Four years ago, a group of kids were passionate about dance music. They started a simple WordPress blog, threw together a logo in Microsoft Paint and called it Dancing Astronaut. Since then, we couldn’t have dreamed our small community of dance music fans would grow into what it is today. Thank you for sticking with us. It’s been a long time coming… but our new website is finally here. You deserve it.

With the new Dancing Astronaut, our objective was to deliver a website on par with our brand and continued growth. Teaming up with Zak Malik and 3rd Corner Studios, the redesign has been a work in progress since early 2013. Months of exploration, strategy and iterations later, we are excited to launch Phase One of a three phase launch plan.

Served by a custom API built on top of a WordPress backbone, HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript elements allow us to showcase interactive media in dynamic, innovative ways. In other words, the new DA is using some cool technology to hook you up with awesome features and content. Phase One presents a completely new user experience.

Our new homepage mirrors the design strategy: full-width rich media with bright images, segmented content, native advertising and packed with new features. It’s big. It’s bold. It’s beautiful. The top of the page will show you featured articles, from notable announcements and releases to editorials. READ represents the latest news. TOP PICKS are our favorite tracks of the moment, while LISTEN is the latest music from all corners of the dance music world. LOOK and WATCH are your backstage (or in-front-of-the-stage) passes that showcase countless photo albums and videos. We’re creating conversation around our content (#astronews, #astrotracks, etc). A DA Instagram slider also points you to some of our favorite pictures, a taste of what it’s like behind our lenses. There’s plenty to discover on our new website, so let me go over the main features to look for.

Responsive Design

Whether you’re on that 27” Thunderbolt Display or an iPhone, the new DA tailors to your individual experience. We’re rockin’ one codebase across web and mobile to serve you content formatted to any screen. Try it for yourself! Resize your browser and watch DA pop, lock and drop with it.

New Article Layouts

You may notice during your perusal several new article formats. Interviews, reviews, videos, lists and features all have their very own swagger. We’re putting rich media on blast to breathe new life into our content.

Photo Albums

With a redesign in tow we wanted to get back to basics. Our photography has been a staple in our arsenal since the beginning and deserved its own home on Dancing Astronaut. Transport yourself to the front row of your favorite artists, venues and events by browsing our stunning photo albums.

Instasearch

If you were thinking, “I don’t know how this can get any sexier,” let’s try something. Start typing. Seriously. Type “Skrillex” right now. What did you think? Search for the content you want and see it categorized. All you need to do is start typing.

The Music Player

We’ve got our very own HTML5 audio player scooping up our uploads and embeds and sending it to a neat, unobtrusive slide-out on the top right if the page. A little Ajax and JavaScript sorcery lets you play your favorite tunes unaffected by surfing and checking out other articles. Hit play on the track below. I dare you.

TOP PICKS

We designated a portion of our sidebar to serve up the best that dance music has to offer.  Consider this a look into what’s looping through our headphones.

Categories: News