New BOF Fixture list

[Mrs H]

the new format fixture list has been unveiled on the BOF website - it certainly has a lot more information available than the old one so I'm sure it represents a step forward.

The one thing I will have to get used to is the page breaks - the pages seem very short. I think it would be a good idea to get all the events for a single weekend on one page - or at least for a single day. Is there some kind of technical limit to the size of pages?

anyway - what do the rest of you think?

[Oldman]

It looks a good start to me! More refinement needed, but that should come if we all give constructive feedback.

One comment and two suggestions fom me so far (which I'll feed in to BOF).

Comment: you can choose 30 entries per page (I'd prefer an option of more) which helps your point, Mrs H.

Suggestions:
1. Add day of week to all dates - great help when searching a couple of months ahead.
2. Allow a condensed format for us old hands to allow scanning several months ahead. Very useful for planning or when you will be travelling and want to know what events could be fitted in as you do so. Without that, it takes an age to look through everything now.

[SeanC]

First glance, a big improvement.

You should read the news article on it for more info.

There are data errors for clubs to fix, eg the first event on the list (Kent Night Club) has a link to South Wales OC!

For suggested enhancements that might be possible without major change (eg adding text on certain pages), probably best to email the BOF webmaster whilst the developers are still developing the site. Address on the news item.

[gaw]

Don't like it at all and I find it a big loss of ease of use compared to the old one. It's only because I have a rough idea of when events are over the year from the old calendar that I can find events. Errors which occur mean events can be missed - such as the May BH National event/FCC long final appearing on the Regional search and not on the National. Yes, it's an error that can be fixed but with the old system it wasn't possible. If it had been correct then the Regional event/FCC middle final and the National event/FCC long final on consecutive days would have not appeared on the same search which is unhelpfull, and I need to know what level an event is before I search for it. Similar problem with the April 4th Stirling weekend where two events on the same weekend are different levels.
I preferred one page and the ability to just scroll through the year which helped with planning ahead. Perhaps i just need to learn how to use it and I'll get used to it.

[Clive Coles]

I agree with the quote[quote][First glance, a big improvement./quote]. The system has come a long way since I last viewed a presentation last April.

What you are looking at today is data that has been acquired from the old fixtures data base.

I got access to the on-line maintenance screens for the first time at the weekend and have tidied my own regions data to achieve some sort of conformity of style. But clubs have yet to get their hands on the update system. The roll out of this feature to Club Fixture secretaries is however soon to start . A number of new data fields are provided by the new system ~ these fields will be set up by the clubs over the next few weeks.

The "find an event" screen is a view of the data. Something more akin to our current "Official list" will be provided from the new system in due course for publications such as CompassSport. The old system is being maintained in parallel until such time that similar reporting processes to the old system are in place.

So we are witnessing just the first step in a launch programme.

The new way of presenting fixture is certainly different. It will be frustrating to some as we get used to the concept of not being able to see at a glance all the data that is important to us. But in all probability we will soon forget what we used to have and will get used to a new way of viewing data.

The real plus for me is that clubs will be able to manange their own data as and when information changes. No more delays whilst the registration changes are passed on via regional and national fixtures secretaries. No more weekly updates and deadlines. No more out of date lists ~ what you see on-line is as up to date as it is likely to get.

The solution being implemented has some inconsistencies ~ I am already actively pointing some of them out to BOF. But I still believe " a big improvement"

[distracted]

There's something there, but as has been said it needs a bit of refinement. My view is that we're aiming for is a user-friendly interface that gives all relevant information in an understandable but succinct format - and the feedback we should be giving is how to adapt this initial system to achieve this aim. After all, you will go to the club website if you want all of the details. At the moment, I'd say Ollie O'Brien's site achieves this better, but neither is perfect.

Ideally we want it to suit newcomers and established orienteers alike. On first glance, with the new search facilities, it suits the former group better than the latter. The icons are a great idea and could perhaps be used to a greater extent, as at the moment there's nothing bar the text to distinguish between your run-of-the-mill local event and the British Champs! The bold font did this surprisingly well in the old list.

I'm not convinced that the system as yet has the right set of information, or the right way of displaying it, on what I'd currently describe as a 'search summary' a la Google etc. It is important, especially for newcomers, to have this 'search view'. However, I do like Mrs H's suggestion of the 'calendar view' - give events by week, which you could just scroll through week-by-week. Maybe we need both running off the same database but as separate pages - an "Event Calendar" and a "Find an Event" page?

I've sent my views/suggestions through to the webmaster, and would encourage people to do the same - without input things won't change!

Finally, something for the clubs to think about! What you notice straight away is the event title is now the most obvious and important piece of information visible. So, from the club's point of view, if your event is going to stand out there is the need to be more 'descriptive' in the event title! And if the system is going to be as user-friendly as possible, and suitable for newcomers to use, best to minimise the use of acronyms in the title...

[guessed]

We all know that most clubs struggle to find organisers.

So why do BOF put the organiser email address in clear, harvestable form on the new website ? There are many effective ways to hide addresses from spammers.

Furthermore, the website is showing personal email addresses rather than dedicated mailboxes set up for specific events. The old list did at least allow organisers to hide that way.

After several previous repeated episodes of (mostly) phishing spam arriving for dedicated addresses that were only published online on the BOF website, I have discussed this with BOF twice before, and shown them websites explaining how easy it is to hide addresses - but as usual nobody passes the message on to the right person with the correct level of importance.

I feel sorry for all the listed organisers - the spam spider has probably already collected your address. Now you know where your spam will have come from.

[distracted]

So why do BOF put the organiser email address in clear, harvestable form on the new website ? There are many effective ways to hide addresses from spammers.

Something that was also true on the old list. But they can hide them - as they've used one method to hide the address that's been given for comments on the new list!

[awk]

Can someone tell me where the key is to the different icons being used at the bottom of each event entry, please? I've guessed some but not all.

[NeilC]

Can someone tell me where the key is to the different icons being used at the bottom of each event entry, please? I've guessed some but not all.

Wave your cursor over an icon and all will be revealed.

[PMG]

"So why do BOF put the organiser email address in clear, harvestable form on the new website ? There are many effective ways to hide addresses from spammers"

The new system does allow for event specific email addresses. If there are any errors for your club please feed them via your club fixture secretary. All Association Fixture Secretaries have access to the new system to carry out updates. Club roll out starts this weekend

Peter G
Fixtures Chairman

[Nimby]

Just curious - why is the copyright date at the bottom of the page 2007?

(I mean the new Fixture List - not this Nopesport page which also has a phpBB copyright date of 2007)

[geomorph]

Just a minor issue, apart from the infinitely scrollable list already requested, is that
'next' and 'prev' need to work consistently and I would prefer them to work as per google as that's now how i'm indoctrinated.

so next go to next page in numeric sequence, not to page 11 from page 1. Prev goes to page 10 from page 11

I do like the simplicity - a small number of text categories and buttons for details, icons for important highlights.

Now to make my nopesport postings so straightforward

[Angry Haggis]

Just a minor issue, apart from the infinitely scrollable list already requested

The search values accepted by the page are not restricted to those in the search form.
So you can just edit the URL and display as many events on one page as you like.

For example, to show all future events on a single page, just visit http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/event/findevent.php?perpage=1000

The old list is (currently) still available at http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/e ... nt_old.php although it may no longer be updated.

I have a couple of usability complaints, one of which has already tripped up someone on this thread - when the mouse passes over the icons, you don't get the "a tooltip is about to be shown" cursor, and when the mouse passes over the "Details" or "Fees" links, you don't get the "this is a clickable link" cursor.

This is very easy to fix, BOF - just add

Code: Select all

onmouseover="this.style.hand"

for the buttons and

Code: Select all

onmouseover="this.style.help"

for the icons.

The webpage appears to have been built using the Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) rather than being a custom-designed solution.

[Gross]

That suggestion by Angry Haggis is the biggest load of bollocks yet on Nopesport... what's the point of having to go and alter all the behind the scenes stuff to read something... non-computer people will be lost.... it's crap, it's like most of the non orienteering stuff on nope.... crap, crap, crap...........