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Feedback about latest website design - Printable Version

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Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 03-23-2011 at 10:14 PM

Hi there,

I've been a user of MP for many years now (longer than my forum signup suggests) and recently got an update notification.

When I looked up the site, I went to the usual one I've been going to for years.

I was shocked to find that the site had either been hijacked by hackers or the admin failed to renew the domain and it was bought by someone else hoping to get the traffic.

I slowly came to realise after looking through the forums that this 1990 design was deliberate.
Somehow, this god awful design was allowed to be pushed live.

I'm not sure if I can trust the latest update.
It might install malware on my computer and claim that I have spyware, telling me to purchase some software in order to fix it.

It looks dodgy! Something you'd see when GoDaddy decides to put up a placeholder if you've stopped paying for your domain.

Patchou, I bid you farewell but it's a shame you had to leave on this low note. Hope the guys taking charge of this project wont run it into the ground like they did with the website.

Anyway, that's my feedback. I'll probably go grab the update from Cnet or FileHippo.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Arcticwolfx on 03-23-2011 at 10:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by twigboy
Hi there,

I've been a user of MP for many years now (longer than my forum signup suggests) and recently got an update notification.

When I looked up the site, I went to the usual one I've been going to for years.

I was shocked to find that the site had either been hijacked by hackers or the admin failed to renew the domain and it was bought by someone else hoping to get the traffic.

Despite the design being not to your liking, I can inform you that msgplus.net is the official website and has the original version, spyware free, available for download.

Note: Of course the software does actually contain adware, as it has been for many years now; remember to un-check the "Sponsor" program if you don't wish to install it.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Chrissy on 03-23-2011 at 10:28 PM

They've put so much 'work' into they don't want to scrap it. They'll soon realise, that in that sort of market (web design etc) things get scrapped, they start again from scratch and just have to move on.

The sooner they realise it's shit, and the sooner they act on their mistake, the sooner it will be fixed. Obviously.

RE: RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 03-23-2011 at 10:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Arcticwolfx
Despite the design being not to your liking, I can inform you that msgplus.net is the official website and has the original version, spyware free, available for download.

Note: Of course the software does actually contain adware, as it has been for many years now; remember to un-check the "Sponsor" program if you don't wish to install it.

Yeah, I've been unticking that box for years and the software has worked well.

I tried updating it via the update dialog but I guess the server is a bit swamped at the moment. I'll try again later.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by CookieRevised on 03-23-2011 at 10:41 PM

quote:
Originally posted by twigboy
I tried updating it via the update dialog but I guess the server is a bit swamped at the moment. I'll try again later.
Depends on what update dialog you're talking about, but the auto-update has some issues which still need to be fixed.

If you want the latest, it is best, as always, to manually download it from the official site (and not from Cnet or other shareware sites which quite often do not have the latest version up until much later on - and even then it is not always trustable in my personal experience).
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Discrate on 03-23-2011 at 11:16 PM

It is purely awful. Nothing more needs to be said.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Sunshine on 03-24-2011 at 07:15 AM

Those options in the poll on itself do not give the developers anything to work with.

If you really want to see the site improved/changed you should at least give them some proper feedback as in:
What is it exactly you find so awful? How can that be changed to make it better?

Possitive feedback is welcomed too and for that the option in the poll will do, optionally you can tell what it is you like about it. I'm sure that would be much appreciated as well.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 03-24-2011 at 07:56 AM

I'd be fully willing to design a new site :P

It's awful though, 'nuff said. And the JavaScript menu isnt functioning properly on FF 4.0.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Oxy on 03-24-2011 at 09:27 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Fike
JavaScript menu isnt functioning properly on FF 4.0.


I saw somewhere that devs are working on it (may have been the shoutbox)

Contrary to many peoples opinions, i can't say i hate the website. I like the new look, its fresh and really signifies a new era in the ownership of the program.

However, it can be criticised for many things, and that's good - new website designs are not ever going to match everyones taste right away.
RE: RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 03-24-2011 at 09:44 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Sunshine
If you really want to see the site improved/changed you should at least give them some proper feedback as in:
What is it exactly you find so awful? How can that be changed to make it better?

Sunshine, I'm mildly offended that you even suggested that I put "ways to improve the site" into the voting options.

The poll is for a general opinion and the thread is for discussions on smaller details if someone wished to take the time and share their views.

Positive:
  • It's good they didn't use Comic Sans and Jokerman font
  • I'm glad they didn't implement image trails on my cursor

Negative:
  • fonts - they matter. it seems there is only one font that has been applied across the whole site and it is Verdana (yes, even on the banner)
  • the design seems like it was created by someone who is still living in 1990 and applying basic Photoshop tutorials
  • justified text is for reading newspaper columns
  • the heading colours, seriously? light brown?
  • the over-use of reflections (it's a styling fad, thankfully blew over pretty quick)
  • vertical alignment of both heading menu and footer looks uneven
  • left aligned copyright text looks strange
  • wtf is with that "MyPlus! Login / Register"? The mouse doesn't even change into a pointer so I know its clickable
  • also with that button, what's with the clear cut from "About Us" to another colour?
  • the menu background looks like it was copied straight out of a tutorial
  • there is no indication that the latest news box is a rolling window. if you didn't read it in time, bad luck.
  • the boxes on the right are differing in style (some rounded, some square, mismatched border colours, different title sizes, strange padding options for the "NewsTitle" class)
  • do you really need to have a "PLUS!" mouseover image on the front page?
  • this image made me cringe when I noticed the basic bevel and shadowing
  • as mentioned by Fike, the javascript is broken on some browsers
  • I'll spare the colours from any verbal abuse.


I'm not quite sure exactly what it is that makes me feel like this site is untrustworthy.
Perhaps it's a combination of all those issues listed + a few dodgy sites I've stumbled upon in the past which had a similar style.

A suggestion would be to take a free template and modify it to your needs.
The colouring, css styling and images would be put together by someone who knows more experienced.


Please, open up your browser to the current site and compare it to it's former glory.
[Image: wlmcpmsgp.gif]

I know some of you guys are official testers or well reputable members of the forum but if you cannot see that this is a step backwards, please visit this page http://www.cssgarden.co.uk to see some modern examples of web pages.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Lou on 03-24-2011 at 11:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by twigboy
know some of you guys are official testers or well reputable members of the forum but if you cannot see that this is a step backwards, please visit this page http://www.cssgarden.co.uk to see some modern examples of web pages.
To be fair, as testers we have been giving our opinion throughout the website design process. It used to be much worse than this. :P It's just that they only seem to pick which comments/opinions they want and ignore the others. :undecided:
RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 03-24-2011 at 11:42 AM

Ah I see. That's a shame.

I'm not around much except during official releases so I don't know who the website developers are, but please feel free to pass on my feedback to them (or even this thread).

There only 13 votes, so the results may change in the future ...

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 03-24-2011 at 03:54 PM

I might mess around with the sites current design, see if I can improve it :)

RE: Feedback about latest website design by CookieRevised on 03-24-2011 at 05:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Lou
t's just that they only seem to pick which comments/opinions they want and ignore the others. :undecided:
Which is not uncommon or unexpected.

We are not the owners, nor do we pay them (or the designer) to create something. They have their own goals and design ideas, you may not agree with it but in the end it is their product so they have every right what suggestion they use and what not. Layout, colors, bevel border or not, etc... it is all a subjective manner anyways.

This said, there are some technical issues, heck even browser compatibility issues, which still need to be fixed though, regardless of any subjectivity or personal opinion. Also user friendlyness is something important and which is independant of uglyness or state of the art graphics.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by TSAdmin on 03-24-2011 at 06:37 PM

Personally, I couldn't care any less than I do right now about how the site looks. You go there, you download the client, you close it and don't look again unless you're just looking for an update manually due to the shoddy auto-update feature. Fair enough that it has to appeal to someone visually before they would delve deeper, but 80% of the negatives twigboy (Just as an example, this extends beyond just a single person's "list") has mentioned hardly need mentioning at all as "Negatives". They're more like bug report-worthy mentions.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Chrissy on 03-24-2011 at 06:51 PM

They don't need a design team. Waste of money.

People here will do it for fee.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Lou on 03-25-2011 at 02:43 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Chrissy
They don't need a design team. Waste of money.

People here will do it for fee.
Seriously. There are so many people in this community that can do a better job, especially with the coding, than has currently been done. I don't feel the website is professional, especially from a loading speed and download speed point of view.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 03-25-2011 at 08:06 AM

If Yuna need help, I'd gladly do so. I'm a web designer and web graphics designer, and I understand what kind of design would go down well. I'll be designing a new site later on ;)

RE: Feedback about latest website design by traxor on 03-27-2011 at 03:29 PM

It's awful. The design and front-end development has had very little thought. If this is the best quality work they can produce, I dread to think what Messenger Plus! will be like in twelve months time. I could do a better job of that website with my eyes closed.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 03-28-2011 at 07:31 PM

And the script database... UGH. tables. So last century xD. Seriously, Yuna, what's the point in having a kick-ass messenger extension without a kick-ass website? The last website was perfect, you ruined it.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by traxor on 03-28-2011 at 07:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Fike
And the script database... UGH. tables. So last century xD. Seriously, Yuna, what's the point in having a kick-ass messenger extension without a kick-ass website? The last website was perfect, you ruined it.

I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was fifty times better than the current site. Not only is the current site ugly and poorly coded, but it's difficult to use, clunky and has had no thought put to the information architecture. It makes me angry every time I look at it.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 03-28-2011 at 11:08 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Talk2Luke
If this is the best quality work they can produce, I dread to think what Messenger Plus! will be like in twelve months time.
That was my thought when I saw the site. "Good god, this project is doomed."

quote:
Originally posted by Fike
And the script database... UGH. tables.
Wow, those tables look terribad. =\

I didn't even bother going to any other pages other than the homepage and forums. I felt like I had done enough bashing.

Wasn't going to reply to this thread anymore but after quickly looking at the scripts listing page:

- Icon on the left is always the same but may or may not display a screenshot
- Took a while to realise how to VIEW the script information (the title wasn't linked, the icon displayed a screenshot, the icon was far on the right and icon wasn't eye catching against the light background)
- I had a quick chuckle when I saw the "Add my contribution" icon was underlined.
- The filtering form is what you'd expect from a dev quickly putting something together to see if it works before passing it over for styling. (I do web dev for a living, I'd know)

Small things like that make me feel this site was created by a novice and completely rushed.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by traxor on 03-29-2011 at 06:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by twigboy
Small things like that make me feel this site was created by a novice and completely rushed.

Exactly. It seems like it's been done by someone who has a small amount of knowledge of building websites.
RE: RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 04-02-2011 at 06:46 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Talk2Luke
quote:
Originally posted by Fike
And the script database... UGH. tables. So last century xD. Seriously, Yuna, what's the point in having a kick-ass messenger extension without a kick-ass website? The last website was perfect, you ruined it.

I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was fifty times better than the current site. Not only is the current site ugly and poorly coded, but it's difficult to use, clunky and has had no thought put to the information architecture. It makes me angry every time I look at it.

Not perfect, but it was slick and would have made people thought, "WHOAH! This looks awesome! I'm gonna download it!". Whereas now I would categorize it as a slightly dubious looking site.
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Arcticwolfx on 04-02-2011 at 09:29 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Fike
quote:
Originally posted by Talk2Luke
quote:
Originally posted by Fike
And the script database... UGH. tables. So last century xD. Seriously, Yuna, what's the point in having a kick-ass messenger extension without a kick-ass website? The last website was perfect, you ruined it.

I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was fifty times better than the current site. Not only is the current site ugly and poorly coded, but it's difficult to use, clunky and has had no thought put to the information architecture. It makes me angry every time I look at it.

Not perfect, but it was slick and would have made people thought, "WHOAH! This looks awesome! I'm gonna download it!". Whereas now I would categorize it as a slightly dubious looking site.

Well, I don't really agree to the strong opinions about the website nor am I able to form a professional opinion.

However, here's a post I made a while ago before I realized that it was a legit site:

Arcticwolfx's reply to Messenger Plus! 5 information
RE: Feedback about latest website design by Chrono on 04-02-2011 at 09:45 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Arcticwolfx
quote:
Originally posted by Fike
quote:
Originally posted by Talk2Luke
quote:
Originally posted by Fike
And the script database... UGH. tables. So last century xD. Seriously, Yuna, what's the point in having a kick-ass messenger extension without a kick-ass website? The last website was perfect, you ruined it.

I wouldn't say it was perfect, but it was fifty times better than the current site. Not only is the current site ugly and poorly coded, but it's difficult to use, clunky and has had no thought put to the information architecture. It makes me angry every time I look at it.

Not perfect, but it was slick and would have made people thought, "WHOAH! This looks awesome! I'm gonna download it!". Whereas now I would categorize it as a slightly dubious looking site.

Well, I don't really agree to the strong opinions about the website nor am I able to form a professional opinion.

However, here's a post I made a while ago before I realized that it was a legit site:

Arcticwolfx's reply to Messenger Plus! 5 information

wow, i think that sums it up really well. The fact that someone can think it's a fake site is the proof that they should really improve it. Get working, kimhari software :P
RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 04-02-2011 at 10:45 PM

lol the domain doesn't seem to work for me anymore
but i saw these screenshots

[Image: 5303498196_2c6119f79a.jpg]
from here.

[Image: 00.JPG]
from here.

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Chrono on 04-02-2011 at 10:55 PM

quote:
Originally posted by twigboy
lol the domain doesn't seem to work for me anymore
but i saw these screenshots

[Image: 5303498196_2c6119f79a.jpg]
from here.

[Image: 00.JPG]
from here.

That's the beta site, the new one is a bit better (but still terrible imho :P)

see www.msgplus.net
RE: Feedback about latest website design by robert_dll on 04-03-2011 at 02:05 AM

I'm sorry Yuna, but I completely agree with twigboy and what the... at the download icon in the skins/scripts db and this:

[Image: 2881etl.png]

Seriously, I know it is hard to design something we all like, but almost everybody hates the new site...=/

RE: Feedback about latest website design by Fike on 04-03-2011 at 12:16 PM

Sometimes I feel like Yuna is using some sort of crappy WYSIWYG editor to create the design. If so, please Yuna, learn HMTL and CSS. And Javascript too, add some cool jquery in :)

RE: Feedback about latest website design by twigboy on 04-03-2011 at 12:18 PM

lol Frontpage ftw