A beta preview of our new website is now available at http://beta.devexpress.com. We encourage all of you to give it a spin.
The following are a few highlights of the new site and navigation options within it.
As you can imagine, among the key changes is a new design/layout - with updated downloads page, platform-specific landing pages, subscription pages, etc.
Regardless of which web page you are currently viewing, the toolbar at the top allows you to navigate to key areas within devexpress.com including: Client Center, Support Center, Online Documentation, Community Site, DevExpress Channel, DevExpress Search. Note that if you initiate a search via the toolbar, results will vary based upon current location - e.g. you'll only see documentation topics if you start a search while browsing our online help.
If you are on a product description page, you can use the Product Toolbar to access product-specific resources from the DevExpress Channel or DevExpress Community Site, navigate to Online Demos or Online Documentation, download a trial or review pricing options. The small arrow next to the product name allows quick navigation to other products for the same platform.
Similar toolbars are now shown in Support Center.
Once you begin using the site, you'll notice that we've done our best to use screen space more efficiently and optimize web page performance by using popup windows whenever appropriate. Content for most of these popups is loaded on callbacks. This applies to many forms throughout the site, including login and registration forms. Here's an example from Support Center:
Now a few notes about our brand new Client Center - which includes Account management, the Downloads section and our completely-redesigned Online Store.
The first sample is a re-designed Manage and Assign Licenses form that also uses Popup Windows to avoid redirects to detail forms.
The Registered Downloads section has been significantly re-designed as well. Once you've logged into the site and navigate to the downloads page, you'll notice a single entry point for trials, demos, registered downloads or downloadable help files.
The most important changes for our existing customers are obviously in the Registered Downloads section. If you're logged in and want to download a previously purchased product, you have two starting points - either go to the Licensed Product list to select a product and the most recent version available to you... or go directly to the Download Manager where you select version first (great for those who do not have lots of products and simply want to get the latest build). Once you select the appropriate version, the site lists all available downloads, as well as all licensed products for a particular version (a new feature).
Much like the Downloads section, our new Purchase page provides a single entry point for all purchasing activities including buying new licenses or upgrading/renewing existing licenses. All actions are divided into three tabs - Purchase Subscriptions, Purchase Individual Products and Purchase Upgrades and Renewals. Regardless of what you're buying, it's all added to the cart first, so you can review totals, change license count or review available discounts.
Another Devexpress.com web property that went through a complete overhaul is the DevExpress Channel. New features include: advanced video searching, ability to display the playlists, improved navigation via a re-designed main menu, and of course a new look.
Online Documentation has recently been updated and it's look and feel stays the same (functionality has been improved). The community site has been updated to match the new visual theme (functionality remains the same).
We'd love to get your feedback and opinions. Feel free to contact our web team at webmaster@devexpress.com with all your comments.
...oh and one final note...this site works with our live database thus reflecting the most recent activities, providing fully-functional purchasing capabilities, access to the actual Support Center database, etc.