General Ohio University Discussion/Alumni Events Topic
Topic: Athletics website sucks
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Pataskala
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Posted: 7/16/2021 6:31 PM
What in the world happened to Ohiobobcats.com? The banner is all about making money -- donations, tickets and shopping. You can't even find a schedule or a roster on the team pages. They cut out about 90% of the information that was there -- no info about facilities, staff, ets. If you want a link to the MAC website you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, past a bunch of advertising for Kroger, Steak and Shake. and others, to find it next to the Addidas ad. The new website is completely useless. Worst I've ever seen.
rpbobcat
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Posted: 7/16/2021 7:55 PM
+1
TWT
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Posted: 7/16/2021 11:06 PM
If you go back 10 years ago, maybe more Ohiobobcats.com did have quality articles on practices, special features which I don't think we get much of anymore. It parallels the decline in quality college sports journalism as an industry which budgets spent on mobile friendly websites nobody wants to use.
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 7/16/2021 11:29 PM
rpbobcat wrote:expand_more
+1
+2

Thanks for point this out, Pataskala. When I went to the site recently, I had such trouble navigating it that I thought there was something wrong with my computer. Once I figured out that my computer was OK, I found myself waiting for the flashing fake warning that I had a virus on my computer and needed to download their scanner to fix my problem. What a joke it has become!
Brian Smith (No, not that one)
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Posted: 7/19/2021 1:58 AM
They know their click numbers on those articles and videos. We don’t. Judging by the handful of clicks their Youtube feed garners, there is almost no appetite for Ohio Athletics coverage beyond the nuts and bolts.

Welcome to the post newspaper world, boys and girls.

Hope you don’t miss us after hating us for 100 years!
LetsGetAgitated
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Posted: 7/19/2021 10:40 AM
Longtime lurker here, I’m not sure how you all are unable to find everything. I can find it all just fine.
DaBiggestBobcat
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Posted: 7/19/2021 12:47 PM
I agree, LetsGetAgitated. I am actually quite fond of the new site. I find it easier to scroll around and find all of the awesome Bobcat sports info than ever before.
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 7/19/2021 1:11 PM
Well, the first time posters all agree that us old-timers don't know what we are talking about. Perhaps, they are student interns in the AD's office. Or, maybe trolls from Oxford Tech, Syracuse or Marshall.
Last Edited: 7/19/2021 1:11:57 PM by OhioCatFan
SouthernCat
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Posted: 7/19/2021 1:23 PM
It looks like normal to me.
Recovering Journalist
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Posted: 7/19/2021 1:41 PM
. wrote:expand_more
They know their click numbers on those articles and videos. We don’t. Judging by the handful of clicks their Youtube feed garners, there is almost no appetite for Ohio Athletics coverage beyond the nuts and bolts.

Welcome to the post newspaper world, boys and girls.

Hope you don’t miss us after hating us for 100 years!
This is the answer right here. And the newspaper analogy is spot on. It's the same kind of griping comes from people who say the local paper sucks while they get incredulous about ads, subscriptions and anything else that might actually pay for quality content. Content costs money.
Pataskala
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Posted: 7/19/2021 3:44 PM
After three days I've figured out how to navigate the damn thing. If you click on a press release the top left shows a category (i.e., "football") and the top right says "more." These aren't prominent, so if you're just there to read the story you'll miss them. Clicking on "football" takes you to the football page; clicking on "more" gives you a menu for schedule, roster, stats, etc. You'd expect something like that on the main page, but selecting a sport in the upper right corner of the main page just changes the schedule banner. There doesn't appear to be any way to navigate from one sport to another == even though its a CBS Digital platform, they use the USA Today navigation model. Guess I need to change bookmarks from the main page to the individual sport pages. Welcome to the age of putting advertising over making things user friendly.
Last Edited: 7/19/2021 3:48:40 PM by Pataskala
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 7/19/2021 4:34 PM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
After three days I've figured out how to navigate the damn thing. If you click on a press release the top left shows a category (i.e., "football") and the top right says "more." These aren't prominent, so if you're just there to read the story you'll miss them. Clicking on "football" takes you to the football page; clicking on "more" gives you a menu for schedule, roster, stats, etc. You'd expect something like that on the main page, but selecting a sport in the upper right corner of the main page just changes the schedule banner. There doesn't appear to be any way to navigate from one sport to another == even though its a CBS Digital platform, they use the USA Today navigation model. Guess I need to change bookmarks from the main page to the individual sport pages. Welcome to the age of putting advertising over making things user friendly.
You can just hover over 'Sports' right smack dab in the middle of the top menu bar. That will create a dropdown of all sports; that menu bar is static across all pages. It's possible it's not rendering in your browser or something, but it's super clear to me: https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFG8PtdpTmuf59i0u4Er

Also, nobody on the internet needs to see ads unless they want to. Every browser offers like 19 different effective ad blockers.
Last Edited: 7/19/2021 4:39:24 PM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
Pataskala
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Posted: 7/19/2021 6:14 PM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
After three days I've figured out how to navigate the damn thing. If you click on a press release the top left shows a category (i.e., "football") and the top right says "more." These aren't prominent, so if you're just there to read the story you'll miss them. Clicking on "football" takes you to the football page; clicking on "more" gives you a menu for schedule, roster, stats, etc. You'd expect something like that on the main page, but selecting a sport in the upper right corner of the main page just changes the schedule banner. There doesn't appear to be any way to navigate from one sport to another == even though its a CBS Digital platform, they use the USA Today navigation model. Guess I need to change bookmarks from the main page to the individual sport pages. Welcome to the age of putting advertising over making things user friendly.
You can just hover over 'Sports' right smack dab in the middle of the top menu bar. That will create a dropdown of all sports; that menu bar is static across all pages. It's possible it's not rendering in your browser or something, but it's super clear to me: https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFG8PtdpTmuf59i0u4Er

Also, nobody on the internet needs to see ads unless they want to. Every browser offers like 19 different effective ad blockers.

Finally found it by zooming out a couple of times. If you zoom out far enough you can get several other menus. Of course, it's hard to read what's there. Never had that problem with the old website. Thanks for the info.
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 7/20/2021 9:44 AM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
After three days I've figured out how to navigate the damn thing. If you click on a press release the top left shows a category (i.e., "football") and the top right says "more." These aren't prominent, so if you're just there to read the story you'll miss them. Clicking on "football" takes you to the football page; clicking on "more" gives you a menu for schedule, roster, stats, etc. You'd expect something like that on the main page, but selecting a sport in the upper right corner of the main page just changes the schedule banner. There doesn't appear to be any way to navigate from one sport to another == even though its a CBS Digital platform, they use the USA Today navigation model. Guess I need to change bookmarks from the main page to the individual sport pages. Welcome to the age of putting advertising over making things user friendly.
You can just hover over 'Sports' right smack dab in the middle of the top menu bar. That will create a dropdown of all sports; that menu bar is static across all pages. It's possible it's not rendering in your browser or something, but it's super clear to me: https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFG8PtdpTmuf59i0u4Er

Also, nobody on the internet needs to see ads unless they want to. Every browser offers like 19 different effective ad blockers.

Finally found it by zooming out a couple of times. If you zoom out far enough you can get several other menus. Of course, it's hard to read what's there. Never had that problem with the old website. Thanks for the info.
It's a top level menu item in the middle of the screen on desktop. If you have to zoom out multiple times to see it, you're zoomed in a crazy amount and can't really criticize the design because you're not interacting with it the way it's designed.

On mobile, the top level menu is all condensed into a single "Menu" accordion, exactly in the style of prevailing design these days.
Pataskala
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Posted: 7/20/2021 9:53 AM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
After three days I've figured out how to navigate the damn thing. If you click on a press release the top left shows a category (i.e., "football") and the top right says "more." These aren't prominent, so if you're just there to read the story you'll miss them. Clicking on "football" takes you to the football page; clicking on "more" gives you a menu for schedule, roster, stats, etc. You'd expect something like that on the main page, but selecting a sport in the upper right corner of the main page just changes the schedule banner. There doesn't appear to be any way to navigate from one sport to another == even though its a CBS Digital platform, they use the USA Today navigation model. Guess I need to change bookmarks from the main page to the individual sport pages. Welcome to the age of putting advertising over making things user friendly.
You can just hover over 'Sports' right smack dab in the middle of the top menu bar. That will create a dropdown of all sports; that menu bar is static across all pages. It's possible it's not rendering in your browser or something, but it's super clear to me: https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFG8PtdpTmuf59i0u4Er

Also, nobody on the internet needs to see ads unless they want to. Every browser offers like 19 different effective ad blockers.

Finally found it by zooming out a couple of times. If you zoom out far enough you can get several other menus. Of course, it's hard to read what's there. Never had that problem with the old website. Thanks for the info.
It's a top level menu item in the middle of the screen on desktop. If you have to zoom out multiple times to see it, you're zoomed in a crazy amount and can't really criticize the design because you're not interacting with it the way it's designed.

On mobile, the top level menu is all condensed into a single "Menu" accordion, exactly in the style of prevailing design these days.
It was ok before they changed it and I hadn't changed the zoom on my computer so it was something on their end. When I zoom out enough to see enough of the menu to make it workable the font size on the press releases is about 20% smaller than it was before. It's the fault of their design.
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 7/20/2021 10:11 AM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
It was ok before they changed it and I hadn't changed the zoom on my computer so it was something on their end. When I zoom out enough to see enough of the menu to make it workable the font size on the press releases is about 20% smaller than it was before. It's the fault of their design.
So it's their design that's causing an issue that only you are encountering and solved with a browser level setting that's specific to you as an individual user?
Last Edited: 7/20/2021 10:11:45 AM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
Pataskala
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Posted: 7/20/2021 10:14 AM
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame wrote:expand_more
It was ok before they changed it and I hadn't changed the zoom on my computer so it was something on their end. When I zoom out enough to see enough of the menu to make it workable the font size on the press releases is about 20% smaller than it was before. It's the fault of their design.
So it's their design that's causing an issue that only you are encountering and solved with a browser level setting that's specific to you as an individual user?
Yes.

But I don't think I was the only one. At least two plusses show up in this thread.
Last Edited: 7/20/2021 10:15:06 AM by Pataskala
bobcatsquared
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Posted: 7/20/2021 10:23 AM
Sitting on the beach in playa del Maya, Mexico, wondering if this is the beginning of another multi-page back-and-forth between BLSS and another BA poster.
I know, I should have better things to be contemplating.
Last Edited: 7/20/2021 10:24:29 AM by bobcatsquared
OhioCatFan
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Posted: 7/20/2021 10:24 AM
I agree with Pataskala here on his points about the site being hard to navigate since the changes. Also, I just went to it now. I got a message about not using an adblocker. When I refused to turn off the adblocker I got nothing but a bunch of logos on the bottom of the page and a huge blank area in the middle where I assume that the content is supposed to be. I never did visit that site much, anyway, as I get most of the OHIO sports news here on BA. To be frank I never much liked the old version of ohiobobcats.com, but now they've produced one so awful that the old one looks good by comparison. (Yes, I did view the new site without an adblocker a week or so ago on another computer and different browser.)
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 7/20/2021 12:12 PM
bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more
Sitting on the beach in playa del Maya, Mexico, wondering if this is the beginning of another multi-page back-and-forth between BLSS and another BA poster.
I know, I should have better things to be contemplating.
Yeah, man. Appreciate you thinking of me on your vacation and all, but you shouldn't be.
Deciduous Forest Cat
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Posted: 7/20/2021 2:49 PM
bobcatsquared wrote:expand_more
Sitting on the beach in playa del Maya, Mexico, wondering if this is the beginning of another multi-page back-and-forth between BLSS and another BA poster.
I know, I should have better things to be contemplating.
How's the seaweed? Was terrible last week in riviera Maya
Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
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Posted: 7/20/2021 5:23 PM
Pataskala wrote:expand_more
It was ok before they changed it and I hadn't changed the zoom on my computer so it was something on their end. When I zoom out enough to see enough of the menu to make it workable the font size on the press releases is about 20% smaller than it was before. It's the fault of their design.
So it's their design that's causing an issue that only you are encountering and solved with a browser level setting that's specific to you as an individual user?
Yes.

But I don't think I was the only one. At least two plusses show up in this thread.
Yes, others have issues with the design of the site. Both of them over the age of 90 (I kid, I kid). But more to the point, neither seemed to suggest they had the same navigation issue you explained, and I don't think your navigation issue's actually valid.

If you view the site at proper size -- 100%, or smaller, the menu remains the same. It is not until you zoom in at 150% the design size that the 'Sports' menu item is pushed into the 'Menu' accordion. This is common in responsive design to accomodate the range of devices (mobile, tablet, desktops of various sizes). But even then, there's a "Menu" icon (https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/fbkcO7PmR962rtYabqKm ) that remains fixed as you scroll through the page. It's always top level, always top of screen. The very first item on it when you select it is "Sports" with a dropdown listing the sports. Totally cool if you don't like the design. But I don't think the issue you mentioned is a design critique. It seems like user error to me. When I look at ohiobobcats.com I don't have navigation issues, and just see a completely generic college athletics website.

Call me old fashioned, but if I see somebody publicly critique another person's work, I'm going to at least call out said critique when it seems off-base to me. And that goes doubly when the critique is publicly posted in a small community in which there's a good chance the person responsible for the work will read it.
Last Edited: 7/20/2021 5:26:37 PM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame
bobcatsquared
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Posted: 7/21/2021 7:27 PM
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more
Sitting on the beach in playa del Maya, Mexico, wondering if this is the beginning of another multi-page back-and-forth between BLSS and another BA poster.
I know, I should have better things to be contemplating.
How's the seaweed? Was terrible last week in riviera Maya
It varies each day. But,even on the best days it's been unpleasant.
Alan Swank
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Posted: 7/21/2021 10:13 PM
Navigation isn't the issue, content is. Click on the VB schedule and you get last spring.
LetsGetAgitated
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Posted: 7/22/2021 3:53 PM
I'm not sure what you are doing differently, because I do not see anything wrong. I see the schedule for Volleyball this fall.
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