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New Interface

 
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    Editado por hjbardenhagen em Dez 31 2010, 17h55
  • It's been over a week now

    I wanted to wait on posting my thoughts, in case some things were changed for the better, and there have been a few, like the ability to access one's inbox in the upper-right near your name... unless, apparently, you happen to be in the forums. I posted a journal entry, but I thought I'd bring it to the forums for the Last.fm staff to see.

    So, what do I think? Well, overall, yes, I do like the last Last.fm better than this version. There are some things with the newer version I do like, and there are many other things that can be made better with just a handful of simple changes. There is certainly some design issues, which I will get to in my critique, and I do miss some things that were easier to access on the old site, or are totally gone (!) from the new.

    I gave myself a week to use Last.fm and find things that I loved, hated and puzzled over. You will find a rather lengthy and thorough analysis below, although by no means is it complete. Plus, I would like to point out that there are some features I may like or dislike that I can see other people feeling differently about. Plus, I only used the features and pages that I used before, assuming I could access them. So, let me state that this is my own sole opinion, and I am representing only myself, no other groups that I may be affiliated with nor any side of the "love it/hate it" camps.

    With that caveat, here is my critique...

    Home page:

    Recently Added to Your Library is a nice addition. The pictures for these artists could be smaller, though, but that's not really a big deal to me.

    With the old set-up, Music Reccomended by Last.fm was much lower on the Dashboard. Now, it's in a rather prominent spot underneath the Recently Added section. It takes the place and prominence of what my friends were/are listening to, and I'm not very fond of the new placement for Your Friends Listening. I would prefer a swap, or at least moving Your Friends Listening above Music Recommended by Last.fm. To balance out space, the Personalised Podcasts, Recommended Videos and Recommended Events could go in the right column instead.

    It was something very small on the old site, but I liked the little boxes showing my Most Recent Visitor and my Most Recent Shout.

    We didn't have this option previously, but I think it would be nice to be able to access one's journal on the Home page. Could it be one of the tabs on the left side, perhaps? In this way, if we want to write a new journal entry, we don't have to go into our profiles to do it.

    Personal profile:

    Recently listened tracks is fine. I like the little gear widget allowing one to add a song to a playlist or love it or share and such. It's very handy on its own. I have further thoughts regarding adding songs to a playlist, which shall be addressed later.

    The Library and my top artists seem a little redundant if you have the top artists set to "Overall." Although we can set the Top Artists mode to a smaller length of time (I love how we can now choose "Last 7 days"), it would be nice if we could do the same for the Library display as well, like what can be seen on our Home page.

    I'd really like my Neighbours displayed on my profile page, please. The area needn't occupy a large space. They could be under my groups on the side, but at least somewhere, just the top five or ten. I'll listen to my neighbour's radio in order to find out about new music, and now in order to do this I have to go through more clicking.

    I preferred the journal entries in the center column as opposed to the side, preferably under the Recently Listened Tracks area or perhaps even under the Library. It's just so easy to overlook on the side.

    Do we really need a big, bulky player on the corner of each person's profile? I liked the way it was before, as an easy-to-read hyperlink to click on with a short list of artists and bands. Further, is there an option to listen to someone's loved tracks or other playlists without popping up another window that's got all sorts of information and so forth? I mean, I like having the option for a very comprehensive page that changes with each track, but on the whole, I like just a little radio to have outside of my main browser, so I can listen to someone's radio and putter around at the same time without the need of multiple tabs or windows. It's great to be able to then click on the song title to bring one to a page similar to what you have, but only if and when one wants to find out more.

    The addition of the green "Now listening" text under a person's profile in the Friends section is a nice touch.

    Um... where are my tags?! I utilised tags to a heavy degree, and now... where are they?

    Profile Journal page:

    Seriously, does a person's picture need to be so tiny?

    Group pages:

    Connected artists should go on side or underneath Shoutbox, or alternatively put Shoutbox the side.

    Connections should have selection boxes so we can elect to delete a number of connections if necessary. I run a Last.fm group that connects with events that are playing, and I delete those that have already played, so I have to remove each and every event connection one by one. This is a very time-consuming task that I perform for the group, and it would be wonderful if it could be made much simpler to delete a number of connections at once.

    I strongly dislike the light blue font colour. It just doesn't go with the black and red! Bring back grey! And does the font need to be so big?

    When clicking on the "add an event url" text box, the "add..." text should disappear upon clicking. Instead, I have to highlight the text that's already there in order to enter my url correctly. Could you possibly work on making it so a user doesn't need to delete text in an entry field in order to enter their information within the box?

    Events page:

    The Sponsored Events section... who exactly "sponsors" it? Last.fm? In any case, I have no use seeing events in Laval, France or Lindesberg, Sweden, or anywhere else that isn't local. If I were happening to be holidaying in Laval, I could always go search for it, but I feel seeing these sponsored events smacks of advertising. It would be more relevant, if you insist on showing events that are playing a million miles from me, to at least tailor it to the artists I listen to. So, in the unlikely scenario that I have gobs of cash to jet to New York City to see Blonde Redhead, at least it's somewhat relevant to me. The Sponsored Events currently shown are about as relevant as a steak dinner to a vegan.

    I like the addition of the Photos from shows that have played in my area, although I don't think so many necessarily need to be displayed. Just five will do.

    On an event's page, I notice now that "Connected Groups" is no longer featured on the page. In fact, I can find it nowhere. This is dismaying, as I run a group that puts a lot of focus on events, and many people who would look at local events would often click onto the group icon when it appeared on the Event page. Now, I no longer can readily tell if I've included an Event URL in my connections, nor can people see the group icon and potentially join, or at least peek at, the group I run. This is really disappointing, as there is so much room on the right-hand side for Connected Groups. I can see how other groups would be upset at this oversight as well, as it greatly diminishes their exposure to Last.fm users, especially considering there is no "Groups" tab on the top header bar.

    Artist Page:

    I like the addition of the little red "On Tour" text icon next to the band's name. This is a wonderful feature, and I'm glad I can actually click on it to see where the band is playing.

    The Similar Artists on the Artist or Band page should be moved lower in priority from the second section in the middle column to either the side column or below the Top Albums. It's like the page is trying to push another artist onto you before you've really gotten the feel for the artist you're currently looking at.

    I like the addition of the Recent Activity section, so I can see what other people are tagging or whatnot. The placement on the side column is just fine.

    When clicking on a track to add to one's playlist, I don't like how a number of pop-ups come up to ask me "are you sure you want to add it to your playlist" and "okay, it's added!" It seems superfluous to have so many pop-ups. I like the older system of automatically adding it without all the pop-up windows. If I made a mistake, I could always go into my playlist and delete the song.

    Overall:

    I'm definitely not a fan of the blank space on the left side underneath the side menu. I feel the right column could be minimised horizontally and one could add so much other information on the side. If you're planning on creating some dynamic use in the narrow space, then okay, but if you're planning on keeping the narrow blankness, I beg of you to reconsider.

    Shoutboxes don't need all the room they're taking up currently. I preferred them on the side, easily accessible without the excessive amount of scrolling to get to them.

    On the header's edges... is that supposed to be a crayon effect? Or lipstick? I'm using Mac OS X 10.4.11, Safari browser at home, and it looks like that to me. The "Paint it Black" version looks a bit like charcoal scrapings. I'm not a fan, but I guess it's something that, on my list, ranks pretty low in priority.

    The one time I tried to log on Last.fm from the basic Dell or HP computers at my work with Internet Explorer... was a total failure. It couldn't handle all the images on my home page. I no longer visit Last.fm at my job anymore due to the intensity of the graphics. Even on my Mac at home, I've noticed a definite slowdown in loading the sites, especially personal profiles.

    Although the artist photos are big and plentiful, I feel like the photos of the Last.fm users have gotten teeny-tiny. For instance, when looking at individual event pages, the attendees' photos are so small, it almost seems ridiculous to even bother at all with them. I preferred the larger format in the past for the photos, even if you could only fit six attendees on the Event page. The same complaint goes for my friends and my recent visitors. I would rather have their pictures larger, and my Library Artist photos smaller, or reduced. I may be in the minority of the latter, but seriously, it seems like the diminished size of the photos of your users is almost an allegory of their importance to Last.fm, which I hope is not the case.

    The drop-down menu given on the upper right shouldn't be a dark red on the "Simply Red" option. It's difficult to see when there isn't much contrast from the header's colour. And the dark red is rather ugly. It looks better in the "Paint it Black" option, but still, not quite good.

    I don't like the choice of blue for links and bars. It looks way too "Generic FaceSpace." Giving us a choice to switch it to a nice grey or orange or some other colour or something along those lines would seriously make the Last.fm user experience a lot less generic, and would quell a lot of criticism accusing Last.fm becoming a FaceSpace clone. It seems the blue ought to be its own little colour scheme selection: Moody Blue or something. It doesn't go with the red or black at all.

    Admittingly, I can get used to some elements of new layout provided that several positive changes are made to utilise the empty space, or at least move and rearrange some things to make it more user-friendly.

    However, I can completely see myself abandoning the "Connected Events" option for Residents of Florida because it's such a hassle to delete and add events, and now the group, and other groups, cannot be seen on the Event page. The lack of showing connected groups to an event is truly disheartening, and lacking a Groups tag or even an easy-to-see option to search groups, it gives me the impression that Last.fm is trying to discourage groups altogether.

    Although this is more my own personal preference, I would like larger pictures, like what's featured on a user's Friends page, for event attendees and for the side when showing recent visitors and user friends. I don't mind showing only the last four visitors to my profile, so long as I can actually see their faces without needing to click on their profiles. And please bring back the neighbours on a person's profile page. The users on Last.fm are just as interesting as the artists, perhaps more so, and I think they deserve an icon bigger than the end of a pencil on a website.

    All in all, I still strongly prefer the old look, mainly due to its simplicity of use and its aesthetics. As I said, I could get used to some of the changes, and I've mentioned a few of the alterations I actually do like. Still, the user-friendliness of the website has been dramatically diminished since the new Last.fm was unveiled, and I may find myself more inclined to start up a blog to replace the Last.fm group, or use other websites like Pandora to find out about new artists if the site remains as it is at the moment, which I doubt it will. I'm not trying to threaten to "take my business elsewhere," but it may wind up coming to that if I find doing what I previously did on Last.fm much more difficult than before. Thankfully, I have already seen little bits of action on Last.fm's part to make things better within the past week, namely the "Paint it Black" option and allowing the Inbox to be accessible from any page. I just hope they continue to make proper changes based on user feedback.

    "Not everything which makes us feel better is good for us. Not everything which hurts may be bad." - Alain de Botton
  • somehow I still miss the old last.

    Am I correct to defend the fist that holds this pen? It's ink that lies. The pen, the page, the paper...
  • Please allow 100x100 icons without them being stretched...I have 700+ of them.


    (I posted this in the last.fm beta forum because I didn't realise I was there)

  • My two cents: i prefer the old layout... this new one is ugly, inconsistent, messy...and colors are yucky, especially these 'bluish' details, or better say blue text which i can't stand. Could you, for a start, add some alternative layout with old color scheme? Or make 'paint it black' feature really paint all in black? Or put some other color scheme like 'greenish'?
    cheers

    this is not for you
    • [Usuário excluído] disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 26 2008, 23h56
    FINALLY There is a paint it black option.

  • Planteh said:
    If you do some simple mathematics, you'll find that a few thousand whiners doesn't equate to 'THE MAJORITY' of last.fm's user base.

    You "testing" the site on a few other peoples' PC's doesn't entitle you to conclude that most users won't be able to use the site. A little thing called sample size comes into play.

    I seriously doubt that you have the latest software updates. It doesn't matter how long you wait to play a file. If you don't have the plug-in, it simply won't work. One of my computers is close to seven years old. It's probably not as 'high-end' as yours, mind, but it does indeed have the latest software updates, and it displays the site just fine. I'm sorry you find that the site 'LAGS HORRIBLY', but that's your problem.


    1) The inverse also applies, yet people are assuming that, because the number of complainers is a minority compared to the entire userbase, everyone else likes it. Big no-no.

    2) Even if everyone else did like it, frankly I'd expect too many people will be distracted by the "shiny new look" to actually be aware of the horrible layout and decreased functionality. But that's probably the aim now, since this new layout has actually been a direct tradeoff between practicality and "modern style".

    3) Can you specify exactly what you mean by "latest software updates", because that's really rather a vague expression.


    1) I didn't claim that because the whiners are in a minority that everyone likes it. Both are flawed arguments, but my simple logical argument that if the minority hates it the majority likes it makes a whole lot more sense.

    2) Like Planteh, you have claimed opinion to be fact. Can you quantify 'horrible layout'? No, you can't. What's the unit of measurement for functionality? Right, there isn't one. Make an argument on hard evidence, not on what you might call vague expressions. No functionality has been lost that won't be restored. If you had bothered to read the staff blog, you'd know that the new site is to be a foundation for a whole new range of features. Also, just because a website is 'modern-styled' doesn't mean it isn't practical. I admit that last.fm is a complicated website. And the new design is even more complicated, from a developer's point of view. But I maintain that it's just as practical as its predecessor.

    3)I didn't define 'latest software updates', you'll find that I was quoting Planteh. I declare that I have the latest software updates when I have the latest stable release of my operating system, the latest stable release of my browser, the latest stable releases of the plug-ins it runs, the latest stable graphics- and sound-card drivers etc. When all of the software that you use to browse the internet is the latest release, you have the 'latest software updates (was that not sort of self-explanatory?).

    Finally, when you quote someone, the least you can do is quote their name correctly. My username is not 'ShawSteven'.

    Stephen Shaw
  • Planteh

    Look at that. I broke my own rule. You're Planteh. Please disregard the last line of my previous post!

    Stephen Shaw
  • I like the site's new design... it is unfortunate however, that it seems to want to crash my browser every 5 minutes because of flash player...

  • last.fm sucks now....

  • Where did they get the idea that this layout served users' needs? Why is 90% of the page given over to the 10% info I deem useless? It's an insult to user interface designers the world over.

  • I don't understand why people have such an obsession with Facebook, but I do agree about the black, sooo.....

    How long 'till we get 'Back in Black'?

    Later, Seeker

    My short and long tail are:



  • Oops, looks like black is back, hmm, and the reply tracker too.

    Having the reply tracker takes care of my single biggest complaing, black is just a bonus.

    Later, Seeker

    My short and long tail are:



    • m63436 disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 27 2008, 10h32
    And from what I saw then, the site will be in the process of improving in the upcoming weeks (why not beta test it longer? dunno) and some of the most numerous requests should be fullilled.No matter how much beta testing you do they'll always be bugs when you release it for everyone (although this is a little excessive).

    For the record I prefer the new interface.

    • izual disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 27 2008, 10h41
    Right, the worst update ever! I hate the new interface.

    • azultra disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 27 2008, 10h43
    (sorry, please delete my post)

    Editado por azultra em Jul 27 2008, 15h06
  • worst update ever

    please change it

  • I said it before, but I really think the new design is a major step back in usability. and it's ugly, generic and whatnot. I want an old last.fm option!

    • kevinlit disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 27 2008, 18h07

    Good website ruined

    It's much too slow and has far too many images all over it. I could learn to like it if they at least let us remove/reorder the various panels. If not I really can't see myself bothering much - just too time consuming and painful to look at now. Endless scrolling and clicks which take forever to respond. I used to visit every day to check out events, neighbours tracks etc but now - ugh. Just ugh. One of my favourite websites ever totally vandalised. Very sad. I wonder what they are trying to do? I would love to see the goals and aims of the redesign project. Or maybe there weren't any!

  • I have no problem loading the new Last.fm, but I also have 2 gigs of RAM.

    I also have no problem with the new layout. It took a bit to get used to, but I generally prefer it. The smartest thing for the developers to do would be to make the old version available as an option, for the masses that want it back. Granted, that would probably also be a major tax on their servers...

    • Dianora disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 28 2008, 0h07
    Ginfress said:
    Rome wasn't built in a day.

    /sarcasm on

    Rome should be removed. The city before Rome was much better!!

    /sarcasm off


    Quote of the day!

    Edit: Maybe they day? Now I can't find the post I quoted.

    • Goenitz disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 28 2008, 0h16

    "Another Date" calendar arrow is still broken

    yeah, i'm talking about the one in the Events menu. It's the smallest thing on the world and it would make a whole lotta difference.

  • My listens haven't been scrobbling since thursday...

    • davemj disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 28 2008, 20h57
    I hadn't logged in for a week or so...figured things would be running smoother after some time to work out bugs...so far, works great. As I use this site mainly to stream music while at workstation/home computer, new interface is fine by me. I always found all the statistics interesting, but not why I am on lastfm. Good work!

    • Jed2191 disse...
    • Usuário
    • Jul 28 2008, 23h54
    I like the new web 2.0 look, I don't think it looks TOO like facebook or myspace although I see everyone's point, An option to change back would be good for the community. After all everyone has an opinion. It's only certain features that people don't like, not the entire thing. It would be good to be able to drag sections around your profile page. So people who don't want the shoutbox at the bottom can have it at the side etc. :)

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