven for this minor description changes since he already liked the boxes above. But yeah we are all throwing ideas to see what sticks! :P


phred

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I have some concerns about the use of the expression "nightly builds."  Firefox and others issue nightly builds.  MusicBee does not.  When Steven's on a roll we might get weekly builds.  I think something along the lines of "latest beta" or "latest patch" would be better.
Don't worry it will be called MusicBee Beta, not nightly, and yes, i will look into that matter. I did consider the availability of beta releases, since steven won't deliver beta every week like now. I am planning to add some beta info into that Get MusicBee box.

I also think the content of the green box at top needs to be reworded.
The headline should just be "Addons"
The body should read "We have a nice collection of skins and plugins. You can also submit your own addon here."
I don't like the headline, it's too..... ... short! a bit long needed. I do like the body content, the change is planned for the body content :)
Short is good.  There's an expression that goes something like this:  Keep it simple.  Why use five words when one will do?
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