Welcome to the new IdeasTap.

I think we’ve scrubbed up quite nicely.

We first launched at the end of 2008 and since then we’ve been busy.

We’ve awarded more than £100,000 in funding to IdeasTap members through our Ideas Fund. We’ve packed some of you off to New York, Dubai and (soon) Shanghai.  And we’ve created some pretty awesome opportunities for you with our partners, Old Vic New Voices, the National Youth Theatre and now Magnum Photos (read about our new photographic competition here).

But something we’ve always known we could improve was our website. So in August last year we asked all of our members what you wanted from the site. And we listened.

What you see today is a total overhaul, both in terms of functionality and design. The new site includes a lot of what you asked for – and a load of our own improvements. There are far too many new features to list here but I want to highlight a handful of my favourites:

An open site
This one’s been a long time coming. Finally, you no longer have to log in to browse the site. You only need to when you want to do things like apply for a brief, leave a comment or create an event.

Your collaborators
This is a tool to help you find people to get creative with. It lives in your profile and once you’ve filled out what you’re looking for the system feeds you a list of suitable people. In the same way, if you set your disciplines, location and availability you’ll be recommended to others. I think this is one of the most useful new features.

Portfolios
At last, an IdeasTap portfolio where you can be proud to show off your work. Whatever field you work in – from writers to actors, filmmakers to photographers - you can house all your creative output here. And not only do the new portfolios look much nicer, you can also organise and re-arrange them quickly and easily. Find out how to get the most out of them here.

Private messaging
Now you can communicate with other members of the community without having to dish out your email address or post publicly on each other’s profiles. You can also contact the members of any groups or events you create.

There are around 500 new elements to the site, so I almost feel guilty scraping the surface like this. But rather than bore you to death, I’ll leave you to discover the rest as you use the site. Follow the site tour from the homepage if you want a quick blast through it.

If you want more detail or have any questions about how your profile information has been carried over to the new site then this article should help.

Ultimately, I hope you’ll enjoy using the new IdeasTap. For all the new features, one of the areas we’ve worked hardest on is making the site simpler to use and navigate. As with any relaunch, it’ll take a little getting used to - but I think you’ll find it much more intuitive.

We’re proud of this new incarnation - but it doesn’t end here. Web technology moves fast and your needs will change.

So over the coming months and years we’ll continue to improve IdeasTap for you. But we need your help - it was your feedback that helped to get us where we are now.

Got a suggestion? Spotted a bug? Then email info@ideastap.com.

James Hopkirk
Editor

Image courtesy of stevendepolo