Re: New Scottish Parliament website unCool

[Nick Kew]

[crosspost to uk.rec.cycling; relevant to very recent threads]

In article <[email protected]>,
David Marsh <[email protected]> writes:
> The new Scottish Parliament building has finally opened for business,
> and to complement the opening comes a reworking of the Parliament's
> website, http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/
>
> Unfortunately, the new website is [chop - horribly broken]

Just a few days ago (earlier this month), someone posted a URL to
some material of the scottish parliament's all-party cycling group.
We (uk.rec.cycling collectively) were well-impressed with their
having presented an excellent summary of a subject (cycle helmets)
that is usually shrouded in prejudice and ignorance[1]. That URL[2]
is gone now, and the error message is useless.

I don't remember who originally posted the URLs. I can find the report,
but only because I've seen it and knew what to search for. I can't
find the page of the crossparty group responsible for that report,
either from a search or the sitemap. Whoever it was: was it originally
easy and intuitive to find, and can you find it again by a
similar process (i.e. without a search based on prior knowledge of
what to look for)?

> Smart, successful Scotland this isn't.

So it would seem.

[1] Prejudice: "you're obviously safer cycling with a helmet"
Real Life: It's not at all clear, and those countries that have
introduced compulsion have seen at best no improvement, and at
worst a marked deterioration of cycling safety.
[2] http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/crossparty/cycle-docs/helmet-legis-commentary.pdf

--
Nick Kew

Nick's manifesto: http://www.htmlhelp.com/~nick/

 

[Richard Watson]

[email protected] (Nick Kew) writes:

> That URL[2]
> is gone now, and the error message is useless.
> [2] http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/crossparty/cycle-docs/helmet-legis-commentary.pdf

Maybe someone should suggest:

Redirect /crossparty http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/crossPartyGroups/groups/

or whatever the equivalent is in "Oracle Web Listener" speak.

--
Richard Watson
http://www.opencolo.com/
High Quality, Value for money colocation

 

[Mike Quin]

In article <[email protected]>, Nick Kew wrote:

> I don't remember who originally posted the URLs. I can find the report,
> but only because I've seen it and knew what to search for. I can't
> find the page of the crossparty group responsible for that report,
> either from a search or the sitemap. Whoever it was: was it originally
> easy and intuitive to find, and can you find it again by a
> similar process (i.e. without a search based on prior knowledge of
> what to look for)?

Home -> MSPs -> Cross Party -> List of Cross Party Groups -> Cycling

Possibly intuitive if you know about cross-party groups, possibly not.

--
Mike Quin

 

[jtaylor]

Nick Kew <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> [crosspost to uk.rec.cycling; relevant to very recent threads]
>
> In article <[email protected]>,
> David Marsh <[email protected]> writes:
> > The new Scottish Parliament building has finally opened for business,
> > and to complement the opening comes a reworking of the Parliament's
> > website, http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/
> >
> > Unfortunately, the new website is [chop - horribly broken]
>
> Just a few days ago (earlier this month), someone posted a URL to
> some material of the scottish parliament's all-party cycling group.
> We (uk.rec.cycling collectively) were well-impressed with their
> having presented an excellent summary of a subject (cycle helmets)
> that is usually shrouded in prejudice and ignorance[1]. That URL[2]
> is gone now, and the error message is useless.


Google "scottish parliament cycle helmets" and it's the third link (today).
If you pick "view as html" then google's internal copy comes up.

If this does not work I saved a copy; interested readers may apply.

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

jtaylor wrote:

> Google "scottish parliament cycle helmets" and it's the third link
> (today). If you pick "view as html" then google's internal copy comes
> up.
> If this does not work I saved a copy; interested readers may apply.

Or just click the link on
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msp/crossPartyGroups/groups/cpg-cycle.htm

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

 

[Andy Mabbett]

In message <[email protected]>, Mike Quin
<[email protected]> writes
>
>Home -> MSPs -> Cross Party -> List of Cross Party Groups -> Cycling
>
>Possibly intuitive if you know about cross-party groups, possibly not.

But surely we can all just select "cycling" from the A-Z index, a link
to which features prominently on every page? [1]

Or we could just play "hunt the home page link".

[1] I lie: there is no such link and, apparently, no such index.
--
Andy Mabbett

Say "NO!" to compulsory ID Cards: <http://www.no2id.net/>

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Andy Mabbett
('[email protected]') wrote:

> In message <[email protected]>, Mike Quin
> <[email protected]> writes
>>
>>Home -> MSPs -> Cross Party -> List of Cross Party Groups -> Cycling
>>
>>Possibly intuitive if you know about cross-party groups, possibly not.
>
> But surely we can all just select "cycling" from the A-Z index, a link
> to which features prominently on every page? [1]

I've just written to my MSP, as I also maintain his website and we have
several thousand links into the Scottish Parliament site, all of which
are now, of course, broken. We've discussed this before and both he and
I have written with some success to the Parliament's web team in the
past, but it's clear the message has not got through. Hey ho, I'm
usually too embarrassed to admit that I work in web development, as
people in this industry are generally considered (and generally rightly
considered) to be incompetents at best, charlatans mostly, and
downright scoundrels all too often.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Wise man with foot in mouth use opportunity to clean toes.
;; the Worlock

 

[Sandy Morton]

In article <[email protected]>, Simon
Brooke <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey ho, I'm usually too embarrassed to admit that I work in web
> development, as people in this industry are generally considered
> (and generally rightly considered) to be incompetents at best,
> charlatans mostly, and downright scoundrels all too often.

This would appear to be a perfect description of your average MSP -
no smiley intended!

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net