Ooo errr, what's happened 'ere then? (The dooyoo Redesign)

Member Name: Sarah_Louise

Product:	The dooyoo Redesign
Date:	04/09/02 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I think the disadvantages are currently outweighing the advantages

Disadvantages: It doesn't work, its too slow

Hurrah! The long awaited Aurora has arrived! We've been waiting for months but now it’s with us do we appreciate it?

So, what's new?

· The front page has changed:
~ The colours have changed, its still the main green trend on the home page but our profiles have turned a funny orange shade.
~ We now have to wait for an additional page to load before we can enter our usernames and password.
~ There is a list of links to the categories presented on the home page, which makes moving around the site easy.
~ There are now tabs found running along the top of each page which allows us to access the main categories. This does all resemble Ciao somewhat don’t you agree?
~ Speakers Corner has now been relegated to a new spot under the “Community” tab. Talking of which the previously removed categories under Speakers Corner seem to have reappeared (e.g. the “How Racist Is Britain?” category). That had been removed ‘for legal reasons’ before. There aren’t actually any opinions shown though which leads me to believe dooyoo might well have deleted them all.
~ We no longer have a “Latest Opinions” drop down menu. There are the latest 6 opinions shown on the left hand side of the screen though with a further link to the latest 75 opinions.

· Our profile pages have changed too:
~ We can no longer click on the “Comments written” link to show the latest comments we’ve left.
~ Our recommended / not recommended products / services have also vanished into the old dooyoo realms.
~ We can no longer view all of our opinions on one page.
~ Categories have changed which, inevitably, has led to errors, for example, my profile now says that “Dog Showing” is a toy!


Ok so I’ve stated the main things that have changed (that I’ve found so far!), what’s my view on it all?


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Good changes
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· We no longer have them annoying horizontal scroll bars (hurrah!)
· There are 6 of the latest opinions shown on the home page (something many of us recommended) so now its not quite such a big thing trying to time posting an opinion in case it gets shoved off the top spot within seconds of posting (as is usually the case!)
· The general feel of the site is clearer, it’s crisper somehow. I can’t explain it. D’ya know what I mean?!
· Advantages and Disadvantages are now found at the end of the opinion. Personally I prefer them there, they act as like a summary for the opinion.
· The search facility seems much better now. It actually finds what you search for! You can still search for “Products”, “Opinions” and “Users” (charming, we’re no longer members, we’re just plain old Users now!). One thing seems to have changed with the search facility (apart from the fact that it now works!), when you search for a member you find that there are now more members listed than there used to be. Remember when whomever you searched for each one would have 95% next to it? Well now the percents have changed, they’re more precise now! It also lists the latest 3 members on that persons' CoF’s. (For an illustration of this try searching for yourself!). Strangely though it still doesn’t say that your search is 100%. If you search for yourself you get 87% (well I do with myself), despite spelling my name right!
It doesn’t appear to matter whether you search for a product or opinion. For example, you can search for something that clearly isn’t a product, as such, and it will still find the topic (assuming its been added!). For example, if you search for “Physics” it shows you the Choosing A-levels link along with the physics products (e.g. books, CD ROMS, etc). These are all categorised as “E
xact Match”, “Product Match” and “Category Match”.




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Not so good changes
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· It now takes longer to get anywhere on the site. Some people seem to think the site is quicker but personally I find it takes longer to do anything, especially leaving a comment. In fact yesterday I couldn’t leave comments at all. I just kept getting the “Page Not Found” page.
· I like to be able to see all of my opinions on one page, currently you have to flick through them 10 by 10 which will take me forever and a day. Its handy to be able to see all your opinions I find, for example, if you decide to update an opinion it can work out quicker just going to your profile page, clicking to see them all on one page and then editing rather than searching for it in the specific category.
· You still can’t edit your Circle of Friends very quickly and efficiently. I was hoping to see some sort of “Remove” link when you click on “More” on your profile. Currently you still have to do what you used to…. in other words it still takes hours to edit your CoF if you wish to do a vast overhaul.
· Only the latest opinion posted says who the writer is. The other 5 opinions listed on the home page just show what the title is. I prefer to be able to see who’s written the opinion before I click on the title (especially when there is a churner amongst us!). Of course I can still click on the “More new opinions” link but it would be a nice touch if dooyoo showed who had written each of those opinions shown on the home page.
· As yet there are still a few minor errors, I know this is to be expected though, I guess it’ll all get sorted out soon. I was pleasantly surprised to find only a few minor errors when I first logged in to the new look dooyoo yesterday. Call me pessimistic but I was expecting it being a comple
te shambles!
· Editing an opinion now takes much, much longer. Instead of being provided with an “Edit” link or something of the sort we have to click on our opinion on our profile pages (which might take forever and a day if they don’t add a “See all opinions” link to our profiles). After clicking on it we have to click on “Write Opinion” (yes I know, you’ve already written it!). You then still have to go through whether you’d like to write a long or a short opinion. Then, finally, you get to edit it!
· To see how many miles we’ve got we have to click back onto our profile pages. I liked seeing how many miles I’ve got under my name on the old dooyoo.


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In general
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It now seems like dooyoo has employed a “click on a million pages to get to your destination” scheme. Getting around the site now takes far longer than before. For example, the good old drop down lists have gone meaning we have to go via tabs and links to the categories. Of course we’ll all get used to it though so it will no doubt get quicker and easier to use.
Lets hope they read all of our tips on these “Dooyoo redesign” opinions though and change the main things we have niggles with. That will remain to be seen….


NB: I’ve given the redesign 3 stars and recommended it because, as yet, I don’t think I can rate it fairly, not until I’ve got used to it all. I hardly ever like new and ‘improved’ things, they tend to have to grow on me first.


UPDATE:
Yes, there’s an update all ready! Why? Well because I’ve been trying to post this opinion for 3 days now. My rating has changed to 2 stars and I'm now not recommending it. This had better get sorted ASAP or else I fear dooyoo will start losing many of its regular members…..
There are far too many errors
(which are to be expected I know) but surely most of them should have been sorted by now? Dooyoo should have sorted most of them out BEFORE launching.

Summary: