I've completed and tested a method of inputting tags and games. These are designed to replace the VGMdb integration in the next release. I'm looking for comments on these changes so that they can be adjusted before release if people see issues with them.

Here's the first image, which shows how to select tags:

http://www.shoemakervillage.org/temp/tags1.jpg

Each tag has a category, which will be searchable and clickable on the song details pages. Users will be able to see songs that have the same tags and narrow searches by tags. Categories organize tags and jog users' minds, because simply asking people to enter tags without categories would likely result in too few or irrelevant tags being entered.

The categories of tags in the image are examples of things that could be tagged and may not appear in the final release. I'm looking for suggestions as to what exactly the categories should be. The right column suggests the most common tags in a category to help users in coming up with tags. Since there is only one song in the test database, the most common tags in this instance are the ones entered on the page.

Here's the second image, which shows how to select games:

http://www.shoemakervillage.org/temp/tags2.jpg

As above, the user types the name of the game, and an autocomplete box suggests names of games from the database. The user can select an existing game, which will pull an image and other data from the Giantbomb database, or enter a new game, which will simply show up as text. The user removes tags or games by clicking the "x" buttons in their boxes.

The search interface is not yet completed. Please offer whatever thoughts you have on the suggestion interface.

Here is another picture, this time from the replacement for the grids on the front page:

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/songs1.jpg

These "song boxes" are intended to each replace one grid row. There is only one link on the box, and clicking anywhere sends the user to the details page, from which (s)he can go to the artist's profile and other information. Where necessary, the scrollbars for the grids will be replaced with ">" and "<" square buttons below these grids. Mousing over these boxes changes their color to highlight them, and clicking them removes the shadow so that the button appears "depressed."

The intent is to address the suggestions that gridlines are undesirable, while at the same time making the site much more accessible for touch devices.

And now a picture of the homepage, which is nearing completion:

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/homepage.jpg

Ah, these look like great ideas, especially the new homepage looks really good to me!
As for the tags, I think they make a lot of sense and I can't wait to put some tags for my songs!
But say, are the tags optional so that one could leave out any of them?

The issue of tags being optional is a good point. I was hoping that others might chime in on that one. My initial thought was that no tags of any kind should be required.

Of course, the question is, should tags be made optional, whether people will take the time to post tags or not. If a person doesn't post any tags, then the new search feature won't show any results other than the title (because there is nothing to search for). Perhaps getting your music out there is enough reason to compel artists to take time to accurately tag their songs - or perhaps artists will just think "I only care about writing music and hate this tag stuff."

Well, here's my opinion: If one takes the time to make such a song, he/she'll want to add tags so people can find the song. To make people add tags, perhaps one of the sections should be required (that would be Genre in my opinion). If they have to add this tag anyway, they might add some more while they're at it.

At least that's what I think.

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/homepage2.jpg

This is what I foresee as the final version of the homepage. I'm moving onto search of tags right now, which is the last thing to do in this set of changes. At this point, it will probably be about two weekends until these changes start to release.

As you can see, the large boxes, which to me seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of screen space, were downsized to half their size. They still function the same as intended before, and they can still be easily pressed from touchscreens and cell phones. Their images, which in the picture are the default icons, are replaced whenever the artists select the games the songs are remixing from the GiantBomb database (which contains pictures). In the demo image, there are some blank sections like "promoted works" - that's just because nobody has promoted anything on the demo server.

I was able to get a lot more done today than I originally thought - about 700 lines since this morning.
http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/search.jpg

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/search2.jpg
The search page allows users to narrow down the list of songs based upon multiple fields. When searching for tags and games, only those actually associated with songs are presented to the user in the autocomplete dropdowns. Where possible (as in the case of games and users), an image is provided along with the list of search terms. There's probably about 10-20% more to go - one part of that is the layout of the search criteria, which needs gridlines or something.

I also changed the font of the song boxes. Notice that the larger boxes provide more information than the homepage boxes, as well as two-decimal ratings. Originals are clearly indicated by red titles. Authors of originals will have the capability to upload an image that captures the essence of their songs, and which will replace the default image that's being used as a placeholder in these screenshots.

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/search20130107.jpg

This page is 99% complete, with release as soon as all existing pages have the VGMdb stuff removed. WIPs are now darkened slightly compared to other songs (no WIPs are displayed in these results). I temporarily loaded these placeholder icons, but game images will be used to the left upon release (as shown in other screenshots). There is a new sort box in the upper right. A slider at the bottom allows the user to "slide" across pages rather than typing in the page number or clicking the buttons. On touchscreens, swiping the screen downward moves to the next page of results, while swiping upward returns to the previous page.

This round of changes is now feature-complete. Final testing will begin tomorrow, with release pegged for Friday.

http://shoemakervillage.org/temp/details.jpg

The details pages now display the tags and games associated with a song. Clicking on a tag or game redirects the user to the search page, which allows the user to see other songs that have that tag or that game. Other changes include the removal of the old "all songs" grid, which now redirects to the search page. There is also an "everything" option, which searches all fields. Finally, the changes have allowed the homepage and the search page to be cached as HTML, which was never possible before (and which should help address Rize's criticism of load times during the evenings).

Of course, the song details pages were never intended to be a part of this update, so their overall style has not changed much, other than the addition of tags and games. The details pages themselves will likely be addressed in the next release.