Welcome to the new MacDailyNews!

MacDailyNews IconWelcome to the new MacDailyNews!

Lots of changes.  In fact, everything is new.  Things should seem snappier, too!

What you see today is a base to build upon. We intentionally made the site similar to the old one to ease the transition. We can now add new features easier and more cleanly in the future.

Many, many thanks to our developer Crowd Favorite and our website host WordPress.com VIP!

Please note that the MacDailyNews iOS app has been removed from the App Store for retooling.  The MacDailyNews app will not work for the time being. It will return to the App Store ASAP.  You cannot use the app until an update becomes available. Meanwhile, please use Mobile Safari to visit the site.

So, poke around, go get your usernames (the switch to WordPress requires new logins to be created unless you already have a WordPress account – click “Register” above the yellow bar, top right or just click here), subscribe to email updates if you like (left column, right above the Joy of Tech link), and, of course, let us know what you think.

Welcome!

MacDailyNews Note: Your name in the MacDailyNews comments section will be whatever you enter in your WordPress Profile next to “Display name publicly as.” It does not have to be the same as your WordPress username.

We are aware that some browsers are showing headlines in the default Times font. This is not as intended and we are investigating potential fixes.

Thank you for your patience!

292 Comments

    1. What makes the site more practical is precisely the WordPress hosting. Now, we have many different ways of tracking our comments and responses, plus I’m sure, it became much easier for MDN to post new articles from various devices.

      The look is close enough to the original not to be a major disruption to the traditionalist users, not to mention the host seems to be much faster and more agile than the old one.

      If we could only know which specific HTML tags are allowed and/or disallowed…
      This?
      and this?
      this
      maybe this

      Others?

      1. Uh, I’m pretty sure melgross was referring to the *headline* font, which is indeed a “Times-like” serif font – I had very much the same reaction.

        Just proves some people will attack anyone, just to take a dump on someone with a different opinion. 😛

    1. The problem is that the style sheet only declares one typeface per header element (h1, h2, etc.), instead of a series of faces. So if the user doesn’t have that typeface then the default is used.

      Normally developers specify a number of typefaces, separated by a comma, so that people who don’t have the main typeface can still be served with something similar they are more likely to have. Example: The body copy for this article has a style declaration that specifies Lucida Grande first, then Helvetica, then Arial, then “sans-serif” for the worst case scenario. So if users don’t have Lucida Grande (i.e. most Windows users) they will see Helvetica. If they the don’t have Helvetica they’ll see Arial, etc.

    1. Go to you profile and change your display name. You can make it whatever you want, which means you get your old name back… But it also means your identity can be jacked too.

  1. With all due respect, at first blush, I like the previous format. It was easier to read, a bit more compact, and quicker to scan through the different topics.

    And what happened to the verified username function?

  2. LOL! takes awhile apparently for messages to be updated in the discussion forums here lol… mind my previous “tests” ehehe

    I thought I wasn’t allowed to use my name “Wha’ because it’s three characters, but apparently it worked.

  3. MUCH cleaner…it felt soooo cramped before….and for the first time ever…when i clicked, it opened! only site i go to that used to take seconds to open…and i’m sure change will cause a few ppl momentary disorientation, loss of sense of balance, and a true sense of loss when they have to get a new user name,..i guess we all get into grooves..

  4. MDN, Steve Jobs would strongly disagree with your choice of type, which is ass backwards. Steve’s big on typefaces and calligraphy in general. I know this because I saw with my own eyes.

    You should have chosen sans serif bold for the large headline font and a serif font on the main article text for easier reading.

    Don’t mean to be a party pooper but it looks weak.

    1. Really? Apparently Steve hasn’t passed along his preferences to the Apple web publishing team, because the Apple site is exclusively sans-serif.

      MDN isn’t printing a book; they’re publishing short stories for reading on a computer display or handheld device. This is new media – “traditional” typography “rules” don’t necessarily apply.

      1. When MDN first popped up, it looked very pale. The light blue headers are much harder to see. The serif font is also much harder to read. A friend told me years ago that Arial is the easiest font to read. He was head of engineering for a large computer manufacturer.

        This is definitely a step backwards in readability.

        1. Arial is a bad, cheap, bastardised copy of Helvetica. It is ugly, poorly designed and the only reason it is used so much is because Microsoft was too cheap to license Helvetica for Windows and bought Arial instead, inflicting it on the unsuspecting innocent masses of Windows sufferers. Ironically enough, Apple had to concede defeat and bundle it as well with their own browsers, in order to be able to render all those web pages designed by Windows drones.

  5. I think it looks much cleaner and more professional. There was a short period earlier this evening when the ads weren’t displaying yet, and that was absolutely gorgeous. Still, this is a much needed improvement. The mobile site looks nice too, I’m eager to see how the new app looks.

  6. Looks good. I think you have the best mac site out there. Content always current and enjoy your sarcastic takes and pretty much always agree with you! Keep up the good work and thank you.

  7. So sad to see you ditch ExpressionEngine. Us EE developers think that going WP is a real sell out. I know you had performance problems, but that is as much a function of your previous developer and hosting service as anything.

    I like the new look, but your teaser content for each article is too brief.

    And back to EE, I run dozens of EE sites off of Mac Minis and OS X Server, and get far better performance (50ms load time averages on complex queries) than off of any of the commercial hosting services out there. Hope WP works out for you, if not, we’d always welcome you back to the EE fold!

    Long live EE on the Mac Mini!

    1. There doesn’t seem to be a way to edit my own posts like you can on the tfttf.com message boards.

      But I can type AT&T!!!

      AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T AT&T

  8. It seems to go against everything MDN stands for as Apple fans to have those horribly ugly text google ads on the site. They make the site look like crap (far below Apple standards) and they support the evil empire. Seems like a conflict when managing the MDN brand.

    I like the new layout, and it seems more modern, yet I think you guys should really consider how you do advertisements and revamp. Try to innovate like Apple does so well. It seems the current ad format was the path of least resistance to the sacrifice of appearance and experience. Unfortunate.

  9. I had a previous WordPress acct., so I could register with MDN using my original handle: Spark. So, yes, I am disappointed. I also don’t understand how many of you have capital letters and spaces in your names. WordPress would allow anything but lower case I tried to re-register. What did I miss?

    1. That should say “couldn’t register”.
      PS- I do appreciate the load times. Much snappier! And I like that additional articles appear (once again) below the article, so no more going back to the home page to continue. Good move.

  10. The visited hyperlink color needs to go back to red like it was on the old site. The dark blue is just to close to the lighter blue. We need a greater contrast between unread articles and read articles so we can quickly see which articles we’ve read and which are new and unread. Thanks!

  11. Oh, I love it. BUT: I miss the shares on the mobile version! As a proud shareholder (MDN: you made me become a shareholder!) I love to see how they go, mostly up. Could you fix this, please? Oliver from Berlin

  12. Help!

    My old registration will not work. (*sigh* why???)

    I tried re-registering but it asks for a “blog address” at wordpress.com. I dunno what to put there… as this site is “MacDailyNews.com”

    HELP!
    I would like to re-register… but alas i cannot!

    Lemme get registered and I’ll give my comments of the site..

    1. Just enter anything you want in the “blog address” field. It will then ask you if you want to sign up to have your own “blog.” Just say NO. And you will be able to proceed with registering (the blog address field disappears). You should be able to get your previously used name, unless someone else has taken it.

  13. But Now I have the annoying WORDPRESS toolbar/dashboard at the top of the screen. I don’t care about wordpress.. I just wanna read MacDaily without it. How do you turn off the annoying WORDPRESS dashboard off?
    *Sheesh* Registering for the site is more annoying than it’s worth…

  14. I like the new look, cuz the other one was pretty dull and boring. I say you should move the comments box at the top of the page after the article. That way, we dont have to spend a long time scrolling down to comment. Just a heads up!

  15. The first time I looked, the font size was too small, as also noted by a few others, but after I registered, it seems to have increased and is more legible now. Was this updated, or was this me increasing the font size previously by command + and not returning to normal?

    Even line spacing seems to be better now, not too spaced out like before.

  16. A nice upgrade to MDN. The layout is cleaner, tidier. The pages load quicker. It feels like a nice spring clean.

    In terms of fonts and layout, I use the Stylish extension (in Firefox originally but now in Chrome) to specify my own fonts for the articles and comments. Works a treat 🙂

  17. Very displeased that all usernames got lost without notice and we were forced to register with WordPress. And now we have a silly WordPress banner at the top.

    Apart from that, looking good, MDN!

    1. They’re not lost . They are still available as display screen names – edit your profile and choose your old screen name – it is filed with your email address somewhere in WordPress …

  18. Congratulations on the new site and on choosing one of the greatest CMSs available. I hope you’re as pleased with WP as I and my colleagues have been.

    As a WP user (on my Mac OS X Server, naturally), I’d be really interested in the MDN list of plug-ins (we’re talking open-source, after all). Do you have any reason NOT to publish that list? (Maybe on a static WP page?) It would publicise plug-ins you believe to be useful, thereby helping improve ‘WP ecosphere.’

    For example, a transport blog I host uses a font size PI (WP-chgFontSize) and a mobile device PI (WPtouch). I’m always interested in knowing if there are better ways to achieve the same. In the case of the WPtouch, it allows visitors to swap between the desktop and mobile versions of the site by clicking on a link. I don’t see any similar link on the MDN site, which is a surprise. Likewise, what back-end PIs do you like/use, for things like statistics, etc.; have you found any good calendaring PIs for things like your iCal’d postings? Enquiring minds want to improve their own blogs. 😉

    Even a list of the functions of the plug-ins you decided to use/investigate (in easy-to-use WP Extend search terms, of course) would be helpful to other Mac and WP server admins.

    Just thinking out loud…. 😉

    Congrats again on the new look and the speed improvements. 😀

  19. spade, yes, it was pretty obvious that I was referring to the headline font. But some people aren’t smart enough to understand simple things, as they’re so much in a hurry to defend their love.

  20. There should be no email required for posting a comment.

    I have no desire to be spammed just so MDN can make a few more bucks selling it.

    No one needs to know any of my personal info, just for the ‘privilege’ of making a comment on a site for Apple news.

    :coolfrown:

  21. Looks good. I don’t mind losing the name dd as my new name is now my blogging name on WordPress. Dare I say it — MDN is an inspiration to my writing. Pointing out the flaws and faults of analysts who would rather bash Apple for page hits than actually writing well-formed opinions. I don’t mind that some of these guys prefer other companies, but there’s no need to lie about Apple in an attempt to inflate your own position.

    Taking them to task… 😀

  22. I have to say: as someone who reads this site almost exclusively on the iPhone, this is a vast improvement.

    Minor things easily fixed:
    1) The ad at the top is chopped off on the right.
    2) your radio buttons for opting into notifications have some debris in the top corners. Clean it up so the look perfectly round
    3) please please please change the color of the MDN Takes’s font to clearly differentiate it from the body copy. This issue should not have carried over from the previous design.
    4) make this text entry field separately scrollable or dynamically sized to accommodate larger entries.

    Really good work overall

  23. No explanations for asterisks next to Name & Mail fields in comments section
    Skip to comments link does not take you to comments.
    Failed to publish my previous comment as it will probably fail to publish this one.
    This is supposed to be an improvement?

  24. Issues noted above occurred when using Mobile version with iPhone Safari. Another problem with Mobile version: only first page of comments is displayed with no “newer comments” link available. That’s why I thought my comments didn’t get published. I couldn’t view them until I turned off the Mobile version. Overall a surprisingly inept implementation of a site whose editors I respect.

  25. I’d like to see “Older Comments” and “Newer Comments” links at the top of the page as well. Even “first page” and “last page” links added would be helpful as well. Sometimes I just want to get where I’m going. My 2¢! 🙂

  26. Very nice! It looks a bit better and loads MUCH faster on the Windblows machine I’m relegated to at work. Even using Safari on Windows, pulling up the old site was an excuse to go get some coffee and see if it loaded by the time I got back. This is much, much snappier

  27. MUCH better MDN! digging it.
    Loads so shnappee™ after all these years!
    All you clueless fontards…if you don’t like san serif then go to your browser appearance settings and change it.

  28. With adblock and the new fonts, this new design is almost OK.
    The frickin wordpress registration is a royal pain in the ass, however.

    Goodbye happy chaotic internet, hello regulated, rectal-exam, passwords for meaningless news sites, fascist world.

    Annoying because its all so UNNECESSARY.

    1. It looks like I was able to change my display name to what it should be…

      Although I’m glad to have my identity back, I can also see a huge potential for trolls to spoof other posters.

  29. Fonts? Hum? In my iPad/Safari I have Times. On my MBP with Safari I have a non-serif font which isn’t lucida or arial. I say that because if it were lucida or arial it would display as that on my iPad. It must be a downloadable font. I like the look of that.

    Good going MDN.

  30. Some comments:

    1) Main text font should be larger (Lucida is fine, it’s just a tic too smal to comfortable reading).
    2) Headlines look weak — bold them.
    3) “www.macdailynews.com” instead of just “macdailynews.com” takes one to a crappy old corpse of the page with messed up layout.

  31. Ok this was posted at 9 PM Feb 9th…

    And it is well over 12 hours later– What no news on the 10th?

    Just saying–You revamped the site– some good some not so good.

    Now on with the news, eh?

    1. MDN use ‘floating posts’ from time to time in order that they remain at the top of the list. This is so that people will read them first. THIS is a floating post. Read just below it on the home page and you’ll find LOTS of new news for the 10th, and ongoing…

  32. Interesting. Some registered names show up as blue links and some are simply black followed by the “dot” signifying registration.

    Are the names that show up in blue associated with blogs?

  33. Worst part is “Newer Comments” or “Older Comments”—Oh, that’s REALLY useful *sarcasm.*
    The page numbers that USED to be available at the top and bottom are sadly missed. One could remember a specific page a post was on, or quickly tell the scope of how many pages the topic’s responses ran for an article (giving an idea of how hot the topic was). Page numbers are far more useful for that or when going back to find someone’s post. These 2 ambiguous options just don’t cut it. I think that’s my #1 gripe, the rest I can live with. It has a few plusses, like replies under the posts.

  34. I like the new look, but really miss the really miss the title change to red after I’ve opened the article. The slightly different blue is ok, but the difference is not big enough to quickly review what I’ve read and what I have not read. Please put the red back.

  35. for the most part, I don’t get it.

    why restrict your layout to 800×600 or 1024×768 monitors? the site still feels dated to me. quicker, yes. thank you. but compared to many other sites out there, you’re a single strip down the middle of my browser window with tons of white space on either side.

    make the leap – go to a new layout.., one not limited by decade old hardware/layout designs. there is no ‘ease of transition’ required. don’t worry MDN, we’ll all adapt as long as the content is good.

  36. Really nice update, looks a lot cleaner. A few little design issues here and there (need a bit of space between the Apple Store ads and the Comments header, things like that), but all in all, really good.

    This is how most website updates should be done: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, just give it a fresh lick of paint instead.

  37. Too much flash crap… Im all for ads, but can’t you clean them up a bit. Your site is becoming Times Square, and scrolling up and down on my macbook air is totally sketchy at best. You are better than this MacDailyNews.

  38. I like the design and functionality, but I really wish MDN would dump the giant list of Apple links. It takes up so much real estate and for what? Does anyone reading MDN suddenly think “Oh yeah I need to buy a 17-inch MacBook Pro — thank god there’s a link here!”

    I’m all for affiliate links, but how about one nice-looking square ad above the poll? The whole site would look so much better without that giant block of blue links.

    PS: No idea how to log in on this site. Register links to creating a new blog? Lame.

  39. Anyone besides me unable to view the new site in Safari? I’ve managed to load the new page only twice and when I click an article I get a 404 page. Then the site reverts to the old site with only yesterday’s news. I’m using my phone to post.

  40. Oh, one thing I have noticed is that the website doesn’t seem to work with Top Sites in Safari anymore, y’know, the blue star thing that let’s you know when the site’s been updated. I find it very useful, so it would be nice if that was working again.

  41. A little bit more of a warning would have been nice on the iPad app. I lost rough two days worth Mac news, I though android and window had won and taken over the world. Never been so scared in my life.

  42. Not a bad effort, but when I read a topic, then hit the back button it takes me back to the top of the News, not back to where I was in the list of news items. WTF? l also want item’s I’ve already read to be listed in red colour the way it was before so I can see at a glance where I was up to and what I’ve already read.

    1. Quote: “l also want item’s I’ve already read to be listed in red colour the way it was before so I can see at a glance where I was up to and what I’ve already read.”

      Agreed. And this is very easily done with a handful of stylesheet changes by the site’s developer. Definitely low-hanging fruit, so perhaps this will happen sooner rather than later.

  43. Sorely miss the notifications from your app, please finish this ASAP!
    Here in Sweden your news feed start in the afternoon. Every plopp in my pocket brings my working day closer to its end 😉

  44. THIS SUCKS!!! Since when did wordpress have the right to steal my screen name from me? It’s not possible that every single one of us has has our unique screen names pre-registered on wordpress, so that mean when MDN switched, all the registered accounts were handed over to wordpress. Now those of us users who have been visiting MDN for YEARS are jacked. This pisses me off ROYAL!

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