It really is happening!

I've said 'soon' so many times in relation to the TV Calendar update that I'm annoyed with myself about it, so I hate to think how you guys feel. A couple of years ago, I posted a few design update screenshots, titled 'SOON'. I was wrong, and I apologise. I started the work, and quickly realised that the site needed more than a touch of paint, so I set about working on 'stuff'. Which turned into an almost full rewrite of the site.

I'm not sure if you know - and going by the amount of (very lovely) emails sent to "the team" probably not - the TV Calendar is designed, coded, kept up-to-date, bug checked, customer service'd and paid for by... me (well, the ads help with the latter part). One guy. I also run a business and I like to do the usual things such as family time etc. So big changes take a lot of time.

Why the long intro?

Today, "soon" becomes "now(ish)". The basic site update is now 99.9% ready. There are people using it *right now*. I've had a small group of people I've gotten to know via FB, Twitter, IRC and email over the years going through and bug checking and refining some stylistic ideas. So, what can you look forward to?

The Front Page

The designs have been updated. I haven't strayed too far from the colour schemes, so it's not like the site you know (and hopefully love) will be changing drastically over night, but there's lot more detail, and it's a bit nicer on the eyes.

The Calendar is now table-less (HTML). This will allow some cool stuff in future (like a more responsive to mobile front page), though for now it won't affect the site. Pictured (to show all the elements together) is the weekly view (see settings, below).

The new menu bar groups links and settings in a more natural way and on the front page (only, currently) standard full calendar (not weekly) it is "sticky", and stays at the top of the screen constantly. Lots of users just F5 every day or so, only seeing the top of the page occasionally, and might miss when the button for New Additions is highlighted, but no longer. Don't worry though. It shrinks to an acceptable level and is see through so as not to impede your Calendar viewing.

TV Show Summary Pages

Sumary pages have had a massive overhaul, both in style and function. They fit better in the browser, and while not 100% responsive (yet?) you'll find that there is a lot less wasted space. Marking off episodes and seasons as watched is much nicer than before and all new "season" pages give you a quick but detailed overview of the show. There are more features coming to this area in future.

The Profile Area

The profile section is getting a massive re-do, completely re-written from scratch. It's now 10x faster, with more options for visualising your data, and the ability to link up with friends on the site too. Plus soon you will be able to make custom lists of shows, actors, characters. Or comment and discuss your favourite shows with others.

Show Select Page

The show select page has had a makeover in both style and function. You can now see the A-Zs of all shows ever, making shows easier to find. It is more lightweight rendering in the browser and loads faster too, making selecting shows a joy!

Speaking of... SEARCH!

So 1999! But seriously, on page search now works fluidly and quickly and allows you to add shows to your filter direct from the results. Happy show hunting! I am sorry this took so long.

Sharing is Caring...

You can already share your profile overview with others, but sometimes you might want to show people EXACTLY what you are watching this month. You can now link others to the base view of your filter, easily. They can see your filter, but the settings are based on the viewer, so if they have weekly view set, that's all they will see of your calendar too.

Settings Panel

The current settings panel is cramped and hard to read. The new menu bar gives lots more room and makes seeing your settings easy and understandable. Also NEW options such as WEEKLY default view, or the ability to see all new premiere episodes (ie S01E01) of every show, even with a filter set, or the long requested disable filter, are now available.

Below you can see the new "Show Premiere Episodes" option. This adds all S01E01 episodes to your filter, even if you don't have those shows selected. In this way, you can see when NEW shows start either without the rest of the episodes "clogging" up your filter, or helping you if you have missed the show when it was added to the site.

Styles: What is old is updated, and new

Your favourite styles have been tweaked and refined and look more crisp with more detail than before. The Calendar feels more vibrant and solid, and current beta users are loving it. I hope you will too.

Obviously above you have seen the standard colour scheme, but the updated "Teal on Grey" looks just as good:

And while I demo'd this a couple of years ago, which kicked off this rewrite, the style I am calling "80s Sci-fi" is better than ever. This will be available to registered users only...

What about the Premium version?

There is also the premium stuff... but I'm not going to talk about them today. Due to the nature of the continually updating site over the past 6 months, almost all the planned "premium show backgrounds" no longer fit the layout, and need a good amount work. This is what I am focusing on in this final stage. I will make another post in a few days about this.

Finally...

I will be opening up a BETA of the site in the next week or so. DO NOT ask to be part of it in this post. There will be specific instructions in a post in a few days about how to join the beta. I want (at this point) users that can follow instructions, as there may still be a couple of bugs around, so people who are more aware are important to me. But, follow a couple of simple rules, and you'll soon be enjoying the updated site, followed not to long by everyone else!