The Peasants are revolting (The dooyoo Redesign)

Member Name: michaird

Product:	The dooyoo Redesign
Date:	01/09/02 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: -

Disadvantages: -

(thankyou to Ric! for the tip that we can post if we use Opera, oohh and I like opera it's rather good isn't it)

I while ago I got fed up with Dooyoo, It was such hard work, it was slow. I defected to the other site (you know where I mean).

However, I knew Aurora was coming so I stuck with Dooyoo. I figured that once the redesign was in place it would be much quicker, simpler to use, we would be able to leave the site and not have to log in when we came back.

I have often said that I am naïve.

On Thursday night I wrote a review on the capital of Cyprus. It was my first attempt at a travel op and I am quite proud of it. I posted my review and so far it has had hardly a whiff of reads. Why? Because the re-launch was Thursday. What! Nobody told me! I would never have posted had I known.

So my first problem with the re-launch is the shoddy way it way communicated.

Ah well, no matter. These things happen, nobody's perfect.

So I log on the next day, in the morning before I start work. Well I say, this does look different. The colours are lighter, the graphics are more angular. It has a clean look about it. It's not bad.

But wait. Where's the new ops list? Where my mile counter? Why can't I log in from the homepage? It's a bit cluttered, it seems that the new op's list it tucked into a tiny little corner on the home page. That's not very good.

Ahh well, I think, the site is meant to be for consumers and they don't necessarily care about the new op's. Far better to make it more intuitive for visitors to find what they want rather than members, we'll find our way in time.

I'm planning to write an op on a mascara, so I decide to go off in search of it. The category layouts have changed considerably, and you know what. I like it! It's really rather easy to navigate. However, I click on the link where the product should be, and it&
#39;s not there. I now it should be as I have read a review on it. Dooyoo now only lists one mascara, that can't be right.

So I decide to search by manufacturer. But they aren't in the list. Strange.

Last ditch attempt, I do a product search. Low and behold there it is, under make-up by brand. Why couldn't I find it before, I wasn't given the option to search by brand only by manufacturer. Is there a difference?

I can forgive the lack of products under category's, as I am sure this is a teething problem, but how is a member supposed to find something when they cant get to the product? Equally important, how is a consumer meant to use that opinion of they can't find it?

So I know my product is there, but what if it wasn't, how would I add it? God knows! I cant find an add new product button anywhere. Surely that's a fairly simple, fundamental button to add? Surely it wouldn't have taken much. Don't web designers have to map out the current structure of a site and decide what will need to be incorporated into the new design? Isn't that the way it works?

Are they a bunch of cowboys?

Must be.

My personal home page is different, I know longer have the panels of info and links at either side. I liked those panels, they were my gateway to the rest of the site. There is no way of getting to the new op's from here anymore. I have to go back to the homepage. Frankly, that pisses me off. But again, it's no big deal. You can't get to the new op's from you personal home pages on the other site. We'll get use to it I suppose, but I still think it's a step backwards.

I still can't leave the site without having to log in again when I come back, that is what has annoyed me the most in all the time I have been a member of Dooyoo. Why didn't they fix it?
No-one can rate or comment for ages, it's frustrating. When the problem is
fixed, people don't bother so much. I put all my comments on the clipboard now as I don't trust it to post and I hate retyping.

There's a mad churner on the loose on the new op's page. No-one is helping him out, given a word of advice, is a disgrace. He's still there after all this time, does he not go to bed?

I can't find the new op's by category button, I like that button, but more to the point, hoe will the guides work without it?

Sometimes I get the old style Dooyoo when I click on things, its like seeing an old friends when you don't have time to say hi. What's the deal with that?

To add insult to injury I am being assaulted by a menace pop up on every window!

It seems to take so many more clicks to find what I want, what is the point of having a faster site if takes you just as long to find what you want because you have to click on more links?

I'm gonna stick it out, pop in and out, read only what really interests me for a while. I really think some more work needs doing. I don't know anything about web design, servers etc etc, but cant they do some sort of parallel running, or just test it with a few people until it's ready. Until it works.

This op is crap, disjointed, it doesn't flow well. But then the new design is crap, disjointed, it doesn't flow well.

Summary: