The Meta-Press.es v1.7.1 has just been validated by Mozilla and will arrives in the web browsers of its users in the next hours (but you can still uninstall and re-install it to get the update sooner ^_^ or if you encounter a problem with scheduled searches :-/).
This new version brings a lot of under the surface things (like the automated test of sources, at last, acceleration of some treatments…), fix of dozens of sources (consequently), but most of all ergonomic improvements :
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the main interface is now more sober
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a welcome page has been added, which opens up only after the installation and tells the user to click on the button in the toolbar
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the source creation feature is now separated from the regular settings in its own page
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the headlines (now news) have a better presentation (border, width…)
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better presentation also for the results, especially with images and/or long texts
The screenshots have been updated accordingly here : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/meta-press-es/
Moreover, the communication efforts of the last months are fruitful with more than 500 downloads within 90 days and a recent record of 690 users in 24h. This last statistic may be surprising while compared with the ciphers announced last year, but Mozilla changed its way count users this summer [1] and rewrote the history of statistics of Meta-Press.es, cutting it by a half (ouch !). So we will soon reach 800 daily users, again, and it’s just a beginning.
Most of the ergonomic improvements bring by this new version are in fact due to feedback from the members of the 3 associations which where represented during the video-presentation of Meta-Press.es organized last week by the Rochelug association.
Ten persons were connected and I met different profiles : retired users, web developers, researchers and even an university librarian ! Talks were constructives et already turn into new lines of code in this new version.
Don’t forget the live presentation of Meta-Press.es next sat. 10th of april.
To finish, don’t hesitate to test Meta-Press.es again, to talk about it around you and to financially support it if you can.