For years we’ve stated that while those who didn’t participate in the research would have to pay for full access to the site, participants would receive this access for free. But only the free, participating option was available. Well, we’ve finally added the ability for people who don’t want to participate in the surveys to buy a non-participating membership. So… More →
Category: Site Changes
Site Changes
Continuing site usability improvements
The latest major change: the bottom half of the homepage now includes links to the brand pages, from which you can get to a page where all the site’s informaton for a specific model is either displayed or directly linked to. This should make it easier for people seeking information on a single model. As part of this change, “reviews”… More →
Free at last! TrueDelta gets a new host.
TrueDelta started out on your regular basic $4/month shared hosting plan. Then, in the spring of 2006, we moved to a VPS (Virtual Private Server) plan at Apollo Hosting. Apollo was selected based on a strong recommendation, and for the first year or so they were excellent. Support was 24/7, via toll-free phone or live chat. And little support was… More →
Vehicle list integration
A downside of adding pieces one by one to the TrueDelta site is that, as these accumulate, the whole can become disorganized. More than a few people have found the resulting site organization confusing and even frustrating. I’ve been working on the site organization. Among the changes: clicking on “Reliability” on the homepage now goes to the latest survey results rather than to… More →
My most and least favorite day of the month
Each month I send out an email asking people to check their list of cars for accuracy, and also with information about the latest improvements to the site. Invariably I receive a few dozen requests to be removed from the panel in response. Not many considering there are about 25,000 members. But still more than I care to see. The… More →
Back on track
We’re in the process of developing a number of new features for the site, with the making it more interesting, useful, and relevant while buying a car and–the big challenge–in between purchases. So when I first rolled out the “Why (Not) This Car?” survey in last month’s email, and 20,000+ members submitted only 136 reviews in the following two days,… More →
Leather, leather everywhere
When I first set up the pricing database, it distinguished only between partial leather and leather. But the database now includes all non-exotic luxury cars, and manufacturers have been adding more leather to their luxury car interiors. In the last year or so leather-upholstered instrument panels have become increasingly available in the segment. At a lower price point, first Mercedes… More →
Chrome…or not
It has irked me for some time that TrueDelta’s price comparison tool does not make finer distinctions in two areas: wheels and upholstery. So a few weeks ago I decided to undertake what I thought would be a minor task, and upgrade the features database to include finer distinctions in these areas and a few additional features that have only… More →
Serious mods: how common are they?
From time to time someone will suggest to me that TrueDelta’s results might be distorted by the popularity of vehicle modifications–mods–among forum members. After all, many people learn about TrueDelta’s research through my forum posts. In response, I’ve been planning to ask panel members about how much they’ve modified their cars, and adjust the analysis accordingly. The resulting questions were… More →
Site design tweaks
People tell me the site could be easier to use. A more thorough redesign is coming, but in the short term I’ve made some tweaks, and they seem to be helping. 1. Reduced wordcount on the home page and the main reliability page. 2. Removed some extraneous design elements. 3. Placed text about the on-site surveys below the log in, so… More →