Why, besides page views and frustrating your readers, do you sometimes link product names to your old write-ups of them. If you really think that people want to see that then you should try something like this:
"MSN Soapbox (Mashable review), Microsoft’s new video site that..."
All you web2.0 bloggers never hesistate to rant on about anti-user treatments in the sites you review it's time you start experiencing your sites as a user.
Pete Cashmore
· 2 years ago
I do it specifically to annoy you, Brian. ;)
Marcus
· 2 years ago
doesn't work in Firefox 2.0. a joke in this day and age! quite an amusing error message: "Msn has no properties" !! the homepage is 718k !!!!! 650k of which is javascript ...... and that's even compressed! arghhhhh! wtf!!!
and then with that much javascript, what's with the quite simple interface on the left being done in flash! ughhh, and the ugly large verdana font - there's even recommendations *by* microsoft not to use verdana at high font sizes like that because it looks crap! arhhhhhhggggghhhh!!!
that's really really a poor effort. i think microsoft have serious issues when it comes to their web products. they are seriously lagging behind all of the other big internet companies such as yahoo and google. this issue is especially bad considering they've got such a big headstart by putting msn/live.com/start.com/microsoft.com/whatever their current default homepage of the month currently is as the default for sodding internet explorer!!!
sorry for the rant there ;) Marcus
Pete Cashmore
· 2 years ago
Marcus,
Yeah, great points. It works fine for me in FF 2.0, but its definitely slow loading and seriously lacking in general.
Scott
· 2 years ago
I echo Brian's comment above. Being more concerned about your anchor text than making your reviews easy to navigate grates on my nerves too.
josh
· 2 years ago
I'll third Brian's comment. I will often want to immediately jump to a site you are referencing in a newer post. I am generally not interested in a year old post about it.
Troy
· 2 years ago
As they said above, the linking is horrific. I expected the first link to be to the product, the 2nd to an official announcement.
Avatar
· 2 years ago
Ok, Pete, i know you just knock it because it is a MS site, but c´mon, get your facts straight...
1.- it got certain advantages against other for the simple fact that is going to be a synched windows ecosystem wideo sharing site, that at this moment allows you to post directly to spaces, add the weekly top videos to your zune in one click (it will be extended to every video later) and allows for video synch under windows live messenger, it has a windows mobile version and it will be added to the xbox dashboard later....so, this is not only not going to get anywhere it will grow..
2.-it has targeted experiences, under IE7 it runs wmv-s with a smart chache, that means you can jump to any part of the video right away and forward without the need of watching the entire video, this is done for re-watch value..under IE7 it runs marvelously well, i got a 3mb line at work and a 1mb line at home, at work it ´s like watching tv, it is just that fast..on the 1mb line it is like having cable, you notice the changes but they are minimal..
under everything else it deliver flash, with a smart loading that is going to drive you nuts if you are under a 1mb line, but they are testing it, so i can guess it will get better later.
2.-the interface it is actually great, you can search filter and find vidoes in a way you can´t do in any other site, and you do it so while posting comments and watching videos.... i wish i could surf/enjoy youtube this fast and manage it with such ease.
so, yeah it needs works to be done. but nothing really that major in terms of how it works..at least on IE7..you have all the right to argue it don´t deliver on the rest of the browsers..
a final note would be on why they choosed the MSN brand over the Live brand.. well i talked to frind in MS and he said that it is because of how Ms got several deals of contents worldwide done with the MSN brand, and that usally when it is gonna be served content marketed globally it has been aproached with the MSN brand..
now, a guy from the soapbox team said that because at the time it was in alpha, live was still not spread, but just starting to spread and they saw it as
Social-commercial powered content = MSN Web Apps = Live
if you think i lie just check every tv promotion MS does is still served under the MSN brand... along MSN groups, etc..
Avatar
· 2 years ago
fuck, sorry for all the typos... i always write too fast...
Pete Cashmore
· 2 years ago
Avatar,
I loved the MSN branding and I wished they'd stuck with it: "Windows Live" makes all the names unnecessarily long.
The interface is lame - LiveVideo is much better. That said, at least they didn't copy YouTube.
Any success it achieves is based solely on integration with other MS services, rather than being a good standalone product.
I don't dislike MS - their work around the XBox has been phenomenal. But when it comes to web-based social stuff, they've delivered nothing groundbreaking, or even half-decent (Live Spaces isn't a good standalone service, IMHO).
Avatar
· 2 years ago
well, the interface is the fastest interface i have seen.. it is really fast using IE7 on two of my machines, it is even faster under vista. (i own a cybercafe-pc repair shop).
but yeah, under anything else = average..
what i want now, is full support for xbox360 and the zune...
All Comments
"MSN Soapbox (Mashable review), Microsoft’s new video site that..."
All you web2.0 bloggers never hesistate to rant on about anti-user treatments in the sites you review it's time you start experiencing your sites as a user.
the homepage is 718k !!!!! 650k of which is javascript ...... and that's even compressed! arghhhhh! wtf!!!
and then with that much javascript, what's with the quite simple interface on the left being done in flash! ughhh, and the ugly large verdana font - there's even recommendations *by* microsoft not to use verdana at high font sizes like that because it looks crap! arhhhhhhggggghhhh!!!
that's really really a poor effort. i think microsoft have serious issues when it comes to their web products. they are seriously lagging behind all of the other big internet companies such as yahoo and google. this issue is especially bad considering they've got such a big headstart by putting msn/live.com/start.com/microsoft.com/whatever their current default homepage of the month currently is as the default for sodding internet explorer!!!
sorry for the rant there ;)
Marcus
Yeah, great points. It works fine for me in FF 2.0, but its definitely slow loading and seriously lacking in general.
1.- it got certain advantages against other for the simple fact that is going to be a synched windows ecosystem wideo sharing site, that at this moment allows you to post directly to spaces, add the weekly top videos to your zune in one click (it will be extended to every video later) and allows for video synch under windows live messenger, it has a windows mobile version and it will be added to the xbox dashboard later....so, this is not only not going to get anywhere it will grow..
2.-it has targeted experiences, under IE7 it runs wmv-s with a smart chache, that means you can jump to any part of the video right away and forward without the need of watching the entire video, this is done for re-watch value..under IE7 it runs marvelously well, i got a 3mb line at work and a 1mb line at home, at work it ´s like watching tv, it is just that fast..on the 1mb line it is like having cable, you notice the changes but they are minimal..
under everything else it deliver flash, with a smart loading that is going to drive you nuts if you are under a 1mb line, but they are testing it, so i can guess it will get better later.
2.-the interface it is actually great, you can search filter and find vidoes in a way you can´t do in any other site, and you do it so while posting comments and watching videos.... i wish i could surf/enjoy youtube this fast and manage it with such ease.
so, yeah it needs works to be done. but nothing really that major in terms of how it works..at least on IE7..you have all the right to argue it don´t deliver on the rest of the browsers..
a final note would be on why they choosed the MSN brand over the Live brand.. well i talked to frind in MS and he said that it is because of how Ms got several deals of contents worldwide done with the MSN brand, and that usally when it is gonna be served content marketed globally it has been aproached with the MSN brand..
now, a guy from the soapbox team said that because at the time it was in alpha, live was still not spread, but just starting to spread and they saw it as
Social-commercial powered content = MSN
Web Apps = Live
if you think i lie just check every tv promotion MS does is still served under the MSN brand... along MSN groups, etc..
I loved the MSN branding and I wished they'd stuck with it: "Windows Live" makes all the names unnecessarily long.
The interface is lame - LiveVideo is much better. That said, at least they didn't copy YouTube.
Any success it achieves is based solely on integration with other MS services, rather than being a good standalone product.
I don't dislike MS - their work around the XBox has been phenomenal. But when it comes to web-based social stuff, they've delivered nothing groundbreaking, or even half-decent (Live Spaces isn't a good standalone service, IMHO).
but yeah, under anything else = average..
what i want now, is full support for xbox360 and the zune...