Homepage Suggestions

The bottom part of our homepage has a new look: We removed the News section, and instead we're displaying Suggestions, 3 per theme. The purpose of this change is take users by the hand. (I couldn't have said it better Limbabwe so I took your words )

Currently, these suggestions are Editors' Cover Song Pick, Obscure Originals, Unusual Cover Songs, Unrecognizable Cover Songs and Revival cover songs. This set of suggestions will probably evolve over time, based on what our visitors find the most relevant.

What does this mean for you, Editors and Certified Contributors? Every time you tag version, you help to enrich the suggestions made on our homepage!

Read. As stated previously, I don't like the new look.

I’m in agreement with Jeff. If my first encounter with typing “secondhandsongs.com” took me to a page that only had a couple picture icons I might be very confused how to navigate the site. It’s not intuitive what to do. We just have the one Discover search box. I think there should be some very brief discussion of the site at the top of the main page. But I do think all the suggested covers below are cool.

Read…

OK

Read

Read! I can't to say if it better for now. I'm new and I am exploring yet.

Interesting

Read. I think the new look is cluttered.

So far so good. But many of the tag terms (more obscure than original, unusual, definitive, etc) aren't going to mean anything to users. Even to editors. So I'd like to see a short definition of the terms included somewhere. "Hit - Find performances that charted somewhere in the world". Something like that. (Even I can't remember our exact criteria for hits.)

It's an interesting addition, but as I originally said, someone coming to SHS for the first time should be able to easily figure out what this song is about from browsing the home page. Even if it's just a few brief sentences. I got here from MusicBrainz and figured it out quickly, but I'm more technically inclined than the average internet user.

I agree with Murray, Jeff, Mark, Michael and also that "Many of the tag terms (more obscure than original, unusual, definitive, etc) aren't going to mean anything to users". IMHO, this is simply taking tagging to far. We just can't greet our users with undefined selections based on partly very subjective tags.

We probably all agree that a start page for a database site should be clean, objective, easy to understand and intuitive.

Read

Quote from artsinspired

So far so good. But many of the tag terms (more obscure than original, unusual, definitive, etc) aren't going to mean anything to users. Even to editors. So I'd like to see a short definition of the terms included somewhere. "Hit - Find performances that charted somewhere in the world". Something like that. (Even I can't remember our exact criteria for hits.)

Agreed. How about this for some intro text to help the user navigate through the main features of our site?

Welcome to Second Hand Songs - a website dedicated to the cover version.

Finally, you can also help us. You can suggest cover versions currently missing from our database. We know there are lots out there. And if you spot any errors with our entries, you can use the "report error" button to alert us to entries that need changing.

I'd definitely recommend adding a facebook plug-in with live-feed on the homepage too, as a way to keep the site feeling current.

I don't see this change as an improvement for the same reasons I stated in the earlier thread and as mentioned by others in this thread (i.e. cluttered or busy). That original thread may example a common problem with SHS discussions. Management had some original idea and then proceeded to ignore (or at least not respond to) any objections to or concerns regarding the proposal. The result may be a lot of work to implement a change that may offer little value added to or perhaps even harm the site.

Management seems to envision SHS like a store in a shopping mall that customers may enter without knowing anything about it. In that situation, it may make sense to clearly label the editor's pick section and the revival rack, but SHS isn't really like that.

In reality, SHS is like an unknown clothing store found while someone is looking for a specific type of shirt. The first thing they will want to find is where to look for that shirt. After they look thru the shirt rack, they may then decide to see what else the store offers.

I like the idea of guiding users to discoveries. But like other editors in this thread, I'm a bit concerned about the actual execution. In particular, I feel that the search box has become buried among all the other content.

I like what Sebastian just posted here. I think that is more of what we need as the "front" of the home page before we just jump into the Icons of recommended covers and such - but I do like what we have done as far as the visuals and suggestions, I would just have that below something that gives an overview of our site first.

Quote from mduval32323

But I do think all the suggested covers below are cool.

Thanks

Quote from SlimD

Read. I think the new look is cluttered.

Remarkable, because it's just 3 videos per row, and below title and performer.

Maybe this has something to do with the dark background? Or the absence of visual separation between the rows?

Quote from artsinspired

So far so good. But many of the tag terms (more obscure than original, unusual, definitive, etc) aren't going to mean anything to users. Even to editors. So I'd like to see a short definition of the terms included somewhere. "Hit - Find performances that charted somewhere in the world". Something like that. (Even I can't remember our exact criteria for hits.)

Sure, we already have that:

https://secondhandsongs.com/page/Guidelines/Entities/Performance/Tags