Criticisms of the tracktion.com website

[Robert Randolph]

• Slow to load.
  - A lot of unnecessary graphical elements take time to load and offer basically no content.
  - Loading a page on my i7 and 50/50 connection takes between 4-7 seconds.
  - Takes quite a bit of unnecessary CPU on my system for a website. A bit strange for software that is so dependent on number crunching.
  -- Funny enough, I can get a medium-load project to have have issues quite easily by using the marketplace window to browse the rest of the website in Tracktion.
• Slow to browse. Pretty much the polar opposite of responsive web design.
  - It takes seconds (approximately 3 on my system!) to browse to a new sub-page. Compare that to most of the web where hitting page down gives me a full screen of new content in <20ms.
  -- It took me 34 seconds to browse the entire front page. That's just to get the content presented on my screen.
  - Information is scattered around. A critical example: the frontpage doesn't even have an obvious link to a demo.
  - Animated menus? You to wait for a menu animation to click a link.
  - There are menu links that do nothing. Workstations, Plugins, Virtual Instruments etc... Yet they highlight and are clickable.
  - Feature pages are scattered around. It takes quite a bit of time to actually find out what Tracktion can even do!
  -- Sometimes such info is a video, sometime's it's text. You never know, keeps you on your toes.
  - Back button doesn't take you back 'a page'.
• Hard on the eyes
  - The website alternates between dark on light, light on dark and in between. It is quite jarring to the eyes if you are in a low-light environment.
  - There are instances of dark on dark, light on light. Some sections are really difficult to read, and that's after having to sit and wait for animations.
  - Text on top of detailed images.
  -- Text on top of detailed moving images.
  - Page navigation buttons disappear on light backgrounds! (Look at the T7 page)
• 4567
  - There's 4 versions of the software on the website. I can't think of any software off the top of my head that clutters their page with information about 4 different major versions of their software.
  -- I understand why this is, but it's rather confusing to someone new to Tracktion.
  - Version 6 is referred to as the flagship product.
• Accessibility. This is the really big one for me. Tracktion aims to be easy to use yet offers one of the worst usability experiences of any software website I know of.
  - Scrolling is hijacked.
  -- This sucks for people that can't use their scroll wheel easily, like me.
  -- Annoying for people that don't use their scroll wheel naturally.
  -- No way to refer back to a page without waiting for a load/animation time!
  -- There is a social stigma attached to scroll hijacking. I know a good number of people that won't even browse a website, no matter the reason, if there's scroll hijacking.
  -- The scroll hijacking doesn't even work reliably. It appears to require a random number of clicks on my mouse to engage. Between 1 and 5. On my macbook pro, it's equally difficult to predict how much to move your fingers to move the page.
  - Page Up/Page Down do not work.
  - Arrow keys do not work.
  - Direct Navigation buttons on the right side are hidden by light backgrounds, which appear on the Tracktion 7 page.
  - Text on complex backgrounds is extremely difficult to read for people with various reading disorders.
  -- Significantly worse with moving backgrounds.
  - None of the text is selectable.
  -- Goodbye dictation and screen readers!
  -- Goodbye google!
  -- Goodbye people that like to (or need to!) select text while reading!
• Marketplace
  - Say I want to buy a non-TSC product... or even just browse it's marketplace page. I can't even figure out how to do this.
  -- Can you even do this?!
  - There's no way to actually browse products.
• Unsearchable
  - If I want information like... version differences, you can't google for it, or link to it or anything. You have to browse around, waiting on animations and not using your scroll wheel to find it.
• Missing information
  - Public release notes?
  - No top-level link to the blog.
  - The support button is there, but I (and I suspect most folks) look for support information in the navigation bar. Non-standard placement of a link for someone that is probably frustrated is not a good design decision.
• Mobile
  - ...

This is just a list off the top of my head. (I've now added some suggestions from other folks). Some of these things are major, like the accessibility issues and loading times.

I am posting this because it's been discussed off-topic in other threads. I want TSC to succeed and I feel that their website is doing them a huge disservice. Every single time I've linked someone to tracktion.com, the response has been poor.

Good luck guys.

[tatanka]

Absolutely agree.

Really love the Tracktion stuff. Had been with Tracktion from 2 on (with some breaks, then again with T5 and T 5).

Now thinking about upgrade to T 7 (or Mulab 7 where I still KNOW WHO that is and ever will be I am sure....).

One of the points that realy scares me off is all that marketing, website, included shop etc. shit.

It really p.... me off.

I understand that in case of marketing you have to be up-to-date in a way. But do you have to sell evrything that had MADE "TRACKTION" (for me and now I not not only for me) for this ??????

[aMUSEd]

• Accessibility. This is the really big one for me. Tracktion aims to be easy to use yet offers one of the worst usability experiences of any software website I know of.
  - Scrolling is hijacked.
  -- This sucks for people that can't use their scroll wheel easily, like me.
  -- Annoying for people that don't use their scroll wheel naturally.
  -- No way to refer back to a page without waiting for a load/animation time!
  -- There is a social stigma attached to scroll hijacking. I know a good number of people that won't even browse a website, no matter the reason, if there's scroll hijacking.
  -- The scroll hijacking doesn't even work reliably. It appears to require a random number of clicks on my mouse to engage. Between 1 and 5. On my macbook pro, it's equally difficult to predict how much to move your fingers to move the page.
  - Page Up/Page Down do not work.
  - Arrow keys do not work.
  - Direct Navigation buttons on the right side are hidden by light backgrounds, which appear on the Tracktion 7 page.
  - Text on complex backgrounds is extremely difficult to read for people with various reading disorders.
  -- Significantly worse with moving backgrounds.

Biggest issue from an accessibility POV is the fact that none of the text on the website is selectable or searchable - so impossible to use with screenreaders for the visually impaired. Given that a lot of it is also very faded against already tinted backgrounds and non resizable it's one of the least accessible websites I've come across. If it was a shop they would run fowl of Equality legislation, there are non enforced standards for web accessibility that websites should be adhering to:

https://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility

[Robert Randolph]

• Accessibility. This is the really big one for me. Tracktion aims to be easy to use yet offers one of the worst usability experiences of any software website I know of.
  - Scrolling is hijacked.
  -- This sucks for people that can't use their scroll wheel easily, like me.
  -- Annoying for people that don't use their scroll wheel naturally.
  -- No way to refer back to a page without waiting for a load/animation time!
  -- There is a social stigma attached to scroll hijacking. I know a good number of people that won't even browse a website, no matter the reason, if there's scroll hijacking.
  -- The scroll hijacking doesn't even work reliably. It appears to require a random number of clicks on my mouse to engage. Between 1 and 5. On my macbook pro, it's equally difficult to predict how much to move your fingers to move the page.
  - Page Up/Page Down do not work.
  - Arrow keys do not work.
  - Direct Navigation buttons on the right side are hidden by light backgrounds, which appear on the Tracktion 7 page.
  - Text on complex backgrounds is extremely difficult to read for people with various reading disorders.
  -- Significantly worse with moving backgrounds.

Biggest issue from an accessibility POV is the fact that none of the text on the website is selectable or searchable - so impossible to use with screenreaders for the visually impaired. Given that a lot of it is also very faded against already tinted backgrounds and non resizable it's one of the least accessible websites I've come across.

I sorta touched on that with the unsearchable section, but your point is excellent and should be explicitly mentioned.

Added to the OP. Thanks!

[klangbastler]

i have to agree to the overall statement!

making the website the same experience as the software - small footprint, fast, easy to find things with low hierarchies, ... - seems to be a good goal to achieve.

my main experience from day one with the website is, that i am running around and always need waaaay too long to find the stuff i need/want to know.
i have now 10 years of exprience in dealing with audiosoftware-manufacturers websites and the new tracktionwebsite is among the worst ...

still love the software! and will find my way of dealing with the site, but in a broader view, it really needs "simplicity"!

[klangbastler]

additional comment:
don't go for "stylishness" first!
at the bottom of it all, it should just work, easy and fast.
then apply some style, without deteriorating the browsing experience.

as always, just my 2 cents ...

[terminus_one]

Very much agree on the need for simplicity for their website…

As others have suggested, here's a radical idea: Tracktion, the DAW, employs a "powerful, single-screen" paradigm for "simplicity and immediacy" – maybe this same paradigm would help the website? It's still possible to make it sexy, polished and joyful – a bit like the DAW itself!

[pough]

It reminds me of the days when I was a web developer. A customer came to us and they'd brought a "consultant" with them who had the amazing idea of making a website that wasn't just the boring usual - it would be an experience. I used the analogy of a TV remote control that changed configurations every time you changed the channel. You want the controls to be consistent and the content to change. Anything else will drive people batty and they won't come back.

It's an exciting website with great visual spectacle. You don't want people to be tantalized but angry when their cursor is hovering over the "buy now" button.

[incubus]

Not surprisingly, I like it.

[Robert Randolph]

Not surprisingly, I like it.

Do you have any response to the points I listed?

[Kirneh Ness]

I find it awful as well. Goes very much against the power of simplicity Tracktion offers. The site is the opposite - the weakness of to much clutter.

Oh and the marketplace. Never go there from T7 - I learned that the hard way (crashed again and again). So I will never look back on that feature, and probably never see the marketplace ever again.

To avoid misunderstandings: I am a huge fan, and I have used, and still use for compatibility reasons, T2 since 2006. It is without doubt THE piece of software that has provided me with most joy ever.

[incubus]

Not surprisingly, I like it.

Do you have any response to the points I listed?

Why? Is that all this is about getting into a tit for tat?

It's cool you guys don't like it, I do. A lot of people haven't upgraded so that's why they don't get rid of the versions I'm guessing. I find it easy to navigate, I like shinny things.

If someone is going to complain about something with tracktion, it should documentation. That seems to be quite out of date and requires much digging to find simple answers.

[fedexnman]

It doesn't bother me either , I go to the website I download my update or purchase whatever. They fixed the problem of older releases missing in "my downloadable products" I had in my account after a couple of days of the T7 release etc etc .... So far we have website and color editor complaints , not to shabby really . I'm fine with the website and I hope they keep it the way it is and don't redo it for the the third or fourth time . To be honest Tracktion is great alternative to the now " missing in action " Producer version of StudioOne, an alternative to Reaper and all its drop down menus and GUI confusions , also Podium don't think they had a Mac version ? So ..... It's an affordable DAW .

[Robert Randolph]

Not surprisingly, I like it.

Do you have any response to the points I listed?

Why? Is that all this is about getting into a tit for tat?

I was sorta hoping for a mature discussion between folks that'd like to see TSC succeed.

A large portion of my criticisms have nothing to do with whether or not I like the website, but how poor the website functions for other people. The criticism extends well beyond whether or not I like the website, so responding with 'I like it' makes me wonder if you've actually considered what I wrote. With that in mind, I'll simplify my question to you.

Do you think these issues I listed are acceptable from the point of accessibility, new users or people looking for support?

[Robert Randolph]

It doesn't bother me either , I go to the website I download my update or purchase whatever.

If you were the only person using the website, that in itself would be a huge issue.

What about other classes of users or people visiting the website. How about their experience?