TechTools Remodel Finished…
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 2 years over 2 years this month since DJ TechTools was originally created. We made a few minor changes over that time, but the design has basically remained the same, as DJ TechTools grew from 10 visitors a month to 200k. Well, the hour has finally come to make a few changes to our favorite DJ space. With the help of an amazing designer/coder, Tommy the wiz kid, we have started updating the site and improving the way it works. The webstore got a complete makeover, and our blog is now wider, cleaner and hopefully easier to navigate. This is not the end of the changes; we plan on fine-tuning the site into a well-oiled machine of digital DJ brilliance. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED! Please provide feedback in the comments on things you like/don’t like or suggestions on how we can make the design better. It’s your site too, so let’s all pitch in to make it as good as possible.
BEFORE AND AFTER
In case anyone gets a case of nostalgia: Here are some shots to remind you of how much we really did need a face lift.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:56 pm Quote
liking it allot so far..
October 30th, 2009 at 12:01 am Quote
i like alot better than befor :)
October 30th, 2009 at 12:13 am Quote
what’s the difference again?
October 30th, 2009 at 12:15 am Quote
I like it!!!
October 30th, 2009 at 12:39 am Quote
Great updates.. I miss a feature where i fast can browse for old blog posts.. Like the “blog archive” feature on this blog : http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/
Also remember to keep the site fast (not use too much flash) since it will make it a bad experience viewing on netbooks or iphone.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:07 am Quote
Really happy to see this done. Nice work everyone ;)
October 30th, 2009 at 1:10 am Quote
Props, it’s looking great!
Looks like your using wordpress could I recommend using the wordpress connector plugin for cross-functionality?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:38 am Quote
Luvley ean keep it up
October 30th, 2009 at 1:45 am Quote
Fantastic work :)
October 30th, 2009 at 2:10 am Quote
I wasn’t around before but I love the simplicity of the site and theres just a few things I would like to see added.
• Section dedicated to Traktor Pro tutorials, tricks, and tips. At the moment its a mission to find any of this.
•Area dedicated to the hardware you offer such as the vci-100SE detailing features and updates to Midi Maps. I still feel as though there many features I have missed with this.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:49 am Quote
Looking good TT-crew – but I do find the search function in the forum a bit of a mystery, sometimes it returns the posts / threads your searching for but most of the time it returns nothing? (even with correct search terms)
October 30th, 2009 at 5:18 am Quote
Aesthetically speaking, the new layout is.. too cramped. I loved the amount of white space in the old design. The newer one is otherwise fine, just missing some air to breathe.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:36 am Quote
ya a quick browse feature for old articles would be great. eg go to page 37 of 37 etc. liking the new layout!
October 30th, 2009 at 6:08 am Quote
Other controllers featured under the “Mappings” tab would definately be welcome. I know they’re featured on the site elsewhere; but would be nice to see them as predominently obvious as the VCI-100’s. Cheers :)
October 30th, 2009 at 7:03 am Quote
Agree with Anonymous up here, that sections with different material would be great. Praktor Pro in one, VCI-100SE in one, and so on.. would make for great usability, and it might push you into filling the gaps when you se parts of the program or controllers that aren’t properly explained or covered.
Lovin the 4 new boxes though. Popular, News, Tips and Reviews.
Also, a little more white space would be great to be easier on the eyes. I don’t mind scrolling.
A few glitches in some browsers as well. The search button is a bit too small, so you can’t see the whole word, halc of the H is missing (in Chrome).
Anyway, great work! Love the site. :D
October 30th, 2009 at 7:15 am Quote
…
For me the actual style is clean and elegant.
Keep it simple and that’s it.
;)
…
October 30th, 2009 at 7:34 am Quote
streamlined and fine. gj
October 30th, 2009 at 7:59 am Quote
I love the layout of the page, is simple, light and effective.
Keep up the good work guys!
October 30th, 2009 at 8:01 am Quote
Top m3nu would benefit
:onrollover { border: 2px solid white; -moz-border-radius: 15px 0 15px 0; }, instead of gray background.
October 30th, 2009 at 8:37 am Quote
good job
i would like to buy the overlays and the firmware for the vci but its out of stock.
i hope you will gett the new delivery soon!
October 30th, 2009 at 9:19 am Quote
Yep the top menu is broke on my browser…
We don’t all use mac’s you know :)
October 30th, 2009 at 9:26 am Quote
I like it but the right column seems a bit cluttered and forced. And there are some type inconsistencies on the menu bar. Some titles are all caps and some are title case.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:30 am Quote
Added an archive- we will be creating something a little better next week.
thanks for pointing that out! obvious but we somehow missed it.
yeah- I am adding our other mappings next week :)
Agreed- we will add some more space between the elements to let it breathe more.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:31 am Quote
oh and the article copy runs a bit close to that right column. it just makes it a little unpleasant on the eyes. Overall it’s great, just needs a little more white space to breathe and make it easier on the eyes.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:50 am Quote
Good work…
October 30th, 2009 at 10:59 am Quote
Ean,
Maybe you could put a interactive current month Callendar with popup picture views of the news in that day. Can you create that?
As a historical view, you could create a link called Archive with all month callendars of the year :D
October 30th, 2009 at 2:43 pm Quote
A share button on the post would be nice, sometimes I would like to forward an article I’ve read.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:01 pm Quote
On another forum i have used there is a instant chat box, there is a runing dialouge of chat. However somtimes this evokes petty arguments as people can somtimes tend to blurt what they are feeling without processing first. However, I cannot think of a post i have read on DJTT that demonstrates the same childish like behavours that afflict other Forums. Its a really pleasent and educational forum….. Even the most common argument “Digital vs Traditonal” or “syncing vs Beatmatching” is argued without agression and insult.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pm Quote
It’s definitely an improvement!
While I like the big square links in the sidebar, it’s still hard to find what you’re looking for! I’d love to be able to browse certain sections of the site (like advanced DJ tips) a lot easier. At the moment it’s a small text link near the top of the sidebar, or the dropdown categories box beneath the boxes.
Maybe you could add some of the most popular categories to the navigation menu at the top. People will find it a lot easier then. I imagine ‘Traktor Tips’ should be a popular one.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:18 pm Quote
very clean! i like the “dig through the crates”
October 30th, 2009 at 7:25 pm Quote
Has nobody noticed the new banner?
October 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm Quote
better,cheer!!
October 30th, 2009 at 11:32 pm Quote
when you go to the webstore, there is no link to get back to the main page. top image of the djtechtools name links back to the store’s main page, not the main page. thought it’d be nice to fix that
October 31st, 2009 at 2:12 am Quote
I like it. The new design is sleeker, but similar enough to not be daunting or unfamiliar.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:26 am Quote
yeah…
nice job !
October 31st, 2009 at 11:08 am Quote
i’m liking the layout. the store changes are definitely an improvement, with only one thing missing…a MidiFighter buy button :D
October 31st, 2009 at 12:39 pm Quote
i think i liked the old one better.
mostly due to the missing white space, as someone else mentioned.
the old top navigation looked much slicker to me, the buttons/items are so small and again narrowed now.
also, the search button is super ugly, and i dont like the 4 popular/review etc pics below. “DJ Tips” needs to have a capital J :)
i think that it’s especially the font size/wheight that throws me off. make it lighter please.
but yeah, don’t wanna sound too negative, so keep on!
October 31st, 2009 at 1:16 pm Quote
its subtle but the implications are massive- our first full sized PCB! ;)
notice the arcade buttton in the background too- could it be a midi-fighter board?
October 31st, 2009 at 4:53 pm Quote
Ean answer the oxygen 8 mapping thread at the forums please!
many thanks! ;)
November 1st, 2009 at 5:20 am Quote
I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but the 4 picture boxes on the right have like 50% transparency headlines laying right underneath the main headlines, that make it a bit difficult to read. This particular computer is running Firefox 2.0.0.7 on OSX 10.3.9. Overall I dig it though!
November 1st, 2009 at 6:38 am Quote
I love the new look! and the PCB is very cool…
Done well DJTT :)
November 1st, 2009 at 4:09 pm Quote
I loooooooooove this website. It’s the reason I still DJ.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:26 am Quote
Looks nice, just need adjust the aspect ratio of the dice from the feeling lucky section… they are a little stretched and the search button text needs centering & perhaps bold.
part from that looks wicked!
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:53 pm Quote
Hey Ean,
A section with all your videos would be nice, instead of having to go to YouTube and search for related videos. And like previously posted, this could also include sub-sections for all reviews, all tutorials, all interviews, etc. The less clicks users have to make the better. Overall though love the info you post. All very helpful, especially for a budding digital dj like myself.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 am Quote
Ean! the forum banner/layout still is the older one, are you going to change it?
November 7th, 2009 at 7:36 pm Quote
Bonerrific!