[d00d]

Let me add one more thing. As a huge RSS user, I was rather surprised that you'd moved the feeds. If someone hadn't mentioned it, I might not have noticed. Could you possibly symlink or hard link the old location to the new file (I'm assuming you have that kind of control on your server) so that users get the new content or add a move notice to the old feed so that RSS users know of the change?
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[TxTom]

Well, Jason, my seemingly abusive post was brought on by a sudden change in what I've used as a tool for keeping up with current news in the Mac community and suddenly finding it rendered rather useless for my needs. My frustration was further brought on by what I perceived as explanations as to why I was wrong.
I did beta testing for a couple of different applications/companies and found the overall experience rather distasteful and frustrating. I personally feel that a sudden change in a website as important to so many visitors as MacCentral with the promise of 'we'll listen to suggestions and make changes as we see fit' as a beta website-and a beta website with an attitude.
Did it EVER occur to you to put up a beta site and invite visitors to make comments? Did it EVER occur to you that as passionate as Mac users ARE, that it was just possible that you'd be stepping on the very toes which keep your advertising dollars coming in?

[Jason Snell]

In reply to:

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why I was wrong

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Sorry if you got that perception -- opinions aren't wrong. all I've said all along is that we are listening to all the comments and will take them under advisement. I read your response to me as, essentially, "I don't like your site, so not only am I never coming back, but I'm cancelling my magazine subscription too." All that from a site redesign that's two days old, when we've said we'll make changes (and in fact have already started the tweaking)? It seems a bit much. Whether you really misunderstood my comments, were just being overly dramatic (two posts!), or whatever, it certainly came across as you taking it out on us and enjoying it. At least to my forum-battle-scarred eyes.

In reply to:

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Did it EVER occur to you to put up a beta site and invite visitors to make comments? Did it EVER occur to you that as passionate as Mac users ARE, that it was just possible that you'd be stepping on the very toes which keep your advertising dollars coming in?

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Lots of things occurred to us. Many of these things we actually did, and you're not even aware of. So, to answer your question simply -- yes, it did occur to us. We're not a bunch of simpletons, no matter how much you dislike what we've done.
It's easy to accuse people who are trying hard to do their jobs in an environment (in terms of personnel, budgets, and other responsibilities) that you know nothing about of being incompetent, ignorant, even totally clueless. Of course the realities are often far more complicated... but hey, people accuse Apple of doing idiotic things all the time, so why should we be any different. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We are listening to all descriptive, constructive feedback. We are not listening to anything along the lines of, "this sucks," "bring it back the way it was," "do what I say or I'm going to [MacMinute, Mac NN, Macs Ahoy!]", any of that. But if people really care enough to want to specify what they don't like, to share that with us, we're all paying attention. And any visit to the current MacCentral home page will make it clear we're already starting to make changes based on that feedback.
If you or anyone else doesn't want to take us at our word, namely that all the people here are paying attention and will continue to make changes based on feedback, that's up to each individual eprson. I don't think we deserve that -- and am aghast at the people who are saying that because we launched this redesign we're evil corporate drones hell-bent on destroying community, crushing the Mac spirit, selling out to Microsoft, or anything else I've seen in the past two days. But this server's located in a free country, so have at us.

[Nobody]

I will add myself to all those saying I embrace change, but can't help noticing when it is for the worse.
MacCentral was the best forum because of its open upfront layout. It feels now like I am meeting out the back in the car park. Heck what happened to good design? What was wrong with obvious threads attached directly to the article they referred to?
Let me guess. The advertisers didn't like them.
Wonder if they'll miss all the MacCentral visitors who can't find a reason to return anymore.
Is this all part of the Mac media spiralling into a singularity before exiting forever without notice?

[desktopia]

In reply to:

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On the first point: I'd argue that it's harder only because this is a new design. I actually think this design is better at keeping the crud separate from the content... but it is different from what you're used to.

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Jason, you know this isn't true. There is NOBODY in these forums who can agree with you on that topic if you read through them. In the old MacCentral, you could read 20 lines of news without ads getting in the way. Today, your eyes immediately run into the ads after you read the first headline (and the next 19), but, of course, that's the idea isn't it? Make the site more advertiser friendly? Of course you have to find the headlines first, which is pretty tough when you can't tell what is and is not a link. Someone upstairs has really dropped the ball on this one.
I remember the day MacCentral debuted, and I have been visiting ever since. Unless there are serious modifications--including but not limited to putting some color back in, properly representing links, and getting ads off the same plane as the headlines--you're losing a pair of eyes to capture your oh-so-important advertisements.
You guys have really stepped out on to thin ice... Spring is coming.

[adzoox]

Why is jackwhispers on the avoid list?
And why is spymac on the good?
And are you a troll?
You should back up your ratings with a brief comment as to features.

[Nobody]

TOOK A NICE SIMPLE DESIGN AND TURNED IT IN TO THIS....WHY WHY..Is it because some Art director can justify his/her existance! THIS IS HORSE @#$&.
WAY TO GO!

[Nobody]

I feel for you Jason, having been where you stand now. Designer piggy in the Corporate middle.
However it is hard to see the "improvements".
Seems like the clean, straight forward navigation has become convoluted; threads and relationships between postings hidden or gone; trail of highlighted visits gone; succinct listings of articles gone; speed gone and now replaced by bad page refresh after posting.
What was the brief? Where were you going? Where is the upside?
I honestly can't see it.
Are we all headed for the same mediocre gloss on vacuous content?
If I leave I won't leave in protest (which I think is childish) but because I can't see anything here for me anymore.

[Nobody]

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? FIRE THE ^&^ HEAD who came up with this idea..>WHAT THE ^&% IS WRONG WITH YOU??????

[Jason Snell]

Sorry, I'm not a designer, and I'm the EIC, so I'm not really in the middle either.
Yes, we've got to set a proper visited link color. Yes, we've got to tweak the news home page to get the volume up. The Macworld pages are definitely much faster to load than they used to be; MacCentral pages might not be but they've gotta be close. With so much stuff done in CSS, there's a lot less crud in the HTML, and fewer lousy graphics to load.

[brossow]

In the interest of being proactive, and at the risk of repeating ideas already voiced here, let me offer these suggestions:
1. Go to a smaller font size across the board, from body text to headlines to menus. The current text looks like the large-print version of the Reader's Digest at the local nursing home. By reducing one step in Safari, the font size was what I consider normal and appropriate. I don't know exactly what that translates to, but I'm sure you can figure it out. (And yes, I'm well aware that I could reduce it in Safari every time I load MacCentral, but that shouldn't be necessary. I don't need to do that with any other site I visit regularly ... or even occasionally.) This would address not only what I consider an aesthetic issue but would also address the concern that not enough real content shows on the page without scrolling.
2. Make the MacCentral "tab" at top center much smaller, by half or more. I believe you could change it such that the tab sticks noticeably above the rest of the top menu items without being more than twice as tall. This would work toward making more content visible on the page.
3. Make said tab an active link back to the MacCentral home page.
4. Make links a distinct color instead of black, and return the underline so that they're more obvious as links. I'm guilty of jumping on the bandwagon of not underlining links, which the advent of CSS made so simple, on some of my sites, too, but that will be rectified soon. It's just not user-friendly.
5. Use an alternate color for visited links. (I know this has been mentioned and noted by staff; I'm saying it again for the sake of completeness.)
6. Add a separator between article titles and times posted. (Thanks for adding the posted times, BTW!) For example, instead of seeing "Welcome to the new MacCentral 8:10 pm ET" it would be preferable to see instead "Welcome to the new MacCentral - 8:10 pm ET" so that the time doesn't blend so much with the title. I know that the font is different, but that's not a distinct enough separation, IMHO.
7. Swap the columns you're distinguishing as "leftColumnNews" and "rightColumn" so that the news articles take "center stage" as it were. After all, you've now titled this section "News," so that's what should be highlighted. For whatever reason, I find myself looking to the center of the page for the articles, so I find it unpleasant (wrong term, but best I can come up with right now) to have to shift my gaze to the left to find them. You get it right on the individual article pages, where the article is presented in the center of the page, so I hope you'll see this the way I do and move this block to the center on the main page as well.
8. Return user comments to the main article page. I'm not holding my breath on this one, but it was probably the #1 reason that MacCentral was the first Mac news site I visited every morning and then returned to repeatedly throughout the day. Seeing user comments inline with the article was incredibly useful, though I have discovered just how much I took it for granted as a result of this recent change. Some have suggested your advertisers didn't like it; I'm suggesting that at least some of your readers do like it (my guess would be a majority) and I hope you'll bring it back. Having the link to these boards isn't at all the same thing.
I hope these can all be seen as concrete examples of areas I see as in need of improvement with the new site. I can't speak for everyone else who's been disheartened, disgruntled, disenfranchised, dismayed, or just plain disgusted by the radical redesign, but I for one could easily adjust to the new design if these changes were implemented. I'm not at all trying to dictate how you run and design your site; I'm just trying to provide constructive criticism as not just a long-time MacCentral reader but also as a web designer and as a Mac user with a personal interest in seeing this site continue to thrive. Thanks for your consideration.

[Jason Snell]

Fantastic comments. Thanks for the time and detail.

[Nobody]

In reply to:

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Sorry, I'm not a designer, and I'm the EIC, so I'm not really in the middle either.

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My apologies. I will give the one plus that I can see, so I am not 100% anti. The Instant Graemlins (sic), UBB Code and Font color do make marking up replies faster.

However on the subject of design, this should not be taken lighltly, after all we are all Mac users for this very reason.

I long ago stopped subscribing or even bothering to pick up the US MacWorld magazine when the design and contents hit new low points. Instead I started buying the UK MacFormat, Computer User and iCreate which are exceptional examples of good and enticing design, even though they are much more expensive.

Tempered by the fact that the new UBB Quote is UGLY and a huge space waster.

[desktopia]

In reply to:

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TxTom: Sure sounds like you were looking for a reason to go. Goodbye and good luck.

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Jason, I have to say that this sound a less like well-wishing and a lot more like sarcastic retort. Mr. Administrator, we are not fans of Macworld, we are fans of MacCentral. Yet, with this change and with your posts, this entity has treated us like Macworld customers. I cancelled my Macworld subscription years ago because it lost substance and was no longer entertaining. I'm on the verge of cancelling my own interest here as well.
I stand by Tx, I don't believe he was trying to make a scene, no more than anyone else here who has voiced his or her disapproval. What is telling here is that the overwhelming majority of the posts are negative. Most often, threads of particular controversy will have at least a critical mass of dissenters to the majority opinion, if it's not completely balanced. We see none of that here. There is nobody coming publicly to your aid, despite the fact that even among the most controversial posts, large numbers of opponents have the courage to do so.
It's not too late, Jason. Coca-cola survived despite the New Coke fiasco. Here's a vote for the introduction of MacCentral Classic.