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[JimH]

We've been working on concepts for a new JRiver home page and I thought I'd share them with you.  

The words and pictures will change.  The design will change.  But the concept we're working on is to have a home page with multiple "doors", so you can choose your own menu of what MC does.

We've realized that we have multiple types of customers.  On the short list are:

Music lovers
Audiophiles (not necessarily the same as music lovers)
HTPC users (a PC connected to a TV)
Video lovers

I could go on in boring detail, but our thinking is that if we provide a way for people to identify their interests, we can address them with better focus.

Here are the last couple of pages we're tinkering with.

http://www.jriver.com/new/index.html
and
http://www.jriver.com/new/index2.html

Nothing is hooked up beyond the home page yet.

[MrHaugen]

I really support you on this one. Appearance on the homepage is really important. Please do consider a separate gallery of MC in action, or more screen shots when you drill down in this new "sections". Screen shots is really an important thing to many users. If you do, make sure to use good looking examples. Not Theater view with an old skin in 800x600 resolution. Some of the old images did not do MC justice...

[kensn]

I would also emphasize this is all done with a single program. Show MC as the hub of all the items....

Ken

[imugli]

I really like this design concept - number 1 moreso than the second.

I'd perhaps move the couch to the right, rather than simply under the Audio pane, but the idea of basing it around WHO your users actually are is fantastic.

[fitbrit]

I also like this. For number one, you need to add that you can play your media anywhere, over your network (non DLNA) and the internet. I think the bottom row should be Collector, Remote, Remoter, with the last one about off-site/cloud playback of your media, tremote, library server

[JustinChase]

Can I suggest that the website be more like Theater View.  Show them what you can do.  Don't try to tell them.

Let them browse in Theater View and click on Video, or Images and show them how it drills down and makes it easy for them to USE their media.  (NOTE: you could track the 'first click' and see what people are interested in when they first arrive)  Let them see what MC like in use.  Let them feel what it's like to use this software, by making them browse thru Theater View which steps them thru the benefits.  (NOT the features, the benefits to them)

Skip talking about setup and tagging. Show the results, that's what matters.

the Audio link should have audio describing benefits. (with text also)

the Images link should show the different views and options and sample photos, maybe with a link to (and explanation about) Pix01

the Videos link should be videos showing it in use; in a real home. Show the speed, the vibrancy, the functionality, the networkability.  Show it being used by a 5 year old with an android phone, or iPad.  Maybe a few YouTube type videos talking you thru some of the uses of the program.

9 months ago, if I had seen a YouTube video showing me the install of a program on a fresh install in windows, that "just played" blu-ray, with perfect subtitles, with no input from me, I would have bought it, and left J River behind*   I bet others would leave XMBC or MPC behind if they saw MC do that.

the Television link...is maybe not ready for the home page just yet

Show them how fast it is to search a library with 200,000 files.

Show them the 3D wall, or scrolling thru movies

words saying it's great won't give the same impression, IMHO

*we all know that's impossible, but you get my point

[glynor]

I like the second one, Jim.  Quite a bit, actually.

Less is often more.

[glynor]

More thoughts, briefly...

I like that it is a simple, clean, but modular design.  And I like that it isn't too wordy.  Simple, and leading you to further details about the part you might be interested in.

If you want to say more (too much copy, and trying to cover too much on one page is the bane of good designers everywhere), you could do something like "unite" the upper-left two tiles of the second one, and have a larger tile that "flips" between a few different "topic slides".  That's relatively easy to do in pure HTML and JavaScript now.  And, you could easily move this design around periodically, rearranging the type and sizes of the tiles, with new content to highlight the latest feature du jour.

Also very tablet and HTPC friendly.  And it has a bit of a Metro sensibility, without being over the top (and actually, I think with a little better, more "Apple-like" design details).

Pretty good work.  It could use additional tweaks, and a LOT more content to back it up, of course...

[Daydream]

Second one, too. The first one needs scrolling even on a 1920x1200 screen.
I like the concept. I would work a bit on the top bar too. This new style is too slick for a side-to-side black bar.

[glynor]

I would work a bit on the top bar too. This new style is too slick for a side-to-side black bar.

It would definitely need a bit of refinement, but I also like it generally like it is now.  And, frankly, it isn't like a design based on white tiles with a dark nav bar at the top doesn't "work" elsewhere.

I'm also not saying they should copy Apple with their subtle gray gradients everywhere.  But the top bar has a nice styling as-is.  Maybe just a little too black for an otherwise whitespace based design, but if it was toned down a bit I think it would look good, with the more spaced, well defined tiles.  Or, maybe if the bottom edge of the top bar was a gradient, that the top edge of the top tiles are "floating over"...

[Daydream]

It would definitely need a bit of refinement, but I also like it generally like it is now.  And, frankly, it isn't like a design based on white tiles with a dark nav bar at the top doesn't "work" elsewhere.

Agreed. The thing that I'd work on/change first is the side-to-side aspect (since the rest of the new design focuses on a middle of the page content presentation). The fact that it's dark is secondary and subtle changes may be the perfect fix (gradients, fades, etc.)

Later: thinking some more now that I start starring at the screen (I understand that nothing is final, like Jim said, so I'm just through ideas out there)
- the home theater needs a TV, not a couch, although I get the couch thing too. A tv with Theater view, at an angle, with a reflection
- the camera in the Images categ. - I'd prefer again something at an angle, showing more flares on the lens
- I love micro-details, so shadows, (very subtle) reflections, symbols could be put to work. More than the eye can see in one panning, so it creates a desire of "I like to look more at this thing". If that can be pulled off without cluttering the whole thing - excellent.
- Right now the titles and subtitles are hold in place with CSS. Since you mentioned it I believe that's what Apple does too. I'm not sure if making the titles graphics (subs remaining text) with added subtlety (shadows, gradients, etc) might help. Or it can make everything look "too much". It's trial and error.

[glynor]

I think all of those images are stock.  Probably using some custom ones here and there would be better.

[JimH]

This is just a test of a concept.  None of the graphics or text are final. 

[bunglemebaby]

I'm not much of a design expert, but my immediate reaction to the first page was something to the effect of "Ack....!!" while my reaction to the second demo page was more along the lines of "Aaahhhh...."  Clean and concise are the words I'd use to describe what I like about the second page.