2013 roadmap

albummaster · 2012-12-20T10:17:21-05:00

(*,) :mrgreen: So, this is the time of year when we take stock of where the site is currently at, and think more strategically about what features are needed to take the site forwards. Gradually, BEA is growing in both scope and volume. At the start of the year, there were about 18,000 albums on the site and there are now about 30,000 (a 66% increase in the size of the site); and with the introduction of Custom charts, there should now be enough for people to do and keep people engaged with the site. The servers were upgraded three times in 2012, so there's enough spare capacity (hopefully) to take us through the busy end of year period, and well into 2013. The membership ladder that was born a couple of years ago is now complete, and there are only two big items remaining from the original list: 'premium membership' and 'charts by tag'. Both of these will be added in 2013. I lost time in 2012, mainly due to my day job getting in the way during the first half of the year, and despite my best efforts, I was unable to make up the lost ground in the second half. The number of outstanding features on my list remains at about 200 suggestions, which was the same as at the end of 2011 (numerous items have been ticked off and added during 2012). There are now seven moderators including myself who help to keep a bit of sanity order on the site, and I'd like to thank here everyone that has helped out this year with the site. So, a big thanks (particularly) to the moderators: an_outlaw, Jhereko, joyofdivision, Magenta, Necharsian, Romanelli, 19loveless91 & ShaneSpear who have all been involved and been a great help. I'd also like to thank the people that are helping in the background to moderate the data, which is a vital task that often goes unnoticed. So, thank you to everybody that contributes, but particularly (again) to Romanelli, Mirek & harkan as they are the biggest contributors, because without these people, the site wouldn't nearly be so up-to-date. On the forums, I'd like to thank Jhereko, Hayden and harkan for running some great tournaments this year, and all the usual suspects for entertaining us so well over the last twelve months. We have a great community here, and everybody has helped contribute to that. 2013 roadmap (and estimated delivery date*): Premium membership Premium membership (Q1 2013) - pay a small fee, bypass the need to earn member points, and gain acceass to some exclusive premium member features. Charts by tag Charts by tag (Q2 2013) - Carried over since 2011, 2013's most important improvement will be some kind of tagging system that will allow people to generate lists filtered by 'tag' e.g. filter the overall chart for the best soul/r&b/metal albums etc, or generate a chart of the best 1970s soundtrack albums. Supporting this feature, people will be able to assign tags to anything across the site, and the tag can then be used as a filter for any of the charts. Alongside the above There are quite a few other things on BEA's radar for 2013, but the following seem the most interesting at the time of writing (mostly harvested from the forums): iPhone/Android application Add an album/chart of the day page where all winners are listed Ability to 'add friends' and make recommendations to each other Provide a BEA API (to allow 3rd party apps) If album by more than one artist, allow each to get a credit Find a better way to deal with artist name variations Show a list of possible entries for your chart Allow multiple versions of each release Upgrade the forum software Extend the search page to search within member names and chart titles Show a graph of the rank history for each album to see the movement over time within the overall chart Add an option to show more items on a single page, e.g. 10, 25, 50, 100 Filter band stats by year or decade to see best bands in each decade Tidy up presentation of wish list page Separate reviews and user comments Recent 'activity stream' per member or object (or whole site) e.g. posts, mods, ratings etc Priorities may change during the year, and lots of other changes will also be implemented in 2013 (this is a subset of 200 items!) Unfortunately, my day job is taking up about 60 hours a week right now, which is limiting the amount of time I can spend on BEA. The site would grow a lot faster if I could work on it more often. 2012 has been another good year for the site, and I look forward to 2013. Thanks to everybody for all of your support. albummaster * The timescales have the same caveats as ever: BEA is not a 'job'. It is a hobby. I'd like to spend more time on BEA, but I also need to make a living. Being able to deliver 'on time' depends on other commitments outside of BEA.

Goto page Previous 1, 2

View previous topic :: View next topic

Guest

What everyone else said. Thanks for all your hard work in keeping this site running and improving. Have a lovely Christmas and New Year.

JMan

I know I've only been here for a month, but thanks A.M.

I can't wait until I can make custom charts. All the charts I will have planned.

Shadow23 Profile
Here, There and Everywhere

Some very good ideas! Good work, albummaster!
_________________
One thing I can tell you is you've got to be free

pearljammer13 Young Pilgrim Profile
Massachusetts

Just subscribed to the newsletter so I'm a bit late to seeing this thread, but yeah like everyone else said thanks for everything you do albummaster. I've become beyond attached to this site. A little disturbing how big a part of my life it is now, but I'm not ashamed to profess my love for it. All these updates planned sound great, also hoping the logo will be fit in there somewhere.

moojakptorei

This is an amazing site and has really helped me for my high school project. I love the idea of an iPhone/iPad app because the website is quite difficult to use in Safari. However, the app would have to be free.

Evandar Profile

Those two main forthcoming features sound awesome, I wish you the best of luck in implementing them. 😄

New topic Closed

Topic Posters
All times are GMT
Goto page Previous 1, 2

Page 2 of 2

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Topic	Author	Forum	Replies	Last Post
What 2013 Song Best Sums Up Your 2013?	benpaco	Music	14	01/01/2014 03:17 meruizh
2014 roadmap	albummaster	Suggestions	8	01/09/2014 02:53 junodog4
2017 roadmap	albummaster	Suggestions	8	12/02/2017 09:47 albummaster
2020 roadmap	albummaster	Suggestions	6	12/19/2020 15:48 Repo
2012 roadmap	albummaster	Suggestions	23	08/09/2012 11:37 albummaster