My name is Sandy and I'll be the official corresondent on behalf of AFL.com.au for its beta site and the 2007 rebuild of AFL.com.au.
To be clear, I work for BigPond and it is my Team and the teams of our external developers and partners I'll be responding on behalf of. I'm not responding in any official capacity on behalf of the AFL.
The following was posted to AFL.com.au in the area dealing with the beta site at 6pm (AEST) tonight.
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We'd like to say a big thank you to the hundreds of fans that have provided feedback to us on the AFL beta site.
We’re going to keep this page (afl.com.au) updated so you can check back here for progress on the development of AFL.com and the incorporation of your feedback. The feedback we’ve received so far can be loosely grouped into two main categories:
1. General commentary on “I love it” or “I hate it”;
2. Suggestions for improvement
In the first category, we received strong views and that’s not surprising, given how passionate all of us are about our footy. The reaction is a 50/50 split of “I bloody love it” vs “Get this out of my face”.
While we love getting your gut reactions to design and layout, we know that’s a subjective area and we’re never going to be able to make 100% of you happy. Where we can make changes, though, is with the second group, suggestions for improvement.
Top Suggestions
We’ve categorised the feedback we've received so far and following are the issues that have attracted the most comments. During the next few weeks we’ll update this page and provide detail into how we’re addressing or incorporating your feedback.
So thanks again for your feedback and please – keep it coming. We know all companies are trained to say that they "value your feedback" but in the case of AFL.com.au, it's absolutely true!
It's important to note that first, the site is "beta". Lots of things will break but we want them to break so they can be totally ironed out before start of Season.
The second thing to note is the bulk of the suggestions below are being worked on as we speak and many of them are already known to us. However, there's a stack of really useful suggestions coming from fans that we're also incorporating into the Program of Work between now and March 30.
Cheers,
Sandy
BigPond Sport
Advertising
The layout and amount of advertising on sub-pages of AFL.com.au.
Broadcast TV Schedules
Loads of requests for more detail around the TV schedules for this year.
Load Time
The amount of time it takes, on average, for the homepage to load. A number of you think parts of the site have been made too complex as well and this could be affecting load time.
Game Day Live Panel on homepage of AFL.com.au
General comments around the look and feel, the functionality, countdown clocks, time zones, live stats feeds, etc.
Game Day Live Application
Most of you really like it but it still needs tweaking eg. Live radio needs to be more accessible, terminology needs to be rethought (eg. Pitch view)
DreamTeam
Lots of you asked where it was. BTW, it’s on the homepage where it was last year and yes DreamTeam will return this year with a new sponsor and bigger prizes.
International Login
The links to the international login were not working.
Statistics
General comments around the location and the amount of stats.
Browser Compatibility
Mozilla and Safari users affected.
Layout
A number of you are using widescreen monitors, larger resolution screens, etc and queried our decision to run a left-aligned site.
Video
A large number complained about having to be a BigPond customer in order to get video. In 2007, BigPond has opened up more AFL video than ever before, so to clarify, the following video is freely available to all Australian broadband users:
◦ GameDay NewsDesk (¼ by ¼ highlights of each game)
◦ Marks of the Round
◦ Goals of the Round
◦ Match Highlights (for every game)
◦ PanelShows (preview and review shows).
Search
General comments around where the search function is or that the SENSIS engine doesn’t work.
To be clear, I work for BigPond and it is my Team and the teams of our external developers and partners I'll be responding on behalf of. I'm not responding in any official capacity on behalf of the AFL.
The following was posted to AFL.com.au in the area dealing with the beta site at 6pm (AEST) tonight.
---------------------------------------
We'd like to say a big thank you to the hundreds of fans that have provided feedback to us on the AFL beta site.
We’re going to keep this page (afl.com.au) updated so you can check back here for progress on the development of AFL.com and the incorporation of your feedback. The feedback we’ve received so far can be loosely grouped into two main categories:
1. General commentary on “I love it” or “I hate it”;
2. Suggestions for improvement
In the first category, we received strong views and that’s not surprising, given how passionate all of us are about our footy. The reaction is a 50/50 split of “I bloody love it” vs “Get this out of my face”.
While we love getting your gut reactions to design and layout, we know that’s a subjective area and we’re never going to be able to make 100% of you happy. Where we can make changes, though, is with the second group, suggestions for improvement.
Top Suggestions
We’ve categorised the feedback we've received so far and following are the issues that have attracted the most comments. During the next few weeks we’ll update this page and provide detail into how we’re addressing or incorporating your feedback.
So thanks again for your feedback and please – keep it coming. We know all companies are trained to say that they "value your feedback" but in the case of AFL.com.au, it's absolutely true!
It's important to note that first, the site is "beta". Lots of things will break but we want them to break so they can be totally ironed out before start of Season.
The second thing to note is the bulk of the suggestions below are being worked on as we speak and many of them are already known to us. However, there's a stack of really useful suggestions coming from fans that we're also incorporating into the Program of Work between now and March 30.
Cheers,
Sandy
BigPond Sport
Advertising
The layout and amount of advertising on sub-pages of AFL.com.au.
Broadcast TV Schedules
Loads of requests for more detail around the TV schedules for this year.
Load Time
The amount of time it takes, on average, for the homepage to load. A number of you think parts of the site have been made too complex as well and this could be affecting load time.
Game Day Live Panel on homepage of AFL.com.au
General comments around the look and feel, the functionality, countdown clocks, time zones, live stats feeds, etc.
Game Day Live Application
Most of you really like it but it still needs tweaking eg. Live radio needs to be more accessible, terminology needs to be rethought (eg. Pitch view)
DreamTeam
Lots of you asked where it was. BTW, it’s on the homepage where it was last year and yes DreamTeam will return this year with a new sponsor and bigger prizes.
International Login
The links to the international login were not working.
Statistics
General comments around the location and the amount of stats.
Browser Compatibility
Mozilla and Safari users affected.
Layout
A number of you are using widescreen monitors, larger resolution screens, etc and queried our decision to run a left-aligned site.
Video
A large number complained about having to be a BigPond customer in order to get video. In 2007, BigPond has opened up more AFL video than ever before, so to clarify, the following video is freely available to all Australian broadband users:
◦ GameDay NewsDesk (¼ by ¼ highlights of each game)
◦ Marks of the Round
◦ Goals of the Round
◦ Match Highlights (for every game)
◦ PanelShows (preview and review shows).
Search
General comments around where the search function is or that the SENSIS engine doesn’t work.
