The more observant among you may have noticed a few changes to The Jazz Line. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to our new-look website.
The Jazz Line has grown steadily since our launch in April 2011 and as we continue to explore new topics, experiment with new forms of media, and adapt to the ever-changing trends of the internet, it became clear that our old website would become a hindrance to our plans for 2014.
So, I got rid of it.
On January 6, I started designing and building a new website from scratch with the goal of crafting an impeccable experience for every visitor to The Jazz Line, and what you see around this post is the finished product.
In With The New
Almost 40% of the people who visited The Jazz Line last year did so on a mobile device. If you ever tried to visit the old website on mobile, I’m sure you know the experience wasn’t great. Our new design is fully responsive and built on ‘mobile-first’ principles, meaning the website will look as great on your phone as it does on your desktop.
Equally, in an attempt to move away from the overwhelming monochrome of our old website I’ve tried to introduce a splash of color to this new design. I tried to keep my choice of colors tasteful; however, I make no assertions as to whether I’ve succeeded in that endeavor (feel free to let me know…).
I hope the color changes will make finding specific interviews, reviews, videos, and news much easier.
The small images and fonts were were once known for are now a thing of the past as just one design element has been carried over from our old web design. Everything else has been redesigned from the ground up to make sure The Jazz Line is as easy to use as possible, regardless of what device you use to visit us.
Our search bar has also been updated to support voice search on select browsers, such as Google Chrome. Click the search button in the top-right of the page and give it a try!
Our video section has also been re-built from the ground up. Expect to see your first glimpse of it in the coming weeks as we clear our video backlog from 2013, which includes content from the likes of Christian Scott, Sachal Vasandani, Pharoah Sanders, Ambrose Akinmusire, Charlie Hunter, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Philip Dizack, Tower of Power, Larry Carlton, Paul Brown, and many more.
Out With The Old
Unfortunately, we couldn’t make room for all these new toys without throwing out some old ones. As much as I love the 4.01% of you that still use old versions of Internet Explorer to visit The Jazz Line, I spent many painful days (yes, days…) making our old website compatible with older browsers and I vowed never to do that again. So, I didn’t. The new TJL website is not compatible with Internet Explorer version 8 or older. Sorry, not sorry. If you like The Jazz Line, please consider upgrading to a newer, more secure browser if you wish to benefit from these new changes.
A Thank You
I sincerely hope you enjoy using the new-look TJL. If you have any comments, ideas, or suggestions I would love to hear from you. I will be personally replying to every message I get about the new design on our Contact Page. Also, feel free to tweet me: @AvidLaRosa.
As ever, thank you for sticking with us over the past few years. I know I speak for everyone at The Jazz Line in saying we look forward to continue bringing you the latest Jazz news, reviews, interviews, and videos for many years to come.
Best Regards,
David La Rosa, Editor.
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