Mixx’s Secret Upgrades Rock!

It’s fun to watch a new web site grow and improve, and it’s even better to be part of that improvement and development. I wrote a couple months ago about Mixx’s great customer service, and tonight I’m writing about the most recent round of on-site improvements Mixx has implemented.

What’s interesting about these upgrades is that Mixx chose to not mention three four of them in their official announcement today.

Is this part of a game? Find the hidden Mixx improvements? I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re cool that way. In any case, here are four five small-but-sweet improvements Mixx has just implemented, three four of which they didn’t tell you about themselves.

8-Category Limit

It used to be that you could submit a story and assign it to unlimited categories. Spammers took advantage of that (of course). No more. Now you’re limited to a very generous eight categories. The submission interface is nice, too.

15-Minute Edit Window

If you screwed up a submission or a comment, you couldn’t edit it. Your mistake was laid bare for all to see. The shame! Now, you’ve got a 15-minute edit window for both story submissions and comments. This is the only one of these upgrades that Mixx mentioned in the official announcement. And again, a very nice interface for handling the edits.

See More from this Mixxer

While browsing through recent submissions, there’s a new box that says, Like this story? See more from this Mixxer. It links to the user’s profile. It doesn’t show up on every submission, though. I’m not sure how it chooses when to appear, but I think it’s related to my voting history. I recently voted up one of BrettRowls stories and saw this under one of his other submissions.

More From This Site

And maybe the coolest upgrade of the bunch is another unadvertised tweak: On story pages, there’s a new tab that lets you see other submits from the same web site. This could become a great exposure tool for your blog or web site — one click and a Mixx user can see all the content from your site/blog that people have submitted. Love it.

If Mixx is going to avoid tooting its own horn and keep these upgrades quiet, that’s fine. But I’m all about spreading the word. It’s the little things like this that make for a great experience — especially when they keep making improvements like this every couple months.

Thanks, Mixx.

Did I miss any other upgrades? If so, leave a comment, please.

Update: Found One More

I found another upgrade tonight:

New Photo Scroller Display

The old, static display of photos in the right column has been replaced by a smooth, Ajax-y photo scroller. And there’s a link to see more photos below it. The surprises continue!