ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Are there any plans to integrate ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ ID into the global header bar? Seems like the logical place to place it, or will ID be integrated at a site level?

Please present somewhere on the page a URL for users customised pages, so we can grab that and use it on all PCs. I'm fed up with having to attempt to similarly customise on multiple devices.

Where have blogs gone on the homepage?

Will you be incorporating the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ ID login system so people can customise the page and save it in their account. Then they can log in whereever and have the same stuff.

Also if this header at the top will be used on all pages, where will the login/account links go? I would have thought removing the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ link and shifting everything to the left would give enough space.

This sounds so very picky too, but why is the page colour change not a "live preview" (you have to press "Save"), given the old page used to do that?

Does the media zone have to be at the top.

That's about a quarter of the screen gone straight off especially with the fixed width of the page.

This would be fine with a portrait screen but on landscape it's just a pain.

I second the comments of JoeAD (3) - where have the blogs gone!

I like it - would appreciate prompt introduction so preferences can be saved

Like the changes - subtle but clearly well thought out.

Quick question about colour contrast. In the 'explore the bbc' section in the footer, you've chosen a new colour for the smallest text which doesnt meet WCAG 2 AAA for colour contrast (contrast ration of only 5:1). Do you only look to meet AA?

Hmm... that top menu bar seems rather familiar:

Will I be able to drag and drop some of my preferred ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ sites>?
EG news at the top followed by TV, Radio, Food, science and history ??

I think the new header bar needs a little refining - looks a bit 'first-drafty' at the moment.

The links on the 'ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ History' tab are a great idea, but I think if there's no article available to back it, the text should just be grey.

I've set my location to Milton Keynes, but the 'local' news is currently Northern Ireland, which isn't ideal...

I rather love the clock. I'd have been much happier with the new page if you had retained it.

I like it, although I don't use the home page that much. I prefer having news.bbc.co.uk as my homepage, and would prefer having a page that had a lot of the news output as well as some iplayer and radio links.

I started to read the article but on reaching the second paragraph I immediately switched off What a load of rubbish jargon ("plans to build a new service-oriented architecture, to help us scale our products and services").
If the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ want to communicate with their audience they need to start using language that real people can associate with - not all this garbage which just alienates people.

All seems fine apart from one thing: please don't get rid of the clock.

yea where has the blogs gone? with the media zone we used have 4 tabs why reduce it to 3? also why reduce the thumbnails for the top news and sports sections?

I'm disappointed that I can't track "happiness", "joy" or "peace"!

I like this gadget though on the whole. What happened to the clock though? Also, could there be an option to resize the banner at the top? Takes up lots of premium space

Great work though. Thanks!

Gosh, you almost had me there for a minute, with that new 'Topic Tracker' thing - like you've put it in there as something really useful for us, the users (Go on - I mean, we're so not used to refreshing pages..!). Shame.

Ok, so they've ordered you to get some valid and credible website visitor metrics - data that can be passed round the Beeb's marketing departments (and to help determine where more easily to make cuts/layoffs in website content/maintenance). That, I can guess was the overall, No.1 reason for this new 'tool'. End of. That's where the whole topic started at that very first meeting - not, lets put in 'something really useful for users'...

But then, you did sort of redeem yourself, with this... 'One of the benefits of Topic Tracker is that we'll be able to see the most popular topics across our audience, allowing us to create a real-time zeitgeist of the hottest topics, as determined by our users.'

But, I've a feeling that's rubbish isn't it... (Boy, wasn't that a lovely example you gave too - one 'news' story, one 'sport' and one 'entertainment' item - just in case we hadn't got the idea of how it might be useful to us...!! The variety, the choice..!!). How many topics are you actually allowing any one visitor to track, at any one time..? Is it going to be 11,000 and counting..?

I'm (probably) getting much more topics than this already, across the entire ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ output... But I can just tell somebody, somewhere, is itching to make some shavings/cuts of that less popular material... (soon to be 'proven', because 'the metrics' will tell you so). Yep, lets just cut it all back to the real, popular stuff only...

I have been curious about the new Beta ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ homepage, but as yet, have not indulged. What I would like to know is that, when I select my Area for MY ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔpage, so that I receive news about what is going on in my area of the country, and not in London,will it stay there, or as is now, keep changing back to London?? I have to input, CREWE, and then have to select, CREWE,Cheshire, and then select "Use this as my ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔpage" Only to find a few days later that it has changed back to London!!!

When is the full version of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ homepage due to come in???

Ann

The beta page is excellent. As ever the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ sets the standard when it comes to aggregating and customising complex information at a user by user level. It's difficult when you can't simply release the improvements across the whole site due to time or budget constraints so well done.

I see you are intending to keep a large non-removable box that displays non customisable content at the top of the page, i.e. the Media Zone. Has it not occurred to the web designers that this fills the page on lower resolution screens and forces users to scroll down to the custom content that they are actually interested in.

If you insist on forcing this box full of your β€˜pet’ content and links on users then please consider allowing users to move it or at the very least have a smaller version as an option, preferably both.

Please include a tick box to enable or disable local news.

I would like to be able to remove the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ-suggested topics from topic tracker as they take up a lot of space

On the whole, I think this is an excellent idea. I know you call it the Media Zone, but in our office we affectionately call it the "feature-box"; it's very cool. We've always liked it, but going full width will make it much more powerful and presumably give you more creative freedom.

However, I'm not sure the overall composition of the page will be as striking, the feature-box was eye-catching because it was consistent with the rest of the boxes on the page but still leap-out at you.

It was a distinct content area that has a real 'wow factor'. Now that you plan on separating it out, it might not be as bold, maybe just an overgrown banner that blends in with the header :(

Currently a content box sits alongside the feature-box / Media Zone at the same vertical level, this forces you brain to conclude it is part of the news and the other content. Now it stands alone, full width it might be easier to dismiss.

But, if you guys currently have too much content and not enough space then I suppose this is a good move. I do see Tommy's point however that this made lead to more scrolling.

The addition of a drop down navigation bar is a smart move, it enables quick section-switching which is something I do all the time. I usually end up going back to the homepage and drilling into a topic/section from there. So this will definitely save me a few clicks.

Well done ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.

I'm not quite understanding how the Topic Tracker works. Does it feed news as it happens in chronological order, like a search on twitter? Its not immediately obvious how it works.

Change is always good.

I do miss the clock, it doesn't make sense to remove it when one of your keywords is "Distinctive" - find the human in you and keep it!

I like the idea behind the topic tracker, but I feel that the content from it should appear in the "media" area at the top.

Having said that, I do like to be suggested completely random areas of the website (like at present) so a mixture would be good.

Really made me feel a bit ill though when it was suggested I 'track' Chris Moyles... Please let me delete this suggestion! :)

And yes, please bring the blogs back.

I also agree that currently the top menu bar needs refining - this is where you can make something GREAT -- spend some time on it and make us LOVE it!

PS. I couldn't sign in to comment in Chrome.

Couple of things:

Topic Tracker - great idea, but do a search for Information Technology - don't get anything. Try Android, nothing, try iPhone - yup.

So why no Android?

I will probably end up getting used to the new layout of the homepage but I find it all totally unnecessary. There was nothing wrong with the current homepage layout/setup. I suppose that ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ have changed the saying to: If it aint broke, fiddle with it!

Nice job on the new website Jo, it has new features that Iam sure I can make good use of. However, is this website not in fact a cut down version of the original only created because newspapers complained that the news coverage was too comprehensive? Does this not mean that the website we know and love for its excellent news coverage is being de-evolved rather than upgraded. Is there any reassurance you can give about this?

It's a reasonable update and I like most of the changes; the only thing I really dislike is the removal of the clock. Yes, I know the clock was redundant to begin with because everyone has clocks on their computers, but still, it had some style and quality I can't put my finger on.

The nav bar elements looked off to me, but I guess this is laying the groundwork for the new GVL where the search bar drops down to the second line. "More..." (esp. with the ellipsis) looks a bit strange sandwiched in the middle.

When the new templates come in, right-aligned mores look like becoming norm (see this nav preview from Erik Huggers' keynote, nicely slimmed down from the first horizontal navbars shown in the new Global Visual Language post).

Great work all round, but let's get that new look out soon please! :)

Very much the same, isn't it?
I still don't understand why I cannot have on "my" ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔpage news from other parts of the World!!!

Navigation bar vanished today - I hope that means you're working on it - the first 'version' took up far too much real estate as per other comments here. Also, this afternoon, I suddenly have a large, non-removable, 'Top News Story' banner at the top - Nooooo, please stop it with the large, non-removable, 'in your face' elements that people may or may not want. I have my News column layout customised the way I want it, and I can see all the headlines I need. If I want more, the News page is only a click away!

At 6:05pm on 22 Mar 2010, Jeremy wrote:

Navigation bar vanished today - I hope that means you're working on it - the first 'version' took up far too much real estate as per other comments here. Also, this afternoon, I suddenly have a large, non-removable, 'Top News Story' banner at the top - Nooooo, please stop it with the large, non-removable, 'in your face' elements that people may or may not want. I have my News column layout customised the way I want it, and I can see all the headlines I need. If I want more, the News page is only a click away!

But it's brilliant! No more massive full page width content advert (also non-removable) taking up precious screen space...

Spoke too soon, content advert is back... :(

I wouldn't mind using my ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ ID for the homepage too

Navigation bar vanished today - I hope that means you're working on it - the first 'version' took up far too much real estate as per other comments here. Also, this afternoon, I suddenly have a large, non-removable, 'Top News Story' banner at the top - Nooooo, please stop it with the large, non-removable, 'in your face' elements that people may or may not want. I have my News column layout customised the way I want it, and I can see all the headlines I need. If I want more, the News page is only a click away!

CORRECTION: I meant the 'Media Bar' NOT the 'Navigation Bar'...

CORRECTION: I meant the 'Media Bar' NOT the 'Navigation Bar'...

...and it's back again, pushing all my customised content down the screen. Can't you make it the same size as it was, or slim it down? Or, better still, allow users to remove it if they wish!

Having just migrated back too bbc.co.uk in dislike of the Guardian website facelift I have a few comments on your proposed redesign. First off, you've abandoned one of the optional shades of blue for several rather more garish choices for the homepage colour (in fact, all the colours seem either fluorescent or drab). Secondly, there seems to be a lot of wasted space on the beta homepage. Why is the navigation bar so tall but the text of the links so small? Obvious answer because of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ logo but why not at least increase the font size of the links on the navigation bar. Also, if the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ logo dictates its height what not make it slightly taller still and include the clock - or is that a no-go because it's to be used across the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ and will therefore be impossible to code for various international users? Also, the media panel is not nearly as effective as on the current homepage, where it is taller and more attention grabbing, with the options running along the bottom rather than the side. With the tabs at the side you have an enormous amount of wasted space. Finally, I don't like the white-strip at the top with 'Text only', 'Mobiles', 'Help' etc. It looks better with the colour banner running all the way to the top.

Still better than the new look Guardian, mind.

Furthermore, if you were to take the navigation bar all the way to the top (including 'Text only' etc.) it'd be pretty much the same height as the existing banner so you COULD include the clock. Is it really too complicated to code it to take the time from a browser's location settings? As I say, I assume that going international MUST be the reason it's going.

What have you done with the blogs? I have been following Nick Robinson and Peston for some time; they seem to summarize politics and finance in ways that one can easily understand. Just as we are about to enter (officially) an election - you seem to have removed the ability to link to these essentials from the home page. Please restore this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

It strikes me that you only need the top navigation bar in this new layout because the content it signnposts has now slipped below the fold, due to the, er, new layout. A bit self-defeating surely?

I was very fond of the current homepage I have to admit. It doesn't need fiddling with from a user perspective. Topic trackers seem very trend-y don't they - perhaps they'll feature in their own list shortly.

Now I see why the Guardian panicked.

This is clearly an exercise in cost cutting; utilising user selections of preferred content to axe more interesting material which is less popular but none the less intriguing. Clearly a footballer spraining his ankle is vastly more interesting than the latest scientific discovery or political misappropriation (I am of course being sarcastic).

What a terrible waste of time and effort that has gone into this β€œbeta” web page. It does little in the way of directing users to the stories of interest and as always locks out changes to those features which would be of most use (not to mention the fact it is practically identical to the current home-page).

Alas I am rambling on more than likely selectively unnoticed by the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ β€“ too busy off squandering my licence fees reporting the next failed marriage of yet another D-list celebrity.

It would be nice for those of us that live on the cusp of two or more ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ regions to have an option in the local news to set alternative favourite areas, similar to those links that are available on the weather page.
For example, I live in the CV9 postal area, which is covered by either Leicester or Coventry, however I live closer to the West Midlands and infact receive all my TV from the WM transmitters at Sutton Coldfield and cannot receive East Mids at all which is what Leicester & a lot of Coventry viewers receive.
In general the Beta is ok, but like many other posts I dont see the need for the change and I miss the clock as well.
Re the blogs, I found that if I log into this blog I can then Alt/right arrow to another blog, a bit laborious but it worked.
Finally, for those who dont know what "zeitgeist" means according to the OED it is "The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history".
I didnt know what it was and had to look it up.. I think in English it means our likes and dislikes....

can you put "whats on next" back on the radio player?

I have been using the beta site for a while - very good. Today when I use it - all my settings are gone and if I try to personalise it the new settings don't get saved it just keeps going back to the standard beta home page. Is there a fault?

The page keeps defaulting back to the original and all the settings I have done disappear, including the local regional setting. Getting boring now having to reset all the time.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Topic Tracker Fault access denied error 403
I have up until now only used the beta homepage as an option, it is now the default.
I have not read all the other comments, so I do not know whether this has been commented upon, (you are inviting & have received some comments about topic tracker) but I am getting a 403 access denied when using the search option on the topic tracker.

My intention was to see what I could do to setup tracking of some of the blogs, as that is a module that was removed , and the homepage faq suggests using topic tracker instead.

Anyone else having access denied problems on topic tracker search ?
(And it may be coincidental but my browser seems to have slowed down on the new bbc homepage)

@ Jo
" # 29. At 1:15pm on 18 Mar 2010, Jo Wickremasinghe wrote:

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules. " [/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/03/evolution_of_the_bbc_homepage.html ]
I note the moderators appear to have hidden one of your posts, from your own blog! maybe you should have a chat with them.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Help!!! Trying to search for a topic...

2F

Get 'Not Authorised'... not very friendly

Hi Jo,
I suppose this blog is now destined for obscurity, no one will ever find or track it or you !

In message 53 I mentioned Topic Tracker Fault access denied error 403 I am pleased to say it now allows me to search, however how do I follow the recommendations to set up topic tracker for blogs ?

Take for example this 'ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Internet Blog' the search will not recognise that as a title. The suggestion is to follow the Author!
Well that hardly helps, without a crystal-ball when the authors are multiple & unpredictable, and even you Jo Wickremasinghe are not even listed as far as I can tell.

Neither for that matter are many other authors, take for example Alan Ogilvie and RadioLabs blog

Surely the topic tracker need the blog titles and blog authors added to the searchable index, along with the sub topics / tags ie in the case of this particular blog beta & homepage. Beta of course does not show up in this context on the topic tracker search.

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Technical Issues ... how much longer will this last.
I have been presented with this message for nearly a week now. It's getting very frustrating that I can not access my customised home page, Please provide timescale to resolve issues.

I really really miss the Clock :(

1. I often listen to Radio 4 live on the i player. It would be really good if if did not always revert to Radio One when I return to the site

2. I NEVER watch Eastenders. I wish that the i-player did not always have it as it's first option. I have tried moving the icon to a different picture but it always goes back to Eastenders when I next look.

I am finding it impossible to leave a message on any other site. Everywhere says 'contact us' but it is always FAQs only. I did find a message board asking for suggestions but no way that I could see of doing it

My comments are
1 I often listen to Radio4 live on the i player- why does the site always revert to Radio 1?
2. Do we always have to have Eastenders as our suggested i player viewing? i have tried moving it but it always goes back