Get access to new features on beta.bittubers.com!
Welcome to another update!
Today, we’ll talk about some structural changes about how and when we will deploy updates from now on. We will also go over the most recent changelog and the upcoming referral system that’s close to release.
Streamlining the beta process
We’ve decided to take down the “Beta” badge from the main bittubers.com site. From now on, we will be deploying new features to beta.bittubers.com first for public bug testing, to avoid any major bugs creeping into the main website. Each addition to the beta site will go through at least one week of testing. After sufficient bug fixing, we aim to deploy the properly beta-tested features to bittubers.com every 1–2 weeks. We invite everyone to visit beta.bittubers.com occasionally and post a #bugreport if necessary. It’s your chance to test new features early and to give us feedback on possible improvements.
Changelog (beta)
Release Version: B0.1 Revision: 0.018 (October 10th 2019) — Latest
- Prepared video player to accept HLS in preparation for bit.tube migration.
- Relocated profile and group profile banner menu, re-adjusted profile banner related UI elements.
- Added post pinning functionality to grid-view desktop and mobile.
- Changed “my groups” layout in the profile and group areas from listing vertically to a grid.
- Enhanced the scrolling of related posts to avoid erratic loading and duplication of posts.
- Allowed animated gif as backgrounds to a max of 500kb, bigger gif sizes will be converted to jpg (1st frame).
- Profile side bar added group posts widget (group posts by profile user) or if own profile (latest posts from groups I follow).
- Resolved 40 reported issues.
What’s next
Last month we introduced the “Video view” UI mode next to the existing “Social view”. We are still tweaking these modes and trying to find the appropriate balance between user preference, customization and the general user experience from new members. Based on user feedback, we are considering giving you the option to set a default view mode per individual feed and profile.
Additionally, we’d like to change how text-only posts are displayed by default (in a compact ‘list’ view) to improve legibility and optimize the use of screen real estate. Besides that, next on our list is publication statuses (Private, Unlisted, etc) and adding some initial premium/patronage features to Groups, to allow creators to publish their content behind a paywall. Since we will be adding Discord-like chat functionality to Groups in the future, we think using Groups for this use case is the right approach, as it will enable donation-based private communities where people can post and interact.
Real Life referral system
We are still working on our “Real Life Referral System”. It will enable users to earn rewards by spreading the word about BitTubers using poster templates containing a unique QR code. You will be able to earn TUBEs and tons of XP from successful signups, and the referred users will get a 500 XP starting bonus. Most importantly, you will receive a lifetime 10% overall AirTime share from every signup!
Like many of you, we’re very excited about this referral system. We are still tweaking the user experience and exact rewards and we’ll do a standalone announcement once it’s fully tested and ready for release.
Wrapping up
That’s the update for this week. The above changelog as well as other minor adjustments will be available for community testing on beta.bittubers.com until October 17th. If you’re curious about our roadmap for the long term, check out our subreddit r/BitTube:
reddit.com/r/BitTube/comments/cr7xf3/upcoming_features_milestones/
Have a great weekend!
Your BitTube Team
