Today across the Tuts+ network we’re rolling out some changes to our brand and how our sites work together. These changes include a rebrand of our logos, a shift from multiple domain names to a single top level domain, a universal Plus membership, a Plus Affiliate Program, updated Plus interface, a Twitter Tuts+ news stream and a new tutsplus.com site complete with a rearrangeable dashboard. In other words, a whole bunch of stuff!
Looking Ahead
It’s been a big year and a half for Tuts+. From a one-man hobby site, we grew into a regularly updated blog. Then from there into an editor-run, multiple author blog. Then around this time last year, we went from one blog to two, three, four and by the end of the year five. Along the way we’ve redesigned four times, launched a Plus membership that over three thousand people have paid hard-earned money to be a part of, added videos, freebies, hundreds of tutorials, articles, roundups and posts, and watched traffic to the five sites climb past 12 million pageviews.
That’s all pretty cool. But like that BTO anthem says … You ain’t seen nothing yet!
As big as the last 18 months have been, we’ve got bigger planned for the next lot. We’re pretty passionate about teaching around here, and we’re working hard to figure out how to grow Tuts+ into the best education platform we can make it, to teach not just Photoshop, Web Development, After Effects, Illustration and Audio Skills, but a whole, big range of other stuff too. It’s a plan that we’ll be talking about lots and lots during the year, and one I hope many of you readers will get behind and help with.
But first things first. If we’re going to grow a killer education platform, we need a solid brand to build it on. So late last year we looked at our five sites and decided it was time to pull them together … and that’s what today is about.
*.tutsplus.com
The first big change we’ve made is to move from five domain names to one – tutsplus.com. So instead of psdtuts.com we’re now using psd.tutsplus.com, instead of nettuts.com we’re using net.tutsplus.com, and so on. In recent months we’ve had offers of sale of various _tuts domains for amounts going up all the way into the thousands of dollars each … which kind of sucks. A single domain means it’ll be easier to pick out new sub-brands without this worry and it helps the sites feel like parts of a cohesive whole.
For sites you’ve grown used to, don’t worry about the name change as you can still use the old domain names and they’ll just redirect you over so all your bookmarks and links will still work.
New Branding
The change in domain name also introduces our new core brand – Tuts+ – so we’ve updated our branding to reflect this with a central logo and a series of sub-logos that include the main brand in them and still work with the old names. We’ve also got a new typeface, new Plus imagery and a new Tuts+ site.
Finally we’re going to slowly standardize how we write the name to Tuts+, Psd.tuts+, Vector.tuts+, Audio.tuts+ and so on. It looks a bit weird to me at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll get used to it, and it matches the domain names and means we can stop hitting CAPS whenever we write the names :-)
Unifying Plus and Other Plus Changes
In the year since it launched over three thousand people have subscribed to Plus through both Psd.tuts+ and Vector.tuts+. And while this alone shows it’s worth the $19 we charge every month, we’ve decided that it’d be much better value if we merged the two together, and added in Plus content for Net.tuts+ for good measure. There are more Plus changes, but they are worthy of a post all on their own, so we’ll leave that for later on today!
The New Dashboard, News and Hub Site
Finally to tie everything together we’ve built a neat little Tuts+ main site which features a little dashboard that pulls in the latest posts from the network, news via our @Tuts+ Twitter feed, rising Digg stories from the Tuts+ network (via our Tuts+ Digg Account) and also the most recent Plus files available for download.
The whole dashboard is customizable – rearrange or collapse the widgets to suit yourself! If that sounds familiar, it’s because we have a tutorial over at Net.tuts+ (Mimic the iGoogle Interface) that will help you do just that.
Head over and check out the awesome new Tuts+ site and be impressed by the brilliant work our uber-WordPress developer Derek Herman has put together!
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By Collis Ta'eed
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Was holding out for this.
Good job listening to the community, again. ;)
This is awesome news, cheers guys! following you on Twitter is the way forward. :)
Brilliant! I’ve just purchased a months subscription due to wonderful reviews on your tutorials, but this is great news to me!
I hope to be a long standing customer of your subscriptions :D
i had psd tuts + before and dropped it because i didnt use it much but with the combination of all of these its dumb not to join
Congrats to all the TUTS staff and keep up the good work!
Definitely going to be signing up to this :)
I did not know that was WordPress. O_______o
…must resist urge to join…
WTF nettuts or what ever you are called. I stopped going to psdtuts because of no source files and crappy tuts after they went pro. I can see all of them now have been screwed over by greed. I don’t feel like paying for something i got for free 2 weeks ago. You have lost a reader
@Taylor – You okay, man?
Absolutely nothing will change on this site. You’ll still be able to read great tutorials and download the source code.
However, if you’d like to sign up for our PLUS program, you’ll gain access to REALLY HIGH QUALITY tutorials and screencasts, written by some of the best in the business.
Love the new brand. Way to go guys! Look forward to seeing all the new stuff and bookmarking the Flash + CGI sites.
this is great Collis! :-)
rebranding is a little confusing now because “plus” was always associated with paid content but it’s understood you couldn’t get the domain name. Too bad there wasn’t another way to work it to eliminate the confusion.
One thing though: wondering why there is not a direct link on the tutsplus dashboard directly to each tuts+ site homepage instead of just feedproxy links to direct articles? For example, on the psdtuts+ “widget”, (where it says psdtuts+ latest), the logo at the top of each box could be a direct link to that tuts+ site home page.
please?
:-)
Thanks and congratulations again
@ Taylor.
I think you may have miss read EVERYTHING. Think of tuts+ as being a place of high quality tutorials. I believe some people may be confused with the new Brand Name as it portrays the name of the old +tuts program, where you had to pay a monthly subscription to get the HIGH QUALITY tutorials. Some people might think that they have to pay for ALL tutorials posted on the tuts+ Network, which is not the case at all.
I feel the tuts+ Network is a great idea. You are all very professional, and it’s nice to see people like you giving your time and knowledge to the community.
YaaaaaaY
@Taylor: Try to read this post again. Slower this time.
CGTUTS FTW!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
A little confusing but I am exited about it. Good show :)
Thank you Collis and all that are a part of the Tuts group. You have truly inspired me and countless other, and you continue to grow and change with the world, technology and your readers.
Aside from any criticism you have received for small imperfections since the launch of the Tuts empire, you have come so far and we will never truly be able to thank you enough for all that you do.
I can only hope that I develop half of your skills and insight .
Thank you again!
Looks great… envato never ceases to amaze me… please keep it up
So, do I need to sign up to a new feed or what?
Very nice! I love what you guys have done. Keep up the good work.
its nice i use to check 3 website daily to find new tutorial
its will be nice to be at one place and find all good things.
FLASH TUTS!!!!! you have my subscription when you get that site up
What is CGTUTS?
CG is computer generated, in other words 3d.
Any examples of the high quality we could check out compared to the usual free stuff?
@ Aaron: at this time I think the main programs we’ll be covering are C4D, Maya and 3DsMax.
Yea…I think I’m with Taylor on this one
I’ll be writting tuts for the 3d section hopefully
Wow i will be writting for the 3d section soon also i hope.
thats really awesome!!
I’m pretty pumped about this.
@Taylor and Niel- you two do understand that the free content isn’t changing and is still available. If you’re unable to afford $9/month for a plethora of knowledge and material then you probably won’t be able to afford to keep up with constant computer upgrades and marketing to grow your company and should probably find a new field.
Just a suggestion.
Guys, people have options let’s just leave it at that. On that note, the site is not changing just adding something that was not there before that you need to pay $9/m for.
The amount of effort that goes into a plus tut is much greater than the regular ones, and lets face it, a small amount of money from a few of you to keep all the sites full of fresh cutting edge content is not a lot to ask.
Focus on the positive changes and look at how this community is growing and hopefully becoming a little closer to connecting all the sites together.
Awesome rebranding. I love it! You’ve done it again.
I will be signing up soon. Well worth it!
that’s great to be hear
Well, congratulations. I’ve been a reader of NETTUTS since the start, and have been reading Envato sites ever since I found Collis Ta’eed’s personal blog, back a few years ago.
I can’t say I like the new naming scheme though. NETTUTS is easier to say and write than Net.tuts+. And I’m not a fan of the whole “move to a subdomain” thing either. I can see using subdomains for new sites to avoid paying thousands for *tuts.com domains, but it all seems like a branding mistake to me. Moving away from a familiar and easy-to-type brand and domain to something kind of kludgy.
It’s hard enough for me to figure out how to pronounce NETTUTS without you making it harder… (Is it “tutts” or “toots”? I’ve always thought the former.) Now we have “Net tutts plus,” which isn’t that bad, but “Net.tuts+” is kind of awkward to type.
@redwall – It is a bit different, but we’ll get used to it.
To answer your question about the pronunciation: I think it just depends on where you live. It would seem more appropriate to say “toots”, but I prefer “tutts”.
This is great! The makeover is great, IMO. We’ll get used to it though along the way and for me accessibility is an ease. Instead of me going from one TUTS to another TUTS site everything is just on one hub. Though I have a couple of suggestions for this makeover..
1) Since we can “move around” those boxes of TUTS, making it more personable, can we be able to add our own favorite tutorials? Like putting “My Favorites” right next to the word “Latest”? Where I can save my own favorite tutorials instead of browsing and trying to find a particular tutorial. (I got the idea though from http://www.photoshoplady.com)
2) Maybe you can do a “giveaway” of what to you guys have to offer for that $9/month subscription. Like for nettuts, do a a common giveaway tutorial complete with source codes, or for psdtuts, a simple tutorial + psds. I don’t think this would harm you really bad, but would encourage readers the quality and the advantage they get from if they do join/subscribe.
3) I was going to put this on the suggestions link under the tutsplus.com page but it only goes to VECTORTUTS suggestions page. Kindly fix.
Kudos for the effort to the whole Envato team! Big Thanks!
Wow, that’s good news. Great job Envato!
This is pretty cool. I only discoverd this site and sister sites a few weeks ago, but still :)
As I see it now I’ll surely be joining the plus program.
In this field of work it can sometimes be a pain to keep up with all the new stuff and through a program like this I’m more willing to check out some new things and make a well based discission on whether I feel something is worth investing more time into.
All sounds very interesting…will certainly keep and eye out for this change!
wow! im looking forward to that cg tuts.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I think Taylor is overreacting, but a switch to a two-tiered system leads me to believe that the quality of the free content is going to suffer to inspire people to upgrade.
Personally, I would only use the web tutorials, so the “five sites in one, five times the fun” for $9 rings a little hollow.
I’m reserving judgment. I really like this site, and I hope the ad-supported portions stay as good as they are.
wow… ! finally launched.. was waiting since long time…
I actually wanted to give a critique to the branding, so please hear me out.
Being a design professional I know how important it is to establish a brand that people will remember. And I also know how hard it is to make one for yourself and be happy with it.
I’ve been seeing the development over the last couple years from now Envato to all these wonderful blogs and have seen you guys change things multiple times. I actually like the last ‘brand’ if thats what you want to call it. Your sites are branded well, and I personally liked the previous logo’s.
I guess I’m not quite sure on why you keep changing things, but a lot of companies keep their logo, not always because its amazing, but it BECOMES recognizable over time. Don’t fall into the footsteps of Pepsi who has the absolute worst new branding out there right now… ha yours will never be as bad as that.
SO if you like this new one. KEEP IT! for at least 3 years or more. Also pick up a copy of Helvetica (documentary on veer.com) and watch what the one gentleman says about American Airline’s logo and how they are the only airline not to rebrand in over 40 years.
love your innovation, keep up the sweetness.
What CMS are you all using for all of this… with the login, dashboard etc.. ??
Too much awesome…
@stephen – The content on the regular site will stay exactly the same. I still have the exact same budget for tutorials.
@Sirwan, I believe it’s pretty much *all* WordPress…
Thanks, Jeffrey. That’s good to hear.
So this seemed like an appropriate chance to ask:
We have a debate going on at my college…it has to do with the pronunciation of the web site name.
one side holds to the more common “nettuts” (pronounced like king tut, or even putt-putt golf).
the other holds to the idea that “tuts” is an abbreviation of the word tutorial so it should be pronounced like “toot” since that is the sound in the actual word.
i hold more to the former way of thinking, but i was just curious if someone could clear this up.
thanks!
@Brian
I think we need to formalize the pronunciation! I typically say tut (as in King tut). However, some of our other screencasters prefer tute.