June
Launch of Kenmei Premium, with Dark Mode and Covers Grid
Welcome to the June Monthly Update. This has been one of the busiest and biggest updates in Kenmei history to date. I've had to take quite a few days off, just so I could finish all the features for this release, but it was all worth it.
There is a lot to talk about, but here is the link to the usual changelog:
📋Changelog✨ Kenmei Premium
Starting off with the biggest change - addition of Kenmei Premium. As mentioned before, to allow Kenmei to continue growing and adding new, more ambitious features - funding is required. For that reason, I've been thinking about adding a premium component to Kenmei for awhile now and it's finally here.
Kenmei Premium will be a standard, tiered system, where you can get extra features for a monthly fee. I am starting off with Lite, which will give you access to some of the biggest Kenmei features, months in advance before everyone else.
You will also get a special role on Discord, if you'd like, which will give you access to a private channel, where I share behind-the-scenes on things I am working on right now, and even let you try out some features, as they are being developed.
Early Access features, as mentioned, provide access to features that eventually will become part of the free experience, but it will be Premium only for a couple of months first. I will then rotate them for another major feature. In the first batch, that would be Dark Mode and Covers grid. Read on to find out more!
Going forward, I will mark sections as [Premium], if the feature in question is only available to Premium members, so it's easier to scan what applies to you specifically.
If you have previously donated on Ko-Fi, you can ask to apply those donations to Kenmei Premium membership. Reach out on Discord or through email, if you'd like to pick that option.
🌙 Dark Mode [Premium]
The first feature to be requested and the most requested in general - Dark Mode has been on everyone's mind for a long time. There were a lot of blockers and other priorities to do, but I am happy to have finally added it as part of Kenmei Premium.
Unlike many other sites, I took great care with Dark Mode, and you'll see that it is quite unique in it's look. Instead of using just lots of gray variations, I made use of best practices when it comes to designing dark themes - keep the visual hierarchy, use lots of different, but good looking colours and generally make it look as good and unique as possible.
While there are still improvements to be made, I am really happy with how it turned out and I think others will do as well. Here are previews of both mobile and desktop versions:
🖼️ Covers Grid [Premium]
The other big feature launching with Kenmei Premium - is the new covers grid, which is an alternative to the list view. It's something I and many others always wanted, and I think it turned out really well. There are still plenty that can be improved, as with everything else on the site, but I am happy with the first version!
I wanted to focus on covers as much as possible, as many sites show small, low-resolution covers, defeating the purpose of the medium - which is all about the art and visuals.
I also provide ability to customise number of covers you see per row, whether you want to see less, but bigger and crispier covers. Or more, if you have a big collection you want to scan quickly - you can pick what suits you more
Of course, it looks great on mobile as well, and arguably even nicer to use than the list mode. It's for sure going to become my preferred way of using Kenmei on my phone. Check it out below:
And, of course, new covers mode works great or even better with dark mode. Check it out here:
📄 Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
To wrap up the update, here is a bit of boring, but still important news. With introduction of Premium, it meant I had to finally get around to writing up proper policies, to protect both your rights and mine. With that in mind, Kenmei now has Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, that you need to accept, before you are able to use the site.
📈 Progress Overview
This has been a massive update, which also means there is a lot of polish that is required. I plan to spend the month of July polishing the new features, giving the rest of the system some improvements and just generally take it easy, as last month has drained me a lot. But the work never stops, so no worries there.
Current focus:
Dark ModeCovers ModeKenmei PremiumAdmin control panel
Migrating remaining UI components to use the new design
I'll slowly churning away at all the improvements, so see you next month everyone 👋
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