I find the new site even worse than Gov.uk and that is saying something... I use a large monitor (so I can get two A4 pages side by side) but the new layout is a waste of space, in trying to help users on phones the designers have made a sort of Mickey Mouse layout with graphics that load soooo slooowwwwly - I don't need pictures, like most users I need information. On the old layout you could immediately see what was interesting, going to any answers you could see all, but you could also see the ones that were being currently answered and the questions that had no answer at all - I always tried to help out with those. Is it beyond the realms of possible solutions to maintain both sites side by side, so the phone users can see what they're doing and those of us in an office on a PC/MAC or Laptop can access the information more easily? Please, pretty please?
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And then I discovered I also have to set an area that it is relevant to but can't choose more than one, and then select tags from a drop down list but can't set more than three - please take me back to the old site...
AccountingWeb wont change the site. You'll just have to do what everybody else is doing and use the site a lot less regularly.
It is possible Aweb will change the site. A couple of weeks into the awful re-design of moneysavingexpert.com - 2 years or so ago - they went back totally to the old design. Pressure from advertisers seeing vastly reduced levels of clicks and so on took its tool on the intial line that the Emperor had his clothes on and all was wonderful.
After another 3 months that site then implemented the new design properly. If any advertisers or owners of the Aweb site read this I commend this business model to you.
Every one keeps saying it set up for phones, what am I missing? It's still a mess on my iPhone! Worse still on my ipad! I think it's only good for Americans!
I have heard that messes are very fashionable among people who don't have a clue what they are doing.
The only aspect that will make Sift listen on this point is a significant negative impact on its bottom line.
They will be the usual rhetoric -we are listening.
Remember it us who are so backwards oldies who do not like change.
This is what lack of competition does to a business. It becomes inward looking and does not listen to its key stakeholders.
We can put our pleas as much as we want until Sift shareholders feel the pinch nothing significant will change.
Yes, very sad and almost unusable. I've used this site partly as a CPD tool for years. It is no longer fit for purpose. I've made a note in my diary for 1 July and will revisit then.
And, in my view, one of the most irritating features, is the availability of the anonymous contributor!
The Aweb reputation has plummeted faster than a stone.
One contributor only comes on now to check on the [***].Even that's none existent, which says it all really.
Have I missed any further assurances of change, "by lunchtime"?
I agree with FirstTab and have said it before:
We are not who Aweb are interested in. They are simply interested in getting more visitors to their website to increase their advertising revenue.
However, this may spectacularly fail if everyone believes the site just isn't very good.
Oh, except Gary from Xero who thinks its brilliant.
I'm afraid, like it seems many of the old contributors I've pretty much just given up. Any Answers was extremely useful, but now is such hard work it's just not worth the investment of time to try to make use of it.
How could you say that? I thought Gary was an independent thinker and would never stoop so low as to keep in with the people who could give him a reduced price for his marketing.
Paul, I couldn't agree more. This new site is total pants & it's a clear case of RIP Accountingweb if they don't get the old site back.
Since the switch I've been waiting for a Eureka moment when I suddenly see the benefits of the new layout and totally get what Sift are trying to do.
I had a small Eureka moment a couple of days ago when I dug out an old article via a Google search. The article was laid out very well and was very easy to read.
So it's early days but I'm starting to see the potential in the new site. There are problems with navigation and usability, mainly in the Any Answers section. But if these issues can be addressed we may yet all end happy.
Can you explain ONE improvement over the old site?
I asked this before and I didn't get one improvement.
Err... I'm struggling a bit. As Eureka moments go, this was a pretty small one.
When I read the aforementioned article the navigation was done for me by Google. So I arrived at the page without any grief, and didn't try to make any comment. Given how I arrived at the page, and what I was using it for, I could appreciate the more modern, clean look.
That said, I share all the frustrations about navigation etc, and the new layout works better for static articles than for Any Answers.
That is like saying that a new car has the gear lever in the trunk, and wont take you to where you need to go, but there may well be some benefits from having it.
AWeb does not work any more.
You cant find anything, you can't access with ease.
The only positive comments are from people saying that there must be something good we will have to wait and see. In a week and a half no one has come up with anything that is improved.
This is not early days. This is a decade and a half into AWeb's existence. This is not a time when experimental web building should be conducted - professionals that know what they are doing, getting involved in a highly successful website should not be making these glaring errors and having such an absence of understanding of the website they are employed to improve.
This is as close to website vandalism as I have ever seen.
Search is limited, no discussion groups, threads aren't linear, you have to click and expand and click and expand and it jumps BOING and it goes from the subject you were reading to something completely different.
There is no way of quickly accessing threads you were in, no way of seeing which threads were most recently accessed, everyone is apparently now a blogger, the options to be notified by email are all or nothing, the questions and titles don't match from list view to screen view, if you make a typo you can't just click and edit, the avatars for recognition are gone... the hope that this will be changed is really optimistic... if it were going to be, it would have by now.
If they had any comprehension of how bad this is, they would have changed it back by now while they work on it. But they aren't.
This isn't baseless whinging.
This is a case of professionals reporting that a once respected and functional website, is no longer useful.
And it is saddening for the many users and contributors. These are people who are disappointed because they gave to the site and its members. This dismay is genuine.
Its like April Fools day every day of the week.
My feelings exactly! I used to use the site for many reason
- if I could help
- if I needed help
- general interest
but now I have neither the time nor the inclination to trawl around this god-awful site to find a fraction of the info I am searching for. I certainly won't be returning until I hear that it has reverted back to the useful tool it once was!
- education
Further discovery - despite setting updates as a Daily Digest I am getting a constant stream of emails telling me that someone has 'thanked' me - come on John Stodyk - surely you and your team can get this right because at the moment it is horribly wrong and getting worse by the day...
Paul
You can now switch off the 'thanks' & 'likes' emails.
See
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/blogs/bensmithsift/quick-accou...
David
Thank you for that. I have now switched off notifications except for PMs and updates but I might switch updates off too.
Discussing the revamped site's popularity with Democratus junior this morning and it's almost universally disliked new look and how i felt that Sift had misjudged it's core users.
He agreed that we are a self selecting bunch of people who believe we are better than other groups, We believe that the site exists for profesionals to seek guidance and assistance and it's not a site for a non professional; as such we should be treated differently that Joe public. Whereas Sift may be chasing Joe public for clicks, ad revenue and traffic.
He may have intended his summary to be an insult (he is an IT Masters student) but in many ways he is right.
Sift have set up this site to be more in tune with "best practice" on sites where traffic and mobility are key; not really an issue for most of us.
I do think it's fixable but fixing an engine when its running is difficult and not an enjoyable experience for those depending on the engine. Bring it back to the workshop and fix it. We, we can play on the old site and all are happy in the longer term.
Eventually advertisers will realise that the users are less likely to be accountants and more likely to be people who dont want to spend money on accountants or anything else. It may take a bit of time but when it does the money will dry up and AccountingWeb will disappear.
I often ask why answer people who clearly dont want to pay for professional advice but come on such forums expecting answers from those same groups of professionals (and who often get stroppy if it isnt the answer they want). So perhaps everyone should stop answering the obvious company owners and anonymous posts?
I am a mere bookkeeper, but most of you guys have spent blood sweat and tears, much cash and many years to learn what you do. We all give freebie advice to our own clients at times, but Im sure these same people who come on here looking for fee help, wouldn't be giving their services etc to anyone for free.
If we all stop, then surely the income stream will be less than they expect and they might listen more. Although, perhaps not! Now I might also get banned for saying that.
just like cosmetic surgery - on the outside things may look 'better'...but its the complications that need to be considered before any apparent 'changes for the good'.
Any answers was the biggest asset...and now...well to be blunt its a piece of [***] in comparison. There is no point in being any more constructive...that time is wasted.
I agree with all the negative comments here.
From a marketing perspective, any web page should have one single clear purpose and should grab and hold the attention of a reader without the reader needing to scroll.
This new design fails disastrously on both counts.
The facility allowing old questions and answers to be searched for keywords etc. seems to have been removed.
it seems to me that Sift have taken a leaf out of HMRC's motto - 'if it aint broke we will break it' as opposed to 'if aint broke why fix it'
Not a good display and as mentioned the questions and answers section was always much better and I can't even find the groups I used to be associated with??
Bring back the old format!!!!!!!!
I'm another that will be leaving the site I'm afraid. It's not longer quick and easy to use and I can't see it improving.
Farewell my accounting buddies, it's been fun, but all good things must come to an end
The answer is simple
Dont answer and questions that are not on this type of thread
Dont ask any.
Dont click on the 'articles' too much.
And as revenues drop, someone somewhere will be getting their fingers bent back until they they start crying and promise to stop titing about on the interte and do their job properly.
ON the plus side the designers are no plumbers. If so they would have built a toilet in the middle of the lounge such that I could take a wee from the armchair, and a sink which I could only use by filling up with water from 4 meters away in a bucket, which they would be telling me was an intentional feature, and there might be an "upgrade" to install a direct filling system above the basin, but this was a big deal and wouldn't be ready for a while. O and stop moaning, this is the modern way.
You can edit the post but you need to go to "My Account" then click "Any Answers Replies" and then click Edit.
Easy...
The only advantage of this site is that I can read it without my specs. But why set it to be primarily 'phone-friendly'. If, as I understood it, this is a site for professionals then assume it is mainly looked at on a PC during a break from grappling with HMRC's latest software foul ups.
I am going to adopt the same approach as on the other site which did a rubbish new website. I will not be posting any more, this will be my last visit here for May. I will put a reminder in my diary to look up the site on 1st of each month. If it is still pants on 1 August then Goodnight Vienna.
I commend this approach to others. The naked Emperor might not want to listen to us, but he'll listen when the site volumes dwindle to near zero.
Nice to see the advice about switching off the notifications for thanks, but now I have the problem of requesting a Dail Digest but getting an email for each and every reply - I thank you all for your contributions but this is yet another example of the botched state of the site.
I have set up a divert on the email notifications into a separate folder - much better - I'm sure younger members do this with ease but it takes a while to realise that you have to set a rule to do it! I still cannot understand why, if I set a request for a daily digest I get individual notifications...
I agree 100%, this is now dreadful and ruined something really good. Someone made money out of it though, no doubt. Have emailed Stokdyk to tell him same.
I come on a few times but rarely read or contribute because the site is such a mess and so hard work. It makes you think about the judgement of the people involved. Besides the ease of use they take things out and then are trying to bring them back but in an inefficient way.
Snap, Peter. My most valuable tool for keeping up to date of what's happening in the Accountants world has been made virtually unusable. Surely I am not the only one who hates the endless scrolling, and the unfriendliness of the whole thing.
I visit much less often than before, and even that small amount of time is reducing rapidly.
Like lots of responses here I used to log in several times a day whilst having a cup of tea. Now cant be bothered.
I do wonder though if all of us stop posting what will happen to all those freeloaders seeking freebies?
Such a shame but I feel exactly the same way. I rarely visit now and when I do I can't be bothered to stay long and trawl through.
It was be a massive loss if this decline continues as anyanswers had been an invaluable tool for sole practitioners like me to be able to discuss ideas and share knowledge, to get help and give help.
It does seem very much like they are aiming it at non-accountants with the 'anyone can ask a question' banner.
"Anyone can ask a question" will only work if accountants continue to use and both ask and answer questions.
An Any Answers where fewer accountants ask questions will descend into the banal, so that visiting A Web becomes like the meetings with one's stupidest clients e.g. I can't have a profit there is no money in the bank.
Whilst the golden goose has not yet had its neck broken and its feathers plucked it has been running around the yard honking in alarm and the farmer possibly ought to take more notice, otherwise no more golden eggs.
There are some good lessons from history where single actions have badly damaged viable business entities e.g. the speech by Gerald Ratner and Signet Group, A Web maybe ought to take the risks a little seriously.
Whilst " recent replies" is an improvement the scrolling and the posting sequence issues still exist, and they are both really annoying.
Football fans voice their displeasure by walking out of games at a certain time during the match or not renewing season tickets, maybe the time has come for similar united action, imho the clock is ticking and I, for one, may well soon seek pastures new.
same as everyone else, very rarely come on here anymore which is such a shame as it was so very helpful in the past.
Tend to stick to LinkedIn now.