[MCJ]

One other question, Rob - is it still possible to send private messages and, if so, how?
I've also noiced that there doesn't appear to be a way of adding a signature to our profiles or a direct means to quote from other posts.

[griffman]

Well, I'm as new to this software as you are :), so the answer right now is "I'm not sure." Jason noted in his new site post that there are features we haven't enabled yet, so maybe that's one of them.

-rob.

[Rugby]

First thing I missed most was the clearly labeled daily news/story, also this "soft blue" text is as hard to read as it is to see which program is active in the OSX 10.5 dock, but I am giving it the benefit of a doubt and see what can be done, changed etc.

It is importnat to try (I still remember the last upgrade when there were a few comments....)

[macnews]

Ok, having a few problems. Tried to post an article comment, which is listed below:

I am reserving final judgment until I have used the site for a while. Like most things, change isn't always easy. Sure, there are plenty of ads right up front but counting the total ad spots and you are limited to 11 on the front page, four of which are tightly put together in a square towards the bottom. Same design for story pages, noticeably missing are ads in stories - yeah!
Some have mentioned the wider layout, I think a good choice. Especially in Leopard with Spaces, which allows you to make a browser window bigger, reducing scrolling and mousing, yet making it easy to get to other tasks/applications w/o having a cluttered look behind your active window.
Only big issue I see so far - article comments separate from the forums. Not sure I like this, yet I don't know how else you can fix this issue. You are fighting against the ease of commenting right within the story but miss the more full features of the forums.

[end comment]



The above comment would not post and it is just under 1000 characters. No warning or error message, just click save and nothing happens.

I don't like how you have to find the article you want to discuss in the forums, in other words, how you get tossed to the front page of the forums then have to hunt down the story you want to discuss. I'm wondering if article comments and a forum can really exist well together or if you are just hurting yourself by spliting up your posters.



In the forums, it isn't intuitive as the old system how to respond. Being fair, this is new and I don't think the old system looked as clean or nicely designed as the new forums. I'm waiting this one out as you mentioned there are many features and it will likely just take a while to get used to using the new forums.

[icerabbit]

One thing that seems to be enabled by default is a notify about other replies feature ... as my email account just had a little batch of [Website Feedback] New Message: "New site comments" alerts.

Probably should be turned off by default.

I just turned all 6 auto-subscribe settings to OFF in "Your Stuff" "Preferences"

One feature I'd like to see is to view a larger number of posts per page or even All. The latter is my preference (on a fast connection) so I don't have to click around every single page, page by page.

[macFanDave]

The Community Comments section is horrible. It is a real downgrade from the old-school site.

The ginormous left margin is a tremendous waste and, coupled with the blank on the right, I feel like I am reading a column of filler in a newspaper where ad space is the real raison d'etre of the organization.

I can accept that you have advertising on the main page and on the stories you publish, but I feel that the comments section should be ad-free since we are giving you the content for free. You can blather on all you want about bandwidth, but anyone who goes there has to drill through ad-laden pages to get to the reader comments, so you should let the readers to have the proper screen space to carry on a lively discussion.

Also, the suggestion of a 1000-character limit is offensive. We should get to write as much as we need and let the "free marketplace of ideas" determine what is too long. I almost never read long posts, and try to never leave them.

So, please put back the Comments section to the way it was before.

[Axl]

I like the new look. I haven't explored the site much but I do have two comments. I came here to the forum an had to log in. So I click the red log-in thing at the top and do the honours. I am then taken back to the front page. That seems a little strange - I should be taken back to where I was at the pint of log-in, no? Not a biggie, I agree.
My other comment - and I looking at the history of the MacWorld designs I realize this is like swearing in church - I'm not crazy about the Logo - the work Macworld. The font, the capitalization. On top of a modern looking site (and Magazine) it looks antiquated. I thought so during the last design and even more now. Sorry.

[griffman]

For posting directly to the forums, click the Comment link in the green box on any story:

That will take you to the associated forum thread.
-rob.

[wooster019]

I agree with icerabbit - email alerts should be turned off by default. I just checked my email and I had 15 messages generated from one comment I left earlier this morning!

Some of the additional features are really nice but will take some time to get used to.

[icerabbit]

RE: Kellie

I knew I wasn't seeing things about my lower post #. Philbert has the same.

It makes no sense to me and I cannot see any reason why the post count should have been reduced between the old forum and the new one. Post # is a post # ... and I'd like my old # back. Thank you.

[kellie]

Hi MCJ

Thanks for the heads up about private messages. I thought I had them enabled, but needed to tweak the settings a bit. You should find them now by going to Your Stuff and they are at the bottom of the list.

Your Stuff will turn a different color when you have a private message waiting for you. I believe you also get an email notification.

[kellie]

Hi macnews --

Did you try to post that comment from the forums or from the article page? That info will help us track down a problem and improve functionality.

As Rob said, you can now comment directly on the article page without going to the forums. However, I agree that there needs to be a connection between the article page and its corresponding thread on the forums. That's something I have on my list.

Kellie | Online Community Manager

[PeterG]

Ever heard of the "little black cocktail dress". If not, it means "keep it simple", and it works.

Nothing wrong with change, but sometimes "stuff" can get overdone.

I find it more difficult to maneuver around. Simple works.

I haven't looked around much but my "first" impression, looking at the site was this is confusing.

I'm sure we will get use to it but..... simple works.

Peter

[flybynight]

Looks good. Just a comment...
Can the dates on the "News" page be relative? On the main page (All Stories tab), stories from today show the time, but on the News page, they just show today's date... which is not as useful.

Also, your article should have shown the web designs from MacWeek and MacCentral... since that's what a lot of us still have bookmarked! ;^)