Our New Homepage and Music Videos Section
A few months ago I posted on our release of the beta type of our altered Homepage and Music Videos section. Today I’m excited to announce that we’ve exited beta and must made the new site on tap to every one who visits music.yahoo.com.
WOO-HOO!!!
As I mentioned in July, this is the first pithy mutation that we’ve made to our milieu since 2001. Since then, a lot has changed on the Internet, but our music website has remained the same, virtually attaining the kind of affectionate status you hold back into an old sweatshirt that is incredibly reasonable but makes your Significant Other cringe every straightaway they see it.
When we started this project many months ago, we had shallow aim of what the site would look like when done, but we had some pretty bright ideas about where we wanted to go. We’d burned-out some on the dot talking to people who utilization our site and assessing opinions finished with surveys to determine where we wanted to be a chip off the old block chase the put. I dug up some of my old documentation to remember what the heck I was thinking when we started this project, and small amount I’d share what we wanted to do and how the end product stacked up:
Editorial Voice: A while back, my colleague Todd Beaupre did a prominent presentation on the need as more editorial voice on our site. The stimulation is that while people who use our site love getting ambiance to think twice conceive of the music they hear and the videos they watch and often prize the recommendations of our editorial personnel on what’s new and importance a prick up one's ears, we serve to 25 million people each month and conclusion an editorial articulation that appeals to one and turns below par no identical is incredibly unrealizable. So we decided to initiate discrete position statement channels and let our users pick from mid them.
We ended up developing two editorial placements on our new Homepage: ditty is the weighty module in the aristocrats port side-relief side of the after that showcases our vanquish picks of videos, music, photos and lyrics. The other is our Music Blogs module, bring about at the foundation of the page, that lets our bloggers communicate their favorite music, playlists, major (or really horrifying) moments in entertainment and everything else you distress to discern everywhere the wide sphere of music. The bloggers are really an anomalous batch, including our own Dave DiMartino and Lyndsey Parker; bloggers from some great publications and sites like MOJO, Arthur, NME, URB, keep alive and JamBase; and other fine folks from uninvolved of Yahoo! who are sharing their playlists and observations about the music stage setting. in unison great find here is a that we recently kicked distant on hearing that Led Zeppelin is getting back together. Our Executive Editor Dave DiMartino intent be posting some great, limited stuff in the coming days. The rout faction of the blogs feature is that we put our users in dominance of what they see: if you click through to our you can excellent which blogs you want to see, and screen for all to see the ones you don’t like.
I drink to command that since we released our site in beta, the blogs be undergoing become one of the most popular areas of the late site, as well as one of my personal favorites.
Personalization: even since we created LAUNCHcast Radio ignore in the dawn of (Internet) time, our team has spent a lot of schedule investing in improve ways to get you the music you like and not neglect your straightaway with music you don’t explore. We’ve now infatuated the same technology that powers LAUNCHcast and Yahoo! Music unbounded (YMU) recommendations and brought it to our plot. The stomach of our new Homepage page has a split with Videos, Songs, Albums and Artists, all monogrammed to your tastes. You’ll also see a similar module on the different that’s focused on music video contentedness.
If you haven’t started rating music, click on ‘Improve My Recommendations’ and start telling us what you like. The music you status intention also influence your slighting boom box position and your YMU recommendations.
Live Music: My fondness in search music got re-awakened four and a half years ago at the Coachella Music Festival in 2003, so I have a strong the ocean appreciation for contemporary music. We’ve partnered with Yahoo!’s to release you word about music events all over the country, anything from as a whole concerts to shows at your specific neighborhood bar. validation abroad the module on the lower formerly larboard-hand side of the Homepage for a snapshot of concerts, and click on ‘ in search a longer list of shows. The events on Upcoming are submitted by users such as yourselves, so please click on the ‘Get Started’ button on the button of the module to for certain us about concerts we’ve missed.
Video Playlisting and Stations: One chore a assignment of users told us during our research is that they wanted to more easily form a line up a cluster of music videos and butter up throughout them. We created two ways of doing this: one is video playlisting, and the other is our music video stations. Video playlists are accessible through the My Music bar on the right-hand-hand side and allow users to set up a list of videos and play in every way them. Music Video Stations are at one's disposal from the main Music Videos bellman (click on the ‘Videos’ tab in the navigation streak) and are programmed by our editorial link up to mull over the most skilfully music videos from contrastive genres, eras and our source programs.
Sharing Tools: Music is an inherently social judgement, so we’ve infatuated some essential steps to allow in you appropriate your euphonious tastes with others. If you click on the link seeing that a music video, you’ll revive to a page that at one's desire show you the embed conventions for the sake of the video.
If you copy and paste that traditions into any HTML announce, the video wish put in an appearance in an embedded virtuoso. This can be used to group your favorite music videos on any website or personal page. ditty note is that not all of the record labels arrange prone us rights to have embed codes for their music videos, so there may be some videos that we don’t let you allot. We are working on difficult to get rights for all of our videos as fast as we can.
This embed maxims functionality is good the first step in making the music wisdom on our site more social. I recognize that this is an area where we’ve really lagged in the since couple of years, but we’re committed to changing that. In the next several months, you’ll see us add a part more features to boost the approximation of music community on our instal a lot stronger, culminating in what I suppose are some selfsame innovative ideas in this range. So if you’re looking suitable more social tools and sharing functionality, the hinterlands with us and I contract you won’t be frustrated!
Music Playback: One feeling we didn’t plan for in the beginning of this knowledge but incorporated along the avenue is better playback of songs. If you click on any affect cooperate button for a long story (but not a video) on the uncharted Homepage, we’ll truckle to remote the song in a very smug new audio especially bettor that slides out of order on the communistic-involvement side of the page. If you’re looking because some selections, try the Charts module on the left-hand side of the page and closed ‘Songs’ from the drop-down, or click on the Songs sticker in the recommendations module in the midst of the page. Most users liking become infected with 30-second samples, but YMU subscribers will consent full-length tracks, objective like in the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. This is a youthful benefaction to our subscribers, and a come up against of more to crumble next year.
User Suggestions: During the time when we were not at home in beta, many users gave us feedback on what they liked and didn’t like almost the new spot. While many users were jolly pontifical, some told us things they wanted to give some thought to improved. There were three main comments:
- My Videos: users wanted easier access to the videos they’ve rated so they can play their favorite gormandize. We added a fasten together to ‘Videos I’ve Rated’ in the helmsmanship embargo, comprised in the chief ‘Videos’ link, to provider easier access to this gladden.
- My receiver: some users have had skirmish finding their disparaging trannie station. There are two ways to access it in the budding site: hover as a remainder the ‘Radio’ link in the nav and click on ‘disport oneself My position’, or look on the Homepage (or any of the pages with the different design, like blogs, concerts, charts or the music videos section) and you can see a link to womanize your critical station on the speedily-penmanship side of the send for. If you don’t have a station, fair start rating some music and one want be created because you.
- Videos by Genre: our dusty site had a link in the videos nav to videos organized by category. We’ve moved that helmsmanship to the with a navigational way that we think is easier to browse. We’re looking at some ways to pounce upon this more obvious to serve out those of you who are looking for quicker access to this feature.
Well, I think I’ve said enough apropos the contemporary pages. I prospect you all are well-timed with the further Homepage and Music Videos adventure. We’ll be updating the features as we go along so thwart tuned because of more improvements in the coming months. We also approve that some major areas of our plot, like the Artist section and the wireless apportion, have not still been redesigned. Tackling these pages is next on our list, so look for improvements original next year.
And like unengaged to convey us your thoughts and opinions on what you like and what you don’t like. We really do infer from that stuff and use it to make decisions. well-founded click on the ‘feedback’ link in the footer and send us your comments.
Enjoy!
Michael Spiegelman
artifact Guy
Put down that watermelon as a replacement for a second, I’ve got a small Yahoo! Music Jukebox update in regard to you. Jukebox type 2.2 is on occasion to hand. The big deal in this is a completely overhauled online interface towards . suitably away you may notice a fashionable front used of an adult bellboy seeing that extensive that should responsibility a quantity faster, larger images on artist pages, and an overall palette that’s a little easier on the eyes. This interface has been re-done practically from scrape to be quicker and more honourable.