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I imagine some French beret wearing web designer in a striped shirt pissing himself at our criticisms. I talked to a few of them about building a site for me, and when I would describe what I wanted, they'd cock their head back and look down their noses while talking down to me. I've not met one yet that didn't have his ass on his shoulders and so I just keep making my own webpage. "If it ain't broke don't fix it."
The old design worked. It was simple, but not so simple as to be boring. It was easy to use, and there was never any confusion trying to navigate.
I have always thought that SP.com was rather classy looking... not anymore.
Take something that works and jack it up. That seems to be the plan these days.
I have always thought that SP.com was rather classy looking... not anymore.
Take something that works and jack it up. That seems to be the plan these days.
Ok, if you want to provide useful feedback, tell them how many clicks it used to take to do what you want, and how many clicks it takes now.
I'm betting you're generally going to be able to navigate the new site faster.
Honestly, listing every manufacturer on the side when you're browsing pipes is a big plus. Over the last year I probably clicked on the "New Pipes" tab thousands of times while browsing. I'm sure they would have statistics to show that, so they chose to give the most commonly accessed information a high priority spot in the new layout.
Also Pipe stats listed on the side is a big win too, I don't have to scroll nearly as far. My fingers actually got sore from scrolling to the stats sometimes.
Manufacturers and Stats listed on the side = Win
Unfortunately, they added an extra step to get to that point from the homepage. So I would give the homepage negative points.
To redeem the Homepage, they need to list all manufacturers in the "Pipes" drop down menu instead of giving 75% of the space to an image and some blog posts.
Giving people a no-click access point to the entire manufacturer list from the homepage would be logical and efficient.
As-is it's a bit confusing.
The "Fresh Pipes" Section is a Big Fail.
Ironically they actually crippled the ability to quickly browse fresh pipes, a feature they're heavily advertising and it seems like this update was intended to focus on.
I count 12 links to pipe brands (plus Estates) within the "fresh pipes" section, but only 9 links on the homepage, something isn't showing up on the homepage and the "Fresh Pipes" section has no general overview, only an annoying animated scrolling bar at the top. This means that I have no "single glance" view of what's available, only an incomplete listing and then a listing that only displays four links at a time.
Really to fix that, they should make the "Fresh Pipes" section exactly like the other pipe and tobacco listings.
Overview:
Homepage=Fail
Fresh Pipes=Mega Fail
Drop Down Menus=Fail
New Pipes Listings=Win
Estate Pipes Listings=Win
Tobacco Locator=Win
Pipe Locator=Win
I'd say it's a positive change in general but they cut it really close.
Random ideas:
I was surprised that clicking on the word "Pipes" that brings down the drop down menu doesn't do anything, that should at least link to random statistics and information for new users.
It's natural to click on that word as the first thing you do on the website, so someone who knows nothing is likely to click on it. I think it would be a perfect place to give a short introduction to Pipes and then list the top ten items in sales.
New User:
-Clicks on "Pipes"
-Reads information on what the heck he's doing.
-Then sees the top ten most popular items sold.
What do you think happens next?
Clicking on "tobacco" should do the same thing, and I love looking at the live "top ten" sales list so I wouldn't mind having a prominent spot for it.
I'm betting you're generally going to be able to navigate the new site faster.
Honestly, listing every manufacturer on the side when you're browsing pipes is a big plus. Over the last year I probably clicked on the "New Pipes" tab thousands of times while browsing. I'm sure they would have statistics to show that, so they chose to give the most commonly accessed information a high priority spot in the new layout.
Also Pipe stats listed on the side is a big win too, I don't have to scroll nearly as far. My fingers actually got sore from scrolling to the stats sometimes.
Manufacturers and Stats listed on the side = Win
Unfortunately, they added an extra step to get to that point from the homepage. So I would give the homepage negative points.
To redeem the Homepage, they need to list all manufacturers in the "Pipes" drop down menu instead of giving 75% of the space to an image and some blog posts.
Giving people a no-click access point to the entire manufacturer list from the homepage would be logical and efficient.
As-is it's a bit confusing.
The "Fresh Pipes" Section is a Big Fail.
Ironically they actually crippled the ability to quickly browse fresh pipes, a feature they're heavily advertising and it seems like this update was intended to focus on.
I count 12 links to pipe brands (plus Estates) within the "fresh pipes" section, but only 9 links on the homepage, something isn't showing up on the homepage and the "Fresh Pipes" section has no general overview, only an annoying animated scrolling bar at the top. This means that I have no "single glance" view of what's available, only an incomplete listing and then a listing that only displays four links at a time.
Really to fix that, they should make the "Fresh Pipes" section exactly like the other pipe and tobacco listings.
Overview:
Homepage=Fail
Fresh Pipes=Mega Fail
Drop Down Menus=Fail
New Pipes Listings=Win
Estate Pipes Listings=Win
Tobacco Locator=Win
Pipe Locator=Win
I'd say it's a positive change in general but they cut it really close.
Random ideas:
I was surprised that clicking on the word "Pipes" that brings down the drop down menu doesn't do anything, that should at least link to random statistics and information for new users.
It's natural to click on that word as the first thing you do on the website, so someone who knows nothing is likely to click on it. I think it would be a perfect place to give a short introduction to Pipes and then list the top ten items in sales.
New User:
-Clicks on "Pipes"
-Reads information on what the heck he's doing.
-Then sees the top ten most popular items sold.
What do you think happens next?
Clicking on "tobacco" should do the same thing, and I love looking at the live "top ten" sales list so I wouldn't mind having a prominent spot for it.
I just got the drop down menu to glitch to where it displays the drop down all the time and when I move my mouse onto the drop down field it starts flashing between the homepage banner and the drop down.
Drop downs=Mega Fail
Drop downs=Mega Fail
Haven't seen the desktop version, but there seems to be no discernable differences on the mobile one.
Alright, we hear you. We're also working out some bugs. Stuff that worked in dev isn't working across all platforms and whatnot in the real world, so maybe you're also responding to some slight bugginess here and there as we sort through stuff (although, at this point, that list is getting short).
Right now, we're working on sorting out the dropdowns (specific bugginess) and make those a little more intuitive and useful.
But, please keep the criticism coming. We'll be playing with it over the next few days and weeks.
Special thanks to FrozenChurchwarden: that's exactly the sort of detailed feedback we need.
Sykes
Right now, we're working on sorting out the dropdowns (specific bugginess) and make those a little more intuitive and useful.
But, please keep the criticism coming. We'll be playing with it over the next few days and weeks.
Special thanks to FrozenChurchwarden: that's exactly the sort of detailed feedback we need.
Sykes
A specific bit of feedback, in the old site Estate pipes, when one clicked on ENGLISH or DANISH etc, all of the makers available were at the top. Even when a specific maker was selected, say DUNHILL, they were all still at the top (until a specific pipe was selected), which made it VERY EASY to navigate between brands/makers.
Yeah, I'm not too happy with the new site, and find it somewhat confusing. As mentioned before with the estate pipes the old format had all the manufacturers listed under each country of origin. Now to find lets say a Nording under the Danish tab, you have to scroll down through all the Danish pipes to see what they have. At first I thought this would be at least alphabetical, but it's not.
The other gripe I have goes back to even the old format. For some reason, I guess if you're not buying an expensive pipe they feel you only need one view of the pipe you want to buy. I've bought a couple in the past, but have held my breath until I got them hoping that the whole pipe would be as nice as the left side shown, as they don't offer much of a cosmetic description either. The pricier pipes have multiple views to get the complete idea of what you're buying. Most sellers on ebay can usually do that! I don't care if I'm buying a $50 pipe or a $500 pipe, I'm still a paying customer that wants to be treated the same as any other customer. I would think you want me to make informed purchases and be satisfied enough to continue to shop there.
I'm curious as to why they changed the site to begin with. Did they get a lot of complaints about the existing format? Like so many have already said, If it isn't broke, don't fix it!
The other gripe I have goes back to even the old format. For some reason, I guess if you're not buying an expensive pipe they feel you only need one view of the pipe you want to buy. I've bought a couple in the past, but have held my breath until I got them hoping that the whole pipe would be as nice as the left side shown, as they don't offer much of a cosmetic description either. The pricier pipes have multiple views to get the complete idea of what you're buying. Most sellers on ebay can usually do that! I don't care if I'm buying a $50 pipe or a $500 pipe, I'm still a paying customer that wants to be treated the same as any other customer. I would think you want me to make informed purchases and be satisfied enough to continue to shop there.
I'm curious as to why they changed the site to begin with. Did they get a lot of complaints about the existing format? Like so many have already said, If it isn't broke, don't fix it!
It doesn't work for me, if I click on pipes at the top of the page a drop down menu appears and immediately disappears. I don't have the patience for B.S changes for the sake of change. The wish list is still there for items I want/buy but I'm done browsing on the site. I get frustrated much too easily but who needs more annoyances.
I dislike it on my laptop, thought maybe it was geared more for touch screens and the whole windows 8 app type feel. Tried it on my tablet... Still don't like it. Much preferred the clean prior version.
Life goes on. I go there to look for specific estate pipe brands. It's there. It's till a little cluttery, if that's an adjective. I like the tinned brands on the side. Still easy to find the important brands. My major complaint is that SPC doesn't sell Seattle Pipe Club's Plum Pudding in a tin, but that has nothing to do with the site.
dmcmtk:
Really it should say "Makers" or "Manufacturers" and not "Tags", but I'm sure the current form is not finished. Anyway, the functionality is still there, but it does take an extra click.
Depending on how much you prioritize the idea of keeping the site looking clean, the entire sub-listing of makers and manufacturers could be put on the side underneath the country listings.
It's just hard to say how flexible that side menu is, it might not be the sort of thing meant to change dynamically.
You still have all the makers in the "Tags" menu, directly above the listed pipes.
Really it should say "Makers" or "Manufacturers" and not "Tags", but I'm sure the current form is not finished. Anyway, the functionality is still there, but it does take an extra click.
Depending on how much you prioritize the idea of keeping the site looking clean, the entire sub-listing of makers and manufacturers could be put on the side underneath the country listings.
It's just hard to say how flexible that side menu is, it might not be the sort of thing meant to change dynamically.
I think the main menu bar, that produces all the drop down menus, needs a black line on the bottom side or both the bottom and top. Black or the same color of gray used for the other bars, or maybe make the top bar gray and use red lettering like all the others, or maybe I'll just get used to it, but the idea has popped into my head a second time now that they have moved to a Christmas color scheme.
(Which, maybe for the beginning of fall isn't horrible, but come January it should be looked at again.)
(Which, maybe for the beginning of fall isn't horrible, but come January it should be looked at again.)
I'd like to be constructive in my criticism but it's difficult to hold the vomit down after having looked at the site for the second time. It is so busy it makes me feel sick looking at it. I'm not being hyperbolic or anything. Please - just give me the old site back.
I liked the old design better, to me it was more user friendly. That being said I managed to place my order today without any major problem.
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