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New site design: Post all feedback here

bonnyc

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We are in the process of switching the site over to a new design. We're doing this slowly at the moment, so that we can respond to problems and fix them before the new site is fully launched.

For the next few weeks, people will gradually start being directed to the new site. While this is happening, we want to hear your feedback!

Please share any comments with us here, or if you'd like to comment privately, please use our feedback form.

- Bonny
 
The site looks great and I appreciate the new menu where I can access the forums directly.

The only thing is, and it may be that I still use a login and pw instead of social and am on an older mobile browser, but its still a pain to log in while on my phone.

Other than that, I think it's very well done.
 
Mar 31, 2009
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Thanks for your invitation to post here.

My suggestion was to put a link at the end of each article to a forum new thread. Thus, anyone who wants to discuss that article or read the comments made about that article's subject could easily locate and join in that day's discussion.

Nice to know so many liked my suggestion.
 
Jun 3, 2011
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Is there a view full site option on the mobile page?

I spend 99% of my time on mobile and consider it a real waste of time to scroll thru endless extraneous stuff and random adds to find what I came to the website for. I want to see it, isolate it, click it - done.

Velonews has a similar endless scroll mobile site which, unless I'm directed there by a link in a CN forum, I glance at once a week at best because it's tedious to sort thru.

So, full site option on mobile, please (unless I just haven't found it yet.)
 
TShame said:
Thanks for your invitation to post here.

My suggestion was to put a link at the end of each article to a forum new thread. Thus, anyone who wants to discuss that article or read the comments made about that article's subject could easily locate and join in that day's discussion.

Nice to know so many liked my suggestion.

I don't know if your referring to the new Beta version or the old mobile platform. The new mobile platform is not endless scroll like velonews and is designed very well. You shouldn't need to access the desktop site with the way the new site is setup. Also, I took a look around to see if it's even possible to access the desktop site from the mobile site like you could before and it doesn't look like you can.

Great job on the new mobile site CN!! :D:D:D
 
irondan said:
I don't know if your referring to the new Beta version or the old mobile platform. The new mobile platform is not endless scroll like velonews and is designed very well. You shouldn't need to access the desktop site with the way the new site is setup. Also, I took a look around to see if it's even possible to access the desktop site from the mobile site like you could before and it doesn't look like you can.

Great job on the new mobile site CN!! :D:D:D

I quoted the wrong post!! duh!:eek:
 
Tyre Byter said:
Is there a view full site option on the mobile page?

I spend 99% of my time on mobile and consider it a real waste of time to scroll thru endless extraneous stuff and random adds to find what I came to the website for. I want to see it, isolate it, click it - done.

Velonews has a similar endless scroll mobile site which, unless I'm directed there by a link in a CN forum, I glance at once a week at best because it's tedious to sort thru.

So, full site option on mobile, please (unless I just haven't found it yet.)

I don't know if your referring to the new Beta version or the old mobile platform. The new mobile platform is not endless scroll like velonews and is designed very well. You shouldn't need to access the desktop site with the way the new site is setup. Also, I took a look around to see if it's even possible to access the desktop site from the mobile site like you could before and it doesn't look like you can.

Great job on the new mobile site CN!! :D:D:D
 
Dec 7, 2010
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OK, it seems that we're only talking about the mobile platform so far, correct?

Today was the first day that I noticed the new layout when viewing from my phone.

It looks like a nice, clean design, but a few things jumped out right away.

When clicking on a feature article, the first thing that seems to appear are links to other related articles (presumably older ones?). These same links will usually appear at the END of an article, which makes perfect sense. But there is no reason to start an article with links to other related articles from the past—unless you're trying to make it more difficult to simply read the most recent article (the one that was selected from the main page to begin with).

Then I noticed the red, floating "feedback" button, which I clicked on because, much to my dismay, the photo galleries still aren't function correctly (if at all).

When clicking on a thumbnail, that image then has a yellow border around it to indicate that it has been selected. But then nothing happens. Nothing. The main image remains the same. I can click and select any number of thumbnails (and their border then becomes highlighted in yellow), but the larger image above never changes to that image. So, once again, the CN photo gallery is completely useless.

I'm not meaning to be excessively rude about this, but I, as well as others, have raised the specific issues of failed photo galleries for some time now. If that feature doesn't become functional, then seriously, don't bother with anything else. Just call it day. Sorry for being so blunt, but it is nearly 2015.

I tried to report this using the feedback option available, but that was proving to be too time consuming. It didn't seem to allow me to type in horizontal mode on my phone (iphone5), only in vertical mode—which makes typing much more cumbersome. So here I am.

Re: The Feedback function

Ugghh...the process needs to be simplified.

This is what I encounter:

What type of feedback do you want to give about cyclingnews.com?

Select one option:

A Feedback about the new site design

B Complaint

C Praise or positive feedback

D Technical problems or Bug

Who designed those options? :confused:
Seriously? Those couldn't be condensed to two, at the most?

Next window:
Please tell us about your feedback.

If you have a problem with the site, please tell us what device you're using so we can replicate it.

As to the opening sentence there: Was that translated from another language?

So what is you're looking for here? The type of device I'm using, as well as my "feedback"?

Because the next options are:

If you would like us to respond directly to your feedback, please leave your email (optional).

Next:
How satisfied are you with cycling news.com?
Lastly:
How likely is it that you would recommend cyclingnews.com to a friend or colleague?

After which I am presented with a "Submit" button.


Look, I was simply trying to inform you that the photo galleries are still not functioning. That was it. But now I've wasted way more time on this than I had ever intended.


So...good luck?
 
Things that do not work too well in my opinion (some points already raised by Granville57):

- featured articles (Today on CN) - is it really necessary to have them on top of the page? I would prefer just a list of news articles, results, etc., from which I choose what I want to read. It makes sense to include this section on the normal main page but for small mobile displays this seems to me as waste of space (and doubtful if these are really articles your readers look for with their mobiles - I mean, videos?)

- links to related articles - usually they are quite old articles so it does not make much sense to dedicate to them prescious space on top of the front page - should be enough if links to them are provided on the sub-page of the respective featured article

- floating "feedback" button - not really needed to have it on screen every time

- floating main banner - on my mobile it occupies 20% of the screen height; I would prefer to have those 20% available for the content, and if I need the menu included in the banner (? - if it is a menu, it does not work for me - if I click on it, it acts as if transparent and I select what is behind it), I would simply scroll to the top of the page to reach it - again, waste of display space

- it seems as if the front page is now "longer" and includes much more pictures and other content than the previous design - this is quite inconvenient as this means that it takes more time to download and display first few pictures, which are usually the most important articles for the reader. Would it perhaps be possible to somehow limit the number of items displayed on the front page? E.g., 6 articles (with big pictures) per Don't miss, Features and Tech section seems quite a lot to me.

- headlines of the sections (e.g. Latest News) do not include link to that sub-page. It would make sense if you could get to the News by clicking on the headline

So much my first impressions...
 
Jun 15, 2013
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Readers' comments

Why are there no longer any comments following articles on cyclingnews.com?
I miss all the exchanges/banter between the posters.
 
Dec 17, 2014
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Granville57 said:
Then I noticed the red, floating "feedback" button, which I clicked on because, much to my dismay, the photo galleries still aren't function correctly (if at all).

When clicking on a thumbnail, that image then has a yellow border around it to indicate that it has been selected. But then nothing happens. Nothing. The main image remains the same. I can click and select any number of thumbnails (and their border then becomes highlighted in yellow), but the larger image above never changes to that image. So, once again, the CN photo gallery is completely useless.

I'm not meaning to be excessively rude about this, but I, as well as others, have raised the specific issues of failed photo galleries for some time now. If that feature doesn't become functional, then seriously, don't bother with anything else. Just call it day. Sorry for being so blunt, but it is nearly 2015.

I tried to report this using the feedback option available, but that was proving to be too time consuming. It didn't seem to allow me to type in horizontal mode on my phone (iphone5), only in vertical mode—which makes typing much more cumbersome. So here I am.

Re: The Feedback function

Ugghh...the process needs to be simplified.

Look, I was simply trying to inform you that the photo galleries are still not functioning. That was it. But now I've wasted way more time on this than I had ever intended.


So...good luck?

Thanks for the feedback. I'll answer the points in order if I may.

The issue with the image thumbnails not actually switching images is one we're working on fixing now. It's a pretty simple fix, so we hope to get that sorted quickly (bearing in mind Christmas shenanigans) In the mean time, if you swipe the main image to the left or right you can scroll through the rest of images shown in the thumbnails.

Thanks for the Feedback feedback (for want of a better phrase :D). We've talked about simplifying this and making it easier to use. I wasn't aware of the issue with typing in landscape, so I've noted that down as a future fix as well so thank you for letting us know. One of my jobs over the coming months is testing the usability of the site, which includes me applying a heavy dose of grammar pedantry so that everything reads well.
 
Dec 17, 2014
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PeterB said:
Things that do not work too well in my opinion (some points already raised by Granville57):

- featured articles (Today on CN) - is it really necessary to have them on top of the page? I would prefer just a list of news articles, results, etc., from which I choose what I want to read. It makes sense to include this section on the normal main page but for small mobile displays this seems to me as waste of space (and doubtful if these are really articles your readers look for with their mobiles - I mean, videos?)

- links to related articles - usually they are quite old articles so it does not make much sense to dedicate to them prescious space on top of the front page - should be enough if links to them are provided on the sub-page of the respective featured article

- floating "feedback" button - not really needed to have it on screen every time

- floating main banner - on my mobile it occupies 20% of the screen height; I would prefer to have those 20% available for the content, and if I need the menu included in the banner (? - if it is a menu, it does not work for me - if I click on it, it acts as if transparent and I select what is behind it), I would simply scroll to the top of the page to reach it - again, waste of display space

- it seems as if the front page is now "longer" and includes much more pictures and other content than the previous design - this is quite inconvenient as this means that it takes more time to download and display first few pictures, which are usually the most important articles for the reader. Would it perhaps be possible to somehow limit the number of items displayed on the front page? E.g., 6 articles (with big pictures) per Don't miss, Features and Tech section seems quite a lot to me.

- headlines of the sections (e.g. Latest News) do not include link to that sub-page. It would make sense if you could get to the News by clicking on the headline

So much my first impressions...

Thanks for your comments. I'll try and respond to the more technical ones for now if that's OK:

Regarding the floating Feedback button, it may well be that we only keep this for the beta period in order to allow easy feedback for people using the site for the first time. Once we've got things ironed out we could tuck it away somewhere a little less prominent.

With regards to the floating main banner, it should be usable even when scrolled down the page. It's an issue which impacts a few menus/pages across the site so it should be fixed along with that general fix.

With regards to the image loading time, we aim to keep the images really small (we're talking ~40kb per image). How long is it taking the page to load for you? Would you mind letting us know which type of device you're using to load the site primarily, as well as whether this is over WiFi or 3G/4G? The more info we can get the easier I can try loading it whilst wearing your metaphorical shoes. :)
 
Dec 17, 2014
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JohnLower said:
Why are there no longer any comments following articles on cyclingnews.com?
I miss all the exchanges/banter between the posters.

Hi John. We had to disable the commenting software as it had been hacked - we're looking at ways to re-enable some form of commenting without opening it up to exploitation from external parties.
 
ChrisIM said:
With regards to the image loading time, we aim to keep the images really small (we're talking ~40kb per image). How long is it taking the page to load for you? Would you mind letting us know which type of device you're using to load the site primarily, as well as whether this is over WiFi or 3G/4G? The more info we can get the easier I can try loading it whilst wearing your metaphorical shoes. :)

My mobile internet access is with Android phone over 3G/4G - at various speeds depending on my location and provider's coverage. The time itself is not that significant - we talk about seconds at most, say up to 5s. But it is inconvenient if you know that you keep waiting due to content on the page which is being downloaded, but in which you know you are not interested (and I think you can say in general that overwhelming majority of mobile readers will not be interested in most of the articles which are displayed at the bottom part of the page).
Another aspect is the volume of data, if this is for any reason limited for you. According to My Data Manager app, opening the main page "costs" 2.3 MB of data. That's quite a lot in my opinion, and definitely much more than it was with previous site design...
 
Dec 7, 2010
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It would appear so.

At first glance, I would have to say that ANYTHING beyond the previous clutter-fest that was the CN homepage would be an improvement, and this is an improvement.

So right away I just HAD to find a photo gallery.

Ummm, not quite ready for prime time though.

The four-way arrow thingy that seems to imply "full screen" only makes the picture slightly larger, so I'm not really understanding the point of it.

When using the left-right arrows to scroll through the pics (I was viewing the Japanese Kerin photos) I would occasionally be met with a blank space, with the words "paid advertisement." Well, I hope they weren't paying too much, because I couldn't see anything representing and ad (or anything at all, for that matter).

But really, that is not the place for forced advertisement. If the the photo galleries are going to be littered with ads, that I won't bother scrolling through them.

I understand the economics of it all, but really, it's a huge turn off. Find another way. Put the ads somewhere else, but not within the photo galleries themselves.

OK, that was my takeaway from just a few seconds of wandering.

Things seem to be moving forward, but for god's sake, make the photo galleries a priority. Please? :)


[Viewing on a Mac using Safari]
 

Daniel Benson

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Mar 2, 2009
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Hi Granville,

First off, happy holidays and thanks for taking the time to post more feedback.

We set the new version of the site live for a very small percentage on desktop before closing the offices until Jan - in the region of around 1-2 per cent. So what you're seeing is the latest work carried out.

I agree with you - although perhaps in not such blunt terms - that the new design is an improvement on the current site and there's a lot of hard work and thought from the dev/editorial/design team in terms of how we can improve the user experience.

We're already aware of a few bugs and changes that we'll need to make in the new year but I agree with you on the galleries, 100 per cent in fact. The plan is to improve them in the coming weeks and what we have now is a base from where we should be able to release changes and improvements in a quicker manner than before.

Let us know if you spot anything else that looks odd, doesnt work, or just needs explaining.

Dan
 
Dec 7, 2010
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Daniel Benson said:
Hi Granville,

First off, happy holidays and thanks for taking the time to post more feedback.

Happy holidays to you as well. :)

I just can't believe you were signed in here on Christmas morning. :eek:

Daniel Benson said:
We set the new version of the site live for a very small percentage on desktop before closing the offices until Jan - in the region of around 1-2 per cent. So what you're seeing is the latest work carried out.
Interesting, because what I now see is the old, "original" version. I'm just curious as to how you turn that on/off, or only make it available to a small percentage of users.

As soon as it's available again for viewing, I'll gladly offer suggestions for improvements, and perhaps in a more delicate manner. :D
 
Dec 7, 2010
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I see the new Beta version of the homepage is once again up and running.

It looks quite nice.

I like the color contrast, and the overall clean look of it.

I'd comment further, but it's New Year's Eve. :)


So...

Happy New Year everyone!


new_year_karl1_06_h.gif
 
Mar 16, 2009
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I had the new design for a few hours this morning. it's not immediately offensive so that's a good thing. seemed to be a lot of empty space even with ad block turned off. all the purple is wearing a bit thin.
 
Feb 12, 2010
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Mobile Website

I find the mobile version almost unusable on an Iphone 5/Safari:

-The purple dropdown menu makes it impossible to view images in landscape
-Images do not display properly in portrait
-The "Related Articles" links are of absolutely no use, and by placing them at the top of the article instead of the bottom, do little but add confusion
-The endless "More Stages" list on the main page makes navigating to areas of interest ("Tech"; "Features") difficult
-"Don't Miss" links to stories several months old
-No discernable way to go back to desktop view

Truthfully, I prefer the old mobile site.
 
Mar 12, 2010
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_yngve_ said:
I find the mobile version almost unusable on an Iphone 5/Safari:

-The purple dropdown menu makes it impossible to view images in landscape
-Images do not display properly in portrait
-The "Related Articles" links are of absolutely no use, and by placing them at the top of the article instead of the bottom, do little but add confusion
-The endless "More Stages" list on the main page makes navigating to areas of interest ("Tech"; "Features") difficult
-"Don't Miss" links to stories several months old
-No discernable way to go back to desktop view

Truthfully, I prefer the old mobile site.

Pretty much the same on android using Dolphin
 
_yngve_ said:
I find the mobile version almost unusable on an Iphone 5/Safari:

-The purple dropdown menu makes it impossible to view images in landscape
-Images do not display properly in portrait
-The "Related Articles" links are of absolutely no use, and by placing them at the top of the article instead of the bottom, do little but add confusion
-The endless "More Stages" list on the main page makes navigating to areas of interest ("Tech"; "Features") difficult
-"Don't Miss" links to stories several months old
-No discernable way to go back to desktop view

Truthfully, I prefer the old mobile site.

really? On Android using Chrome it looks very good to me. No issues, everything easily accessible through the dropdown menu, and when viewing images in portrait mode the dropdown menu disappears after 2 seconds if you don't touch the screen.
 

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