THE MID-HANTS RAILWAY REVAMPED WEBSITE

Folks has anyone seen this yet and wish to pass comment?

I am pretty sure that it is not complete yet but oh boy there are masses of mistakes and omissions as well.

The mistakes include the Loco page that says some loco.s that are under restoration are not and those that are not under restoration are indeed are,Loco,s and traction that are no longer at the Railway are registered as still at the MHR, the archive and picture updates for Loco,s carriages and wagons are completely missing for example, I could go on as the list is endless though one can get the gist of this from above.

This should have been checked before going on line although maybe it has but by people with little knowledge of what is going on. This is in no way a put down of the Railway that I love, but I do hope that this is sorted out soon and quickly as IMHO this has done the railways credibility no good at all.

Best regards
Chris:

 

Where's the loco news and Ropley shed stories?

 

Indeed!

Regards
Chris:

 

Have you contacted them too instead of just complaining on a public forum? Constructive criticism is fine, but is a public forum a good place to do that?
There is a danger of the forum dragging down to complaining and moaning.......

 

Here here, sometimes this forum just feels like one big moaning shop!

I think the quality and presentation of the new website is excellent! Far and above the best heritage railway website out there at the moment (open to other nominees). The content of the site might be incorrect, but I doubt that's the web designers fault.

 

I was not complaining , merely commenting. If you care to look once again at my post, I made the suggestion that it is not complete and hope that this is rectified soon.

The office and powers that be are not always accessible Mr Wigglesworth, and as this is your first post on this forum, I bid you welcome.

Kind regards
Chris:

 

Further to my last post, the website has been rectified so well done and thank you.

This matter is now closed.

Regards
Chris:

 

I wrote to the Webmaster a few weeks ago regarding the Loco list. I suggested that it would be interesting and more informative to distinguish those locomotives "awaiting overhaul" from those that are still "awaiting restoration" - ie those that have never run in preservation. For instance There is a huge gulf between (say) Urie S15 30506 which ran in preservation for several years, and its twin sister 30499 which has been a kit of parts for almost 50 years but is finally coming together for the first time (Welcome the day). I believe the preservation movement will always have a special interest in a loco restored for the first time.
It is a really simple 5 minute change and almost any Mid Hants volunteer could tell you in an instant which are in which category, but needless to say I did not even get a reply, which is disapointing. At least Tony Wood would tell me not to be so b****y stupid if he didn't agree with me!

 

I'm afraid to my mind the new design looks like it is aimed at 12 year olds with some hideous fonts. Mind you, it might have been designed to attract to a younger audience rather than middle aged codgers like me. The old letters page has gone, I assume they think we all use Facebook. The volunteers "secret" info page has moved, I am sure it is there somewhere, was useful for checking dates of PTS courses and for reading Communication Cord. If anyone knows where it is, perhaps they could PM me. I have e-mailed asking about that, and also to see if I can get some help in displaying pictures correctly, I use IE9 64 bit and can't see the pics on the news pages.. Useability seems on par with the last one, much better than the version of a few years ago. I'm sure I'll like it fine once I can see the pictures!

 

Looks no different here, both on Safari & Google Chrome.

 

Well yesterday on the old site I could see all the pictures, today I can't. Serves me right for using such an obscure and arcane web browser I suppose.

 

I too cannot view the pictures, and I use firefox....................................................... it tells me there should be an image there but wont show it to me!

As for the site its self, I feel there is something missing on the home page, it just doesn't 'feel' right.

I've also tried the staff site and all you get is the preservation pages - fat lot of good that is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suffice to say that at the moment its a rather embarrassing mess....................................................... hopefully when the web master/team get in from work it might get sorted in the morning??????????????????????

better still why not stick the old site(s0 back up until this new one is up and running properly!

 

I may be old fashioned but I'm more interested in the content of a website than how pretty it looks.

 

Just been back on, and now I can see the pics!!!

But, I now get this message at the top of the page -

"We have noticed that you are running an old version of your Internet browser. In order to view our website correctly, we recommend that you follow the instructions by clicking here. Thank you"

MY BROWSER IS UP TO DATE :mad2: :censored:

I do hope that these are just teething troubles!

 

Not for the first time, they're making a right arse of this. It looks like the 'old' site is still around, but the new site has been dropped on top (see http://www.watercressline.co.uk/archive/home.html for the old site). You can see the old structure (berating me for using IE6 when I'm actually on my iPad) at:

Locomotive News | Watercress Line

The navigation choices of:

- Your visit
- Our services (not sure what that is)
- Special events
- The works
- Rail mail (not sure what that is)

No contact/find us, and the links aren't all hugely clear, but not too bad.

The new site

- Visit the railway (ok)
- Learning and discovery (what?)
- Preservation (jams and marmalade maybe?)

And then there's a bunch of links at the bottom of the homepage; effectively hidden from everyone.

I'd be staggered if the new top-level navigation works better than the old. Mainly it seems they've done this to add a Facebook widget on the homepage. None of the accessibility problems I've highlighted before have been resolved despite html5 wizardry. No sign of analytics, so it'd be interesting to know what evidence they've based the changes on, or whether the local marketing bod has gone on gut instinct…

Ho hum. I suppose you get what you pay for with volunteer sites…

Simon

 

I suspect you've just clicked around a bit and 'found' the old site. If you go to Mid-Hants Railway 'Watercress Line' you get the new site…

Simon

 

The web site seems ok to me. It does what it's there for selling tickets.

 

Interesting. Is that what most people use the site for? I'd imagine most people use the site to plan their day out; how to get there and when to go there (times and events). I could be wrong, no doubt the stats provide some accurate info.

Simon

 

Unfortunately all the "New Improved" Watercress web site will be is a E Commerce site and not a lot more .

I fear the Tony Wood years are even further behind us now. Time will tell if the enthusiasts and MEMBERS are catered for in the same way in the future.

 

Ok the web site is there to give information about the railway when visiting the railway (times of train departures/arrivals and dates of special events etc etc) and to sell tickets. At the end of the day it's a marketing tool for the MHR.


Like I said in my other post it seems ok to me.

But why bring up the MHR web site again. There are other preserved railways with web sites that are a total wast of time and they don't get a bashing by Nat Press members why should the MHR web site be single out for again?