1 post tagged “release 40”

If we’ve seemed a bit quiet lately, it’s because we’ve been hard at work on some major improvements and changes to Vox. It doesn’t matter what we think though unless you’re also happy with the enhancements, which is why we want to get your feedback on all the changes outlined below. Some of the changes are currently viewable by everyone, while we decided to give a few of the more dramatic changes some time in beta while we get your comments and work out all the kinks.

First, the changes that are live for everyone today:

Find & Invite Your Friends
There’s a chance that some of your friends are already on Vox and you don’t even know it.

Now you can find your friends already on Vox by searching with your web-based email or uploading a contact file. After you’ve added your friends who are already on Vox, you’ll also have the option to invite your other contacts to join. You can access the new features on the “Invite a Friend” page or directly from the beta dashboard on the “Find Your Friends” module.

We’re still working on making it easy for you to find all of your contacts from other social networks (like Facebook or Twitter) who are already on Vox. You can help expedite this process by adding all of your other accounts on the Contact Information page under “Your Accounts Elsewhere.” We’ll let you know as soon as you can search those accounts for your friends.

Rotate Your Pictures
Several of you have been asking for the ability to rotate your photos, and we’re excited to finally give you the option.

Photos don’t always upload in the direction you want so we’ve made it easy to rotate any photo after you upload it to Vox. Just click on “Rotate Left” or “Rotate Right” in the “Options” drop-down.

Embed Vox Assets Anywhere
See something you love on Vox that you want to post elsewhere? Now all you have to do is click on the “Embed” link on the right. When you click that link, the embed code will appear. Then just copy the code to insert it into another web page. Easy! You can also use this to post your own content from Vox on another webpage, blog or profile.

 

New Features to Try Out
We’ve added some new features for you to try out, but only if you’re brave enough to click on the “Go for it!” button at the top of the page. (Don’t worry. If at any time you decide you want to revert to the old style, you can just click “Switch me back, please.”) We’re so excited about these changes, we wanted everyone to be able to try them out, so even if you’ve already opted in as a beta tester, you will still have to click the “Go for it!” button.  

New Navigation & Explore Areas

We’ve spent months designing a navigation that is clear and simple. We know it’s not perfect yet, but with your feedback and more testing, we hope to introduce the final navigation in the next couple of weeks.

One change we’re incredibly excited about is that now, when you click “Explore Vox,” you will see links to some new explore areas centered around different subjects. For starters we’ve added Culture, Entertainment, Life, Music and Technology, and you can also drill down into sub-categories, including Fashion, Food & Drink and more.  (We'll be expanding these in the future.) Each page features a feed of the latest posts added to Vox that fall into that specific category. So, if you want to see all the latest posts that are related to Music, just click on the Music link.

These new explore sections also feature a spotlight area where a Vox Editor will feature different content and blogs. Do you write a lot about fashion or technology? This is a great way to have your blog featured in a prominent way, attracting more visitors and perhaps some new friends and neighbors! In the coming weeks, we’ll let you know how to nominate great content from you and your fellow Voxers.

We’ve worked incredibly hard to make these areas as relevant as possible, and we hope you’ll be inspired to click around and discover new posts and neighbors who share your passions.

Re-Designed Homepage

We’ve redesigned the logged-in homepage to bring you the stuff you want to read, all in one place.

At the top of your screen you’ll find a new area that features new information from your neighborhood.  Click through the links to browse posts, comments, media and updates. Below that you’ll find editorial sections highlighting some of the great posts on Vox. The Question of the Day is now in the right-hand column above the “Recently favorited” module.

We hope that the new homepage will allow you to not only get a quick glance of what your neighbors are up to, but will also help you discover new people and content.

Improved Performance
Our engineers have been working tirelessly on all of these changes, but somehow they’ve also managed to find time to make some awesome performance enhancements which will improve page loading times and your overall experience on Vox.

 

We Want Your Feedback!
After you’ve had a chance to play around with the new features, we’d love you to Take Our Survey and let us know what you think. If you’ve clicked on the “Go for it!” button, you’ll see the link to the survey just below it. We also encourage you to submit overall thoughts and suggestions on our feedback page. You can always check out our known issues list as well to get a sense of the items we’re aware of and working to fix.

It’s really important to us that we find out what you think about these changes. If you love it, hate it, or have ideas for other things we should add, we want to know. So please don’t be shy! Share your feedback and help improve Vox.