New Website: Finding the Things You Love
(
05/04/2012)
As part of our ongoing build-up to the new Big Finish website’s launch on 11th April, we thought we’d tell you about the new Hubs and Ranges sections. These have been designed so that you can find exactly what you’re looking for as quickly as possible.
First up: hubs. When there are a number of ranges that fall within one, over-arching category, we have created a new level to the site. These are the Hubs and when we launch we will have four of them:
Doctor Who,
Bernice Summerfield,
Dark Shadows and
Textbook Stuff.
Fans of these franchises will be able to see at a glance the latest releases from a selection of three ranges within that hub. It should also be clear which ranges there are in each hub because there will be a 'range navigator' at the top of each page, similar to the one for all ranges that sits on the site’s home page.
Speaking of which, there are a number of ways you’ll be able to find any of our ranges. As well as the range navigator on the home and hub pages, there is also a Ranges page, which will display all the logos for all the ranges. Or you can use the drop-down menu at the top right of the site to select the range you’re after.
So, what can you see when you get to a range page? We have illustrated this piece with a screen grab of the
Doctor Who Main Range page so you can see as we talk you through it.
The first thing to say is that the latest release is front and centre. Its cover image is the biggest on the page and therefore easily identified. Beneath that are the two other most recent releases in the range. Clicking on the release’s cover image or title will take you to that story’s individual page.
Beneath that is a link to all released items in the range. But don’t worry; if you want to see all the stories that have been released and all the forthcoming ones, you can. The listing page allows you to filter your results and also to order them by date, price, etc.
To the right of the latest release is the Coming Soon column, which shows the next three releases in chronological order, most imminent first. You have the same ability to click on either the cover or the title to take you to a page with a synopsis and other details of the selected story.
Moving across the page, we then have the final column in which you will find a brief introduction to the range, a subscribe button and the new 'find & filter' box.
We’re very excited by this last development because it will allow you to display a full list of releases featuring your favourite Doctor, companion, returning character or enemy. You can search for releases with a certain word in the title or for a specific release number. You can even look for releases between certain dates, so if you’ve got any gaps in your collection, you can quickly identify what they are.
We hope you’ll agree that these changes will make things a lot easier for you to find the things you want to.