May 6th, 2007
Version Two of IndieHQ Launches
I’ve spent a lot more of my free time than I probably should have in the last month or so dedicated to working on a new version of this site and am proud to announce the launch of IndieHQ 2.0. Aside from a pretty drastic change aesthetically there are also a number of new features that have been added. Read more if you want to check out all of the details…
Probably my favorite new section is Recommended Music which you’ll find on the sidebar. Virgil, Bill and myself have all put together mixes with tracks from some of our favorite indie bands which we’ll update periodically. Mine is somewhat of a themed mix. The first half are all songs that are pessimistic, sad, etc. while the other half contains songs by the same artists (or ones which share members i.e. Jenny Lewis and Rilo Kiley) which I find happy, uplifting, etc. The order is pretty important as the first song and last song are both by Of Montreal, the second is Self while the second to last is Ken Andrews (Matt Mahafey collaborated and played guitar on his new record), and well you get the idea. The other three records are full album streams of Something to Write Home About by the Get Up Kids, Cotton Teeth by The Snake The Cross The Crown and Hobo’s Demos by Drag the River. We’ll also be updating those monthly and we’ve provided code to copy and paste so you can add any of these players to your myspace, facebook or blogs.
Another feature includes some nifty javascript/ajax tricks you’ll find in places like the comments area which may not mean a lot to those outside of the web world, but hopefully you’ll find it easier to comment on the site. You will also find direct links to add posts to Digg, Delicious and all of those types of sites if that is your thing.
Well, I hope you enjoy the new look and features. I’m still working out a few bugs, but I’d love to hear any feedback or constructive criticism you have and as always thanks for taking the time out of your day to look at our site.
Written by Sean Klassen
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On May 7th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Wells Tipley said:
Love the new design! The black and white was hard on my eyes!!! Good luck!
On May 7th, 2007 at 7:12 am
jason said:
LOVE IT!
On May 7th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Chris Vandeviver said:
This new layout is awesome! An improvement, most definitely.
On May 7th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Fred9V said:
Awesome new website, much more clearer than the previous! That would have been nice to keep the posts database from the old site tough!
On May 7th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Sean Klassen said:
Thanks for the comments. The database is still in tact. What do you mean? If you click on topics at the top you’ll see the same break down of categories…
On May 7th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Tom said:
looks a lot better than before, but some things i dont like
- giving an entire column to the date of the article is a lot of space to waste
- “offers news, advice and more for independent bands, labels and music fans alike.” in as big of letters as the site name is kinda dumb, as is having it say “article detail” in huge letters at the top of all the pages.
On May 7th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Sean Klassen said:
I think your points are fair to point out, Tom. If you’re curious, here is why I did things the way I did…
The date may take up a whole column, but it was a deliberate choice to increase the white space of the site, hopefully increasing the legibility. The optimal line length for ease of reading is 9-15 words per line which is what I aimed to keep the body paragraphs at. So those wouldn’t be any wider regardless. The whole site aligns to a 7 column grid which is why the date column is as wide as it is.
The large type is definitely more of an aesthetic choice I made. I love Helvetica and love chances to let it stand on it’s own. I thought the large headline on the homepage would be a good introduction to those new to the site, but mostly wanted to let the beauty of the typeface show through. If someone is looking at this on a PC and are using Internet Explorer or don’t have cleartype running on their machine I imagine the fonts probably look a little jagged. But if they’re looking at things in IE to begin with, I’m guessing typography and design aren’t the highest of priorities on their list, but that’s not who we were necessarily seeing as a primary target according to our site stats.