Jump to content

New club website ... Poorly done?


landford.saint
 Share

Recommended Posts

After reading the thread on 'Portaloo' squad photo I find I am not the only one who finds this new generic club website very poor. Poorly laid out, badly updated, difficult to find things. Is it just me being old and senile and unable to cope with change? Or does anyone else out there feel it is not as good as the site it replaced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After reading the thread on 'Portaloo' squad photo I find I am not the only one who finds this new generic club website very poor. Poorly laid out, badly updated, difficult to find things. Is it just me being old and senile and unable to cope with change? Or does anyone else out there feel it is not as good as the site it replaced.

 

Yes agree

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new-er website is truly awful. It's a terrible piece of design that gives more attention to ads than to content or anything else useful. It's woefully laid out, confusing, over-busy, technically dubious and generally a mess. As a software developer who has done some work with online sites I'd be ashamed and embarassed if this was my output.

 

I appreciate there are probably good reasons why we've jumped on the generic standard bandwagon but the sooner we get off it the better. Any decent web design firm could produce a far better site in relatively little time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is by no means perfect but like so many websites it becomes much easier the more you use it and find your way around !

One added plus is that when you (occasionally) look at other FL clubs sites they become easier to use as well !

I did prefer the previous version but it became so tainted with Rupertesque propaganda that in a way I'm glad to see the back of it !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One criticism I'd have is it should be a lot simpler to buy tickets. Maybe it's just me but on the odd occassion I've needed to buy tickets online I seem to go round in circles trying to get there. There should be a big button on the home page flashing 'Buy Tickets Now'.

 

The simpler the better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One criticism I'd have is it should be a lot simpler to buy tickets. Maybe it's just me but on the odd occassion I've needed to buy tickets online I seem to go round in circles trying to get there. There should be a big button on the home page flashing 'Buy Tickets Now'.

 

The simpler the better.

 

Um There is. On the main page there are 3 tabs 1. Speciall Offers. 2. TICKETS. 3. Mobile Zone.

 

(saying that though it does not make buying tickets any better)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much every team in the Football League uses the same company to produce and run their website - in fact it's the same company that brought us the distinctly "meh" coverage of Ukraine v England on Saturday.

 

While the clubs themselves obviously have some element of control over the content, I suspect there are various contractual agreements in terms of shares of advertising revenue, etc.

 

The only reason the club signed a deal with Perform (formerly Premium TV) was because it made sense financially, as the club didn't then have to employ people to maintain the technical side of things including SaintsTV, all the video archives, etc.

 

No idea how long the contract lasts for, but I'd hope they'll move away from Perform again at the earliest possible opportunity...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said in the previous thread it is useless match days - when we are away at least, cant comment on home games cos I'm there......sometimes you dont get the team on there until the game has kicked off - the "match facts" bit is a waste of time, you may as well incorporate that in the match report.

 

I also cant decide if the Echo is copying the website or vice versa.

 

It was so much better when it was "in house"......surely someone at the club could take it back in and keep it updated.

 

Hell i will do it for a salary of £20-25k......so if anyone at the club is reading this..... :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to see them ditch this goddamnawful generic web site completely and get it back in-house or outsourced to a local company who would surely do a better job.

This is what I posted on the other thread. It is a Football League Interactive web-site, based in London. I don't think any of the "journos" that work on it are employed or are even based at the club. The news is late, the stories are lacking quality and accuracy and it is full of bloody adverts!

 

Surely, there's enough "talent" on this message board to do a much better job. I don't know how long the franchise contract runs for but maybe the mods ought to bid next time round? Maybe not.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Um There is. On the main page there are 3 tabs 1. Speciall Offers. 2. TICKETS. 3. Mobile Zone.

 

(saying that though it does not make buying tickets any better)

 

I've had another look and of course you are correct - but just little tabs. Just feel, as putting bums-on-seats is probably the most important thing for the club, it should be (as you said) made easier to buy the tickets, a 'kin big flashing button leading to easy access would be a help (particularly for us old gits).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whoever said it was useless on mobile wasn't wrong - I went on there using my iPhone yesterday to remind myself of who we'd added with squad numbers over 35 in the last few days and I couldn't scroll the Squad list down at all, so could only look at players with numbers from 1-15 !

 

I got over it being generic as soon as it was announced - at least it's not trying to force me onto IE8 like Hull's version does when you go to their club shop...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IE8's alright, to be fair... much more standards-compliant :)

 

Yes, but Hull City might want to consider that preventing anyone purchasing goods from their online shop during their presumably brief tenure in the Premier League UNLESS they upgrade to IE8 is probably a short term business plan more suited to a lifelong partnership with Microsoft than a desperate Premier League Little 4 member wringing every penny out of their days in the sun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that really annoys me about the new site is that it's hopeless on mobile. The old site was never too bad and just before it vanished they had put in a mobile version that was excellent.

 

That and the 'match facts' that have replaced the online text commentary.

 

http://SOUTHAMPTON.WAP.COM is the site 'optimised for the mobile'

 

Juts been there and it's a bit **** to be sure!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the website is appalling.

i would look at the old one many times during the day until it became lowes mouthpiece. i have recently tried to use it again, but gave up after a minute or two as its just too hard to navigate and chock full of adverts and other useless things hiding anything interesting

 

i now use the echo website for club info ahead of the OS, and i know im not the only one

 

sort it out saints!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not that I want to defend the new site- as it's not great and it often has typos and inaccuracies- the club would struggle to get it away from Perform as the FLI deal is with the Football League themselves and as the clubs have opted into it- Perform are responsible for the maintenance of the website and the generation of online revenues (advertising, sponsorship, competitions etc), which are then split with the club on a rev share basis.

So in short..we'd better get used to it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the old one was built around a Sky Sports template, because just like our current OS offering there was quite a few in the same style, layout, and navigation.

 

Yeah it was originally built by a Sky-owned company called Sports Internet Group (many years ago), who were then incorporated into the Sky New Media department. So it was basically a Sky template that was also used by a number of other clubs. I guess once we fell out of the Premiership, Sky couldn't care less about us anymore, so were happy for us to move to another supplier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ive kinda got used to the new site layout now. I know where I need to go to find out the bits I want and it just about covers that.

 

Would be nice if reserve news appeared on the Latest news page along with 1st team news though. old site had the main info appear (at some point) on the news page so I guess the Latest news page should do the same. If you dont know to go check the reserve pages you would have no idea they played or how they did.

 

SaintsTV player has a fairly up to date comentary on match days that is still free and it updates much more than the old match day comentary on the old main site. Even get more updates on there now than we do on here.

 

So IMO, where it has got better it has got much better but other area's still need some improvment. I like the idea of the Site team and all it involves being an in-house department allot better than the benifit we seem to get out of it that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The layout is not good, it's true, but it's nice to have up-to-date info on the academy. The nipper thinks it's great he can keep up with news of his brother's mate (aw, he's a bit star-struck!). That section on the old site still had pictures and stats from when Bale was a first-year scholar. So, yes, where it has got better, it has got much better...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...