Ever since the current site design went up a year ago there has been a space reserved for photos at the top of each Model Information page. Getting these photos has long been on my to-do list, but other things always seemed more critical. Well, in late May I finally got down to the task of finding the most appropriate… More →
Category: Site Changes
Site Changes
No, tilting the camera does not make the car look cool
The TrueDelta site has not been friendly to the visually oriented. In other words, it has lacked photos of the cars it provides information about. Well, I’m finally doing something about this. Beyond making the site prettier, photos should help those who haven’t a clue what the name of Kia’s minivan is (Sedona). Thumbnails will be attending the model selection… More →
Avoid decimals in reliability stats? Yes or no?
All along I’ve been planning to report repair rates per vehicle, rather than per 100. My reasoning is that doing the usual thing and reporting rates “per 100 vehicles” yields larger numbers that can give the impressions that repair rates are higher than they are. Sure, if people think through it they’ll realize that 62 repairs per 100 cars is… More →
May results, now with graphs!
The May results have now been posted. As with the earlier two sets of results, some results are official, while others are asterisked because the number of responses was low. The official May results include 33 models, up from 26 three months ago. This understates the increase, as this time I required 25 responses for the results to be official.… More →
Most popular price comparisons
I just updated the list of most popular price comparisons for the first time since January 1st. As before the list is based on the past 90 days. As in the past, the rankings remained surprisingly stable even though nearly four months have passed (I will try to update it more frequently going forward. I do update the “Top 6” on… More →
2008’s many new infotainment features: the implication for depreciation
The 2008 models are starting to arrive. I’ve driven two so far–the Dodge Avenger and the Ford Escape–and just uploaded pricing for these and five other early 2008s. The big news is that infotainment systems are gaining many new features. Satellite radio is a few years old now. OnStar is even older. Navigation and Bluetooth are now available in cars the… More →
Upgraded Fuel Economy Survey: commute length and remote start
Based on members’ suggestions, I have added two questions to the Fuel Economy Survey. One asks about the amount of time spent idling after a cold start, the other asks about the distance driven between cold starts. I was initially reluctant to lengthen the survey, because the shorter it is the more people will participate. However, some research found that both members’ cases… More →
Improving usability
Many people continue to find the site difficult to use. So based on one member’s advice (with which the site’s designer concurred) I read Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, a classic in the website usability genre. It’s a quick read, and I picked up some useful tips. I’ve spent the last couple of days improving the organization of the… More →
The view from where I sit
Every time I send out an email, a few people unsubscribe. When you have nearly 9,000 members, I suppose it’s bound to happen. But I don’t have to like it. But what I really don’t like is the rare nasty email from a panel member. Such as the one I received yesterday. The subject line read simply, “Stop sending me… More →
Changes to the Vehicle Reliability Survey
In response to member feedback and continued learning on my part, beginning this month there will be a few tweaks to the Vehicle Reliability Survey Form. (The more extensive revision three months ago is discussed here.)