Common Craft Blog
5 Ways the New CommonCraft.com Will Be Different
By leelefever on April 22, 2009 - 10:46am
We've re-thought our website from the ground up and soon you'll see the all the changes we're making. For now though, I want to highlight a few things that make a big difference.
1. A Focus on the Business. This may be the best way to explain how the focus has changed:
- The current Common Craft site says "WE HAVE A BLOG - and we sell videos"
- The *new* Common Craft site says "WE SELL VIDEOS - and we have a blog"
It's true - the new site is more closely aligned with the goal of finding, viewing, purchasing and downloading videos.
2. Simplified Video Organization. Our videos used to appear in two places, depending on their version: "free" or "presentation quality." We've consolidated the display of videos one a single page. This means:
- No More "Common Craft Store" - Instead of trying to attach a video store to the site, we're integrating the purchase experience into the pages where the videos appear.
- No More "Common Craft Show"- The "Common Craft Show" was simply a way to organize the free versions of our videos. Now higher-quality versions of the videos will appear in a single place on the site.
3. Videos in 5 Languages
We're taking a big step to internationalize our videos. For the first time, 10 of our videos (including the Social Media 9 Pack) will be available with voice-overs in 5 languages (English, French, German, [Brazilian] Portuguese and Spanish.) These videos will be available for viewing, purchase and download.
4. Organization by Major Topics
Our video library will be organized into four major topics, which outline our direction in the future. The topics are: Green, Money, Society and Technology.
5. Overall Look and Feel
Our goal was to make the site look and feel like our videos. We've integrated our artwork, used a white background and tried to make the experience as focused as our videos.
Of course there are many more changes, but I think these points capture some of the big ideas that drive the new design. More soon...
Still using Drupal?
Based on the quality of your videos, I'm sure your new site will be fantastic. I originally stumbled upon your site last year while searching for examples of commercial sites combining Drupal CMS and ecommerce. I'm just curious if you're sticking with Drupal, and what went into deciding on the CMS?
Yes
We are sticking with Drupal. It's been able to handle anything we want to do so far.
I noticed that there is not
I noticed that there is not a category for zombies.
Zombies
Oh, I think you missed the "society" topic. I think all societies need info on surviving attacks!
Congratulations !
Love the changes and applaud the forward movement!
I really like the new site,
I really like the new site, I think it's much improved than the old one, because of the fact CSS has been used instead of the images, for example that where on the navigation. Webmaster Forum
Libraries?
I notice you offer discounts for schools, but what about libraries? They are usually at least as poor as schools.
Libraries
Yes, we do offer libraries a discount too! :)