When the new version of LinuxSecurity.com was launched on December 1st, we also asked our readers to "Tell us what you think." You have spoken, and we appreciate that! We received hundreds of comments & requests, and have been addressing a majority of them. We thought it was important to share some of the comments with you. While some were purely positive acknowledgements, others were thoughtful criticisms. We take every critique into account and address each as resources become available or when the criticism becomes the concern of many.

     

Because the number of responses, I have chosen to only a publish pseudo-random sample. I have divided them up into three categories which include formatting issues, Microsoft advertising, and other. Below each section, I respond to and address the concerns raised. As a regular reader of LinuxSecurity.com, you may also have concerns. Please submit them! LinuxSecurity.com belongs to the community, and we wish to serve it to the best of our ability.

General Formatting Issues

  • I got to see the preview of the new site and was impressed but today when it live, it looks horrible in firefox 1.0. FWIW, I did say I would accept cookies from https://linuxsecurity.com/ Keep up the good work.

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  • New site displays as a thin ribbon down the middle third of the screen using firefox Site is not better, at least not yet.

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  • Layout is terrible. Assumes a certain size screen and does not adjust for larger screen types. It is unusable as is

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  • hi there's a problem with the display of the main site in firefox 1.0.

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  • not sure if it is just me, but your CSS renders horribly in Firefox 1.0 on a Linux machine. Middle content column is only about 2 words wide.

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  • When in FireFox version, the website is displayed very small in width. Maybe bad table format. It's ok in Konqueror. You new top menu looks great, but when i put py screen on 800x640 the sub-menuitens cross the text "tell us what you think" ;). Again, check you table formatting. Other than that, i like youre new layout, but its a lot of work to make it work flawlesly.

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    After getting word of this problem, we were first unable to replicate it. Using several versions of Firefox, in Linux, Windows, and OS X, I was still unable to see any problem. A friend of mine also reported the problem and sent me a screenshot. Yes, it was confirmed. The site displayed as a thin column down the middle of the page. After reviewing the HTML, noticing several problems and making adjustments, it was fixed. I also verified with several others to make sure the changes resolved the entire problem.

    Microsoft Advertising

    • Good looking site, except for one thing.. I think it's a **REAL SHAME** (tm) for a Linux security site that I get webpages which are filled with (only!) Microsoft's "Get The Facts" ads placed all over them. I really think these ads are showed to the wrong people. Don't you ?? Besides, they're not even true as all so called "independant researches" were not so dependant. To be realistic : just like the pro-Linux ads are, but they are not shown. Not here anyway.

    • I would like to know why I connect to this site to look for information about linux security and I have to see Microsoft sponsored ads against linux....

    • I really have no need to be insulted by Microsoft ads for their "Get the lies" campaign. I guess you need to pay for the site somehow, but this will definitely discourage me from checking your site. It's a Linux related site, and this is a grave mistake. I think ads for online retailers would have been much more appropriate, especially given this time of year. I am shopping for gifts for my tech-savvy relatives, and ads for Tiger Direct, CompUSA, or Best Buy would have not only caught my eye, but would likely have led to a sale.

    • other than the micro$oft banners, the site looks great. keep up the good work.

    • Using firefox in linux your site is poorly formatted. Using my old install of mozilla I was able to see the correct format and the M$ ad at the bottom. Why is microsoft advertising on your site?

    • I am new here and while surfing around on the site, i became scared when i saw an ad by micro$oft. after all, is this website a linux comunity devoted one or not? i can't realize *that* company sponsoring anything in this comunity without *side interests*.

    Although we had Microsoft ads running several months before the release of the new LinuxSecurity.com, the launch seemed to spark a lot of comments. While most of our readers understand that advertising is necessary to ensure that the site continues to operate, others took offense when they first saw the ad. It also prompted us to release an official statement with regard to advertising:

    Dear LinuxSecurity.com visitors:

    We have received many inquiries from community members regarding the subjects of the advertising campaigns featured on LinuxSecurity.com. Many have expressed confusion as to why we would allow Linux competitors to advertise on our site and the answer is simple: we believe in freedom of choice. To restrict certain companies from being able to advertise on our site would stifle competition and censor freedom - two concepts that fly in the face of everything the open source community stands for. It is the responsibility of those involved with free software and freedom to make sure that Linux remains the choice because it's better, not because we somehow believe we can ignore the competition.

    Thank you for continuing to support LinuxSecurity.com and the revolutionary open source product that is Linux.

    Sincerely,
    The LinuxSecurity.com Staff

      Other Comments

    • good job changing the page design! congrats!

    • The colours of the new site are much nicer than the old ones - quite easy on the eye. It also seems quicker to access the page, less time waiting for downloads. Nice job!

    • great work guys, i really hope you keep it going!

    • Looks like you're using Mambo, though in a very subtle way. It would be nice to share a ref. to mambo and where the template came from. No one could mimic you unique look though! All the best !! Great Look

    • Firstly let me say that the first time I visited your page was the day before yesterday. I found a link to the URL below on Google and went directly there. Well, yesterday I could still access the how-to at. Stupid me, I didn't print it and now the link doesn't work. I even went through the links selecting resources on the main page then firewalls and how-tos and so on, found what I was looking for but the link takes me back to the main page. 

    • Overall a nice redesign and very professional presentation of the various subjects. However, the fonts used in the left-hand selection frame are painfully tiny and the pages are very difficult to read with the gray-on-gray minimal contrast scheme.

    • I love the new look.

    • Excellent site!

    • I didn't even know your site had newsletters. I'll definetly look into them now that I know. Perhaps you should occassionally do something to feature them?

    • nice new look ;)

    • Thanks for the feeds

    • Love the look of the new site! Just wanted to drop a line and congratulate you guys! Keep up the good work.
    • I'm pretty displeased that the links I've saved to great feature articles no longer work.

    • Could not get to Howto's

    • I have only heard about the site a coupleof hours ago, so I can´t do a deep evaluation, but it *certanly* looks promising and needed. Best of lucks.

    • Keep up the great work. Much appreciated.
       

      Everyone, thank you for the kind comments. To clear up any confusion, yes we are using Mambo to archive the content. The site templates were created in-house. We are continuing to make adjustments to make the template better. There has been some concern about the size of the font on the left-side menus, but I think many do not realize that the same content is available through the top-horizontal menu. However, if more complaints come in, we will make adjustments.

      One comment above mentions that the Bandwidth Limiting HOWTO URL is broken. This problem has been fixed. Another commented that their bookmarks to feature stories no longer work. This is unfortunately one of the tradeoffs we had to make when switching to a content management system. A full listing of features . You're bookmarks can be updated accordingly.

      We release two newsletters each week. Linux Advisory Watch contains a listing of the most recent vendor security advisories, and Linux Security Week outlines the most recent and relevant security news. Both newsletters are available in HTML and TXT format. .

      Another comment, our RDF feeds have been restored:

      static-content/linuxsecurity_advisories.xml
      static-content/linuxsecurity_articles.xml
      static-content/linuxsecurity_features.xml
      static-content/linuxsecurity_hybrid.xml

      Again, I wanted to extend the invitation for you to give us your comments. If you have already completed the form, or wish to respond to something that I've written here, you can reach me directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.