Looking for feedback on 29sports' new website

[sds 0]

I think Kerry would be eager to speak with people whom you feel could do a better job. You can either PM me or him ("Ice Hockey World").

I believe everyone at 29sports has an open mind on the project. As I said, they've already targeted 38 fixes/improvements since the topic was created yesterday. However, I imagine the final version will include some Flash, since a 'Wow!' factor is desired and, I believe, not quite as despised universally as you think it is. That said, one of my tenets in business has always been, "The Market Speaks." If people like the content and functionality of the site, they'll visit. If they don't, Kerry will have to determine why, so hopefully he places a feedback area.

Flash can be very nice if used correctly... and while I may be more of a detractor than most, I wouldn't overestimate the wow! factor either. Content is king and that is the only thing that keeps people coming back.

I'll try and work a up a referral for you.

[Kerry Goulet 0]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your feedback and please understand I am taking this very seriously. We want to deliver the best portal of hockey. Just as Mod Squad Hockey has become the number one source for equipment feedback, we want to be your number one source for all forms of hockey; Pro, amateur, inline and ball hockey.

The feedback has been fair and we are looking into making changes, however please understand there are alot of changes happening as we speak and this is just a behind the scene look at the framework.

We plan to launch early next week, so keep your ideas coming.

PS you are the first group to see this site because of JR, Chadd and Jason.

There is alot more to come!!!!!

[hockeymom 2]

Hi,

First of all, let me say what a great idea! I haven't had time to spend a lot of time on the site yet, so these are just some initial thoughts:

Badging/Branding: Recognizing that the nature of this site will always be cluttered with all of the sponsors and links it would likely have more impact if it had ONE clear "host" brand. The 2 main brands 29sports and Ice Hockey World do not have huge impact because they are sharing the main billing. Ignoring possible business implications, I would pick Ice Hockey World as it identifies the content and purpose of the site... wheres 29 sports is rather meaningless (to the consumer). After all, this isn't about twenty nine sports - it is about ONE - the world of hockey. I surmise that they are essentially sharing the branding on the site because they are 2 separate entities, linking together on the site with each supplying different content. From a consumer branding point of view, this weakens the overall impact... 29sports has the presence of being the url (and is supplying the video and audio content?)... but Ice Hockey World seems to be struggling to be the focal point of the site in spite of this (as well as supplying print content?).

At times it seems like things have been named 29sports just to give it a presence... go to the 29sports arena to talk about ice hockey world.

Amateur Hockey: I understand you intend to expand beyond the NHL, which will give it a unique reason for being. Don't forget about women's hockey!! As this will likely be a later roll out, I believe some thought will be given to how this will be accomplished without adding to the clutter. I imagine there are so many sub-categories it will be challenging to approach it cleanly.

As I said, I haven't had time to give this any depth... so pleas take this as cursory first impressions. I do believe the idea has legs as a destination site.

[Jason Harris 31]

That's great input, HM.

Regarding the branding, I know Kerry's ultimate goal is for 29sports to become the main brand, since it positions him to more easily expand if the site and magazine take hold.

[mattzilla 0]

I am also an experienced web designer/graphic designer. I like clean websites. there is WAY too much stuff going on, way too many noises, way too much flashy things and moving banners... it's like an attack on my senses.

MSH, though only a forum, is clean, easy to read and most of all easy to navigate. the color scheme is nice, its easy on the eyes.

take a look at some of the most popular sites on the net... you'll notice they are all pretty easy to get around.

If youre doing something like forums and news, you want to make it easy and simple and people will return.

and it does look amateur-ish. It seems like they just kept adding and adding and adding every idea that popped up. its just too much going on.

[rogue 0]

I'll try to touch on some new things I noticed or at least expand a bit on what I think of what other people have said.

The first flash intro with the music

It's not bad, I actually kind of like it however there NEEDS to be a way to skip it. It seems you are trying to attract repeat/regular visitors to the site, a forced intro every time someone visits is not the way to do that. Think about if you needed to watch an intro (and a somewhat long one at that) every time you visited the site. Also have the end of the intro redirect to a second index page. That way when people bookmark the site they will be able to go right to the main page without having to watch or click skip on a flash intro.

Kerry's Intro Talk

Once again, not bad but needs work. This skip intro feature works well here but there also needs to be some type of cookie for it. Anytime you visit a page that opens in the window and then click back it plays again. Better yet, require user action to play it. As other's said, you don't want to suddenly have audio playing while you are at work and have to close the page real fast (not to mention very few of these people will bother to come back to the site later). The blue screening needs alot of work. There is a blue glow all around Kerry. If you are contracting the video work out, find someone else, even if it costs a few more bucks. It's an amateur mistake. If you are doing the video yourselves I can give you some tips on how to make that less noticeable.

Text

As others have said. The text needs to change. I'm talking about "Dressing Rooms", "29 Sports Centre Store", etc. Look at "Dressing Room" it looks like a ransom note made from cut out magazine letters. Either have a solid background behind the entire words or have a transparent background but don't have coloring behind each individual letter.

Angle of the Text

Every word on the main "arena" page is at a different angle. Gameday slants backwards, Corporate Suites slants forward, 29 Sports Centre Store is stair stepped. Follow the perspective lines in the background. The way it is now makes it feel like an M.C. Escher drawing.

New window / Same window

Pick one. Half of the links open in the same window, half open in a different window. Choose one (preferably the same window).

Other things

The two tickers at the bottom are very jerky. My guess is too many key frames in the animation. The one on top is good but the left edge of the "LCD" looks like it is crooked. I don't think it is but because of the angle of the glass panes right next to it it looks that way. Try making it at an angle parallel to the glass panes.

The total hockey logo in the arena just looks like it is thrown on there. Everything else is on a sign or a wall but it looks like theres just a logo floating there in space. Make it a few pixels smaller and it might look better.

Make "Newsletter" and the two jerseys grow and throb like the other links. You want to strive for consistency in the design of a site.

Also have text links of the things in the main arena image. That way people don't have to hunt around for the different things. Something along the same lines as your "Privacy Policy" and "FAQs" at the bottom would be good. Just simple text alternatives.

Those black silhouettes are kind of creepy walking around. I would think about either making more detailed animated characters or blue screening some actual people for it.

When you click the stats page everything shifts to the left. Same with the icehockeyworld link. The grassroots page is just broken. Things are all misplaced, links from the bottom float up into the main area, broken image links, etc. Everything below the white area floats to the left on the contact us page. These may be problems just be firefox compatibility issues but if the coders can't make the pages look the same (or at least decent) in all browsers they shouldn't be making site at all. Sorry, not coders, I mean front page workers, very little if any of the code on the site was actually written by hand, no one would use an image map to make the links along the top of the screen, especially when they are a universal font with no special stylization.

There are more things that I think could use fixing up and if you think what I've said is helpful I'll be glad to let you know what else I think should be done.

[Jason Harris 31]

As an end-user, not a designer, I just don't get this amateurish charge. The first time Kerry sent me a link, my response was, "Wow, that site is awesome!" At the trade show, the common response was, "Wow, that site is awesome!"

My guess is web designers are more often creating sites for commercial use, where cleanliness is paramount, Conversely, this site's allure will be its content and bells/whistle, as long as it's intuitive enough to navigate. Bear in mind, its target audience skews younger and, thus, are more accustomed to MySpace and Facebook. Now, those are websites that are B-U-S-Y.....and busy. As someone who missed the cutoff for Gen X, they don't appeal to me, but they are obviously entrenched with our youth.

Rogue, now that is constructive feedback!

[rogue 0]

A lot of the things I mentioned I only pointed out because I was looking for things that need improvement. Overall I don't think the site is bad, I actually like the "arena" navigation idea. It's something different and will get people interested initially however you need to make sure they come back and thats where the little bugs and errors come in. The biggest issue in my mind aside from the intros is the lack of uniformity in the text. If you don't want it to all look the same I would say go with each element being totally different as would be seen in a real arena (neon sign for the shop, stenciled letters for the dressing room, etc.) The gameday and corporate suites text is real good but make both sets of words slant the same way.

I know I kind of just repeated what I said before but I wanted to make it more obvious the things that I think should really be changed and the other more detailed things that only people looking for them would notice. I also imagine alot of the things I suggested are being worked on since the site is still in progress. Make sure to let us know when the changes in progress are done so we can take a look at what has improved and if anything else arose.

[Kerry Goulet 0]

Thank you sds for your candid opinion. We are looking at several changes and over the weekend we will be adding the changes and also looking at all features before we go live. As to the comments by Rogue, you are dead on and we appreciate your vision. We have a great team working on this site and even though people have mention amateurish, the back door is far from that. We rushed the look a little but we wanted to see the reaction to the overall concept. The site may seem busy but when all the features are put in place it will become more seamless.

Looking forward to any other comment, oh yes I should mention the site will be powered by a daily stat service that will keep up to the minute stats for all professional leagues!

[Kerry Goulet 0]

Hey Mod Squad,

We are getting very close to launching 29Sports.com officially. Even though it is live now we have not put in place our marketing promotion to help make it your one stop portal. Over the last two weeks we have been redefining the site and cleaning it up, making some changes you all have posted. I would love to hear more comments as I get ready to open the doors to the next generations of hockey websites. How can I make it more appealing and more informative? I have added a few ideas that you all of suggested and are excited about the additions of equipment reviews by Chadd and JR!

Jason Harris has been a big supporter to the creation of both sites and his involvement has been instrumental in developing the best sites possible.

Over the next few months 29Sports.com will evolve and I look forward to all of your involvement. Of course not all suggestions can be realized but I will listen to your comments. Please take another look at the site and give me your opinions.

Also April 11th, I launch a new hockey community website, myhockeyspace.com. It is in its final design stage and would also like your feedback. Mod Squad Hockey members will be given VIP access to the site when it is launched!

[mattzilla 0]

the updates are definitely a HUGE improvement. its flashy and interactive, but not annoying anymore.

good work.

[Chadd 916]

the updates are definitely a HUGE improvement. its flashy and interactive, but not annoying anymore.

good work.

First time I've looked in a couple weeks and it is really rounding into shape. The only thing missing is the sign for the restroom that leads to a pic of a urinal.