Here we are, CastMedium redesign 4.0 (yes, we use Windows numbering). The new design introduces a lot of cosmetic upgrades, as we tend to enjoy implementing. We have only been around for a little over a year, but the aesthetic design of the site has been pretty liquid. This is partly due to my fickleness, but I like to think that it can also be attributed to the quickly evolving nature of web design.
It is not all vanity this time around though. We are introducing the ability for you to submit your own podcasts. The most frequent request we get at CM is for a way for podcasters to have their podcasts represented on the site, so it is long overdue for us to make this possible. The implementation is starting out simple; we are creating a space for user podcasts only and that space will be for podcast overviews. As we gauge popularity and interest, we may introduce a space for weekly user podcast episode recaps as well. For now, head over to the ‘Submit a podcast‘ page for more details.
We constantly try to provide easier paths for you to find what you are looking for. The footer of each post now contains links to the topics, hosts and hub page of a given podcast or episode, so don’t shy away from using those to find more shows that contain your topics or people of interest. The footer of the website has also been expended to provide quicker access to information about the site/crew, ways to contact us, etc.
Let us know what you think. If something isn’t working how you think it should, or if you have something you would like implemented, don’t hesitate in letting us know in the comments, by email or by using the new contact form at the bottom of the page.
Pretty redesign! I really appreciate the feature to link to user podcasts. Here's hoping that that does get morphed into a weekly update thing – although I wouldn't mind a "hub" page: I envision something like one permanent post for each user podcast, how I imagine this new system will work, except that on that one page the RSS Feed can be featured, so new episodes continually roll around and show on the site without needing individual posts.
In any case, thanks very much for the feature. I've already added my show. Hopefully it'll be up soon!
Hey Castmedium, really nice rededesign, I have only one problem. I would have prefered to be still able to download a podcast or get to the podcast`s page from the front page. The "continue reading" extra click is unnecessary imo. Other than that this site is getting better and better.
This is a conscience choice. With the amount of podcast that we cover, it makes sense to allow for easier skimming of the ones that have been posted. Most people only follow a few of the podcasts, so clicking into those few will hopefully not be too much trouble. This way you can get the full text (and links) for only the casts that you care about. with less clutter.
Thanks for the feedback though. We're constantly trying to improve things so we'll keep that in mind.