Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Revised Members news page

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Revised Members news page

    Hi there,

    In the next month or so, we're going to release a large revision to the Members news page. Once released, we'll make it work like this:

    (Month 1) Available as an option for customers to switch to, to try out
    (Month 2) All customers switched over to new page, with an option to switch back to old page
    (Month 3) Old page no longer available

    Changes like this always cause outrage among a small number of users, so I wanted to give plenty of notice.

    You may not have seen it, but if you check out out site logged-out, we have made some significant changes for guests, particularly the Tour, Model Pages and Shoot pages. As a logged-in member, you probably seldom visit the Tour, and Shoot and Model pages look the same they always have to you. But we detect when a person is not logged in (ie, is a guest), and show them a page that's more "enticing", more "sales oriented". Check it out if you're interested (you can log out, or just start an Incognito session in Chrome, or use a different browser from the one you normally use).

    You have probably also seen that the image gallery pages have changed (no one has complained about that, so I assume everyone agrees they are awesome!), and perhaps a few other changes like that.

    Another major change to these three pages (tour, shoot, and model) is they are mobile-friendly. That means, when you look at the page on a smart phone, they are easy to use - different to how they look on desktop or laptop, but all the same material is there, presented in a useful way.

    You may be aware that that Google is a powerful marketing tool for pretty much every website in the world. People type in things they want, and Google shows results that match. You'd probably agree, it works pretty well! Behind the scenes, people fight tooth and nail to get listed at the top of the first page of google search results, because, like me, when you search for something on Google, you only really look at the first three results. If your site is listed on page 2 of Google, well, you're fuc*ed!

    In October 2015, Google released some changes in how they choose which sites are listed higher on results, and one major change was, being mobile-phone-friendly. That is, if your site, or pages on your site, are not deemed by google to work well on smart phones, google will de-rank your site (compared to a site that is mobile friendly). Even if you search from a desktop computer, a mobile un-friendly site will be de-ranked!

    Like it or not (I hate it, myself) more and more people are using mobile phones to access the internet (Google says more than half of all searches are from mobile devices now!), and we are seeing more mobile traffic on abbywinters.com than we have before.

    We need to change with the times, and ensure we have the best chance of making a sale when people search on Google for "redheaded with freckles nude" (or whatever).

    So, this is the main driver behind the changes, but also, we last designed many pages on the site back in in 2008, 2009 and a lot has changed since then. We can do things that are more useful to customers and us, do things to reduce the load on our servers (saving on costs), and have a look that appeals to people who have never seen our brand before (I worry that if we look "old fashioned" we risk losing people who want their sites to look and feel modern). This has to be managed against people who have been a paying customer for a long time, and like the site the way it is just fine. It's a difficult balance!

    I hope to soon provide here a screen shot of how it'll look, for everyone to comment on, and soon after, we can release it as an option (as Month 1) to interact with. Your feedback will be welcome.

    #2
    I, for one, welcome our new mobile freckled redheaded nude overlords.

    Comment


      #3
      Oh.. you're bringing back the blue page style ?? .... running & ducking now.

      I'd think the current white style is 'modern' enough, the guest layout is indeed a bit more enticing but I do wonder how well it will work to navigate as member. Hopefully we don't get the same huge feature-pic filling the entire screen on viewing a shoot's page ? I'd have to scroll down to the content then and I'm to lazy for that frankly.

      You're changing both the members-index-page and the shoot page layout, right? Looking forward to pics of both. Experience shows we/members will prolly survive such a change, just don't change the color to bright pink or something :P

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by AarontheMoor View Post
        You mean like this? http://www.abbywinters.com/image/pot...14_001_001_jpg

        (Oh, come on. What did you expect from me when you mentioned tech-savvy redheads anyway? )

        Comment


          #5
          In all seriousness, the heads-up on future plans is appreciated and professional. My only request is to avoid stupid porn stuff like pop-unders and flashing ads. And while I agree that the image gallery pages are pleasingly arranged, it seems counter intuitive that the hottest previews of a given shoot require that I logoff. Why give PPV members lesser privilege than non-members?

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by AarontheMoor View Post
            My only request is to avoid stupid porn stuff like pop-unders and flashing ads.
            Oh no, none of that.

            And while I agree that the image gallery pages are pleasingly arranged, it seems counter intuitive that the hottest previews of a given shoot require that I logoff. Why give PPV members lesser privilege than non-members?
            Well, on a shoot page, you can see a collection of the selected best images by clicking "View best of..." on the imageset panel. Or just look at any images. By logging off, you see what prospective customers see - they have not bougt anything yet, so we're enticing them to join. As a member, you get access to all of it right away!

            Currently, PPS users only see the members view (with no imageset previews). We are changing them to see the "guest" view until they purchase the scene, then they will see the "members" view. Should happen in the next few weeks.

            Comment


              #7
              Here's a pic of a mockup. it's not complete yet (I think four cards at the top take up too much space), but it's getting there.

              Fetish page takes up a large chunk at the bottom, that's live now, BTW.
              Attached Files

              Comment


                #8
                This generally looks nice. The cards at the top are too big, as you say, but I like the idea of highlighting unique AW features like the picture of the day, the playdates and boards (and not just because my name is up there in the mockup...) The only thing I miss in this layout is have Masie and Izzy's lovely raves highlighted on the front page, but I assume that's part of making it mobile-friendly. I trust the writeups be still there on the shoots pages. Thanks for the preview.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Hmm.. makes me wonder if shoots will still have raves? 3 Of the 4 boxes have to much whitespace, the playdate one however actually *uses* that space. Will those four boxes/widgets be movable or collapsible somehow? I ask 'cos I would primarily want to view the current-released-shoots and the picture of the day. In the example above that requires scrolling down quite a bit? I'm lazy, I know this

                  Should there also be a 'show me more' bar below 'fetishes' ?

                  I guess making it mobile-friendlier makes it slight less friendly for large screens with proper computers

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Raves are still there - in the "latest updates" panel, users can switch to "list view" and see the raves, and that pref will be remembered.

                    That's all the fetishes we have currently, but we're working on more ("girls in tight shorts" currently), so yes, we should have a "show me more" - already added to the list!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by garionhall View Post
                      That's all the fetishes we have currently, but we're working on more ("girls in tight shorts" currently), so yes, we should have a "show me more" - already added to the list!
                      The 'over 3000 tags' is a bit confusing in this context, implies you have 3000 of those fetishes selectable. Maybe a 'click here for all tags' link somewhere near that line would help Got to place the 'all tags cloud' link somewhere anyway

                      Plus the 'full body standing' pic being portrait bothers me, although I can easily understand why it IS portrait of course

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Ok, it's live!

                        You can switch between old and new layout using the item on the menu bar.

                        Click image for larger version

Name:	switching members news page.PNG
Views:	1
Size:	35.4 KB
ID:	648017

                        Comment


                          #13
                          might be just me but the "upcoming shoots" pictures are in black and white, also the "latest updates" image boxes are of different sizes and not in line across the page plus on the bottom line there appears to be two missing, other than this it does look smarter and more "mobile friendly".

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Hey Havijack,

                            With the blank and white images, what happens when you put your mouse pointer over them?

                            Yes, the diff sized boxes. The trouble is, images and videos are different aspect ratios and so different heights. And a portrait image is not twice as high as two landscape images. We tried "constricting" them (cutting off the sides of videos; adding blank space beside the still images) and it looked worse. I like things to line up too... but the more I look at it, the less I mind. I think.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              One small request for the new layout: for the discussion board section would it be possible to display recent posts by section (Talk to the Models, Staff Posting, Discourse) like they are displayed on the old layout? The new layout just shows recent posts from the discourse section. This is one of the features I probably use most on the old layout to see if there have been new posts by the models or staff members. Maybe there could be filter buttons similar to the ones used for sorting shoots to display discussion board section if each section can't have its own separate box?

                              Other than that everything looks great! Looks very flexible and intuitive to use. Thanks to all of the staff for their hard work in putting everything together.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                The varying picture height is covered well by showing the full thumb-pic when hovering over it.

                                The 'latest updates' boxes vary in height due to long rave-titles e.g. "Video masturbation: Ekaterina & Sophie (Video)" restrict that to one line or just remove '(Stills)' or '(Video)' as that information is redundant in the new layout.

                                Also the 'buy now' button right-bottom of the shoot-boxes is too wide, sticks outside the shoot-box.
                                Click image for larger version

Name:	newlayout-button.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	72.4 KB
ID:	648018

                                This new home page does appear to low a bit slower, is that permanent or just because of it being in testing-phase sort of?

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Other tiny thing at the bottom of the page it says "Not ready to buy? We make a lot of the site visible to guests, so *have a look around* !" but 'have a look around' links back to the exact same page This is when not logged-in at all, obviously.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    At the moment, I think I'll be sticking to the old layout as long as it's available.

                                    A few things come to mind:

                                    - Upcoming shoots: horizontal scrolling? Why? On desktops horizontal scrolling really isn't practical.
                                    - Upcoming shoots: why are they black and white? I'd prefer to see them in color. Also, when I put the mouse pointer over a black and white picture the color fades in. Annoying as there's a small wait to see the picture in full color.
                                    - Latest updates: thankfully, there's an option to switch to a list view. The grid view looks "messy" because many things are out of aligment.
                                    - Picture of the day / playdates / upcoming shoots: due to them being on top of the site, the latest updates (which I, and I think many others, consider to be the main content) are pushed out of view so I need to scroll down to see what I actually came for.

                                    Other than those issues, I think I could get used to it after a while...

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      I like the new members page! In fact, I like it a lot.

                                      It looks good on both my desktop and laptop, and in Firefox and Chromium. Unlike many other "modern" interfaces, it does not look like it was designed for mobile devices with "classic" desktops and laptops as an afterthought. Well done, AW team!

                                      I have two suggestions to add to what has already been said:

                                      1. In the "upcoming shoots" section, when clicking on a Images shoot, could the preview open in a popup (as with videos) or in a new tab/window? As it is now, it is hard to navigate back from an image preview, particularly if you have scrolled to the right in Upcoming shoots.

                                      2. In the Playdates box in the top right, the Next Playdate shows as "in xx days, xx hours etc", could that either just show a date and time (the next playdate in days and hours is in the top of the screen already) or could the next playdate show in the Upcoming Playdates list too? Just the date and time make it easier to set a reminder in ones agenda.

                                      By the way, I am usually one to moan and groan about interface changes at first, so consider the fact I am happy right from the start as a big compliment!
                                      Last edited by MidasShadow; 10 May 2016, 06:16 PM.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Is there going to be anyway of changing the order of the layout like you can at the moment? Personally I would prefer the latest updates at the top as they are what I access most. Picture of the day and playdates are all well and good but as the playdates in particular are not that often it seems a waste having them at the top not really doing anything. Likewise I'm not sure why upcoming shoots have a better location than the ones that are already live.

                                        If the locations can be changed then I wont have anything against the new layout although personally I think the old one is better suited to desktops and is far easier to view.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Since the change I have not been able to download the videos, which I paid for. Sure, I can watch them, but I can't save them. Is that how it's meant to be?

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Branler View Post
                                            Since the change I have not been able to download the videos, which I paid for. Sure, I can watch them, but I can't save them. Is that how it's meant to be?
                                            No, videos are and remain downloadable. In fact that's the recommend way of viewing the downloadable vids, if you want to stream use the stream window for that ('cos video in those is designed to stream proper).

                                            Can you save them if you *right* click the video link with your mouse and choose 'save as' ?
                                            If you cannot save them that way, please specify a shoot you have problems with and the file you're attempting to download (if more then one in shoot) and any messages you get.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Originally posted by hannibalhorn View Post
                                              Is there going to be anyway of changing the order of the layout like you can at the moment? Personally I would prefer the latest updates at the top as they are what I access most
                                              I just noticed a bar below Pic-of-the-day and Playdates boxes with text "Jump to: Upcoming ShootsLatest UpdatesCommunityFetishes" which makes it easier to jump to where you want to be. If position of boxes is fixed then I'd be happy for the mainpage to just auto-scroll to the section I want to be at (if that's easier to make).

                                              Also, sometimes upcoming pictures my mouse isn't hovering over are black/white and become color on moving mouse over them. Is that intentional, if so WHY ? It's fairly useless to me. If it's not intended it's a strange bug I do have a (color always;-) pic of the effect though.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                No problem here downloading videos I have paid for, just have to click on my prefered format (1080p) and away it goes, I am using the latest version of Firefox (46.0.1), the only thing is the download is taking slightly longer than normal but that could be the timing of the attempt.

                                                Totally agree with you Frans on the "upcoming shoots" starting in black & white and only showing colour when the mouse hovers over them, it looks so weird when the rest of the site is full colour, please give thought to changing it to just a colour picture.
                                                Last edited by havijack; 11 May 2016, 06:28 PM.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Branler, no, the changes will not affect the downloadability of videos. Perhaps you could e me directly with a more detailed description of what happens, and what you expect to happen (garion.hall@abbywinters.com).

                                                  Comment


                                                    #26
                                                    Sorry - not a problem with AW after all, but with my laptop. All sorted now and thanks for your reply.

                                                    Comment


                                                      #27
                                                      Originally posted by havijack View Post
                                                      "upcoming shoots" starting in black & white and only showing colour when the mouse hovers over them, it looks so weird when the rest of the site is full colour
                                                      I like the effect; the mouse-over brings the image to "life".

                                                      Comment


                                                        #28
                                                        New view only: the videos of the upcoming shoots are blocked; for what reason?

                                                        Comment


                                                          #29
                                                          Originally posted by bluelagoon View Post
                                                          New view only: the videos of the upcoming shoots are blocked; for what reason?
                                                          What do you mean by blocked ? Don't you get a popup window, does the video not play, do you get a access-denied message... what ?

                                                          For me the popup's show and video plays ok.

                                                          Comment


                                                            #30
                                                            Again no problem here viewing the "upcoming shoots" videos, popup window appears when scene selected, press play and the video plays, may I suggest that "bluelagoon" checks the settings on his pc like Branler did.

                                                            Comment

                                                            Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter

                                                             
                                                            Sign up for the abby newsletter. Don't worry, we'll NEVER share your email address with anyone.
                                                            Working...
                                                            X