MacUpdate Gets a New Look

I like some of MacUpdate's new features (non-anonymous authors, review history, reply notification) but am struggling with the new layout and visual changes for the product pages. The grey text is horribly unreadable, regardless of the background color. And the previous design was more compact and didn't require vertical scrolling to see the first comment or two (as I remember it).

Would have been nice getting some forewarning and description of the changes, although as a non-paying member I don't expect anything. But still ...

I'm guessing quite a few users haven't yet realized their e-mail address is public unless they've explicitlymade it private (which wasn't even possible immediately after that profile-related change). Or maybe the default is private now. Anyway, exposing e-mail addresses was/is a privacy botch. And I didn't get acknowledgment to the message I sent about it. Stuff like that knocks MU down a few points on the "professionalism" scale, IMO, and is why I'm still hesitant to pay for membership. But I've had plenty of negative experience with VT support, even when I had a paid membership.

I prefer MU (fast and clean) to VT (slow and bloated). VT still has more product listings although MU has its share of unique ones. The average quality of reviews/comments seems about the same on both sites.

The non-anon authors and review history on MU now make it possible to view reviews/comments from specific authors of interest. When I value someone's opinion about one product I may want to read what they've written about others. I hope MU will add other features to extend that sort of "reputation system" about products and particular review(er)s of them. Reviews and comments serve me best when I can apply an author's reputation to them. That's one reason I'm glad to be rid of ad-hoc anonymous postings although I'm sure some people will object.

Wow, Traverse City pops up in the most bizarre places. I'm in Chicago now, but I'm pretty sure the Computer Haus is still there on S. Garfield. When's TC getting its own Apple Store? Pull some strings, OK?

I'm liking the updates, but they need to put border="0" on any images with links as Firefox shows ugly blue boxes around lots of stuff.

Which broswer did you use? I tend to use Firefox most of the time and it looks fine there (to me). I'm sure Joel and his developer(s) are looking at rendering in all the major Mac browsers.

I agree, macupdate is loads better -- but the new individual pages are rough. They put an unneeded division between the download element, description, and reviews -- not to mention that strong hint of gray throws off your eyes to exactly what was it you're reading in the first place? All the padding and margins seem off... the web floor technique for the logo isn't faded smooth... rounded corners are too Web 2.0 now (me included).

Last but not least, there's no need for the head styles, make them external or you defeat the purpose of that css. While we're at it, remove the deprecated tags, and turn the remaining elements into CSS.

It is a good improvement, it needs a professional touch.

I just happened to notice those changes too. Hope the front page gets a bit of a revamp in the process too. Doesn't quite match the product pages now.

Funny to read how you ended up being a MacUpdate regular. My story is almost identical! Even when I tried the professional version of Versiontracker, I found myself going back to Macupdate. It was quicker, easier, updated more regularly throughout the day, and now I only return to Versiontracker on the rarest of occasions.

For example:

http://homepage.mac.com/jochs/files/mu.png

I know it's subjective, but ACK! My eyes! Huge text, huge garish black stars, things don't line up well, the light colors (which I normally like) fade away completely on my iBook's LCD. Ugh. Not an improvement to my eyes.

Otherwise, I fully agree regarding the VersionTracker/TechTracker BS, and that MacUpdate is still MUCH better.