I was typing this before Ray's response above. Ray said briefly what I was going to say in a long-winded way. My too-long-didn't-read version is pasted below:
======================================= Generally speaking, I think of the participants on this Google Group to be somewhat on the older end of the age spectrum, somewhat on the "more years riding" end of the cycling experience spectrum, and tend extremely to 'affection for and loyalty to Rivendell as a company'. If we narrow this group of 'participants' to just 'posters' then that narrows us down to 'big screen' users (Personal Computers, not phones) Now, if you were Rivendell and were losing a website because of back end issues, and needed to build a new one, I think it's totally reasonable that you could go for "exactly the same" or "something different". They decided on something different. In doing something different, I think it makes sense for them to try to target younger riders, less experienced riders, and people who are new to Rivendell not already devoted converts. Also, it makes sense to try to target 'small screen' users. If that's the goal, then annoying the older, loyal, knowledgeable big screen users sounds to me like success. :) Hopefully Rivendell gets some of the new customers they want. If the formerly loyal old-timers stop shopping at Rivendell out of protest over the website, then maybe they weren't really all that loyal. Other former Riv customers have left in a huff over politics, double top tubes, and long chainstays. The door is always open and it can always be used as an entrance or an exit. :) Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the new site, but I know I'm not the target. I'm older, more experienced, more knowledgeable and more fiercely loyal than the customers Rivendell needs to attract in order to stay healthy. I spend plenty at Riv, and will continue to do so. Rivendell was never going to convince me to spend more with their website. If Rivendell wanted me to spend more, Grant or Will would call me and ask me to spend more. :) My favorite interface for purchasing is in-person, and my second favorite is the telephone. A few years back, rivbike.com was on my regular daily rotation of sites I would visit, and it isn't anymore. The old rivbike.com served almost as a social media site in that way, or as a blog, at least to some of us. Observing the changes of rivbike.com was like observing the operations of the business itself. Now it's less of a knot-hole through which I can peer into inner-Rivendell. Now it's more of a display case. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Friday, March 19, 2021 at 6:30:13 AM UTC-7 Ray wrote: > I doubt that our complaints will change anything after all the work and > money that likely went into the change, but I agree with you. I think it's > a little silly to be a retrogrouch about web design, but I personally > preferred the old site to the current one--even the last iteration I found > much more usable. But I also always access it from a desktop and I imagine > a growing portion of the business on the site is being done from mobile > which it now handles much better. Oh well :/ > > -Ray > > On Friday, March 19, 2021 at 7:51:47 AM UTC-5 Paul Richardson wrote: > >> maybe i'm screaming into the void here, but i don't like the new site *at >> all*. it's just not fun to use. give me the tweed back any day. i'd >> spend more time (and money) on the site, for sure. i found it easier and >> friendlier to use. sure, the most recent iteration had issues with >> enlarging photos, but the pendulum swung entirely too far in the "sleek" >> direction for my taste. it feels now like the website has thru axles and >> disc brakes. >> >> paul >> takoma park, md. >> >> [image: Screen Shot 2021-03-19 at 8.48.42 AM.png] >> On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 11:34:31 PM UTC-4 Joe Bernard wrote: >> >>> I feel lost when I go there now. It's just a big photo of someone riding >>> and my first thought is always, "Ok now what do I do?" I like Analog's page >>> with a slide show of things to click on right away if you don't want to go >>> search the menu. It's like a "welcome inside and look around" sign. >>> >>> >>> On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 8:21:42 PM UTC-7 Berkeleyan wrote: >>> >>>> Please consider having the top menu anchored... it would be a real boon >>>> when scrolling down through an article or product section to have the top >>>> menu navigation right there, as a sticky. >>>> >>>> - Andrew, Berkeley >>>> >>>> On Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 8:56:21 PM UTC-8 Dave wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Everyone, >>>>> >>>>> Just a heads-up that we launched a new theme today for the rivbike.com >>>>> webstore. We enlarged the photos all around, spruced up the homepage, >>>>> improved the search, and updated a number of things for a smoother >>>>> experience on desktop and mobile. We hope you like it! >>>>> >>>>> The other big reveal is that the Blug, our newsy blog that has been on >>>>> Tumblr ever since 2010, has now moved within rivbike.com to >>>>> https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/news. With that move, you now have >>>>> one site for all the latest product updates, news and Grant's blog. Just >>>>> head to the homepage. >>>>> >>>>> Enjoy and let us know what you think. >>>>> >>>>> Dave Schonenberg >>>>> >>>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/70421fa3-8d36-4322-b2fe-158b717ed1b2n%40googlegroups.com.
