Jeff Puthuff is one of our (mostly unsung) heroes: a TTAC commentator who made the leap to editor. Initially, Jeff made the jump as our resident proof reader, grammarian and style guru. Since then, he’s begun patrolling the comments section and helping us figure out how to take TTAC to the next level. This is the month that VerticalScope’s boffins will cull the cranky code created by NameMedia‘s Estonian customizers. In short, TTAC will return to a bog standard WordPress platform, with a few bells on. We will, of course, keep things nice and simple. And then adjust the site’s style and functionality according to your feedback. Meanwhile, Jeff has created a new way for you to access all TTAC reviews: click here for more direct access to our arsenal of democracy. Meanwhile redux, thought you might like to know that our stats are approaching those of the dead tree version of Car and Driver.
That rag claims a circulation (not all paid mind you) of 1.31 million. TTAC’s number of unique visits per month currently stands at 1,111,684. If you want to be churlish (as we so often are), our number of unique visitors clocks-in at 674,295. Since VerticalScope removed a bit of porno code embedded on our home page (I shit you not), our seach engine biz has taken off, accounting for 60.34 percent of the site’s traffic. In case you were wondering.
Even if you dismiss our stat mongering as spin, I’d like to point out that we produce the equivalent–at least in terms of word count—as a full issue of Car and Driver in one week. (You might say we’re more true to the magazine’s original spirit than they are, but I couldn’t possibly comment.) TTAC has two full-time employees. Car and Driver have more. Lots more.
]Of course, TTAC gets creamed by Car and Driver’s website, Edmunds, Autoblog and Jalopnik (amongst others). But hey, some milestones are worth celebrating. In this case, GM-style (i.e. prematurely). The longest journey and all that.
[I’m leaving all the errors in situ so you can see what I have to deal with . . . Love ya, Robert!–Jeff]
Car and Driver were good. I cant say that Id ever get a sub to them ever again.
R & T were only a bit better.. but because of the editorials by (cant remember his name) older guy lives in Wisc always talking about his Sprite / Cayman..
Each site TTAC, Autoblog, jalopnik, C & D / R & T has their own niche:
TTAC is the serious site to debate the most inane details.. ever to be known by mankind. Not to mention.. I personally learn more here.. than the U.S rags.
Jalop is a crazy fun site whereas Autoblog is my “half hr of cartoons.”
Edmunds.. is for shopping.
But I am so very happy a million people visit TTAC.
That’s fine and all, but I don’t get 27 pages of tirerack.com ads or “male enhancement” spots on TTAC.
Is that a pic of the Ford Nucleon? I always thought that was a cool concept when I was kid.
I find it hard to believe TTAC has less readers than C&D’s website- it sucks!
Really, for one of the big mags to have such a crappy website, well, I’d fire Csere. Oh wait, they did!
That’s fine and all, but I don’t get 27 pages of tirerack.com ads or “male enhancement” spots on TTAC.
Yeah. To really join the big leagues you are going to have to start promising readers “a more satisfying sexual experience.”
will TTAC ever get a new logo?
05gt :
will TTAC ever get a new logo?
PLEASE Don’t start that again!!
I want a “Print this” feature, please :-)
As much content as C/D per week?
Hell, that “GM tried to win me over” article was as long as an entire C/D just by itself.
Accords, a million don’t visit TTAC. 600,000+ visit TTAC.
(A big milestone, to be sure, but it says it right in Mr. Farago’s post that it’s a million *visits,* not *visitors.*)
RF said “Since VerticalScope removed a bit of porno code embedded on our home page ” and remembering those photos BS usually posts, I wanted to assure all of you that I am here to read the articles… (please let me know if you chuckled just a little).
especially GM info since that is where I work.
I’m very concerned about a “redesign”.
One of the reasons why I frequent TTAC is that it does not use assinine fonts and super-narrow columns. At Jalopnik I have no idea what am I supposed to read, as the navigation takes 2/3 of the site surface area and the rest is a bunch of bizzarre disargonized snippets with thumbnails.
In any case, please do not let a web designer anywhere near the site, go wild on the rest.
@superbadd75: Can’t say that that I’ve ever noticed male-enhancement ads (targeted advertising – wink, wink, nudge, nudge!), not that I pay much attention to the advertising. As a test, I clicked through a few pages, and I seem to get about 75% GM related ads, and a few for Mitisubishi Canada…
zaitcev :
August 17th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I’m very concerned about a “redesign”.
One of the reasons why I frequent TTAC is that it does not use assinine fonts and super-narrow columns. At Jalopnik I have no idea what am I supposed to read, as the navigation takes 2/3 of the site surface area and the rest is a bunch of bizzarre disargonized snippets with thumbnails.
In any case, please do not let a web designer anywhere near the site, go wild on the rest.
+1
Windswords: “the Ford Nucleon?”
Yup. Although, I am not sure that it was such a great idea.
I’ve been meaning to ask: What happened to the new logo idea? Did I miss something?
I don’t know what the hell is going on over at Jalopnik (and their sister sites) but I constantly get screen freezes over there making me put their site on my black list. Somebody ought to fire their code guru.
BTW, My replies to articles here are constantly getting marked as “spam”. WTF? I consider my writing skills exemplary. See? I even spelled “exemplary” correctly?
I enjoy your site. It’s easy to deal with, and the people here are civil. Your topics are serious while, at the same time, you people don’t seem to take yourselves too seriously. We’re talking about cars, for crying out loud, not the future of the free world (although that is sometimes discussed). Your language needs to be cleaned up a bit (I can tell that your mom never washed your mouth out with soap), but what the %#@* do I know?
Things to avoid please in the *new*new*new* page design:
– Flash video ads that take forever to load and slow down the whole page load.
– Gross violations of W3C standards for code
– I echo the dislike of narrow columns (that leave all that blank space down the sides for ads that aren’t there or are still loading …)
But keep:
– The RSS feed. Great for a quick look-see on the phone away from the desktop.
– The Attitude
How bout a color head shot of Dr. Winnifred Cutler, discover of pheromone 10x after shave supplement? In case our b and b have trouble getting dates.
Commando1:
I SECOND THAT!
I also write informative yet-stream-of-conscience thought process..
And I get tagged as SPAM!
What the heck..
I CANT EVEN EAT SPAM! (JEWISH) — OY gutahelemta!!!
When is TTAC going to have MILF* driven floor mat ads? That should be good for a few extra hits!!
*Original Milf or New Milf…either works..
TTAC will never aspire to Jalopnik or C&D standards until it learns the art of auditions and Honda ads.
PS: My sympathies to Jeff
“returning to a BOG standard Word Press platform?” Is that where the Elbonian code writers work?
Having the site be mobile friendly would be nice. There are several good plugins for WordPress that can handle that.
Please provide a way for me to find past comments I’ve written. At present, comments disappear when the associated article falls off the front page. The search feature is atrocious. It’s incongruous to call contributors “the best and brightest” while simultaneously banishing their thoughts (and those of your regular writers) to the digital ether by continuous churn.
Does this mean we’ll be getting a ‘mobile’ TTAC edition – that will work on my Blackberry – in addition to the regular website?
I echo the sentiment about keeping the redesign light. I’m not actually so sure what’s wrong with the current design, although I would approve of better search functionality, per the comment above.
I am curious though: how many registered users are there?
imag:
13,324.
Thanks!
I know it’s media and all, but that’s still a lot of people. I assume less than 5% actually post on a regular basis…
I still think you should have a tip jar, even if it does just pay for a round of… whatever it is you all drink there at TTAC galactic HQ.