R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

This evening at just after 6pm ( Monday 6th April 09 ) BBC Radio 2 launches their brand new website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

From what I can see it's far too complex and complicated, a bit like the mess they made of the BBC homepage a while back.

From what I can make out there is no mention of message boards either.

By accident or design I wonder?

H
_________________
88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

I think a few have had their pictures taken again. It looks more colorful for the DJ homepages, and pictures around some of them.

nod · Joined: 24 Dec 2006 Posts: 3558

18 months to produce what exactly ? Rolling Eyes

I noticed the messageboards link hidden away at the bottom. Rolling Eyes

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

You have to type in the name of the show you want the track listing now...........

I thought websites were to assist me, not to make me work harder?

Funny thing too, the shows I asked for don't exist, but I listened to them over the weekend! They are now known as 'episodes'

On the JV page there are pages of 'episodes' from the last 2+ years but you can't listen to them. Why on earth to they list them then?

Total waste of money and my time in trying to find something that took seconds on the old one.

H
_________________
88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

Briant · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject:

Hello H you have to scroll right down to the very bottom of the page and in small letters you will see 'Message Board.'

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

They've added that on since I made my post Briant!

There was a gap where it was.

H
_________________
88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

I was starting to get annoyed by the very large header and footer images until I discovered the "Less" link at the top. I quite like the design, though I'd like it more if it also had the same Web 2.0 modular drag & drop customisation that the main site has.

Actually, the BBC Mobile version looks better now. It looks pretty good on my phone which is handy for tuning in when I'm travelling.
_________________
(signature and avatar removed, violated forum Rule 2.)

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

John W · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 3367 Location: Warwickshire, UK

In the music programme listing, under Easy Listening, they include Wogan and S Kennedy shows Rolling Eyes

I've always found their shows difficult listening.

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Nice new pictures added to some of the homepages. Did the Airbrush get used? Laughing

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

How many more times are they going to change the Radio 2 website? Must be the third time in the last year.

Some of the presenters' photographs are a funny colour, and not so much airbrushed as paintbrushed!

You get the feeling it has been redesigned by someone who doesn't use it.
_________________
Ron

Ian Robinson · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:38 pm Post subject:

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

I've bookmarked this page. It seems to bring up the old pages. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/listen/
_________________
Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack.

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:36 am Post subject:

Well it's 08.34 and the website is telling me Ken Bruce is on air! And they think it's last Wednesday! Very efficient Rolling Eyes

_________________
MiS

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:18 am Post subject:

Rachel · Guest

Oh dear. I really want to say that I like it, and it may grow on me when I get used to it but it was jolly difficult to find what I was looking for. Websites are best when they are intuitive and easy to get around. This new one doesn't follow the rules; that, on the one hand is a good thing cos it's different, but on the other hand, different is best when it's different because it's better- I'm not sure that this one is.

Fred · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:45 am Post subject:

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

I can't see the rationale for simply providing a list of previously broadcast shows. If, however, they were in the process of making an archive of some or all shows accessible then that would make sense.

I think there's a copyright issue that would need clearing in order to leave programming online in perpetuity, so maybe we're merely seeing a hint as to what might be sometime soon?

I can't imagine what the media server storage requirements would be though!!
_________________
(signature and avatar removed, violated forum Rule 2.)

Toggy · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 1239

There seems to be a bit too much going on on the website, it is very cluttered and not that easy to navigate round either. I preferred the one before the one before Laughing

Some of the new pictures are quite amusing, definitely some airbrushing going on there Laughing

Ian Robinson · Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:17 pm Post subject:

Well, you're all wrong. Chris was saying tonight that "there's lots of love" for the new website. So there! Razz

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

Rachel · Guest

I’m such a prawn. When I was trying to use the new website yesterday, I was in the “what’s changed” tutorial and got stuck there. Now that I’ve used the new site properly- it’s actually pretty cool beans. I’ve looked only at three show pages – (go on guess) and I like them. The Drivetime home page is like a scene from SouthPark- it’s fab. I would like to add to the VW Camper Van controversy but not with the seating arrangements cos that’s an internal “ who is the favourite” power-struggle. I had a similar thing with my three children many years ago after they’d watched an episode of Rug-Rats on that very theme. When my children came to me as a delegation demanding to know, which of them was the favourite- I said to my elder daughter – you are my favourite firstborn, I said to my son Harry , you’re my favourite son and then I said to my younger daughter – you’re my favourite six-year old.. and it worked .. they were all happy… but I digress. The problem with the Drivetime Camper Van is a psychological one, you see, it’s travelling from left to right on the screen (it’s not actually moving) which to the casual observer may not seem to be a problem but to the more discerning psyche, it’s on the wrong side of the road (the other side) to wave down for a lift. Overall though the new website is pretty, and it works.

MadeinSurrey · Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 8:40 am Post subject:

davem · Joined: 13 Mar 2009 Posts: 115

Its not bad but the message boards are so heavily censored theres no point in really spending much time on them

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19382 Location: Cheshire

It's the tracklisting part that is the real pain to me, although looking at Ken Bruce's this morning it seems to be the most simple and well arranged.

They have at least got all the shows that you can hear again + the playlists in one place. The others give you the year and then start at Jan 1st so just imagine having to scroll down to December for the playlist when we get there. April is bad enough.

Ken's also has the tracklistings from all shows from Jan 1st of this year.

H
_________________
88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

Rachel · Guest

Agree with that Helen. On the old site it was three clicks to get today's tracklisting for a show. Now it's five clicks and a lengthy scroll.

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Mark Mayhew · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2897

It's a bit clunky at first navigating around but after a few attempts I'm getting used to it-it's not too bad.

Why are the BBC updating the web-site again-I thought the last version was perfectly fine.

colby · Joined: 06 Feb 2009 Posts: 1216

I think it's more to do with the way all the information is pulled from various databases and the fact that more and more stuff is Flash-based (Flash is much more bandwidth-efficient and is quickly becoming the de-facto standard for the delivery of multimedia content across all platforms). The Beeb has been doing an enormous amount of work "behind the scenes" so to speak, and because the front-end was being rebuilt by necessity it made sense to put a new skin on it at the same time.
_________________
(signature and avatar removed, violated forum Rule 2.)