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This is something I've been meaning to do for quite a while now.

The Metamatic Website was beginning to look its age - and it was felt that the only way forward was for it to be completely re-built. So, for a number of months now, a 'new-look' Metamatic Website has been slowly taking shape.

The 1st of January 2012 seemed to be as good a date as any to unveil it - and while there are inevitably a number of areas which are still under construction (sorry about that), I hope that you can see that this new structure has enough flexibility to allow for easier and more detailed updates.

I look forward to reading your comments.

Rob

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Hi Rob,

Happy New Year to you and to all forum members.

New site looks nice! Very neat and I like the 'dictionary' (foxxianary? foxxipedia?) on the right, although obviously still 'under construction'. Well done.

PS don't know if it's just me but I couldn't visualize the image on the home page http://www.metamatic.com/ ...

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Happy New year from me too.

Yes Mark I get the same missing image at the Metamatic front door.

Brian

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Originally Posted By: MemberD
Hi Rob,

Happy New Year to you and to all forum members.

New site looks nice! Very neat and I like the 'dictionary' (foxxianary? foxxipedia?) on the right, although obviously still 'under construction'. Well done.

PS don't know if it's just me but I couldn't visualize the image on the home page http://www.metamatic.com/ ...


Originally Posted By: Brian
Happy New year from me too.

Yes Mark I get the same missing image at the Metamatic front door.

Brian


I'm not sure what happened there - it should be back now...
There are inevitably going to be a few little 'teething problems' like that as the new-look site gets rolled-out. I'll try to rectify them as quickly as possible.

Rob

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I really like the changes on the news page Rob, though I'd question the use and effect of the light grey type in places, but excellent idea to have a section (on the right) highlighting the important new releases complete with thumbnails.

There's one thing I remain unsure about though and that's the initial Metamatic.com page which now has only a textless graphic acting as the link. This threw me at first, it was a bit like arriving at an entrance that's missing the door number, now everytime I come to it I feel a unsure if anyone's going to be at home, (something that's also still compounded by the lack of seeing any user names logged into the forum since the alteration last spring).

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The blankness of the opening page confused me too. As nothing happened for a bit and there was no "click here to enter" indication, I gave up and assumed the site was down for maintenance. Since then I'd been going straight to the forum by typing in www.metamatic.com/forum and it was only when reading the post above I realised you can access the forum through the opening page after all.

One other thing that surprises me is the lack of new posters visiting. You would think after all John's collaborations with all these new and happening artists that some of their fans might have been tempted over here. I have no idea how the average search engine works, but I'd espect anyone typing "John Foxx" into google would be sent here?

Last edited by Herbert the turbot; 01/06/12 10:52 AM.
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Originally Posted By: core memory
I really like the changes on the news page Rob, though I'd question the use and effect of the light grey type in places, but excellent idea to have a section (on the right) highlighting the important new releases complete with thumbnails.

There's one thing I remain unsure about though and that's the initial Metamatic.com page which now has only a textless graphic acting as the link. This threw me at first, it was a bit like arriving at an entrance that's missing the door number, now everytime I come to it I feel a unsure if anyone's going to be at home, (something that's also still compounded by the lack of seeing any user names logged into the forum since the alteration last spring).


Originally Posted By: Herbert the turbot
The blankness of the opening page confused me too. As nothing happened for a bit and there was no "click here to enter" indication, I gave up and assumed the site was down for maintenance. Since then I'd been going straight to the forum by typing in www.metamatic.com/forum and it was only when reading the post above I realised you can access the forum through the opening page after all.

One other thing that surprises me is the lack of new posters visiting. You would think after all John's collaborations with all these new and happening artists that some of their fans might have been tempted over here. I have no idea how the average search engine works, but I'd espect anyone typing "John Foxx" into google would be sent here?


I'm really pleased that you like the right-hand side bar which includes all of the key news about Forthcoming Releases, Recent Releases and Forthcoming Events. I'm also particularly happy with the A-Z which in itself was one of the key reasons behind the redesign - a way for visitors to find out more by being able to search against specific items. While the accompanying pages are quite sparce at the moment - I've tried to bring across at least as much information as was available on the previous version of the site. This hasn't been possible in all instances, but take a quick look at the page for the Metamatic album, and you will see a number of the versions of that album listed - all of which take you to pages which will (in time) provide more 'release specific' information. The A-Z currently lists things like track titles and single / album releases, but the intention is for it to grow into a full and thorough John Foxx index.

The 'light grey' text will in some instances (though not all) be a link - this will be particularly useful when track titles are shown. Also the 'breadcrumb', located towards the top of some pages (especially in the Discography), should help with the navigation throughout the site.

Unfortunately, The Forum has had to take a bit of back-seat to enable me to concentrate on re-building the rest of the site. There's already been quite a bit of feedback about it's useability - and I'll try to incorporate as many of those suggestions / comments as I can. The main problem is that the 'upgraded version' (which our ISP insisted that we have to reduce the number of spam attacks it was attracting) has so many 'whistles and bells' that any changes to it are incredibly complex when compared to the previous version. One option was to start afresh with new forum software, but that would mean that all of the existing content would be lost - and I certainly didn't want that. In an ideal world The Forum would 'look and feel' like the previous version, but with all of the enhanced security that the new version offers. I'm currently speaking with the software developers to see how that can best be acheived.

As for the rest of the site. The 'blank' opening page was out of necessity as I simply ran out of time if I was going to upload a 'new look' site on the 1st of January - which is what I really wanted to do. I will endeavour to add in some appropriate 'click here to enter' text in the next few days when time permits.

Rob

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Nothing to add much to what Rob has said. This new framework has been carefully considered to give us enormous flexibility in the future and space / logic with which to present everything that is John Foxx. And believe me, that's quite a complex beast that constantly defies a lot of categorisation!!

Regarding the forum its been quiet all year and for a while.... ?

We intend to have a link to the Twitter feed added to the right hand column and notify website updates that way which might improve the flow of cross-town traffic...

There's also a backlog of new members in the registration queue which is also being addressed as a priority, but as Rob confirmed, the most important thing became a 'launch' on January 1st and that meant a number of short-term compromises had to be made.

Full steam ahead now though.
Thanks for your comments - always welcome and constructive.
Mx


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I dunno. I nipout for a bottle of milk and someone's rearranged all the bleedin' furniture!

Love the new decor Rob! Nice bookshelf Martin! Cheers!

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Like the new look very much :-)

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