New look Ukulele Site

I'm gonna need a bigger monitor! :biglaugh:

Well, darn. I updated Firefox, rebooted, and still get the security message.
I'm sure it will get sorted out over time, though.

I love the look of the new site. I'm not buying anything now (I've bought a number of ukes from HMS in the past), but I love looking at the ukes available there, and this enhances that experience. I refer lots of people to this site, so I hope people find it easier to navigate.

I think it's awful, but I imagine I'll get used to it in time.

I'll likely get trashed for saying this but I wish HMS's videos were just a little more about the ukes and a little less about the skill & artistry of the talented HMS folks who play the ukes for those videos.

When I am shopping for a ukulele online, I want to get info about the instrument's intonation, its sustain, its volume, and its balance between highs, mids, & lows, and how it sounds when strummed as a rhythm instrument, as well as how it sounds when finger-picked as a solo instrument. However, HMS's videos are mostly VERY artistic finger-picking, very laid-back, mainly demonstrating the player's skill at voicing and mood and color.

Fact is, even a cheapie laminate uke would sound pretty awesome when finger-picked by the HMS pros, who are quite expert at instantly adjusting playing style to fit a given ukulele's strengths & weaknesses.

In other words, HMS's videos seem to be more about "look how beautiful this song is," instead of "listen to the strengths & weaknesses of this ukulele that you are considering buying."

Is anyone else still experiencing security error messages when trying to visit the new site? I am still having issues. :-/

On a related note, just for my lil’ two cents worth, I’ve been watching the HMS videos for years and I find them to be extremely helpful in evaluating and assessing the various models they demo. I really appreciate the info that I gain from them doing these demos as it means I’m less likely to have to send a uke back that might not end up working out for me.

Also, many times, the additional specs and technical questions I might have about a uke generally have answers found within the description of ukulele on their web site. However, if I can’t find the specific information that I need, of course I’ll either call or email HMS to learn the additional information I require before I make a purchase. They’re always more than happy to answer my questions; I have even asked them to play ukuleles over the phone for me and they’ve been happy to do that as well. Again, just my own two cents.

Yeah! I can get on the site now without any security error messages!

Wow, that TODA concert ukulele sure sounds amazing. It's not coming home with me, but I wish they'd list like nut width and string spacing, (so I could tell myself that it wouldn't work for me anyway. LOL.)

Oh, looking at some other ukuleles listed, they do list nut width and string spacing, so sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. They're probably still getting all the details filled in, since they just launched the new site. It's great when they give all the details, using the HF-2 as an example. That really helps me decide if a ukulele could work for me.

Well, now that I'm home from work, I can spend some time having fun browsing around the new site.

bellgamin said:

However, HMS's videos are mostly VERY artistic finger-picking, very laid-back, mainly demonstrating the player's skill at voicing and mood and color.

Fact is, even a cheapie laminate uke would sound pretty awesome when finger-picked by the HMS pros, who are quite expert at instantly adjusting playing style to fit a given ukulele's strengths & weaknesses.

Click to expand...

No trashing from me, at least. I agree that it would be helpful to hear some basic 1st position chord strumming on them to get points of comparison against other ukuleles. I do LOVE listening to HMS's experts playing--they are amazing and inspiring and make the instruments sound so beautiful. But it is hard for me to get a sense of the qualities and tone of the instruments themselves.

Overall, I like the idea behind the new site, but it's showing some quirks and rough edges because it's a new design. Someone already mentioned this, but I really do like the "1 page for all information" format on the ukulele details pages. The "Select by serial number" is also cool. The typeahead search and breadcrumbs are also welcome additions.

Since I know they lurk here, here's what I found as things to smooth out.
The mega menu with Corey and the uke sizes doesn't fit on my laptop's screen. So to see the bottom of the menu for things like Hawaiian made ukes, you have to scroll down. I scrolled right out of the menu, which closed it, and then had to scroll up to open it, to scroll down to click.

It's a little incongruous that the uke menu and accessory menu have big, elaborate menus with pics. But the Company Info is a simple drop down.

On a tablet, the menu is once again too big as described above.

On a phone (portrait), the fly-out hamburger menu is classic. But when you click "Shop By", it takes you to the shop by page, where there aren't any filters. In order to filter down to a uke size, you have to click the hamburger menu, and then click the arrow next to Shop By to get and use the list of filters.

bellgamin said:

I'll likely get trashed for saying this but I wish HMS's videos were just a little more about the ukes and a little less about the skill & artistry of the talented HMS folks who play the ukes for those videos.

When I am shopping for a ukulele online, I want to get info about the instrument's intonation, its sustain, its volume, and its balance between highs, mids, & lows, and how it sounds when strummed as a rhythm instrument, as well as how it sounds when finger-picked as a solo instrument. However, HMS's videos are mostly VERY artistic finger-picking, very laid-back, mainly demonstrating the player's skill at voicing and mood and color.

Fact is, even a cheapie laminate uke would sound pretty awesome when finger-picked by the HMS pros, who are quite expert at instantly adjusting playing style to fit a given ukulele's strengths & weaknesses.

In other words, HMS's videos seem to be more about "look how beautiful this song is," instead of "listen to the strengths & weaknesses of this ukulele that you are considering buying."

Click to expand...

Yeah, I LOVE listening to those guys play. But I've often wished in the past when I was comparing ukes on that site that they would play the exact same thing on every instrument and that it was a combination of basic strumming and fingerstyle or maybe one song of each. That way you could hear the exact same songs on multiple ukes and you could compare the tone of those particular ukes to each other.

But that in no way takes away from those guys at HMS. As you said, they could probably take a Makala and make it sound better than anything I could play on a high-end K brand uke.

Hochapeafarm said:

Is anyone else still experiencing security error messages when trying to visit the new site? I am still having issues. :-/

Click to expand...

If I type/enter ukulelesite.com, I receive the security error message.

If I make sure to type/enter theukulelesite.com, the site loads right away.

It seems the "the" is important, at least when I try from here.

I hope this helps!

~ S.

mikhou said:

Yeah, I LOVE listening to those guys play.

Click to expand...

Absolutely! ... Wow.

But I've often wished in the past when I was comparing ukes on that site that they would play the exact same thing on every instrument and that it was a combination of basic strumming and fingerstyle or maybe one song of each. That way you could hear the exact same songs on multiple ukes and you could compare the tone of those particular ukes to each other.

Click to expand...

Baz, Kalei, Mim, Alex, Corey, Mike.... I knew none of these names before June of this year, but now recognize all of them thoroughly. And, I do appreciate those who play the same set of pieces (strummed, picked, plucked) on each instrument, for the reasons you state above.

But that in no way takes away from those guys at HMS. As you said, they could probably take a Makala and make it sound better than anything I could play on a high-end K brand uke.

Click to expand...

Yup! Or at least... inestimably better....
Even with those who play the same, often simpler pieces, I find myself wishing I could ask, "Okay, now play it like *this* (my current skill level).

No matter what: the notion of buying a wooden musical instrument without trying it first would have been anathema to me a short time ago. I am so very grateful to all who invest the time to present these ukuleles to us with so many levels of available insight, illustration, good humor, and excellence. While every purchase is still some level of surprise, I have felt each time that I have enough information to be at peace with my choices, and have been pleased each time (the surprises have been the good ones of size, details of appointments that can only be appreciated in-hand, the s m e l l ...).

Specific to theukulelesite, their ongoing commitment to quality throughout-- in the instruments they carry, their presentation of these instruments (sound/pictures/specs online) and their responsiveness/availability to fill in any gaps-- is exactly what you'd hope to find when buying a[n] ukulele sight-unseen.

They are not alone in this-- so many great people doing great work!-- but their efforts are stellar, and I appreciate this new investment in their website. (Oh, the TIME it takes to accomplish what they've set out to do!)

~ S.

kvehe said:

I think it's awful, but I imagine I'll get used to it in time.

Click to expand...

Same. When it first came up, I actually thought their site was undergoing maintenance, and I was looking at a barebones version of their site. Their former site was fine as is. Just needed bigger images and a better favoriting system. I would love more pictures and sound samples, but HMS is already better (the best?) in that regard, and that doesn't require redoing the site.

With the new site, enlarging pictures changes to full screen on my computer. I hate it when sites do that. And as someone else mentioned, some of the formatting is wonky on mobile. Also, consolidating models onto one page seems worse. It's not terrible, but I used to be able to see what's available at a glance in the gallery without having to select an instrument. And the multiple models seems to make the page loading time longer. I'll get used to it, but besides bigger images, it doesn't seem better.

rafter said:

Same. When it first came up, I actually thought their site was undergoing maintenance, and I was looking at a barebones version of their site. Their former site was fine as is. Just needed bigger images and a better favoriting system. I would love more pictures and sound samples, but HMS is already better (the best?) in that regard, and that doesn't require redoing the site.

With the new site, enlarging pictures changes to full screen on my computer. I hate it when sites do that. And as someone else mentioned, some of the formatting is wonky on mobile. Also, consolidating models onto one page seems worse. It's not terrible, but I used to be able to see what's available at a glance in the gallery without having to select an instrument. And the multiple models seems to make the page loading time longer. I'll get used to it, but besides bigger images, it doesn't seem better.

Click to expand...

I really do appreciate the feedback here from the community. We had to redo the site from the ground up because the platform we were on was ending crucial security patches, which is most important to me.

One reason I went to only one listing for each model is that it will populate reviews and customer questions on one page. It’s always a give and take because I see advantages both ways. We added more detailed specs (some manufacturer given measurements we found to be off) and there is now the ability to add related accessories and a lot more information without hunting around the site or leaving that page. So hopefully off the bat, some aspects are better. The design will improve. I’m still learning this system.

But seriously, a sincere mahalo to all of you for the feedback. It’s always a work in progress and the emails we’ve gotten and what’s been written here has helped me find issues and plan our progress moving forward. Hopefully it becomes more and more useful and enjoyable. I’m super grateful for this community and just want to keep growing as a resource for you. Aloha

AndrewKuker said:

I really do appreciate the feedback here from the community. We had to redo the site from the ground up because the platform we were on was ending crucial security patches, which is most important to me.

One reason I went to only one listing for each model is that it will populate reviews and customer questions on one page. It’s always a give and take because I see advantages both ways. We added more detailed specs (some manufacturer given measurements we found to be off) and there is now the ability to add related accessories and a lot more information without hunting around the site or leaving that page. So hopefully off the bat, some aspects are better. The design will improve. I’m still learning this system.

But seriously, a sincere mahalo to all of you for the feedback. It’s always a work in progress and the emails we’ve gotten and what’s been written here has helped me find issues and plan our progress moving forward. Hopefully it becomes more and more useful and enjoyable. I’m super grateful for this community and just want to keep growing as a resource for you. Aloha

Click to expand...

I can appreciate that. Just like I can appreciate your replying in this thread. I did have some initial security warnings on my browser with the new site, like some other people mentioned. But that seems to have gone away.

The rationale for consolidating models makes sense. I would still prefer being able to see what's available with a quick glance at the gallery of instruments, but that's just me.

I think there's some cynicism when sites make changes, that features are being lost, privacy is being encroached upon, functionality is lessened, etc. But HMS has consistently provided the best online retailer experience for ukuleles, and I should probably check my cynicism.

My preference for using the gallery to see what's available is related to constantly having to login every time I visit the site. If it could keep me logged in, and the favoriting system worked a bit better, I probably wouldn't nitpick the consolidation in listings. Previously, if I favorited four ukes and one of them got sold, the next uke I favorited would boot all the others off the list. If there was a way to keep track of ukes in favorites regardless of availability, and a way to stay logged in, I think the overall experience would be smoother for me. I understand getting rid of old listings, but if that wouldn't mess up favorites, that would be great. And if old listings are still up for a while, sometimes that's a helpful reference for me.

At the end of the day, though, I love the Ukulele Site. It's always been my favorite, and though I have other great options for ukes, HMS has always been sort of like home base for me.

I appreciate the effort at improvement. Some changes certainly make it more user friendly, such as having "New Arrivals" as the first thing that one scrolls to.

Using this as feedback, Andrew, the main thing I miss is having the total number available when I click on a page (usually "Custom Builds") so that I immediately know if some have been added or sold (I know this is not entirely reliable).

Hoping you can reopen soon and that we can visit.

rainbow21 said:

I appreciate the effort at improvement. Some changes certainly make it more user friendly, such as having "New Arrivals" as the first thing that one scrolls to.

Using this as feedback, Andrew, the main thing I miss is having the total number available when I click on a page (usually "Custom Builds") so that I immediately know if some have been added or sold (I know this is not entirely reliable).

Hoping you can reopen soon and that we can visit.

Click to expand...

I miss the same thing. That's usually where I look first.

Back to listen to the TODA concert. Ohhh, that's so lovely.