New site design

[SlowBikeRacer]

Stefan,
#1 rule of engineering.
KISS - Keep It Simple Stefan

To BUSY of a Homepage
Loose the Underline for links on the front page. Just about everything is a link so is Underline overkill.

Make the Articles wider, like they where before. Loose the "Related Articles" / "Releated Riders" Column. Put those links at the bottom of the page or under the "Also on CyclingNews" Column.

Good luck on bringing it back to simple before y'all loose viewers.

 

[I hate the new website]

Very sensible, constructive suggestions, thanks.

That's all I want... a site with direct links to full results and no spoilers that I can use as my homepage. Less clicks = better. I don't care what you do with your new design especially since you have already decided that's what I want but I can assure you again that my 10+ visits/day are a thing of the past.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Using the wayback machine, I dug up the old site and gave it a good look. The only thing wrong with it were that the columns of news and results had too much clustered together in them, making it appear visually cluttered. That's it.

This "problem" has been solved in the new site with the tabs at the top, and the splits in the two columns now with headers and tiny photos.

HOWEVER, the way these new columns are done isn't all that great, and all the extra glop wasn't really necessary.

I'll say what I did before. The large scrolling flash element at the top isn't that annoying, it's just completely unnecessary. It takes a minute to look at, and see what it's doing, and a lot of that information is partly redundant in the columns below it - but some of it isn't, and it's not sorted out the same. And because it's busier than anywhere else on the site - without having the most information, my eyes dismiss it and go straight to the news and results columns below it.

I didn't want to say this here, but I will - there are ways of blocking Flash and ads, and just about anything in your browser, down to some very specific scripting controls. I am not a hacker, but pretty computer savvy. But just about anyone can do this. Try doing some searches, folks. This doesn't mean that I'll visit any site as I can secretly control all that's on there. I won't, and much prefer to visit a clean, well designed site.

 

[stefan]

Using the wayback machine, I dug up the old site and gave it a good look.

..or simply click the link that says 'Full Archive' in the navigation, and you'll get the old site.

 

[doddy13]

I'm starting to like the look.
But no spoilers.
Bring daily news to the top, rather than having to scroll down for it
Oh, and you used to put text on the images on the home page for races http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/
Do that again..

 

[titan_90]

Bring daily news to the top, rather than having to scroll down for it
http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/
Do that again..

+1

As someone else has stated the underlines need to go. Plus restore the articles to being horizontal and not vertical. Also, that scrolling flash image thing is annoying. The results page should give full results without haveing to do anymore clicking like before and with no spoilers on the top of the page.

I am sure I'll have a few more suggestions later.

 

[ssjimbo]

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.

Look right under the Tour de Suisse

 

[manolo]

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.

That'd be fun! I wish they would put in the effort to maintain the old page and we could visit that instead of the new one. How hard would it be to maintain both formats? Is it a complete waste of time?

 

[manolo]

I'm starting to like the look.
But no spoilers.
Bring daily news to the top, rather than having to scroll down for it
Oh, and you used to put text on the images on the home page for races http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/
Do that again..

Snif! Sniff! *eyes watering* Thanks for posting this link. I sure do miss it! : )

 

[stefan]

Look right under the Tour de Suisse

Is it the fact that the bit that says '(ProTour)' wraps to the next line you're concerned about?

If so, I think the char count is in this case simply hitting the max, and the wrap will be set to the last "full word". As you can see from the race below, it doesn't exhibit this behavior.

 

[twmp01]

if it ain't broke don't fix it.

i don't like the new 'let's make it like bikeradar' look at all.

there was nothing wrong with the layout and operation when you bought the site in the first place.

awful.

 

[Ovidius]

I don't want to criticise too much. It is pretty blatent that the website is utter rubbish and will never be the same again. I have no idea how making a website worse than bike radar is possible, but you have managed it! Now all we need is for the writing to go downhill and you will have shot yourself in both feet. It is absolutely essential to the future of this website that you bring back the original design, regardless of what people think. In fact, Just USE Bike Radars site - Its ten times better (but still 10 times worse that old Cyclingnews).

Anyhow, I'm aware that this has been said and that Future will not listen. Just as they continue to make magazines that aren't very good.

More specifically - Unlike Bike Radar, the top part of the screen does not allow users to Tab browse. The website is so slow I would rather tab browse all the top stories, not click on each one individually. I am aware that they are available elsewhere on the front page, but that is besides the point.

Kind Regards

Another lost User. Velonews it is for me.

 

[twmp01]

and velonews it is for me too

 

[dkmo2341]

I agree with k_man

The old site was great. I loved the "Letters" section, couldn't wait for it every week. Searching around the forum takes to much time, so I don't bother anymore. Now the whole site is a pain. The first thing I used to do every morning was read the news top to bottom, now I don't have the time to be looking all over the place, clicking back and forth. I'll just scan every couple days to see something jumps out at me. I think you've made a big mistake. Sincerely, A Former Daily Reader.

 

[Anonymous]

Cyclingnews is in the news business - it's even in the name!

However, if you want the editions they're still there, just as before:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/editions/latest-edition-cycling-news-tuesday-june-16-2009

this is NOT as it was before this is a ridiculous font, even more stupid line space but more imporantly 50% YES FIFTY PERCENT WHITE SPACE!! All because of ads and the stupid archive box that could have gone horizontally...

 

[scottsmack]

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?

A clever person could create a CN links-only page, reparse the content to preserve the race suspense, and make a killing.

 

[gruppo]

1st place results not readable

Went to check T d Suisse General Classification after stage 4 in results listing and the line title "General Classification" is superimposed over the 1st place competitors name such that it can't be read.

Same is true of other classification titles and 1st place competitor's name.

 

[Sloveagle]

Completely agree. My gut feeling tells me this was a weel intended step in a wrong way...sorry for that, but I liked the previous version.

I am not a webdesigner, but the page layout is just as confusing as it can get e.g. the races result design/fonts/ is a complete mess...

 

[Anonymous]

A clever person could create a CN links-only page, reparse the content to preserve the race suspense, and make a killing.

iv e found an easier solution...

opera has a link side panel... you can ignore the actual website completely and just use the opera pane to select what you want to see..

 

[Sloveagle]

new website? step in a wrong direction!

Sorry to say...this was a step in a wrong direction, although well intended. The layout of the new webdesign is as confusing as it can get. I found the old one very helpful and user friendly. The new one is the wrong one on the spiral of development. Fonts are messed up, links confusing, race results a complete mess...sorry, I am really disapponted.

Please fix it ASAP...

 

[scottsmack]

One question for you - on other news sites (BBC, CNN etc) would you expect them to keep the breaking news off the front page to enable people not to see spoilers?

Cyclists love cycling because of the drama that develops in a race. The result is the output of a long, beautiful journey involving thousands of variables and complications, over which we get to see human spirit triumph. 90% of the interest is in the unfolding. When you take that away - as you have - you are taking away 90% of the value to your audience

I would guess that you will see this reflected in your pageview stats eventually.

Scott McKinley

 

[BroDeal]

Professionally conducted usability reviews of the old CN were too devastating to be publishable - you (I guess, safely in the knowledge that I'm right) have used CN for best part of its lifespan, and have learned to operate it efficiently despite its quirks.

One problem that often occurs in usability studies like this is that there is heavy concentration on new or casual users and not so much on old and veteran users. Things that casual users find cool or make their experience easy can annoy heavy users.

 

[Cookie Crumbler]

For a new fan to the sport, and the site, the old one was baffling at best, and completely incomprehensible at worst.

My sentiments exactly. It made me laugh and scratch my head when I first came to the site a few years ago. Html hell and information chaos.
Thanks for the new design. This is far better. It was full of bugs when I first visited in the morning. There are fewer bugs now, and I am sure that they will all disapear by and by. The bugs I wanted to post here are gone already. Go on. I like it more by the hour.

Contrary to what others have said I have no issues with site display and loading times (even faster than the old site with UMTS and Firefox).

Please keep the „spoiler“ headlines. I for one like them. Who has won a race is the most essential piece of information and this is what I want to read first and foremost. The „non-spoiler“ headlines were one of the things I would never have expected to find on an news site.

The flash thingy is one of the new features I could do without. It is so dominant and irritating. It hides information rather than highlights it and it is eye catching only insofar as it makes me scroll down as soon as the thing appears on the screen.

 

[Get-the-max]

Hmmmmm .. nice and fluffy but just not there

Guys and gals what have you done ? The site was awesome in terms of info and navigation. Maybe it looked a bit dated I'm not sure. Take 2 things from the Tour de Suisse experience - I now can't get the full results straight off and then I can't really read the font and I can't get all the stages with profliles which is a major plus to follow the stages. I'm still sticking with it cos I can't believe you can go from brilliant to merely pretty good and clunky. Maybe I will get the hang of it and see the light but I'm not so sure.

 

[scottsmack]

The bright side

At least the redesign got us to use this godawful Web 1.0 forum software, which feels like it was procured in 1999. Nobody even calls them "forums" anymore. Modern news sites integrate UGC (user generated content) directly into the editorial.