New site design: Post all feedback here

[Jspear]

This new banner is poorly designed IMO.

It simply looks bad! It's awkward. Also why are there old articles right on the front. I thought this is where the new news articles were suppose to go. You've got "Team sky hit by punctures in Dubai" and several others...one of them written back in 2012. I dunno just seems kinda odd having the old articles right in the front even if they are "related" to the article in big bold letters.

 

[Afrank]

Its an interesting new design, I'm willing to give it a chance.

The Don't miss column I'm not sure is necessary and removal of it I think would lead to a less cluttered look.

The new photo galleries look good though. And we can finally link to the photos! Its annoying having to take screenshots of them for re-posting here like it had to be done with the old site.

 

[gustienordic]

I don't like that Forum isn't one of the main options. I want to just be able to click it instead of having to a hovering menu thing.

 

[timmers]

We do support a lot of browsers but there could well be some that we missed - we'll investigate that.

The site is now adaptive so there's only one version. All the content is the same as before.

We will be looking at reader feedback as well as the data we're getting to see how we can improve things as we go. It's certainly not done and dusted.

Well the content may be the same but the layout on laptop is a disaster. Bring back the old site!

 

[OffTheBackAdam]

I thought that the Forumsection had gone.

 

[Toaster]

Well, the orig. cyclingnews.com page was still the best. Fast loading and straight to facts about cycling..boom within minutes you wear up to date whats going on in the world of cycling. Oh well the days are long gone. Now every thing has to be multimedia, etc. The web banner for commercials are not so much the problem.

Ok the new design, nothing crazy new, it?s ok.

I f I could make an suggestion to the news. I do like the news short, it reminds me a little bit of the orig. site. Would be cool to have the " daily digest" in this posting you get the quick facts about what?s going on BUT on that page hold back with pictures, and all the crap...just plain simple old text. For some that is all what they want. For more detailed reports, interviews etc. write an different news post

 

[lemon cheese cake]

The old toady on cycling news was fine, except that in wasn't updated that often. That meant sometimes cycling news wastwo weeks behind. If that was combined with most of the new Beta webpage then it would be fine.

When clicking login on the forum you dont go back to the forum and have to go to more then forums. Either get rid of the login button on the forums so you only can log in via the main website, or have the have it link back to the page of the forum you were on. A more advanced system could be asking you whether you want to sray on the website or go to the forum Once your logged in (if so make it standard even when you log in and dont want to stay on the website).

The photo galleries are much improved from the old ones.

 

[Gloin22]

Sorry but how is this user friendly on a web page ? ( mobile wise its fine but if this was just designed for mobile in mind.....well........)

Old design was more user friendly. Still course be worse I guess (transfermarket style)

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

incredibly busy, incredibly un-intuitive, and the article layout, reminds me of one of those sites you end up on when you click one of those "25 sexiest women in sport" ads..

Agreed on all counts. I will never understand the urge to unnecessarily complicate things. It was so nice to have all the races listed clearly on the homepage with the news items to the right of it. Simplicity itself and easy navigation.

 

[gregghoush]

Agreed on all counts. I will never understand the urge to unnecessarily complicate things. It was so nice to have all the races listed clearly on the homepage with the news items to the right of it. Simplicity itself and easy navigation.

100% agreed. Having the general news on one side, and all the races on the other with quick standard links to race information was amazing. It was the reason I visited Cyclingnews.

 

[TheGame]

Sorry but how is this user friendly on a web page ( mobile wise its fine but if this was just designed for mobile in mind.....well........)

Old design was more user friendly. Still course be worse I guess (transfermarket style)

it does look good on tablets and mobiles

looks appalling on desktop and laptop

But from a "commercial" point of view, i dont suppose CN will mind alienating their "desktop" customers as most of those customers have ad block and dont generate them any revenue.

The "mobile" customers on the other hand mostly dont have ad block after google removed all ad blockers from the play store, and apple arent too keen on them either

 

[mistahsinclair]

Clumsy with a poor layout

It's easy to criticize, but I'm going to anyway.

The layout and content on the main page is now lacking when compared to the original.

- Oversized serif fonts being used for titles are reminiscent of geocities and the sites of old, but that's easily fixed.
- Race related information is no longer visible at a glance (races are listed but no date is given...race history and startlists tell nothing of when it's actually happening)
- Cluttered multi-column layout on main page...uninspiring single columns (of useful information) on most other pages
- White space...dead space...and more white space

Whilst the white space isn't white, it's filled with advertisement, it's pretty off-putting. Today the majority of internet users run at resolutions above 1024x768 (I believe it's around 80% are wider than 1024 pixels wide) and personally I run 1920x1080 (not including second monitor).

When the ads to the left and right are removed there are 1000 pixels or so left in the middle for content, but about 20 pixels each side are still white...down to 960 wide. Remove the "Deal of the week" ads and fluff in the right column and we're down to about 630 pixels wide for displaying content.

For me that means I get less than 1/3 of the screen width in useful information. A little disappointing. Browser and resolution detection scripts are nothing new...using something like that could provide a better experience.

Reducing the width of the browser window I use, to about half the width of the screen, eliminates a lot of ads...still looks harsh though.

Oh well.

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

100% agreed. Having the general news on one side, and all the races on the other with quick standard links to race information was amazing. It was the reason I visited Cyclingnews.

As soon as I logged on and saw the new format, my very first thought was: "Where can I now go to get information as easily as I used to get it on this site?" Then I started searching around.

 

[Jspear]

As soon as I logged on and saw the new format, my very first thought was: "Where can I now go to get information as easily as I used to get it on this site?" Then I started searching around.

Cyclingquotes.com is a pretty good place. I'll probably start using them more for news. They also usually get their info about any certain topic quicker than CN.

 

[mewmewmew13]

can we go back to the layout and look of about 5 years ago?
That was swell

 

[EarnstMorrissey]

Agree with the criticism a few other posters have raised. when viewing the site on a large screen, I want to be able to see as much information as possible. Even on my mobile, I would use the desktop version of the site and zoom in to/tap on the part I wanted to read.

Fonts are too big, too much white space, everything is far too spread out vertically, I like the new title bar, but it could be smaller and less intrusive. Navigation is a pain, too much clicking and scrolling to find information.

I appreciate that some may like the new design, but it would be great to have a page with loads of race results and a column of news articles like there used to be.

At the moment, this is what I'm seeing on desktop at the width I normally use my browser:

A massive ad, 2 news articles, a link to 1 upcoming race, and 2 races that are in the distant future. No race results. If I make the browser wider, all I get is more ads. The new layout may work on devices that are normally used in portrait, but for laptops/desktops it's a real pain compared to the old layout.

 

[gregghoush]

.

Cyclingquotes.com is a pretty good place. I'll probably start using them more for news. They also usually get their info about any certain topic quicker than CN.

I had never visited Cyclingquotes.com, now that I have I think it will have to replace Cyclingnews.com until CN figures out their huge mistake an reverts back to the working site design they had before this monstrosity.

 

[Chris]

When clicking login on the forum you dont go back to the forum and have to go to more then forums. Either get rid of the login button on the forums so you only can log in via the main website, or have the have it link back to the page of the forum you were on. A more advanced system could be asking you whether you want to sray on the website or go to the forum Once your logged in (if so make it standard even when you log in and dont want to stay on the website).

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. We've actually got something due in the next week or so to fix this, so you'll be able to login on any page without being redirected or any of that nonsense.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

We're a new development team working on the website and were given this design (which was already being served to mobile users already) to look at around December time.

We've been making changes to it and will continue making changes to it until we've got the design and functionality somewhere you guys and we are happy with.

Some valid feedback here - for instance, having the races listed near the top of the page so you can see race information and news at a glance seems to be something a fair few people want back. This is something we can look at, so thank you for the feedback.

Please when giving feedback do give us some info on why you don't like it, if you don't indeed like it. Saying "It's crap! I hate it!" without feedback doesn't really help us make it any better. Thanks to those of you who have provided some helpful information within your criticism, it does help us a lot to know what you think.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Coppi42]

New Layout

Sighs.....It used to be so simple to what is going on in Cycling- could check Cycling Neww, TV for the evening and weather whilst the kettle boiled for the first cup of java. Now it creates headaches in an already complex world.

Most of the criticism is already in the above posts but here's my 10 cents worth.

There are no dates , category , etc etc on the forth coming race "headlines"
It is so long winded to get into the Forum - unless you recognize that MORE and 3 in Chinese means here is the Forum page.

As somebody once said "If it ain't broke don't fix it"

There you go.

John Andrews
Perth / Singapore

 

[Chris]

I don't like that Forum isn't one of the main options. I want to just be able to click it instead of having to a hovering menu thing.

This is now fixed.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[jens_attacks]

forums option there. all good now. perfect site!

 

[hoolaparara]

Why do so many websites want to make it hard to track what stuff you've read by overriding different colours for visited links?

 

[Jeff]

Why do so many websites want to make it hard to track what stuff you've read by overriding different colours for visited links?

We're changing that

 

[chiocciolis_calves]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

We're a new development team working on the website and were given this design (which was already being served to mobile users already) to look at around December time.

We've been making changes to it and will continue making changes to it until we've got the design and functionality somewhere you guys and we are happy with.

Some valid feedback here - for instance, having the races listed near the top of the page so you can see race information and news at a glance seems to be something a fair few people want back. This is something we can look at, so thank you for the feedback.

Please when giving feedback do give us some info on why you don't like it, if you don't indeed like it. Saying "It's crap! I hate it!" without feedback doesn't really help us make it any better. Thanks to those of you who have provided some helpful information within your criticism, it does help us a lot to know what you think.

Thanks,

Chris

THis is going to sound snarky, but there is no other way for me to put it: is there a customer base that values aesthetics and more cumbersome navigation over easy/intuitive navigation? I don't know how else to express it. This seems to be the trend with website overhauls these days. Afterwards, there are people like me who complain about how much more difficult it is to navigate, but then there appear to be a group of people who like this kind of redesign. Were there readers who complained about not enough images or that the site wasn't attractive enough, or complained about being able to get race results and news shorts all on the front page? I'm at a loss to understand how people like this think, but I'm trying to understand?