New site design

[Pilgaard]

I agree with the various people who has expressed their reservations about the new webdesign.
I am especially disappointed that I cannot (it might be due to my own incompetence) find stage profiles for various races. The content I am looking for here is indeed stage profiles, both for larger races like the Grand Tours as well as for races like Dauphine Libere and Tour de Suisse.
I am aware that the new look is an ongoing process, but I nevertheless think it should have the same accessibility as the old design, even from day one.

Hopefully it will be fixed rather soon - or perhaps it would be possible to get directions on how to find stage profiles et.al?

 

[stefan]

I agree with the various people who has expressed their reservations about the new webdesign.
I am especially disappointed that I cannot (it might be due to my own incompetence) find stage profiles for various races. The content I am looking for here is indeed stage profiles, both for larger races like the Grand Tours as well as for races like Dauphine Libere and Tour de Suisse.
I am aware that the new look is an ongoing process, but I nevertheless think it should have the same accessibility as the old design, even from day one.

Hopefully it will be fixed rather soon - or perhaps it would be possible to get directions on how to find stage profiles et.al.

Hi there Pilgaard - yes, the stage profiles and maps will be visible where you would expect them to be shortly. A bug has been identified that stopped this from working. Check back soon.

stefan

 

[Sal Paradise]

NEW site SUCKS

The New site design is crap, old site was MUCH better. It was simple, clean and way more informative.
Velonews may acutally be better which is quite sad to say,
as a cyclingnews.com fan from past please go back to old format.

cheers

 

[titan_90]

Content, rather than looks, is what brings people to a website, in my experience.

The content is now all over the place, cluttered with BS and is plain hard to get to. Before two clicks and I could read what I came for. Before if I haven't seen a race I could come to cyclingnews and read about other races or stage profiles of a race before I seen it without having the race ruined for me by spoilers. Plus when I viewed the results of a race I got complete results with no need to click 20 more times for complete results. Cyclingnews has been my homepage for years sadly it is no more.

I don't know if it's because you are in the UK or not but here in the US there is a saying "the customer is ALWAYS right".

 

[Columbus]

Result list - position not visible!

I can not see the position in the result list. The second digit is hidden under the riders name. What's wrong?

 

[NewWebSiteSucks]

gone daddy gone...

Hear, hear - thanks to whomever posted http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/, it's my new homepage - Ciao CyclingNews!

I've been a daily reader of this site since it was Bill's Cycling News (and that's quite some time ago!). To get easy access to race reports from events all over the world and COMPLETE results, I'm willing to put up with a lot. I was even willing to put up with Bill's ravings about obscure Australian political issues because he made it easy for me to access the cycling info I wanted.

But when you take away easy access to the things I want, I am no longer interested - no matter how slick and modern you make things.

This redesign was clearly launched long before it was ready. Things I want to see are either gone or far to hard too find to be worth the search. Maybe this will improve. We'll see.

Meanwhile, thanks to the person who suggested http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/

I'll be going there for my cycling news until this site makes it worth my time to return.

 

[SimJetlag]

I know it’s been said here already, and I don’t mean to repeat what other have said. But I must admit I felt compelled to express my dissatisfaction with the new look Cyclingnews.com. It’s seems a real shame to have moved away from what was in my mind the only INFORMATION web-site to a more “fluffy” site. Cyclingnews was my point of reference for all straight forward, unbiased information and complete results. Cyclingnews WAS the only website to have around the world complete results from races of all sizes and types; which was a very useful tool for following the world of cycling, rider progression and the development of the sport as well as the riders. I feel the new look lacks depth and straight information. It’s too “fluffy” and difficult to navigate (there are plenty of those sites already out there). It’s a shame to have lost the straight forward daily news in favor of endless links to single stories. I have to admit I will be reading a lot less with the new format. The site also seems a lot slower if trying to connect whilst traveling or on slow connections.

Just my thoughts.
In the hope of seeing the return of a “news” website.
All the best.

 

[ssjimbo]

You're right. After the TdF we'll take stock of traffic figures, and see what the difference in popularity will be.

Spoilers - I believe I covered that bit in another post.

Two questions. One, did the surveys indicate people wanted to see the winner of the stage on the home page?

Second, why does the end of the headline for the Tour de Suisse wrap around when it's clearly not so long that it needs to? This makes for a sloppy looking site.

 

[SimJetlag]

Hear, hear - thanks to whomever posted http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/, it's my new homepage - Ciao CyclingNews!

Here here! Interesting http://www.cyclesportnews.com
I will also be removing cyclingnews from my homepage, wouldn't want them to get too many hits.

 

[yeagermeister]

Spoilers - I believe I covered that bit in another post.

Yes, you said that BBC and CNN don't hide headline coverage. Not exactly a good comparison...

Here's how it would go...

Reporting on an election:

Candidate X now has 53% of the vote. No- scratch that! An attack has come from Candidate Y and he's putting the hammer down! Candidate Y now has a 2% lead and it's gaining!

Reporting on Berlusconi:

9:42am
It looks like he's got 7 mistresses now. This far exceeds all expectations, but with Big B, nothing's out of the realm of possibility.

9:47am
He's up to 9, and reports are in that one of them may be age 15!!! Folks, you heard it here first!

News is news. Sports is drama. Let us have the drama.


****
Note to Stefan: If you're truly involved with FP and your opinions should matter to us, you should at least have a better title than "Junior Member". Seriously, when I first read your posts, I took you as someone attempting to sound important who was purely just speculating. Get a new title, and have a sig that tells people who you are and why they should believe what you say.

 

[GoGarmin]

I'm sorry, there need to be some redress about the spoiler issue. The editors of cyclingnews.com, if they're carefully reading this thread, should note the large volume of complaints about spoilers on the main page with regards to race results.

At the very least there should be a sub-page, with a static URL, that contains race profiles and summaries like the information that used to be contained in the left-hand column of the old cyclingnews. If that doesn't change I won't be back to the site during races themselves, when I often have to watch them in a time-delayed manner.

The editors can throw their hands up and declare this is a news site, and I agree it is. But you also should listen to the feedback of you loyal readers, who are simply asking you to bring back some of the lost functionality (i.e. the ability to see stages, stage descriptions and past results).

 

[stefan]

The content is now all over the place, cluttered with BS and is plain hard to get to. Before two clicks and I could read what I came for. Before if I haven't seen a race I could come to cyclingnews and read about other races or stage profiles of a race before I seen it without having the race ruined for me by spoilers. Plus when I viewed the results of a race I got complete results with no need to click 20 more times for complete results. Cyclingnews has been my homepage for years sadly it is no more.

I don't know if it's because you are in the UK or not but here in the US there is a saying "the customer is ALWAYS right".

If there are genuine usability improvements that get suggested, we will take those to heart. The 'spoiler' issue is an editorial policy thing - it's up to them, but I believe they firmly believe that CN's raison d'etre is to be able to present breaking (cycling) news to the world before anyone else. Deliberately hiding breaking news from prominence is contrary to this philosophy. I'm sure someone from editorial can answer this with more authority than me.

 

[ssjimbo]

If there are genuine usability improvements that get suggested, we will take those to heart. The 'spoiler' issue is an editorial policy thing - it's up to them, but I believe they firmly believe that CN's raison d'etre is to be able to present breaking (cycling) news to the world before anyone else. Deliberately hiding breaking news from prominence is contrary to this philosophy. I'm sure someone from editorial can answer this with more authority than me.

The editorial staff have posted numerous times to this thread and have ignored this issue. You might want to mention to them that the readers would like an answer.

 

[GoGarmin]

The 'spoiler' issue is an editorial policy thing - it's up to them, but I believe they firmly believe that CN's raison d'etre is to be able to present breaking (cycling) news to the world before anyone else. Deliberately hiding breaking news from prominence is contrary to this philosophy. I'm sure someone from editorial can answer this with more authority than me.

Then please give us a sub-page with a static URL that preserves the ability to get information about ongoing races in a spoiler-free environment. The old cyclingnews did this in a marvelous way that brought me to the site frequently during races. Now I will have to avoid cyclingnews like the plague to avoid spoilers.

 

[Jacques]

New Website Design

My God, what have you done ??!! ** &^%$£"!

I have been with you since you started, followed every important race in the road race calender but what you've done to the site is nothing short of criminal.

Put it back as it was, please!!!!!


Jacques

 

[stefan]

Note to Stefan: If you're truly involved with FP and your opinions should matter to us, you should at least have a better title than "Junior Member". Seriously, when I first read your posts, I took you as someone attempting to sound important who was purely just speculating. Get a new title, and have a sig that tells people who you are and why they should believe what you say.

Maybe I should. Trying super-poncy sig.. there - better?

I don't actually have enough forum privs to upgrade my "Junior Member" status, ironically.

 

[alphonso]

What a mess!

Unbelievable. I have logged into cyclingnews everyday for years but now feel I must find another site. This one is now incomprehensible. Any suggestions out there?

 

[titan_90]

If there are genuine usability improvements that get suggested, we will take those to heart. The 'spoiler' issue is an editorial policy thing - it's up to them, but I believe they firmly believe that CN's raison d'etre is to be able to present breaking (cycling) news to the world before anyone else. Deliberately hiding breaking news from prominence is contrary to this philosophy. I'm sure someone from editorial can answer this with more authority than me.

As I stated before this site was special it was different it had class it was simple and elegant. Now it is the same as any other dime a dozen cycling website more fluff than class.

We have seen this same thing before a second company comes in and buys the first company. They make a bunch of promises that they wont change anything. Some time goes by and everyone lets their guard down and then BAM they come in and **** up what made it special. Because they just don't understand what "it" was that made it work.

I could get used to the redesign if some simple problems were fixed, but I am sorry spoilers on the home page is a deal breaker for me along with many others.

 

[zyxwvu]

Well, it seems like the CN-guys are gonna defend this thing with all they have (and til death is my guess). Issues they can give reply to/can be resolved get a quick reply, while all the comments about the ugly and cluttered design, the site being ridiculously slow, the loss of functionality et al are being ignored or, if we're lucky, being appreciated.

 

[stefan]

As I stated before this site was special it was different it had class it was simple and elegant. Now it is the same as any other dime a dozen cycling website more fluff than class.

We have seen this same thing before a second company comes in and buys the first company. They make a bunch of promises that they wont change anything. Some time goes by and everyone lets their guard down and then BAM they come in and **** up what made it special. Because they just don't understand what "it" was that made it work.

I could get used to the redesign if some simple problems were fixed, but I am sorry spoilers on the home page is a deal breaker for me along with many others.

titan_90 - we'll do what we can to fix problems, and we will listen to our users' suggestions. The reason why I decided to get involved here was to try to cut through the (understandable) anger and try to have a sensible dialog. Hopefully, that's where we're heading.

 

[ssjimbo]

Stefan, maybe you missed my message, but I'm still wondering why the Headlines under the races wrap when they don't have to.

 

[stefan]

Stefan, maybe you missed my message, but I'm still wondering why the Headlines under the races wrap when they don't have to.

That sounds like a bona-fide buglet to me. Have you got a specific example I can look at, and I'll get it entered into our bug tracking system.

 

[titan_90]

I got an idea why don't you put in a breaking news section that is separate from the homepage and put all of the spoilers on it. So if someone wants to see the results before they can watch the race than they can. And the people who like to watch the race can still come to your site to read other things or the live report and not have the race ruined for them. Or have a hide spoilers option.

 

[stefan]

I got an idea why don't you put in a breaking news section that is separate from the homepage and put all of the spoilers on it. So if someone wants to see the results before they can watch the race than they can. And the people who like to watch the race can still come to your site to read other thing and not have the race ruined for them. Or have a hide spoilers option.

Very sensible, constructive suggestions, thanks.

 

[alphonso]

There is a sort of nauseating chaos about the site now. If you dont have ADHD now it may well be induced when browsing this site.

As for listening to user feedback - I expect there are some rather large egos getting in the way (I have met one of them before).

Come on guys take it on the chin, get down the Salamander, have a pint of Gem and sort yourselves out.