The New Gigwise Is Ready To Roll

You may have noticed a few changes on Gigwise today, we’ve finally updated the site with new improved code and a smart new shiny look to boot!

We’ve been working away on the new features for the site over the last few months. Hopefully you’ll notice the improvements as you get used to the new layout.

One of the important things we wanted to get right was to include the user generated content more clearly on the site rather than having it tucked away in a separate forum. Although we haven’t managed to get the new forum ready in time for the launch, user’s posts from the forum, classified and band members wanted sections now appear alongside Gigwise content on the right hand side of the page.

User profiles have also been overhauled, with a cleaner layout and deeper integration with your interaction with the rest of the site. Users can now click on the +AAA button when it appears in a story to add an artist to their profile. Currently this will add the artist to your favourite artist list but in future this will help you customise content across the Gigwise site, as well as help suggest new bands to other users with the same taste in music.

You are also now able to rate releases on our review pages. Just log in and click the user rating bar under our star rating and your vote will be cast for each album and single review you choose to rate. Your ratings will appear in your profile as well as a special page for each release which displays all the votes cast on the release by other users.

More improvements are on the way in the near future. There’s a little bit of work to do on member sign up and profile editing pages and an improved use of avatars across the site. These are a priority and the new interface will be up within the next few days. After that we will be integrating user reviews into the site as well as user blogs and improvements with the integration of the gig guide which will now be international! This will mean that user bands from outside the UK will be able to add their gigs into a usable gig guide as well as having their events listed in their profiles.

If you’ve got the time please let us know what you think of the site and any further improvements you think can be made. It’s still early days with the upgrade but I’m sure the majority of our users will be happy with what we’ve achieved so far.