Rubbish websites

Between £650-£1500 per day, in the industry I am in.

 

As a digital marketing manager (and digital/ad agency director for the past few years) I'd be shocked if anyone was trying to sell on their services to a small tourist attraction or charity at those rates. A respected central London agency might charge up to £1200 max for a designer (rather than a user experience consultant, information architect etc) but frankly most of the sites you see built by web agencies are out-of-town and by small operations. They won't be charging more than £400-£600 per day.

Even so, a bit of basic web knowledge amongst a team can go a long way. There are lots of decent WordPress based templates (and many other CMS platforms) that small societies can use to create a site. I'm no designer or coder - I'm just a 'suit' and occasional IA - but even I cobbled together something quickly from Mac.com for the Seaside Railways expo (admittedly, I've not updated it... or had time to finish it, embarrassingly).

There are some excellent railway websites out there. The new Midhants one, the new Bluebell one, and the NRM sites are all very good for the majority of end-users. Some railways have enthusiasts as their focus, others families. I am constantly surprised however how many railway sites make it so hard to find the correct timetable, a map of where the stations are, what one can actually SEE there and what events are coming up.

 

Most heritage railways spend thousands on professionally designed and printed leaflets, advertising and posters each year. Getting a website of a similar quality should be just as important - maybe MORE important as the website can do much more than just publicise the railway.

A good example - I've just found the Dean Forest Railway's website http://www.deanforestrailway.co.uk. Easy to navigate, with lots of links encouraging you to find out more, and make you do something. The changing photo on the homepage is a nice idea too.

Not so good - Swanage Railway http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk. Information overload, particularly on the timetable and news pages, and very small photos.

Just my personal view, after working in web design for 10 years.

Richard

 

Why groups starting out don't use WP, Tumblr or Blogspot baffles me. They are far easier to use and update than a full blown website. I don't know if blogspot has it but WP and Tumblr (not entirely sure about Tumblr) have the option to include individual pages (rolling stock, contact details, etc) that can be edited as needed. They don't need much in the way of html knowledge (though a little can go a long way) as the editing interfaces are easy to use.

 

I'd be interested in knowing why they wanted to go to the additional cost of registering another web address for the stock list rather than just list it within the main site address?

 

How about having three classes of website:

1. Preserved Railways (websites that are most likely to be aimed at attracting visitors)
2. Societies (websites that are aimed more at providing specific information)
3. Preservation Groups (websites that are probably the least commercial, are more likely to be created by non-professional web designers and are specific to individual items)

Each can be applauded, or critised, for different reasons but surely cannot be directly compared to each other? Also, each classification having only the relevant 'top 10' judging points applied to them (e.g. a preservation group would not necessarily have a stock list, but a preserved railway should).
Additional judging points could also determine if the website conforms to legal rules, such as disability laws (the ability to resize fonts, etc), displaying photos of children (which is a 'no-no'), acknowledgement of image copyright, etc.

Regarding the suggested 'prize', perhaps there should be the following levels:

1. "Nat Pres website of the year"
2. "Nat Pres most improved website of the year"
3. "Nat Pres accredited website"

I think Keith's proposed award logo is spot on!

 

One of the issues with a volunteer-based organisation is that the website is run by one person, and to their own agenda. This may not be entirely at ease with the agenda of the business needs. Without wishing to go down a well-trodden path, it's been seen at several railways.

It might be that some groups have an 'official' site for the general audience, as well as more detailed enthusiast site for an audience with different demands. That seems to be the way it's going at the moment - and as long as the unofficial sites point out that they're unofficial, and link to the official ones where appropriate - it's a good thing. You just don't want to confuse the visitor.

 

Websites cost peanuts to register these days.

The website really should belong to the railways marketing department.
In the 21st century glossy leaflets are far less important than they used to be, the website should really be taking a much higher profile, it is their shop window afterall, open 24x7 365 days a year and long after the volunteers have left for the day.

Even a small out of town agency should be able to create a reasonable site for a railway, where I live even my local takeaways all have easy to use online ordering websites.

 

Glossy leaflets still have their place. I have visited several heritage lines based purely on a spur of the moment decision because I found something in 'Local attractions' leaflet rack at a B&B or Hotel I was staying in.

 

This certainly true; but the glossies should be thought of as a cheap support to the main effort, ie the website. There is something that ought to be said about professionaly produced websites, that is that they ought to be constructed to have, in addition to the other essential virtues, the virtue of simplicity of maintenance, so that a volunteer, with a minimum of experience, can maintain them.

Regards

 

The current Llangollen site is a shocker but it does say there's a new one coming this month. The NYMR site is very good indeed.

I think the most important thing is looking like a high quality website with a unique design - like some effort has gone into it. It reflects well on the railway. A website which uses low res GIFs and photos which aren't HQ really has no place in 2011.

 

When I did a series of short web design courses we taught from day 1 to make your website as accessible as possible to those with eyesight problems so as to not to cut out as much of your potential audience as possible. We were shown a website where you would select the colours you intend to use for text and background and it would tell you if they were of sufficient contrast to be read by those with colour blindness. So while the point may be missed by amateur and self taught web designers it shouldn't be missed by those who do it professionally or semi-professionally.

 

Ok...here we go...

We had ours re-designed 6-6 months ago and its beginning settle in.

I am now looking at improvements...

Whats your thoughs? (pelase be nice )

http://www.tanfield-railway.co.uk

 

To me that - tanfield - is pretty good. If I had to be picky, in some places the "Tanfield" text blends into the photo background a bit too much for easy reading - for example on the home page if you moved the text from the left to the right, it would be against the dark background rather than losing itself in the steam. Contrast that page with the History page and you'll get my point.

I like the plan a visit tab because if I'm coming, it tells me everything I need to know in one place without searching about - times, fares, opening and directions. The National Trust site by contrast is a nightmare to find the entry prices on!

If I were to propose one more change - to me having the tabs so high on the page means that when you scroll down (in Firefox at least it extends below one screen) you then lose the tabs. If you were to move these under the photos they would remain accessible even when reading lower down the page. Small point and maybe too much practicality over design.

Given time hopefully you can add to the stocklist so that maybe each loco has its own page with more details linked from the list - especially for those like me relatively ignorant about non mainline locos, - and maybe find some way of flagging what is in use and what is awaiting restoration etc. However there's quite a list there so its clearly not going to be a small task!

 

I agree with 6024KEI, the tabs didnt immediately jump out at me.

The only thing i'd add is a map for the directions (though I see the google link)

Otherwise this is a nice simple, fast loading site that I can get around very quickly.

I learned something too.. I had no idea the size of your collection !

Is there a map of the line ? I was trying to understand the route.. is Andrews House the main station and the line goes in 3 directions ? (Ive not yet been to Tanfield).

 

Overall the Tanfield site is a good one (and I remember many visits when I was younger, even to the extend of cycling up the hill from Whickham in the snow during the winter months!). I agree about the comments concerning the tabs, perhaps with a green background that has a greater height which extends to the very top of the page then they would stand out better? (see my experimental site at: http://34058.web.officelive.com/default.htm for reference).

The title on each page also needs to be moved so that it doesn't get lost in the background picture - but you don't want it moving all over the place just so that it has a dark background behind it - it should be in the same place on each page, therefore maybe the background picture should start below the title rather than behind it? Alternatively, the background immediately behind the title could be made to be only 50% transparent to make it stand out better. Another thought would be to have the same title/tabs layout with the title above the tabs as in the MHR website: http://www.watercressline.co.uk/Home

Have all your links to external websites, forms, etc. open up in a new tab/page rather than losing the page you're currently looking at, the links to google maps and the volunteer form are examples.

Everyone should be carefull if children are in any photographs as their parents need to be asked for permission for the photo to be used on a website. The following link is a good place to start reading about this area: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/inform/trai...tancy/helpandadvice/photographs_wda47845.html

Regarding the stock list I like the MHR approach to providing the info where you can click on the name of the loco to see a more detailed page on that engine - see their site at: http://www.watercressline.co.uk/The-Works/Locomotives

This one is tongue-in-cheek: were there applicable copyright laws back in 1725??

 

Whilst agreeing that you are entitled to your own opinon, I dont understand why it is wrong that there is too much info on the timetable and news?
Surely that is what potential passengers want. They want to know when trains are running, what times etc so that they can plan their day out.

 

You can't have too much information, only poorly designed pages so the information looks confusing. The Swanage Railway Timetable page has all the info I want on it and is readable. The news page index could have the headings slightly larger, but the individual news pages have photos that you can click on to see larger versions so you only need thumbnails in that situation.

 

The news page is too cluttered - spacing between news items would help, but also perhaps putting older news items onto an archive page. And definately reduce the number of pictures on each news item - most of the ones towards the bottom of the item are too similar to others to warrant being there.
Timetable page is also too cluttered - is the pdf leaflet really required when the information is repeated below it? The special events flyer could also be made a link from this page and/or the main menu. Perhaps something similar to the Tanfield's timetable idea would be better?
Whilst the website is pretty good overall, I think the Swanage may be trying to get too much information onto each page and onto the website as a whole. Perhaps better use could have been made of the space at the sides?
Just my opinion!


Keith