January 22, 2007
etnies.com Relaunch
We launched a new etnies.com, the biggest change is having each sport’s home page better reflect the content found within the site. We put some callouts to the latest podcasts right on the home page, so the kids don’t have to search around for the content nerds hard work. We’ve stopped rotating featured product, differentiated between contests & other features, and the flash now allows you to view each promotional item we have, instead of them randomly being pulled. Even though you can go to the site & view it, We’ve enclosed a screen grab of etnies Skate below:
But who cares about any of that, when we embraced microformats! These things are the way of the future, as browsers will surely integrate what is now handled by extensions such as Mike Kaply’s Operator. The extension reads events (amongst other microformats) and creates one click access for you to add the event to your calendar program of choice. It even supports local applications, such as iCal. Below is the extension in action, picking up the upcoming events we mention on the etnies Skate home page:
Get the extension & view the entire etnies calendar to get a taste of a way futuristic, interconnected browsing experience. Check the rest of the site for some hidden micro gems as well. If any Sci Fi writings are to come true, or you just want to help advance the web as the medium we all hold so dearly to our hearts, the path involves embracing microformats!
January 22, 2007 huphtur
That’s some major nerdy shit right there. Will the kids understand it?
January 22, 2007 foxxyz
I think the whole point is that you don’t need to understand it. If you have the plugin (or any other kinds of future software supporting hcal/hcard), it’ll just work. I have no use for it personally, but I can see the incredible impact these formats can have in the future and I’m stoked that we’re helping advance the web in one way or another.
January 22, 2007 joe d
On the old site, I liked the sub-branding with color & photography that happened when you went from Surf to Skate to Moto, etc. Now I forget which sport I’m in unless I look at my browser’s title bar.
For me, the exciting part of etnies is the range of lifestyles, and excitement of the different sports. … you’ve left me with some plywood chips, some yellow, and white text on black. Ho-hum.
January 22, 2007 Andrew K.
“Will the kids understand it?” If they use Firefox 3 (when it’s released), their browser will understand it for them.
Good on you for embracing the major nerdy shit.
January 24, 2007 c00ler
I agree with Foxxyz, the kids will never have to understand it at all. It’ll be like regular HTML at some point, and the kids don’t know that. They just know that they open up a browser & it works.
January 25, 2007 Cpawl
I agree with most of the above. Microformats are neato but kids will most likely not understand or even worse… care. How many “kids” do you know who use a calendar at all? When i was 16, skating all day or getting in trouble or looking for girls… the last thing I cared about is adding things to my shcedule of events. Then again, it’s a “why the heck not” progressive technology so I say great work. I would also have to say that the new site is a bit confusing now. It’s hard to tell where the heck you are at most of the time, especially since almost all sections have the same appearance. I noticed (after awhile I might add) that the footer has the section highlighted so you can tell where you are if your paying attention. Why not have, at the very least, the same menu on the header, or the section header icon change colors or something…. or better yet- have the same side menu that is on the homepage stick throughout the site. It appears the goal was to fuse Etnies together as a whole, maybe in hopes one sport user gets involved with the others but it seems like this confusion might have the opposite effect. If you can not find the other sport- if A looks, feels, and acts the same as B … why bother.
January 26, 2007 c00ler
Very true - kids don’t use calendars, but like you said - why the heck not! The parents of these kids use calendars, we’ll have a totally different site by the time microformats are built into browsers anyway, it’s really just a prep for what’s coming up.
I hear you on the fact that it’s very difficult to tell which sport you’re in. An icon being the biggest difference between sports is not the best solution.