david a mcclain (blog) | Home

…for now

I made a few changes and tweaks to the weaker parts of the user experience at In The Red Deeps dot com. A wholesale redesign isn’t on the cards because for the time being I like the design just fine and refining the rough edges will keep me satisfied for now. The refreshed site is live today and these are changes I made.

Latest: I still don’t know. I’ll leave it be for now.

Wallpapers: I came up with a real simple solution in the end. Originally the system was you clicked on the thumbnail and that opened a new browser window with a html page that had three links offering the three sizes. You click on the link and it opens the jpeg. I didn’t like that system because I felt there were too many clicks between the thumbnail (which is kinda small) and seeing what the wallpaper really looked like.

The new system is you click on the thumbnail and a near full size preview opens in the same browser window (actually over the top of the thumbnails), then on top of that large preview I have the size links. Clicking on the size link opens a new browser window straight to the jpeg. Simple and effective.

And so to recap, the other changes I made were…

Archive/mp3s: I merged the Archive and mp3 sections into one called music. I relabelled the mp3 blossom to music, and switched off the archive blossom. In the future I’ll probably make that into the shop link. Now when you click on the link there’s a intro page explaining the section, a latest section where I can highlight the newest item, and along the bottom there’s a very simple navigation to the albums/singles/EPs that is present on every page. When you hover over a streaming mp3 I’ve added some very simple user feedback that lets them know something is happening. It also states on the page whether the mp3s there are downloadable or not.

People I Like: I decided I didn’t like this section so I got rid of it. Right now I don’t have or want anything to replace this section.

Contact: I changed the email address to david@… and I’ve made the newsletter sign up easier. Now there’s a text box to enter your email address and when there’s an address present it gives you the option of signing up or unsubscribing that email address. I wanted to keep this process as simple for me to administer as it is for the user. When it came to managing the mailing list I had lots of choices but I didn’t think many of them were worth the time and effort so I went with Highrise from 37signals. Essentially the process is that your email gets forwarded to Highrise - Highrise creates a new contact from your name and hey-presto you’re on the mailing list. If someone wants to unsubscribe, that request gets attached to their record - Highrise notifies me and I delete that record. It’s simple and it works nicely for me.