BrooklynVegan redesigned (sort of) (finally)
You might notice that things look slightly different all of a sudden. It doesn’t look that different, but a little. Basically the site is wider – it’s now a more standard size that takes advantage of some of that available screen space. Pathetically, this upgrade has been in development for something like two years. To say I multitask is an understatement and it’s hard to prioritize things like redesigns when there are so many posts to post and bands to book. I’m glad this is finally live!
Speaking of bands to book, we have 91 of them playing our SXSW parties starting Wednesday. For that reason, today (Tuesday) was probably the dumbest possible day for me to make the switch over to this new design, but I couldn’t wait any longer. If you notice anything broken, please don’t hesitate to “contact us” via the new “Contact” page (never had one of those before)… actually that page is still kind of bare at the moment. Feel free to leave comments too. A developer that is standing by will see them quicker in the comments too. I already found one bug as I was typing this.
What’s new? You’ll notice more standardization across all pages of the site. For instance the Petfinder featured adoptable pet of the day is now on every page instead of just hidden on category pages. There’s a new ad size and more featured content. I know it’s hard to find content after it scrolls off the homepage on this site. It’s a common complaint. Some of the new design features take that into account. I also know I still have a long way to go in that area, but hopefully things have improved slightly for now.
Remember you can always see a list of today’s shows by clicking on “What’s Going on Today“. You can now also always see a list of BrooklynVegan-presented shows by clicking on “BV Events“. With all the live shows we put on now (including the fun one at Knitting Factory last night – thanks everyone who came out), it’s kind of amazing that there was never a page like that before. “Contests” will bring you to any posts with a contest in them. “Recent Galleries”, though already a feature of the site for a few months, is now is a bit more automated making it easier for me to update. Same with “Recent Features”, and I added “Most Popular” to go with “Recent Comments”. Look through the sidebar if you don’t know what I mean.
All posts now have a “Share This” button in case u want an easy way to send a link to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace (not thinking this one is going to be used too often), Digg or Google Reader. Besides that there’s a few minor design things and other random new pages. All in all, not much new, and nothing revolutionary.
All of the feedback by testers has been positive so I hope you like it too, and thanks for everything!
