New PH Classified site - latest update
Discussion
Dear All,
After a few days during which it has become clear that there remain serious issues with performance and functionality on the new PistonHeads classifieds site, and with the realisation that we won’t be able to solve these ahead of the impending Christmas break, we’ve decided to roll back to the old site rather than leave users with these issues until the New Year.
We’ve started the roll back process now, and estimate that it will be complete by around 10am tomorrow morning, by which time we’ll have successfully moved any new ads uploaded to the new site back into the old.
At the same time, we recognise that aspects of the new UX frustrated you as users, and we won’t go live until we’ve taken on board feedback on the various threads and made improvements to the layout and formatting of the site.
We remain convinced that we can deliver a great and innovative set of search tools which will be of real use in helping to find cars for sale, but we also recognise that we need to preserve the ease of use of the old site, and we’ll do just that. We’ll expand our user test team too so that more of you are consulted on the designs during the process, so if you’d like to be part of this then please let me know via PM.
We’d like to thank everyone for their patience over the past week or so. It has been an enormously stressful period for everyone here, and we’re looking forward to being able to enjoy a quiet Christmas before getting on with the job again in the New Year.
Thanks,
Stuart & the PH team
After a few days during which it has become clear that there remain serious issues with performance and functionality on the new PistonHeads classifieds site, and with the realisation that we won’t be able to solve these ahead of the impending Christmas break, we’ve decided to roll back to the old site rather than leave users with these issues until the New Year.
We’ve started the roll back process now, and estimate that it will be complete by around 10am tomorrow morning, by which time we’ll have successfully moved any new ads uploaded to the new site back into the old.
At the same time, we recognise that aspects of the new UX frustrated you as users, and we won’t go live until we’ve taken on board feedback on the various threads and made improvements to the layout and formatting of the site.
We remain convinced that we can deliver a great and innovative set of search tools which will be of real use in helping to find cars for sale, but we also recognise that we need to preserve the ease of use of the old site, and we’ll do just that. We’ll expand our user test team too so that more of you are consulted on the designs during the process, so if you’d like to be part of this then please let me know via PM.
We’d like to thank everyone for their patience over the past week or so. It has been an enormously stressful period for everyone here, and we’re looking forward to being able to enjoy a quiet Christmas before getting on with the job again in the New Year.
Thanks,
Stuart & the PH team
Are you able to let us know what youre trying to do?
if as suggested before youre trying to migrate both the front end and the database is there a way you can separate the two tasks
a) migrate the database but check the old site can still pull data out of it.
Run with that for a while
b) make the new site sort of live with its new way of accessing the database 'click here to access new site'
Does the new site need to be any more than the new search box at the top while the old site has the traditional menu of cars look
Give users the chance to choose either old or new (as in streetmap)
At least that way there is a planB if something in plan A doesnt work
Good luck
- the ideas look good it's how to implement them
if as suggested before youre trying to migrate both the front end and the database is there a way you can separate the two tasks
a) migrate the database but check the old site can still pull data out of it.
Run with that for a while
b) make the new site sort of live with its new way of accessing the database 'click here to access new site'
Does the new site need to be any more than the new search box at the top while the old site has the traditional menu of cars look
Give users the chance to choose either old or new (as in streetmap)
At least that way there is a planB if something in plan A doesnt work
Good luck
- the ideas look good it's how to implement them
saaby93 said:
Are you able to let us know what youre trying to do?
if as suggested before youre trying to migrate both the front end and the database is there a way you can separate the two tasks
a) migrate the database but check the old site can still pull data out of it.
Run with that for a while
b) make the new site sort of live with its new way of accessing the database 'click here to access new site'
Does the new site need to be any more than the new search box at the top while the old site has the traditional menu of cars look
Give users the chance to choose either old or new (as in streetmap)
At least that way there is a planB if something in plan A doesnt work
Good luck
- the ideas look good it's how to implement them
Let's get the roll back sorted, take stock and revisit in a short while. Not saying you can't suggest ideas, or express and interest in future testing, but for now Stuart has explained where we are at. if as suggested before youre trying to migrate both the front end and the database is there a way you can separate the two tasks
a) migrate the database but check the old site can still pull data out of it.
Run with that for a while
b) make the new site sort of live with its new way of accessing the database 'click here to access new site'
Does the new site need to be any more than the new search box at the top while the old site has the traditional menu of cars look
Give users the chance to choose either old or new (as in streetmap)
At least that way there is a planB if something in plan A doesnt work
Good luck
- the ideas look good it's how to implement them
Pete/ Stuart will post once roll back has taken place, but we are aiming for the 'old' site to go live and the new site to go back into the workshop for care and attention as mentioned above
The fundamentals of the way the new site works are right, we think. Having a way of appending user uploaded ad details with specification data to allow search to throw up cars you might not have though of, or to allow you to narrow down the specific models you want within a much bigger set of search results (all the 6 cyl petrol 3 series tourings, for example) is what's needed.
However we had some data migration issues which made using these tools frustrating and inaccurate, and the layout of ads can be much improved. Several people have commented that it looks as if the site was designed by developers. In fact that's not the case, our brief specified that it shouldn't look too pretty. However our UX guys have already started looking at what can can be done to improve things, and we'll also consider some of the nice stuff in the old site that we really need to hang onto.
However we had some data migration issues which made using these tools frustrating and inaccurate, and the layout of ads can be much improved. Several people have commented that it looks as if the site was designed by developers. In fact that's not the case, our brief specified that it shouldn't look too pretty. However our UX guys have already started looking at what can can be done to improve things, and we'll also consider some of the nice stuff in the old site that we really need to hang onto.
Stuart, could you supply the thinking behind having the classifieds and filter boxes on the home page please.
Its always the last bit to load and prevents you moving to you desired section, eg forums until it has loaded. Therefore, every visit to PH's has this nigling load issue. Are the PH user's not intelligent enough to click the classifieds tab, if that's where they want to go?
Its always the last bit to load and prevents you moving to you desired section, eg forums until it has loaded. Therefore, every visit to PH's has this nigling load issue. Are the PH user's not intelligent enough to click the classifieds tab, if that's where they want to go?
k ME IS IT CHRISTMAS ???? Thank you.Gassing Station | Website Feedback | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff