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Member Update – Fall 2017

Fall Member Update - MuseThemes


Opening Thoughts

(Formerly closing thoughts...)

Muse 2017.1 Release Updates

The 2017.1 release of Muse was buggy, and many users rolled back to the old version immediately. Adobe has released a new beta on their pre-release site (www.museprerelease.com), and we encourage everyone to give it a try and log any bugs they encounter. We suspect this version will ship for the Adobe MAX conference in mid-October.

The pre-release version of Muse will not install over your old version, so it's a great way for you to test new features without getting "stuck" on the new version.

 

2017.1 - MuseThemes Widget Updates

Due to major changes in the code output in Muse 2017.1, many of our widgets need to be modified for compatibility with the new version. Fortunately with our large development team, we've already started the process and our updates will be available soon.

In the last few weeks we released smaller scale widgets until we had some clarity on the bugs in the new version. With the beta available (and looking very stable) we'll proceed full steam ahead with our updates.

 

Tech Support / QA Lead Job Posting

We received a HUGE response to our job posting for a technical support / QA lead. Thanks so much to everyone that applied. We're still in the process of reviewing applications. Sincere apologies for the delay, however the Muse 2017.1 release (chaos) required our immediate attention and focus.

 

Part Time Testers Needed

A common bottleneck in our workflow is the time required to fully test a new or updated widget. We often have a big list of widgets that have been updated by our developers, however, we're slow to fully test, package and re-release the widget out to our members.

I'm looking to build a team of 5-10 casual, part time testers who can help overcome this barrier. If you're an advanced Muse user, and have an hour or two each week to review our new products and updates please send me a note at contact@musethemes.com. We'll pay you an hourly (or flat monthly) rate, and it definitely could lead to more work down the road.

 

Feedback - Power User Membership Tier

We're throwing around ideas for a "Power User" tier of membership on MuseThemes.com. Similar to a Developer or Advanced plan on other theme sites, our power user tier would have access to our Mucow files instantly as they are updated by our developers. This is a huge benefit, meaning you'll get much faster code updates and improvements to widgets.

Replacing widgets on your canvas is also much easier with a Mucow file – all of your panel settings are copied over when you use the "right click > replace Mucow" method in Muse. Right click / replace is not available for .Mulib files.

There is some risk to our business if we distribute our Mucow files (such as, easier code theft and piracy) however we're willing to take that risk if it greatly improves your experience with our products.

Combined with other benefits like a Power User Lounge, a redesigned product download system and a Slack channel for direct communication with our team, this new tier would better support the businesses using Muse and MuseThemes products every single day. Pricing may start around $299 / year, and we would explore bringing on additional staff to focus on this important segment of our customer base.

Your feedback on this idea is appreciated! Please feel free to post in the comments below, or send me a note to contact@musethemes.com.

 


 

July / August / September 2017 Recap

New Products and Benefits

  • Pop Ups Pro - the complete solution for creating custom and powerful popup modals. Great for engaging site visitors to promote sales, newsletter signups, event announcements and more.
  • Hero Connect - a new Connect powered widget allowing you to create different styles of hero images and sliders on your site which can be easily updated via Google Sheets.
  • Scaling Text - scale text fluidly across your site, ensuring perfect typography on all screens.
  • Anchor Scroll - add smooth scroll to anchor links in widgets or code snippets with this ultra-simple widget.
  • Wireframe Pack 4 – a new selection of pre-built wireframe websites ready for you to drop in content.
  • Quick Tips, Video Series – a weekly series of quick tutorial videos explaning common questions and misunderstood features in Muse.
  • Rouge Theme - One our most popular themes of all time, rebuilt to be fully responsive.
  • Muse 2017.1 Release / Support - feature overview, tutorial video and ongoing support information.
  • 30 new and updated product tutorial videos, and 6 blog articles.

 

Upcoming Projects & Priorities

(please note priorities and projects are subject to change)

New Projects

  • Add to Calendar - a widget that allows visitors to add an event to their calendar in one easy click. Custom built to integrate with the most popular email / calendar platforms.
  • Responsive Slider / Form / Composition Set - a package of pre-styled native widgets taking advantage of the new responsive functionality in Muse. These are going to be beautiful!
  • Tooltips - a complete library of tooltips that can be applied to any element in Muse. Based on the tippy.js library (https://atomiks.github.io/tippyjs/).
  • Litigate, Responsive Conversion - a fully responsive version of our Litigate theme.
  • Product updates and bug fixes based on our strategy above.

 

Product Updates - In Progress

  • Review Connect - add html support for spreadsheet content
  • YouTube Gallery - SSL support and layout improvements
  • Facebook Previews - Performance / code enhancements
  • Animated Page Transitions - complete rebuild to address performance and better transitions
  • Google Calendar - implement multiple language support, improving loading performance
  • Twitter Feed Pro - address loading and spacing issues, as well as other improvements
  • Google Translate - improve load speed, and provide better control in responsive layouts
  • Dynamic Slideshow - complete rebuild to optimize code and improve performance

***

Thanks for being a member of MuseThemes.com!

Cheers,
Steve Harris

Steve Harris
Steve Harris / Calgary, Canada

Steve Harris started MuseThemes in 2011 and steadily grew the company, going from a full-time corporate employee to being his own boss. More than just MuseThemes, Steve is a conference speaker, Lynda.com author, and holds equally large collections of both business books and fine scotch.

Comments

Melissa Ramke
Melissa Ramke

I LOVE the way you keep your members one step ahead with updates such as this. Thank you! Also, any plans for new stacks in the works? A stack that utilizes the scroll reveal widget would be most appreciated.

yalilee
yalilee

I hope i KNEW this before, I got stuck with the new version, I opened my theme that I am creating for sell and it looks like i can not open it again in the old muse because my theme was converted to the new muse and now I have to stick with the new muse! which is a total nightmare seriously I have to wait like 10 sec very time I want to preview, save, or preview in browser. Is extremely slow and crashes all the time. My suggestion for muse users is that before you try a new version of mUSE make copies of your files because once they are opened in a new version there is no turning back.

Maddi Newman
Maddi Newman

I just sent an email about being a tester/reviewer of new products and updates. What I didn’t say in that email is that it’s cool that you, Steve, are from Calgary, Alberta (yes, in Canada we mention the province, not the country ;-)) That is my home town, although I have lived in British Columbia for most of my adult life now. I spent time in Calgary and High River during the BC evacuations because of the wildfires. I could work from my remote location on my laptop because I had all my files with me on an external hard drive plus everything I needed installed on the laptop. I really enjoy the Muse Member updates and being a part of the Muse community. I’m a hopeless Adobe groupie!

Martha Shelley
Martha Shelley

Thanks for all of your hard at musetheme! A huge benefit to Muse users. You make using Muse so much better and way more fun!

Bob
Bob

your increasing all the pricing :(

Daniel Maier
Daniel Maier

Thanks for this Information Updates, you Guys make a great Job

Jeremei
Jeremei

I watched yesterday the last “Muse Jam Session” (13th of Sept.) and Dani Beaumont mentioned that we can use the last Muse Prerelease version (published 13th of Sept.) for production purposes!!! Does it mean that in the last Prerelease version published site (Muse file) will open also in the normal shipping version when it will be published (maybe 18th Oct.)???

Tom Hudson
Tom Hudson

Hi, Have you guys looked at incorporating Free to Book into Muse? I came across it on line and wondered if it was possible. Cheers

Bodie
Bodie

WHEN IS THE TOOLTIPS GOING TO GET RELEASED!!!!???? Salivating…. :) :)

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