Spymac version 3.0 public beta was launched today offering m...

[MacBytes]

Category: Mac Websites
Link: Spymac version 3.0 public beta was launched today offering maining free services such has member auctions, 250MB image gallery hosting, free weblogging tools, and 100MB Web Hosting. (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20040117005403)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[mac15]

pretty amazing stuff, its run off 42 highend dual CPU servers. Who won the lotto or what :)

[irmongoose]

Something tells me the number 42 wasn't picked by random... :D

But, damn, 42 servers! The stuff they're offering is pretty nice... but something tells me they're not going to get the popularity they hope to achieve.



irmongoose

[Shifty]

No womder they took so long. There are some pretty damn nice features.

Fourms, Gallery, eMail, Auctioning, WebHosting.

This is some serious business.

[dukemeiser]

These look like really cool features. It's iTools reborn! But the crazy part is, most of it is free!

How in the world can they do that? Advertising surely doesn't pay that much. Apple found out that offering a bunch of web services for free wasn't a very good business model; hence .Mac. Is it just a Mac addict giving back to the community?

Either way, it looks like I will be visiting spymac more often. :D

[Shifty]

Spymac.com will make its money via the Auctions, which will be set up soon.

No need for eBay, lol.

[KingJobs]

Originally posted by Shifty
Spymac.com will make its money via the Auctions, which will be set up soon.

No need for eBay, lol.

Also you will be able to buy ad free versions of spymac and advance hosting + domain registration. So there is money there.

[angelrendon]

I already put up my blog, and their blog design is FANTASTIC!!!

[Sabenth]

Not bad not bad at all but i still think its weird oh well.. Come on arn can ya do better lol :)

[Megaquad]

I still find MacRumors far more informative and pleasant_to use.
Graphics on Spymac are stunning, but they get in the way. Especially in image gallery.. all that pic rotations and random frames.

[Sir_Giggles]

SpyMac 3 is an image whore. Way too much of it. I'd wish they made it simplier and more streamlined, but they went in the opposite direction and made it clunky. Take for example their Forums homepage, you'd need to scroll 3-4 whole pages on a 20" cinema display to see all the most recent posts, when it could all be shown in just a pageful. To add insult to injury, they "conveniently" place a Back to Top icon right at the bottom. Thanks alot!

Too much monotoned graphics.

Too much of the spy theme. They've taken the whole spy-thingie a little too far, with all the hats and stuff (i counted *26 spymac Hats just on the home page! Some crazy ****, one or 2 would have been enough!) :(

*Does not include smiley hats in the Shoutbox.

[zoetropeuk]

I don't think the designer of the new site has been within 10 miles of a graphic design school. Fair enough, the designer's Photoshop skills are first class but the layout breaks every design rule I can think of.
The navigation of the site could be much simpler and streamlined, all of the buttons need to be the SAME size. The biggest tip I can give is use a GRID when laying out the site. None of the graphical elements align and it just makes the site seem way to busy. The navigation of the site shouldn't take priorioty over the content which is exactly what's happening now.

[kettle]

Originally posted by zoetropeuk
I don't think the designer of the new site has been within 10 miles of a graphic design school. Fair enough, the designer's Photoshop skills are first class but the layout breaks every design rule I can think of.

I think designers who don't go to design schools (I went to a design school) are better at coming up with better ideas.
That being said, I still don't think the spymac site is a success. My main problem is the scale of the interface, I'm on 1280x960 but lots of people are on 1024x768 max and dial up. Too big and too heavy for interface buttons.

[dukemeiser]

I'm on 56k dialup (usually only 26 kbps) and I think that Spymac loads pretty quickly.

[zim]

new release and already outdated. have they not heard of web standards? someone should send them a copy of zeldman's designing with web standards.

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by zim
new release and already outdated. have they not heard of web standards? someone should send them a copy of zeldman's designing with web standards.

I concur.

More forward-looking web design needs to start happening these days. We made sure that the new front page for MR is valid XHTML and CSS, for the parts we can control.

[isus]

i like the look of the new site, but i miss the little gallery previews at the bottom of the main page :(

[Shifty]

OK, I am a regular Spymac member, as I am a regular MacRumors member, and I would say, the design is very nice, but it is much blotted.

Although, the webmasters have decieded to remove the site navigation, or make it smaller.

However, I think the Spy theme is awesome. Most sites need a theme of some kind, and Spymac does have the perfect theme.


Luckily it is just a beta-testing.