CyclingNews.Com - A pre-emptive strike

Richard Adams

To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
information.

In light of a few other sites I visit which seem hell bent on a "New
Look", feature bloat, flash and burying everything under a succession
of completely unrelated pages, I thought I'd drop this note to say I
appreciate things kept simple and elegant. CN works wonderfully as
is. There is pretty much nothing that could be done to the site to
further endear it to me.

If there's a web-weenie bent on changing the site to make it "Better"
may I suggest the search, which seems to sort everything by todays
date and doesn't understand "roberto heras" means only with those two
keywords in that order.

Thanks for a great site and keeping it useable.

psycholist

"Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
> To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
> that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
> arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
> site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
> information.
>
> In light of a few other sites I visit which seem hell bent on a "New
> Look", feature bloat, flash and burying everything under a succession
> of completely unrelated pages, I thought I'd drop this note to say I
> appreciate things kept simple and elegant. CN works wonderfully as
> is. There is pretty much nothing that could be done to the site to
> further endear it to me.
>
> If there's a web-weenie bent on changing the site to make it "Better"
> may I suggest the search, which seems to sort everything by todays
> date and doesn't understand "roberto heras" means only with those two
> keywords in that order.
>
> Thanks for a great site and keeping it useable.

I completely agree!

Bob C.

Jeff Jones

"Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...

<snip>

Fear not, we don't have time for another redesign. It's a lot better than it
used to be :-)

I had an idea today to reduce the front page to the following piece of HTML:

’

Think it'll work? Might have to do it in Flash 9.0 for it to fly, but I
reckon it has promise. You'll just have to...extrapolate

Jeff

Chris

"Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
> To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
> that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
> arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
> site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
> information.
>
> In light of a few other sites I visit which seem hell bent on a "New
> Look", feature bloat, flash and burying everything under a succession
> of completely unrelated pages, I thought I'd drop this note to say I
> appreciate things kept simple and elegant. CN works wonderfully as
> is. There is pretty much nothing that could be done to the site to
> further endear it to me.
>
> If there's a web-weenie bent on changing the site to make it "Better"
> may I suggest the search, which seems to sort everything by todays
> date and doesn't understand "roberto heras" means only with those two
> keywords in that order.
>
> Thanks for a great site and keeping it useable.

I think that these site updates that you refer to are from site that are not
getting the job done. I think we can all see that CN is so it is great that
you cited something for its goodness, I doubt you have anything to worry
about. I can think of many sites that perform well for the owners and have
kept the same look for years.

Pistof

"Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
> To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
> that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
> arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
> site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
> information.
>
> In light of a few other sites I visit which seem hell bent on a "New
> Look", feature bloat, flash and burying everything under a succession
> of completely unrelated pages, I thought I'd drop this note to say I
> appreciate things kept simple and elegant. CN works wonderfully as
> is. There is pretty much nothing that could be done to the site to
> further endear it to me.
>
> If there's a web-weenie bent on changing the site to make it "Better"
> may I suggest the search, which seems to sort everything by todays
> date and doesn't understand "roberto heras" means only with those two
> keywords in that order.
>
> Thanks for a great site and keeping it useable.

Agreed. It's an excellent site. They seem to have plenty of advertising,
too, which is a good thing.

Dave

Richard Longwood

Yeah, like, Jeff Jones for president!!!

Then, a month later, the phone rang.
Someone in a distant state Jeff'd never heard of, had found his speech lying
on a table in a bus depot, read it, and passed it around to a few friends.

Some of these people had made copies and passed them around to more friends.

Eventually, people all over the state had read his speech and, regardless of
party affiliation, were nodding their heads and saying "Whooooooaa!" to the
premises and dreams at the foundation of his campaign and at the root of his
very being.

A ground swell of grassroots sentiment forced a special election which
unanimously and immediately elected and installed Jeff Jones as governor or
president or secretary-general of whatever form of government they had
there.

A blue ribbon panel was appointed to help ease his transition to power,
though the bulk of this was accomplished by just handing him the book about
the 10 ways to avoid vomiting on half a gallon of vodka in half an hour.

Then Jeff disappeared, which was the best charisma of all. Anyway, the
people had become so self righteous, it nauseated him just to be around
them.

But, every so often, he'd send a telegram to express his sorrow at not being
able to be there, that evening -- so they wouldn't forget who their governor
(or President?) was, even if he was no longer inhabiting the same world, and
no longer driven by the same chemistries or geometries or histories, or
spellings.

Richard Adams

Chris wrote:
> "Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
> news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
>
>>To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
>>that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
>>arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
>>site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
>>information.
>>
>>In light of a few other sites I visit which seem hell bent on a "New
>>Look", feature bloat, flash and burying everything under a succession
>>of completely unrelated pages, I thought I'd drop this note to say I
>>appreciate things kept simple and elegant. CN works wonderfully as
>>is. There is pretty much nothing that could be done to the site to
>>further endear it to me.
>>
>>If there's a web-weenie bent on changing the site to make it "Better"
>>may I suggest the search, which seems to sort everything by todays
>>date and doesn't understand "roberto heras" means only with those two
>>keywords in that order.
>>
>>Thanks for a great site and keeping it useable.
>
>
> I think that these site updates that you refer to are from site that are not
> getting the job done. I think we can all see that CN is so it is great that
> you cited something for its goodness, I doubt you have anything to worry
> about. I can think of many sites that perform well for the owners and have
> kept the same look for years.
>
>

I was just thinking about it and how some other sites change, for
whatever reason, often for the worse. I'm an old-school webdesigner,
keep it simple and functional is my credo. I felt it was worthwhile to
actually put fingers to keyboard to point out what a fine site it is and
hopefully Jeff will pass the praise on to the powers that be. More
often than not I feel sites change because users really haven't said
anything and site owners/managers feel an itch to change. It's now been
said and noted (by Jeff at least) which I feel accomplishes where
silence guarantees nothing.

(Years ago United Airlines changed their cargo website from something
simple and function to bloated, awkard and frequently broken, though
upon initial load it was pretty. I told the rep. and he agreed
completely, but management felt the old site was to bland and needed a
more 'professional' look. Yeah, some professional took a pile of money
and left a mess.)

Andrew Martin

"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in message news:<4096c128$0$23002$a0ced6e1@news.skynet.be>...
> "Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
> news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> Fear not, we don't have time for another redesign. It's a lot better than it
> used to be :-)
>
> I had an idea today to reduce the front page to the following piece of HTML:
>
> ’
>
> Think it'll work? Might have to do it in Flash 9.0 for it to fly, but I
> reckon it has promise. You'll just have to...extrapolate
>
> Jeff

How about publishing a XML web service or offering your content in
XML? I'm on the road a lot and have to "waste" a lot of data to load
non-PDA friendly cyclingnews.com. I'd love to be able to just write a
simple app to call a CN Web Service to go grab today's news and
results, and be able to view it on my iPaq. I do similar stuff with
traffic info and other news now - so this would be a welcome addition.
Until then...I'll keep using a big chunk of data to get my
cyclingnews.

-a

Kyle Legate

Richard Adams wrote:
> To Jeff Jones and any other CN people who follow rbr, let it be known
> that I like the layout of CN, finding it simple and useful. Good
> arrangment and stuff is pretty easy to find. The simplicity of the
> site keeps me coming back for results, news, articles and resource
> information.
>
I prefer the old layout.

Ewoud Dronkert

On Tue, 4 May 2004 20:56:27 +0200, Kyle Legate wrote:
>I prefer the old layout.

What, like
http://web.archive.org/web/19980529...yclingnews.com/ ?

Jeff Jones

"Ewoud Dronkert" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:34uf90d1d66totfj4hjt6j9p52mrtgiegp@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 4 May 2004 20:56:27 +0200, Kyle Legate wrote:
> >I prefer the old layout.
>
> What, like
> http://web.archive.org/web/19980529...yclingnews.com/ ?

Nooooooooooooooooo! Not the blue box.

OK it was distinctive, but difficult to read. Also there was a lot less info
to put on the front page back then.

Jeff

Russ Baxter

"Jeff Jones" <jeff@cyclingnews-punt-com> wrote in message news:<4096c128$0$23002$a0ced6e1@news.skynet.be>...
> "Richard Adams" <ackthpt@concentric.net> wrote in message
> news:c2352af0.0405031326.7ee9fd2d@posting.google.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> Fear not, we don't have time for another redesign. It's a lot better than it
> used to be :-)
>
> I had an idea today to reduce the front page to the following piece of HTML:
>
> ’
>
> Think it'll work? Might have to do it in Flash 9.0 for it to fly, but I
> reckon it has promise. You'll just have to...extrapolate
>
> Jeff


Hi Jeff,

Let me preface my comment with the acknowledgement that
cyclingnews.com is the best. However, I always wondered why the top
left had column was devoted to tech news rather than moving the race
coverage up to the top left. Just a small suggestion that will mean I
don't have to scroll down to get my race news fix.

Otherwise, keep up the very good work.

Ewoud Dronkert

On Tuesday 04 May 2004 23:43, Russ Baxter wrote:
> coverage up to the top left. Just a small suggestion that will mean I
> don't have to scroll down to get my race news fix.

Ah, but then you will miss out on many fine advertisements.