Well it's the end of the year almost and to usher in the new year the new version of the site is now up and running! What's changed you ask? Well quite a lot, although a lot of it is under the bonnet, there have been a few major changes to the front-end and some tweaks here and there to enhance your experience.
PlayerI suppose the most prominent change is the addition of an online player, while it's limited to only XM, S3M and MOD files - it gives those who've never heard a module before a chance to do so without having to download and install proper player. Unfortunately, the JMOD Java based player is not as good as having a real-deal player, so playback accuracy is not guaranteed, it may even fail to load some modules, but hey, it's better than nothing.
Member Comments and ReviewsBoth comments and reviews have a new fresh look. Also, on member profiles are links to that member's comments & reviews, listing them in multiple ways so you can easily list them by date, score etc...
Member ProfilesProfiles have a new fresh look too, as well as the addition of some extra statistics. It is also now possible to enable an email address within the profile editing area if you want to make your contact address public.
Searches ExpandedThere are a couple of extra search features. However I could not expand this section too heavily as the CPU power available:demand ratio is not sustainable on the current hardware, it should however be returning sufficient information whatever you search for.
Module Listings & PagesBoth the listings and the module information pages have a new look, easy to locate download buttons and so on. You may notice that some modules have no download button, you need only use the View button to see why.
There are quite a few more things, especially for those who are going to be using the Reviewing and Artist areas.
ArtistsThe artist area has been redesigned. You also now get the opportunity view your modules in different orders. Module edit pages are now all-in-one affairs, so editing is a lot easier.
ReviewersReviewers have a new landing page. This page has 5 random modules and an overview of your review status. Reviews are now screened prior to publishing, as we wish to maintain a high standard of quality, and of course weed out system abuse. I have decided to do away with the review queue all together. The beta test of this system returned miserable results, so that has been canned.
This whole upgrade project has taken a month of solid coding, spending many many hours into the night often at a cost to my health, it has to be said
So I hope you all enjoy the site as I will be hanging up my coding gloves and taking a much needed break. If you feel the desire to do so, please send over a few beers - I really could use them
Seasons greetings to all, hope you all have a great new year 2008.
-m0d