July 2006

We're back again with some very exciting news to share. Please take a moment to read this update and learn about our latest innovations: MY AAJ and the Calendar.

1. MY AAJ Launches!
2. Article and CD Review Page Changes
3. Entering Genres
4. Uploading your photos to the site
5. TIP: Linking to your uploaded photos

MY AAJ Launches!

It's been three years in the making, but MY AAJ and regional calendar are now live (read the news item).

The calendar, which will allow users to view events by zip code, can be accessed from your MY page or by clicking the calendar link under the topmost banner ad. Once you've logged in as a MY AAJ user, you'll see your local calendar on your MY page. You'll have the option to search for events and submit events.

You can also view events by musician (linked from the musician's profile page) and through the venue and festival listings. Since we're relying on musicians, publicists and street teams to submit the events, we anticipate that it will take time to spread the word and to get everyone up to speed. We do expect the calendar to be fully active within six months.

If you haven't signed up for MY AAJ yet, please do so now, so you can view the many options MY has to offer. By personalizing your settings you can filter content, view your local calendar, and view and post local announcements. Users can set favorite contributors, articles, musicians and genres and will be notified each time a designated favorite is published at the site.

This is just the beginning—we plan to build on the MY system in the very near future. We've broken ground on the jazz teacher finder system, and regional advertising is just around the corner.

2006 is proving to be our year!

Article and CD Review Page Changes

The code for MY AAJ added a degree of complexity to the script that presents your article and CD reviews. We felt it was best to streamline the code prior to adding the additional functionality, so you'll notice that the CD Review format has changed. All the content that appeared on the old page is represented on the new page—just in different locations. Most notably, the track and personnel information now appear below the review text.

Entering Genres

MY AAJ members can filter content in a variety of ways. They can select favorite contributors, favorite articles, favorite musicians, and favorite genres.

If you have not selected a genre for your articles in the past, please do so from here on out.

As an example, if a reader selects "vocals" as a favorite genre and we publish your review of a vocal CD, that review (if you specify the "vocals genre) will appear on that person's MY page. This will greatly increase the chances of your review being read by an interested party.

Uploading your photos to the site

In response to the increased number of images that contributors are including with their concert and festival reviews, we've streamlined the process. Please upload your concert and festival photos to the Visual Arts Center, as opposed to sending them to us via email attachments.

To upload your photos, go to the Visual Arts Center, click the "Community Photos" album (see right column, page 3), then select "add photos" from the "<< admin options >>" dropdown. You can upload as many images as you want at any time.

Please be consistent and title your images this way:

[Artist/Band Name] at [Venue/Event Name] in [City] on [Date] by [Your Name].

Then reference those photos in your article. (see tip below)

TIP: Linking to your uploaded photos

Once you've uploaded your photos to the community album, the next step is to include them in your article.

The Visual Arts Center creates thumbnails for every image you upload. You'll want to click on that image to see the larger version, then click it again so you're viewing just the image itself. Copy and paste the address of the image from your browser's address line, then toggle back to the article submission page and paste it into a good spot in your article. Place <IMG SRC= in front of the URL and > after the URL. If it's a wide image, please set the width to 400 pixels. If it's a narrow image, set the width to 200 pixels.

Examples:

<IMG SRC=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/albums/Fan-Photos/srollins.jpg WIDTH=400 >

<IMG SRC=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/albums/Fan-Photos/wshorter.jpg WIDTH=200 >

As always, we welcome your ideas and input. Thanks for being a part of the team!

Best,
Mike and Nils

Comments