New site design

[titan_90]

I can see from the powers that be posts that they aren't listening to their core readership and make the appropriate changes they need to keep us, all they care about is what they think works and what's easier for them. With your redesign you have lost the formula that made cyclingnews what it was. The cycling community doesn't need a ****ing BR clone. If that is what we wanted we would already have been using the site. You could have redesigned the site to make it easier to update and more modern without destroying what made it work. The redesign doesn't appeal to a border audience it appeals to a different audience. Can't you see that from all of the negative feedback? Or do you just not care?

I will be checking the site occasionally to see if there have been any real improvements for a while but if thing aren't corrected I'll never be back. I had your site as my home page for years. And I always had your site opened in multiple tabs on my browser at all times but not anymore.

 

[davidolle]

Sure; it'll cost you the full-time salaries of about five people with html, Photoshop, regular expression and Excel skills. Send us your bank details and we'll set up a direct debit.

The old site was a nightmare to update. It required an arcane set of skills that were hard to find in any one individual and rarely combined with knowledge of cycling and ability to write.

It's not, under any circumstances, coming back.

Teething troubles aside, what we have now is a platform that allows Cyclingnews to grow both journalistically and as a business.

John,
I can't believe you can respond so arrogantly to honest reader's opinions of the new website. It won't 'grow' as a business if no one reads it. Go back and read Scottsmack's eloquent response, he sums it up neatly. It's priceless advice.

It's obvious from your response that you are taking the criticism personally, if you are that thin-skinned, maybe it's time you took a step back,
sincerely,
David OLLE.

 

[thelowerdepths]

oh and greg?

yes, there will be criticism, but in the case of many successful site overhauls there is praise, you can't nor should you, just shine it on and say "we were expecting you not to like it"… we KNOW there are things under the hood, that doesn't concern us.

it's when we can't read what you've posted that upsets us. it's when the page is so sterile and removes the excitement of cycling that we get saddened…

what's with the TINY type?is this medical info on the back of the pill bottle? the underlines don't help, really and the colors… wow. purple, light blue and grey? inspiring.

back to Velonews for me , boys…

 

[ninjaslim]

Not at all. You can't change anything on a website without criticism - and lots of it. It's happened on previous occasions when we've changed small things, let alone on this scale.

We knew what was coming. The reality is people speak up when unhappy and stay silent when they're happy - just the way it works.

Besides - it's great feedback. We're already kicked a few goals as a result and there's several more changes in the works which will role out before the Tour de France starts.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

To say People stay silent when they are happy is true, but they are voting with their mice or were, by visiting the site frequently because it was so good, so quick to get the information you wanted and So much of that information has gone or is buried under an unecessary veneer.

Good job you got your customer satisfaction survey in a few weeks before the change to trot out some good words and stats to the advertisers.

Time will tell and hopefully you can give us the access back to the archived/historic results and photos that the site WAS so good for.

Please publish a guide in the news section on how to use the site, to get to what WAS available.

 

[James Jordan]

James - there are two flash items only on the site (+the occasional flash advert), the carousel (large content show case), and the house ad for Industry Insider, up right. It sounds like your company takes a hard-line approach to security if you block all flash content.

With mobile access - we need to improve, certainly. On my Nokia 5800 with Opera Mini, it works ok in full render mode, but we're aware of shortcomings in support for various mobile Internet Explorer versions.

Its a Commonwealth Goverment Department: just because we are paranoid, does not mean their not after us

I still dont like the carousel, but I just cant find the content level you have so I am going to have to live with it I guess. I will just get my race and news results elsewhere.

Hopefully you will get a mobile version soon.

 

[wdymtlrt]

maximise clicks

If you think that the site was built to maximise clicks through devious, undehand tactics, you are mistaken..[/QUOTE]

Then it should be no problem to bring back full results without lots of extra clicking nescessary. Just to give you one example.
Do you really think the new users will make up for the loss of old users?

I sure will give you a chance, as long as the information I seek is available (and that means that *I* have to be able to find it) but is it really nescessary to make it that complicated, slow. Why start before it is done? Why flash?

Good luck!

disappointed-10year-almost-daily-reader

 

[JamesB]

The Flash Heder

Just had a good look at the big flash header and really is 'amateur hour'. It adds nothing to the professional edge of your site. The photos are poorly cropped, the selection is badly exposed, the smaller text hard to read and the photos out of focus and have jpg compression artifacts all through them (look at the mountain bike shot, I have to squint to see it).

Whoever said the flash thing was there to attract new users - I'm afraid it has the opposite effect.

I'm a professional photographer (not cycling) and there is a saying in photography that's appropriate here - "if it doesn't add to the image, it distracts from it" - The same goes for the new site.

 

[nein11]

Nuh... this new page don work!

Like others. I only signed to the forum to post my disgust at the new process... why make it more complicated, and confusing.
it takes longer to take it all in.. there is probably no going back, but, it needs to go forward in a hurry.. not ompressed.

 

[Greg Johnson]

yes, there will be criticism, but in the case of many successful site overhauls there is praise, you can't nor should you, just shine it on and say "we were expecting you not to like it"… we KNOW there are things under the hood, that doesn't concern us.

The question was are we surprised by the response, the answer is no. You want the truth, but you don't want the truth? Okay...

There has been positive feedback, both in this thread and some others started on the topic. But, as a rule, people complain more than they do compliment - I can't change human nature.

the underlines don't help, really and the colors… wow. purple, light blue and grey? inspiring.

I requested feedback on the colour in an earlier topic. I see you've not responded with any feedback since that post and still haven't put forward any suggestions on alternatives. So what do you expect?

You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. But that's not a choice I can make for you. We've opened the door to constructive feedback, but the choice on whether you provide it or not is up to you.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[kratjebrand]

It just sucks

For years you were one of my favourites, not anymore. Bring back the old CN or come back with something's that is ten times better than this!!! And if the 'site' stays the same, well still thank you for the recent years.

Greetings from the Netherlands

 

[Greg Johnson]

Time will tell and hopefully you can give us the access back to the archived/historic results and photos that the site WAS so good for.

Please publish a guide in the news section on how to use the site, to get to what WAS available.

It's the 'full archive' on the top navigation. Or http://autobus.cyclingnews.com

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[wdymtlrt]

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 genuine usability improvment that suggested is: Bring back the old CN!
The new one is far from that...
Why start it when it is not ready?
For me, twice a day was fast enough. Spoilers are not an issue for me, but would it be so hard to offer a unspoiled bookmarkable page to access the live-reports?

 

[Greg Johnson]

Guys,

Another update. While the re-worked race section is still in the works, I've gotten wind that the results will be displayed in full as previously done without having to click on the 'show more'. I'm not sure when it will be ready for the live website, but that's what will be happening.

Another example of your feedback at work. Again, keep it coming.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[boconnor]

I've visited cyclingnews.com almost every day for the last 14 years. This new site is so slow in loading that I can't waste my time waiting for pages to load when I try to take a quick peak from work. Sorry, I'll have to find another cycling website to get my news from.

 

[Greg Johnson]

All,

Another update. While the re-worked race section is still in the works, I've gotten wind that the results will be displayed in full as previously done without having to click on the 'show more'. I'm not sure when it will be ready for the live website, but that's what will be happening.

Another example of your feedback at work. Again, keep it coming.

Cheers
Greg Johnson

 

[thommer97]

It stinks!!

IT STINKS!! WHY DID THEY RUIN A GOOD EASY TO USE SITE. PLUS, HAVE THE CRAP DOES NOT WORK!!

T0TAL CRAP!! FIX IT!!

 

[titan_90]

Greg Johnson:

Could you give us an idea when Daniel Benson will be giving a comment on the spolier issue?
Thanks for the update on race results.

 

[Greg Johnson]

Greg Johnson:

Could you give us an idea when Daniel Benson will be giving a comment on the spolier issue?
Thanks for the update on race results.

Indeed I can. It will be later today - he's planning another daily update like he did yesterday. We have also started a locked official thread for notices like this - to make it easier to get an update on the latest happenings on changes, without searching in this now massive thread. You can still respond and add feedback here.

Thanks
Greg Johnson

 

[titan_90]

Indeed I can. It will be later today - he's planning another daily update like he did yesterday. We have also started a locked official thread for notices like this - to make it easier to get an update on the latest happenings on changes, without searching in this now massive thread. You can still respond and add feedback here.

Thanks
Greg Johnson

Thank you for the fast reply.

 

[stefan]

The genuine usability improvment that suggested is: Bring back the old CN!

The old one's not coming back, sorry.

Why start it when it is not ready?

Define ready. When building a website, if you wait until it's perfect, you'll never launch. There are always things that can be better, or improved further. The project stake holders deemed that the site was ready enough to launch. That doesn't mean it's in any way, shape or form 'finished' - it'll hopefully never be!

 

[igamogam]

Why not merge websites?

So far today I have had to check twice because I thought I was on the bike radar website (OK, OK I'm tired...).

However, it struck me - why don't you just merege the two sites, you share so much stuff anyway wouldn't it make more sense to have one website and reduce the amount of work you have to do?

The two sites look so similar now there is no reason to choose bikeradar over cyclingnews.

Apart from the Flash content the new website design is OK, however cyclingnews has lost some of it's quirky old fashioned charm, the previous simple layout made you feel like the website had a bit of history behind it.

 

[wdymtlrt]

The best thing about this site has always been the comprehensive, simple, COMPLETE results. That has been taken away...QUOTE]

Actually, it hasn't. Go to today's Tour de Suisse results, it's all there. Granted, you actually have to click on the down arrow to see the full list of standings, but that's really not that hard.

You have to click five times! It's not hard, it's annoying.

 

[mintcake]

I'll come back in a few days/weeks

I'm another who's only registered to express my displeasure and distaste for this terrible mess of a website. So I'll leave it alone for a few days or weeks to allow the displeasure of these many posts sink fully into Greg Johnson's consciousness.

Hopefully, the decision makers will have the testicular fortitude (apart from the "many women" on staff!) to admit their error, concur that it's a ****-up, and put it to rights!

In the meantime I'll see what SBS can offer for us Aussies - that may be a suitable fix.

 

[Greg Johnson]

You have to click five times! It's not hard, it's annoying.

Something that's being addressed in the race section overhaul I've mentioned numerous times.

Thanks
Greg Johnson

 

[Greg Johnson]

I'm another who's only registered to express my displeasure and distaste for this terrible mess of a website. So I'll leave it alone for a few days or weeks to allow the displeasure of these many posts sink fully into Greg Johnson's consciousness.

Hopefully, the decision makers will have the testicular fortitude (apart from the "many women" on staff!) to admit their error, concur that it's a ****-up, and put it to rights!

Can I just point out - I'm here responding to people's concerns, updating them on the progress and ensuring that the voice here leads to actual developments with the updates that we roll out on the website. That I seem to have become the face of all evil as a result is, frankly, baffling and nonsensical.

Cheers
Greg Johnson