Okay, I just visited the Tirerack website and discovered that it’s totally changed. I suppose if I work real hard at it I can figure out how to get the information I want now, but it won’t be easy… which is USED to be.
It has long been my opinion that website designers design sites to impress other website designers rather than to give the customer more information easier. It seems that the Tirerack site designers have outdone themselves… the site is now extremely difficult to use unless you want what the designers want you to see. If you want to follow their breadcrumbs, great, but if you’re after specific information… forget about it.
What a whiner!!! Just kidding @the same mountainbike.
I know what you mean. I’ve been to a few that it was easier for Lewis and Clark to find their way than it was to navigate these sites.
My favorite auto parts store has a terrible site and they know it. They are a franchise and have little say what corporate does with the web site. I may buy my parts there, but if I want to look up prices at home in the evening, I’ll go elsewhere.
Usually when you see the “Welcome to the new and…” that usually translates to more clutter and difficulty.
The AutoZone website used to be pretty decent some years ago but they’re gone through 3 or 4 revamps and each time made it more cumbersome.
After the first revamp it seemed like half the time my PC would lock up whenever I visited that site.
AZ said the problem must be on my end but had no answer when told that there were no issues with any other sites; only theirs.
I’m having trouble seeing a problem with the new format of Tire Rack’s website but I mainly check there for pricing and selection on a particular vehicle, Such as what other tires are on the market for my Forester. When you have to slog through a bunch of menus to find what you want it can be annoying though.
Can’t agree more. The designers need to keep busy or renew their contracts. They just redesigned the Minneapolis Tribune site and so far I’m not impressed at all. Articles just seem like they are plastered all over the page instead of the plain old listing of the main articles to click on. Just confusion. USA Today is another one.
Agree 100%. What’s even worse, they redesign using the latest HTML features, and then you have the problem of the site not working at all with your somewhat older browser. I now have that problem with the weather channel, I can’t get any of the video’s to work.
Yahoo News stopped working for me a year ago, none of the links worked. Now these are Grade A sites, and they don’t work for me. Wow, how dumb can they be?
For me this is exasperated by Apple’s policy of not updating their browser (Safari) unless you update to their latest system software, which I don’t want to do, for good reasons.
Now this site started getting flakey on me, and I finally had to switch to a different browser.
As a (retired) webmaster, I always refused to use the latest goodies, as my policy was that the website had to work with older browsers. But I was alone in that policy.
CNN’s new website is difficult to navigate. The previous versions had a snap shot on the main page, you could click where you wanted to go. Now you have to look around to find what you want (maybe that was their intent) Ref Bill’s comments, It would be nice if the web designers could consider backward compatibility, not everyone has the latest and greatest or wants it on their PC’s
“It has long been my opinion that website designers design sites to impress other website designers rather than to give the customer more information easier.”
“It has long been my opinion that website designers design sites to impress other website designers rather than to give the customer more information easier.”
I was recently searching sites for information on a non auto related project that I needed parts for.
I found the site with all the parts and a lot of good step by step repair guides. The sites colors between the background and the printing made it so difficult to read, I ended up going to another site.
You would think that the business owner would have looked closer before signing off on the final project.
WE have a local Restaurant that did the same. They had new menu’s made, but never took a sample to the restaurant to see how it looks in the dimmer light. I’ve seen many people walk over to one of the windows to even read the thing. Looks great from a distance…lots of color…but hard to read.
I’ve designed several websites…and I agree there are designers who want to impress other designers…and along the way the customers get lost. Adding too much complexity is not a good thing. But you also need to add enough complexity for the site to be useful.
Before I responded I went to the tirerack site…and I thought it was pretty easy to navigate. I had no problem looking up tires based on size or my specific vehicle. Also found it easy to look up parts. I don’t use the site much since I’ve always been able to beat their prices…so not sure exactly what type of problem you’re having.
A GOOD website is NOT designed by the engineers…but by a committee of graphic artists and customer requirements. Each and every screen needs to be approved by the customer. It should never be done in a vacuum. And once the site is up and running we get input from the people who use it. Sometimes their input requires a redesign (but that’s rare).
In partial defense of website designers, web standards sometimes change. As the browsers change to recognize those standards, older sites that don’t conform to the new standards break and have to be redesigned.
When I was still at the college, I routinely had to help students and parents navigate our website. Usually when it was redone it got even worse. I made numerous proposals based on the difficulties I’d discovered while helping nonemployees. Now that I’ve retired, I enter the site as a visitor, neither student or staff, and have discovered that there is a whole lot of information that visitors don’t have access to that might compel them to choose the institution.
Website should be designed around what the customers want to find, buffered by what the company wants to show. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that. Based on the replies on this forum, my frustration with this issue is not unique to me.
Regarding the Tirerack site, I went looking for all the offerings of a specific size tire in a specific speed rating and specific traction category (all season). The old filter system used to make this quick and simple. I was unable to get the new website to sort to these criteria. I’m now reluctant to refer people to the Tirerack website. I’ll probably refer people to the 1010tires website from now on. Companies get sold new website designs by website designers without ever realizing the impact it can have on their businesses.
and they dare to call them UP-grades ?
changes, yes but a grade UP, I beg to differ.
Ford does this crap too…un-announced yet they never do what we e-mail them that we want. The dealer website has a chat room which does not allow us to edit our posts nor post pictures
"Regarding the Tirerack site, I went looking for all the offerings of a specific size tire in a specific speed rating and specific traction category (all season). The old filter system used to make this quick and simple. I was unable to get the new website to sort to these criteria. "
TSMB - I’m not sure I understand the problem. I just went there, clicked on ‘tires’, the ‘shop by size’ tab, entered a size, then filtered for the speed rating, then performance category. Maybe not quite as fast as before, but it worked for me.
I couldn’t get it to filter. Perhaps I’ll try again later.
Texases, did you have to go through multiple steps? If so, that alone would be a step backwards. On the old site, I could select all the criteria in one place and the filter system would do the work.
I think part of the problem is that “many” of us here are old farts (Me included) who get used to things a certain way, and we’re thrown off when things change. Old dog, new tricks and all that.
Bing, regarding the Strib webwite, it threw me off a bit as well, but once I got used to it, I actually think it works pretty well. And the mobile site for my iPhone is hugely improved.
You guys gotta remember we’re not the ones the website developers are aiming at, they’re aiming at a much younger target than us.
