Site improvements

July 31, 2007 @ 16:16 (1 year, 5 months ago) - filed under site

The last couple of days, my site has been ondergoing some changes. Most of them are technical, but some you can see. Half of it is also done as a sort of testcase for the new and improved n-e-w.nl site, which should be done the next coming weeks (it really needed a redesign). More about that later.

So what’s new? I added microformats to my site. You can’t see them, but they’re really powerfull. Read about them at wikipedia or microformats.org. If you’re a Firefox user, you really should install the Operator add-on, which enables you to make use of microformats.

I also included my Twitter messages on the site. This enables me to post short updates to the site through, for example, my mobile phone. I don’t know if I will use it a lot, but I thought it would come in handy when I’m on the road or have something nice to tell you.

The last big change: from now on, all the gigs in my schedule are GeoTagged and hcalendar enabled. I’m very excited about this, becasue this enables me to show you exactly where and when my gigs are taking place. For example, if you’re using Google Calendar, you could add my gigs to your calendar through the beforementioned add-on. Or just add the whole iCal feed via the Add by URL function. You can also use the feed for programs like Outlook, iCalendar or the free Mozilla calendar programs.

That’s it! I know this has little to do with actual music, but I think that musicians should embrace these exciting and powerful new technologies. I’m sometimes really disappointed in the lack of (technically) good artists’ websites. Take, for example, all those schedules which aren’t (automatically) updated. Really annoying. Not to mention usability and browser compatibility.

I’m actually really curious about your thoughts on this. Please, share them in the comments.

P.S.: Music news is coming soon, just you wait.