Welcome to your new home!
If you’re a longtime visitor of MaximumFun.org, you could be forgiven for wondering what website you’re looking at right now. Don’t worry, you’re in the right place for gathering every nugget of information about your favorite MaxFun podcasts. We can all agree that the old site was well overdue for a visual refresh, and we’ve been working to achieve that update with our web designer friends (and MaxFunsters themselves!) Pixel & Dot for the last year.
Our goal for the redesign was to make the site both more visually appealing and easier to use – a place for you to listen to the shows you love, see what’s new on the network, check on your upcoming tour dates, and manage all aspects of your MaxFun membership.
Because this is the very first redesign our site has been through since its inception, and technology and design have come a long way since then, we saw this as an opportunity to add features that were unavailable (or maybe just under-appreciated) back in 2006. Here are some of the things we’re excited about.
Accessibility is a top priority
One thing we are thrilled to introduce is the first round of our transcription initiative. Thanks to the enthusiasm of our community and the leadership of the McElroy family in transcribing their own shows, we’ve begun the process of bringing our podcasts to a wider audience. Accessibility is important, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done so far, grateful for the guidance of our community and experts in the field, and eager to continue moving this project forward. For more details on the process up to this point, what differentiates our approach from others, and where we’re hoping the next steps lie, take a look at this.
Dive in more deeply to your favorite podcasts, and discover new treasures
Imagine a space where you can read longer form, written pieces exploring everything from behind-the-scenes peeks at how the scrapple is made, to hosts’ reflections on shows’ origins, to celebrations of the myriad ways MaxFun brings people together. Our new Discover section will contain features that will introduce you to the newest additions to our network and give you an even deeper appreciation and understanding for your current favorites. Is it a blog? Sort of, but better!
Manage your membership in a single place
MaxFun members, folks who contribute to support our programs each month, make our work possible, so facilitating the management of their memberships was high on the list when we started thinking about this site redesign.
With this overhaul, members can see and change their current membership level, review the shows they’re supporting, update their shipping address, and get access to the bonus content vault, all in one convenient place!
A nicer navigation and simpler search
Another area of improvement we’ve identified is ease of navigation. Yeah, we have “comedy” and “culture” shows, but what about the ones that are both? And what if you want to find a family friendly show? Or a game show? Our new site makes browsing and searching by tags considerably easier and more intuitive. We’ve also rethought our menus and clarified the visual layout to make it easier to quickly navigate to your area of interest. And we’ve made a host of more subtle – but still important! – improvements to usability on the site. We’re thrilled for you to get your hands on the new site and see these changes for yourself.
How’d we do?
We’d love to hear your feedback on our big redesign. If you have any questions or comments regarding the site, you can drop us a line at hello@maximumfun.org.