Quantcast

Speaking of crappy web design....

zedro

zedro

Turbo Monkey
Sep 14, 2001
4,144
1
at the end of the longest line
hasent anyone told Intense after all these years? A window half the size of my screen, a maddening picture transition, and the site tells me NOTHING ABOUT THEIR BIKES! Yeah a cool like inspirational blurb is all i need to plunk down thousands (i assume) of dollars....

anyways looking for a cool everywhere trail bike.....Knolly and Canfields get your lightweights in gear already!

edit: ok i found some info from those convoluted little icons that pop even smaller little windows... :rolleyes:
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
The bike industry should be a case study in bad site design.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
What Aaron said.

I was discussing this with someone a little while ago. I addressed that exact point, it was almost impossible for me to get details about the bike.

I have no idea why the bike industry as a whole, choose form over function. And even then..the form they choose sucks.

Zed: Videotron is a good example...try and get rate info. I am moving, and was trying to figure it out..you need to use their ****ty flash fronted web app...which only works in IE (if that). Then they want you address, phone number etc etc before they will even give you rate info and service choices. WTF?
 
sneakysnake

sneakysnake

Monkey
Apr 2, 2006
875
1
NC
it's not only their design, but for example iron horse launched a new site at the beg. of the year. and when i first visited i was excited bc i saw that they had added an online store. well i clicked on it and it said "Sorry we've just launched Iron Horse O6. We will have this page up soon. Check back later!" WTF it's been 4 months, get on it iron horse
 
mandown

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,270
7,795
Transylvania 90210
bike websites are lame. i was just on the evil site and could not find pictures of the frames in the colors they offer. i'd like to know what the imperial looks like in a color other than blue.

foes has a frustrating site.

foxracingshox.com is another contender for the bad design contest. i guess the more the product costs, the less information should be on the website and the harder it should be to find what little there is.

nicolai.net is almost as complicated as the frames they sell.

marzo's page drives me batty. the headers take up too much space and the font/color choices are weak. hey peterson, can you help fix that?
EDIT - ok i just looked at it again (it has been a while) and it is not that bad. but the front page makes it seem like you are going to get a great looking site, then you get bland inside pages :( they are as much fun to read as the marzo manuals. not awful. just not fun.

some decent online pages -
http://www.bansheebikes.com
http://transitionbikes.com
simple and honest, just like the bikes.
 
mandown

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,270
7,795
Transylvania 90210
zedro - have you heard the canfields are going to be aluminum front ends now? i spoke with chris a few weeks ago and he said they were not happy with the steel ones (i did not ask why). i am sure the bike will still be awesome.
 
L

luelling

Guest
sixsixtysix said:
Romic is in this category too....
Click to expand...
I was on there today, they haven't updated in like 3 years. The last post I saw was '03
 
R

Red Bull

Turbo Monkey
Oct 22, 2004
1,772
0
970
mandown said:
zedro - have you heard the canfields are going to be aluminum front ends now? i spoke with chris a few weeks ago and he said they were not happy with the steel ones (i did not ask why). i am sure the bike will still be awesome.
Click to expand...
Supposedly they are bending under harsh bottom outs... :bomb:

Sucks for them... they are probubly losing all of their profit.
 
-dustin

-dustin

boring
Jun 10, 2002
7,155
1
austin
i don't really care about form or function, just update the ****ing site. i hate that more than anything.

i love Turner's site. that is the best site i've seen.
 
zedro

zedro

Turbo Monkey
Sep 14, 2001
4,144
1
at the end of the longest line
mandown said:
zedro - have you heard the canfields are going to be aluminum front ends now? i spoke with chris a few weeks ago and he said they were not happy with the steel ones (i did not ask why). i am sure the bike will still be awesome.
Click to expand...
i havent heard much about the new frames at all, and they're pretty under the radar anyways (and they have a 'problem' site too, not as bad as it used to be...ok they're small i'll forgive :) ). If it's light enough it's the type of bike I'd want (Balance/Lucky)...well that or slum it out on an affordable Norco :wonky2:

Another bad website: Cove. Just try to scroll that menu...uhhg
 
zedro

zedro

Turbo Monkey
Sep 14, 2001
4,144
1
at the end of the longest line
the Inbred said:
i love Turner's site. that is the best site i've seen.
Click to expand...
checkout Mountain Cycles site, somewhat similar, much slicker, but again they suffer from that flash induced tunnel-vision. Turner has commited the cardinal sin of fuzzy photo rendering.
 
zedro

zedro

Turbo Monkey
Sep 14, 2001
4,144
1
at the end of the longest line
Transcend said:
Zed: Videotron is a good example...try and get rate info. I am moving, and was trying to figure it out..you need to use their ****ty flash fronted web app...which only works in IE (if that). Then they want you address, phone number etc etc before they will even give you rate info and service choices. WTF?
Click to expand...
ha, go to Bell and try and find anything. Their CS is a mess on all fronts, totally pathetic.

One of the best sites i've come across is McMaster.com. If i'm doing a design and need some kind of hardware i'll always try and design around what they have, everything is just so accessible...well once you get by the main page, lots of catagories to sort through but still better than any menu system for large parts inventory i've seen.
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
Duzitall said:
This is a good example of how to do design a site

http://www.bbrmotorsports.com/Home.htm
Click to expand...
Uh black with a bunch of bright colors? I think I got a cataract from just glancing at that site.

I challenge someone to find a bike company site with the simple elegance and thoughtful design that Frasers site exhibits.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
mandown said:
bike websites are lame. i was just on the evil site and could not find pictures of the frames in the colors they offer. i'd like to know what the imperial looks like in a color other than blue.
Click to expand...
Evil has a new site coming soon... :cool:

I challenge someone to find a bike company site with the simple elegance and thoughtful design that Frasers site exhibits.
Click to expand...
Gracias, senor. I think e13 managed to come out that way.
 
Duzitall

Duzitall

Monkey
Jun 20, 2004
452
0
San Diego
Transcend said:
That BBR site isn't just ugly, it's got pretty bad navigation. I mean the general idea is simple, pages that are 1800 pixels long of just links is pretty crazy.
Click to expand...
Well I think you're both wrong. To each his own I suppose. That's what makes the world interesting.
 
DirtyDog

DirtyDog

Gang probed by the Golden Banana
Aug 2, 2005
6,598
0
Duzitall said:
Well I think you're both wrong. To each his own I suppose. That's what makes the world interesting.
Click to expand...
Of course, we do this for a living.....
 
dfinn

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
mtnbrider said:
Is mine okay? It's at freewebs until I get a domain.

I'm not quite done with it: I'm going to replace the header with a more vibrant/colorful image, and make some of the files smaller.

www.freewebs.com/pbmedia
Click to expand...
It's better than that BBR site. :help:

I think you should cut down on the large png images, it's taking way too long to load and I have a reasonably fast connection at home. Convert those to jpegs.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
mtnbrider said:
Is mine okay? It's at freewebs until I get a domain.

I'm not quite done with it: I'm going to replace the header with a more vibrant/colorful image, and make some of the files smaller.

www.freewebs.com/pbmedia
Click to expand...
1 important tip - try to stay away from links as images in the future. It's bad practice as the search engines won't follow the links to spider the site, and those with non graphical browsers, or who have graphics off, are screwed.

BTW is someone in your family a journalist?
 
PatBranch

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
I know, I need to lower the file sizes. How else would I make decent looking links w/o image links? Woud I just put text over the button images?
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
mtnbrider said:
I know, I need to lower the file sizes. How else would I make decent looking links w/o image links? Woud I just put text over the button images?
Click to expand...
There are many MANY ways. Pure text is the best method. You can then use CSS for placement as well as styling. You can also use backgrounds behind it, different opacities and on and on. Get creative.

Text links are the easiest to understand, navigate and update. They are also the only ones that search engine spiders will follow.
 
dfinn

dfinn

Turbo Monkey
Jul 24, 2003
2,129
0
SL, UT
Transcend said:
There are many MANY ways. Pure text is the best method. You can then use CSS for placement as well as styling. You can also use backgrounds behind it, different opacities and on and on. Get creative.

Text links are the easiest to understand, navigate and update. They are also the only ones that search engine spiders will follow.
Click to expand...
why is that? an href is still an href, whether it's tied to text or tied to an image.
 
Transcend

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
dfinn said:
why is that? an href is still an href, whether it's tied to text or tied to an image.
Click to expand...
I have no idea why this is. Google has actually come out and said they don't follow image links. My only guess is that they cannot use content to actively categorize it or something. (This is supposed to be one of the main reasons to use ALT tags, but who th ehell knows with google).
 
PatBranch

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
Transcend said:
1 important tip - try to stay away from links as images in the future. It's bad practice as the search engines won't follow the links to spider the site, and those with non graphical browsers, or who have graphics off, are screwed.

BTW is someone in your family a journalist?
Click to expand...
Noone is a journalist (I don't think), why do you ask?
They wouldn't be completely screwed (only visually), they could just click the alternate text.
 
knollybikes.com

knollybikes.com

Chimp
Jun 16, 2004
34
0
Vancouver BC
Ya, Knolly has been pretty under the radar since Interbike. That doesn't mean that we have been sitting on our collective asses doing nothing though :)

The Delirium T is in final prototyping stages (latest prototype pics to be released on the net very soon) and we have been hammering on this bike over the past little while. So far, it's everything that we've hoped for! Production frames will be shipping towards the end of May.

Also, we are currently working on a newer, completely overhauled web site. It will feature the things that we like about our current site (fast, and available super hi-res pictures of our product) and will fix a lot of the problems with our current site (dated design, lack of flexibility in terms of updates, missing content, etc...). As always, our site will be EASY to navigate, will MAKE SENSE to navigate and will have TONS of MEANINGFUL information.

In fact, the new site will be the start of the our customer gateway into our company. Product registration, FAQs, detailed service manuals, etc... - it's all in the plans. We might not have it all at the start, but it's being implemented from the get go which will help a lot.

Currently, the new site is probably at least 4-6 weeks away (design is well under way, but still need lots of photography).

Cheers!

Noel
 
rotr no more

rotr no more

Chimp
Jan 5, 2007
7
0
Beautiful British Columbia
Our new site is up, and I am wondering what you all think of it.
There were some great comments in this thread, and from those that navigate we look to for answers.
Bear in mind we are still working on some stuff, so it is a work in progress, but comments, thoughts, and ideas will be listened to. We reserve the right to ignore those ideas we don't like. ;)
Thanks,
Tim...so much bandwidth, so little time.
 
mandown

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,270
7,795
Transylvania 90210
not the most stunning site, but not bad at all. it is clean and simple. the biggest problem seems to be on the pricing page... $2,995 US for a frame. are you sure you used the right conversion rate?
 
jvnixon

jvnixon

Turbo Monkey
May 14, 2006
2,325
0
SickLines.com
mandown said:
not the most stunning site, but not bad at all. it is clean and simple. the biggest problem seems to be on the pricing page... $2,995 US for a frame. are you sure you used the right conversion rate?
Click to expand...
I have a feeling that's not a typo and your idea is going to be ingored :shocked:
 
mandown

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,270
7,795
Transylvania 90210
rotr no more said:
Thanks for the comments on the site. What would you like to see to make it more stunning?
Click to expand...
well, to make it more stunning, you could do many things: flashing banner ads, playing punk rock music, more flash based pages with moving parts. that said, i'd be happy if you stayed away from those things. stunning is not the goal you should have for the page. you should be focused on information, not entertainment. i like the transition website. they have a main page for each bike, and a sub page for things like pricing and geometry. they have a gallery of rider shots. the site is not stunning, but it is pleasing to the eye and full of useful information. it also loads quickly. keep it simple.

maybe you should give up your website to cut some overhead, then you could bring down the price of the frame :lighten:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom