Have I done the right thing ?

[zwilnik]

Style wise it's basic but I prefer the original page layout for clarity. Especially as the welcome page for the club. Apart from being simpler and much less text heavy the buttons for navigation are obvious and it works well on my iPhone (your navigation pull down isn't too obvious and doesn't pull down on Safari on the iPhone). That's just a case of bug fixing though. I think my main is how text heavy it is.

So the old site does look pretty basic and unprofessional but then again it's functional and people aren't expecting a professional looking business site.

Thanks for the comments.

I find the term " text heavy" a bit confusing, as the new one isn't quite in the finished state, and there are a lot more images and pages to add, layouts of menu's, and the GUI can adjusted quite easily.
The main thing is that the backend has better usability for more people than the back end of the old site, the editing controls are almost the same as a wordprocesser, and the GUI icons are indentical.
As for the usability on a mobile phone, as the old site isn't at all responsive I wonder how you even got it to work with safari, let alone on an i-phone, the new site ( On Android) works perfectly.

Whichever source you look at, Safari comes 4th in the top four browsers for usage, the big three are Chrome almost more than the other four added together, IE and Firefox.
Safari accounts for under 10% of users on tablets and computers, and even less on mobiles, so we are not upsetting a large audience, especially as most of our users will be UK based, and probably only visiting the site for exhibition details.

I would have preferred a different colour to green, but the club is obsessed with the SR, it's hard to get them to like anything else, they will only see it as one of the other big four !

In terms of text heavy. When I view your version it's just a wall of text. No photos or anything showing the club or anything. The better back end is great and it's definitely a good idea in terms of making it easier for club members to use but if it doesn't work on a web standards browser like safari (especially if you're using Word Press) then you've got some debugging to do. Just saying "it works on my android phone" really isn't enough as there's no such thing as a 'standard' android phone.

[NinOz]

Now that is nice and clean.

Well done!

CFJ

[zwilnik]

I only see the coming soon message too, here's our one which I made using WIX, its free by the way and I just happen to own a good domain name

www.ngaugesociety.co.uk

That's a very nicely done site. Shows off the club really well.

[MalcolmInN]

I just happen to own a good domain name

www.ngaugesociety.co.uk

Very well done site, I like it *
The only small niggle I have is that I did not at first follow your link because I thought it said ngaugesociety ( been to there before), not to your local club.
Then, as our chums thought it good, I'd better have a look see what had changed,,, only then did I find it went to the Northant etc. site.
Errr, cant afford to scratch my head too much, not enuf left, errr
oh I see, eventually, one is a com and yours is a couk ! Ha !!
You might want to use brackets Northants etc. !

* consider yourself co-opted as Peace Envoy to the Andover Dependencies and Confederated Territories, idem.

[Pengi]

It is a case of understanding the customer's requirements, which seemed to be web-hosting and not a new site.

Don't really understand what someone being well into their sixties has got to do with anything . For example, Monet, Picasso, Michelangelo, Einstein, Newton, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't give up when they turned sixty 

[Newportnobby]

Don't really understand what someone being well into their sixties has got to do with anything . For example, Monet, Picasso, Michelangelo, Einstein, Newton, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't give up when they turned sixty 

Nor have many of us N gaugers

[MalcolmInN]

Nor have many of us N gaugers

You beat me to it, I was just about to say to Pengi " You forgot me NPN and DorsetMike" 

[Newportnobby]

Nor have many of us N gaugers

You beat me to it, I was just about to say to Pengi " You forgot me NPN and DorsetMike" 

And 41% of those who gave their age in a recent poll, Malcolm

[Agrippa]

Don't really understand what someone being well into their sixties has got to do with anything . For example, Monet, Picasso, Michelangelo, Einstein, Newton, Sir Alex Ferguson didn't give up when they turned sixty 

Neither did Joan Collins, Sean Connery, Joseph Stalin.............

[Graham Walters]

It's obvious from remarks good and bad, that what is needed is a cleaner lighter site.

My brief was not just to look into hosting the site, but also claim the domain, and look into giving the site a better look and feel.

The only way you can find out if you have achieved the second is by asking people who you know will be honest, asking friends and family is the worst thing to do.

The aim is to have a backend that anyone can use, and to be able to add content without going into the mysteries of FTP, with Serif Webplus from what I understand you have to update it with FTP, that is not what is needed, also at the moment only one person knows how to use it, if some thing happens to him we are up the creek, ( a few years back our exhibition organiser died unexpectedly only two weeks before the exhibition, and all the details were on his PC, behind a very secure password) we had literally two weeks to organise it !)

I have taken the site down for the moment to look at it deeper, and to make it lighter and easier to use.

Thanks again for all the comments and input.

[austinbob]

It's obvious from remarks good and bad, that what is needed is a cleaner lighter site.

My brief was not just to look into hosting the site, but also claim the domain, and look into giving the site a better look and feel.

The only way you can find out if you have achieved the second is by asking people who you know will be honest, asking friends and family is the worst thing to do.

The aim is to have a backend that anyone can use, and to be able to add content without going into the mysteries of FTP, with Serif Webplus from what I understand you have to update it with FTP, that is not what is needed, also at the moment only one person knows how to use it, if some thing happens to him we are up the creek, ( a few years back our exhibition organiser died unexpectedly only two weeks before the exhibition, and all the details were on his PC, behind a very secure password) we had literally two weeks to organise it !)

I have taken the site down for the moment to look at it deeper, and to make it lighter and easier to use.

Thanks again for all the comments and input.

Good luck Graham. I think we would all be interested in what you come up with. But don't forget that its all those guys and gals out there who use the site that will be the judges of what is good or bad. Don't forget to include them in you deliberations.

[MalcolmInN]

You beat me to it, I was just about to say to Pengi " You forgot me NPN and DorsetMike" 

And 41% of those who gave their age in a recent poll, Malcolm

Ah yes,
well you see, I was going to leave a space for others to sign in,,, but I forgot ! 

Not sure I like being grouped with Stalin !! 

[Dorsetmike]

Bah, these B**** youngsters, no respect for their elders! Dunno what the world is coming to. Mumble murmur discontent, rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.

[MikeDunn]

Not sure I like being grouped with Stalin !! 

I'm sure if you asked nicely, Pengi would replace Stalin with Dzhugashvili ?

[MalcolmInN]

Not sure I like being grouped with Stalin !! 

I'm sure if you asked nicely, Pengi would replace Stalin with Dzhugashvili ?

Hehee nice one, but no thanks, poor little Vasily,
but actually the miscreant was Agrippa not Pengi