Our small but dedicated group of web developers are always hard at work, making sure things are running smoothly across the site. Admitedly, half their time is spent on details that may not be so obvious: performance and stability enhancements, security fixes and what not.
Since our last major update, when we upgraded TechSpot's community platform, a lot of extra work has been performed. The weeks following the community upgrade were spent polishing over two dozen features and smaller items that were part of this transition. Even to this day there are a few rough edges here and there, but rest assured we are on it.
Our downloads section has received a handful of upgrades. First and foremost, we have added similar downloads to many popular software entries in our database. For example, say you rely on Roboform to automate your web password management, but the most recent version is not running as well as it used to or you are seeking for an alternative to that program. We have now listed a handy list of similar programs for you to try.
Last year I was into that situation until I landed on Lastpass and haven't looked back ever since. The same could apply to your favorite (or not so much anymore) antivirus, image viewer or PDF creator. Look for the "Similar" tab on our download entries for useful and practical suggestions if that's what you're after.
Also in downloads, we have enabled a feature to sort programs by popularity (all-time and 1-week), so it's easier to track what programs are currently trending and discover what other users are downloading the most.
The handful of you using high-resolution, high-density pixel screens (a.k.a. Retina screens) on your laptop or tablet may have also noticed TechSpot's logo is now displaying a proper, high res version. No more jaggies or blurred vision in your high-res laptop or tablet.
Last but not least, we've made several adjustments to font sizes across the site and on the mobile version of TechSpot, which should improve readibility. Unfortunately it's taken us quite a while to bring the forum to the mobile site (natively) but we hope to launch that by the end of the year. Otherwise the mobile site is feature complete, meaning you can read all our content on a smartphone-optimized template that loads fast, and lets you log in and comment on news stories just like the full version.