THE MID-HANTS RAILWAY REVAMPED WEBSITE

Anna also replied to me regarding my query re the volunteer pages, they will be replaced at some time. The rather awkward ticketing/timetable links are a poor show for a site for which the apparent raison d'etre is to make buying tickets easier (and the default reason for visiting the site) and I still find the typeface and pagination rather jarring. No problem with the basic split "Visit/Learning/Preservation"
Still feels like the site is a test version, rather rough round the edged, and not the fully fledged site that will encourage the hordes to flock to travel on the the Mid Hants

 

I must be on a different website, works perfectly fine and easily for me!

 

1998 called… it wants its content and transaction strategy back…

;-)

Simon

 

Goldfish: Still true today, even with all the interactive/multimedia stuff. Just look at the website stats and watch those customers leave when they get bored of clicking.

Richard

 

It's a myth perpetuated by people who want to have lots of links on their homepage and massive nav lists. People want value, to know they're getting closer to their prize.

There's a good article at Myth #2: All pages should be accessible in 3 clicks - UX Myths

People's patience with irrelevant content might wane by 3-clicks (or more positively, they might have found what they're after), but if it's good, relevant info and there's a clear scent of the prey, they'll click 5, 6, 7 times…

I'd be more concerned about what happens when you Google 'Watercress Line timetable', and get sent to a page with no sign of a timetable on it (oddly called 'Timetable' but with the title 'Visit the Railway' or similar).

Simon

 

Hi Spuduk,

Nice to see another person sticking up for the MHR web site. Like I said in my other posts. The web site is there to sell tickets and give information about the railway which it seems to do very well

 

It's far from a "law" that they get bored after 3 clicks, but it's a fair guideline! The fact that with 6 clicks on the Mid Hants site I had found a timetable, booked a ticket and found the loco roster so knew exactly what loco I'd be behind AND which direction it was facing, is pretty good work for a website designer, regardless of any other complaints on the site.

Will always defend a worthy cause, that and I think the Mid Hants is one of the best preserved lines out there. Still need to sort out the West Country Buffet though! So much potential...

 

ive just tried the new web site and had no problems, 2 clicks and i'm in the diesel news/wagon news etc., and typed in the address for the staff files and got straight in. maybe they've sorted it, or the middle aged (like me) just panicked at change ha ha!

 

Yes you are right, staff/volunteer pages now up! Would have helped if there was some notice of the change, it took me by surprise, I suppose I was naive to expect no glitches at all. My only experience of upgrading a website commercially was with a previous employer who spent many months beta testing the new site and ran two sites in parallel until all the bugs were ironed out (well 99.9% of them anyway)

 

You have hit the nail on the head there and I have to say it is looking good.

Well done to the team that got this operational though as you say it would have been nice if we had been notified beforehand.

With best regards
Chris

 

Just viewed the regular blogs, carriage and wagon, loco, etc and they now all work as previously with the pictures enlarged and in a slideshow. If anything this function is now better than before and will lead to more page and picture views in future. So a big thank you to the Webmaster for addressing concerns.
Regards
David

 

I second that David, well done.

Regards
Chris:

 

Working for me

 

Working ok for me now but sometimes it does take forever to load up.