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First Great Westerns new Site - Good or Bad??

Like or Dis-Like (please leave a comment to why)

  • Yes - Love it

    Votes: 16 72.7%
  • No - Doesn't Appeal to me

    Votes: 6 27.3%

  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .
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joeholmes

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Hey Guys, Im doing a report on school on a few choosen websites and one of them is www.firstgreatwestern.com and i was wondering what you guys think about it, because some of your oppinons could really help me out!

If you could say or leave a comment i would REALLY appreciate it

Many thanks

Joe
 
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Max

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I haven't voted because I'm probably somewhere in between. I like the look of the website, looks very sleek and professional. However, the navigation in my opinion is terrible, and that home page simply cannot be functioning correctly.

Good start First, but needs some work ;)
 

Techniquest

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I like and dislike it. It's a vast improvement on their previous website mind, but I just can't get used to it!

Liking it was helped by getting an FGW Great Fares ticket each way for £5 SC on the 0721 direct HST to Padd on the 20th, returning on the 1242 on the 21st of May! 30p a mile altogether for the 300 miles. Value indeed!
 

Sprog

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I think its great! :!:

Sleek, modern, lots of good features....

It gets my vote.......! :)
 

Jim

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joeholmes said:
Hey Guys, Im doing a report on school on a few choosen websites and one of them is www.firstgreatwestern.com and i was wondering what you guys think about it, because some of your oppinons could really help me out!

If you could say or leave a comment i would REALLY appreciate it

Many thanks

Joe
Do I seem to get the gist you want us to do some of your schoolwork;)

I love it TBH. It as sprog said, is so sleek & modern & looks verysmart
 

joeholmes

Member
Joined
4 Jul 2005
Messages
367
In no way are you guys doing my homework, i asked my teacher if it is okay to obtain 2nd hand information and he said that will help me grade, so any more feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I actually know what is meant by the navigation side of things, tis a little tricky.. How could first improve this though?

Joe
 

The Snap

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2005
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3,147
Don't use FGW because they don't operate near me, but the site looks cool and very proffessional and attractive - So I voted 'Yes'. :p
 

HSTfan!!!

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1,967
Website is sleek, modern and extremely professional looking. Easy navigation is present, nice colour scheme, however some of the text is a little hard to read, particularly if you're vision isn't that good. However on the whole a very good website with a lot of very useful information.

edit: may I ask whats wrong with the navigation?
 

Tom B

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Looks a bit too cluttered and the colours are awful IMO. Plus there's needless flash stuff.

And it uses ASP!
 

Sprog

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Cockfosters said:
Looks a bit too cluttered and the colours are awful IMO. Plus there's needless flash stuff.

And it uses ASP!

ASP...? :scratch: :dontknow: :oops:
 

devon_metro

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I like it! They need to get some of teh links sorted but it looks very modern and smart much like the new livery!
 

The Gricer

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Sprog said:
ASP...? :scratch: :dontknow: :oops:
ASP (Active Server Pages) is a server side scripting language used on Microsoft based severs. Whether a site uses ASP on an MS server or say PHP on a Linux server makes little or no difference to the end user, both 'build' the page at the server end before sending it. (I suspect the simple fact that it is Microsoft is the reason for Cockfoster's remark!)

Incidently, those of you who like MS bashing might like to know that IE7 (still in beta I know) doesn't seem to show the menu bar on the Great Western pages, and makes the South West Trains home page look a total mess!


Frank
 

Tom B

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Mhmm, I have tried scripting in both ASP and PHP and prefer the latter ;) though it's a matter of personal preference. According to exam boards, PHP isn't a server-side scripting language, if they ask that question you're meant to put ASP :roll:.

Surely IE7 should load *any* page W3C page? Which the FGW site *says* it complies with.
 

The Gricer

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Cockfosters said:
Mhmm, I have tried scripting in both ASP and PHP and prefer the latter ;) though it's a matter of personal preference.
If I'm honest, so do I!

Cockfosters said:
Surely IE7 should load *any* page W3C page? Which the FGW site *says* it complies with.
Well yes, it SHOULD do of course. Could it be that perhaps MS have got the standards correct and everyone else has got it wrong?:rolleyes: No, I'm never gonna convince you on that one am I? ;)


Frank
 
T

Tom

Guest
Considering all other web browsers show it correctly, I think its probably IE7 rendering it incorrectly.
 

Tom B

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If it complies with W3C standards it shouldn't matter which browser you use, it should appear as planned. Unfortunately MSIE's acceptance of sloppy coding is causing plenty of trouble because people write code that will work in MSIE, isn't W3C compliant and then yuo can't view it!
 

The Gricer

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tubechallenger said:
Considering all other web browsers show it correctly, I think its probably IE7 rendering it incorrectly.
Yes, well I thought it was obvious that my last remark wasn't meant seriously.

Interestingly, (to some at least!) the FGW home page does validate:-
http://validator.w3...?uri=www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk

where as the South West Trains one shows quite a few problems:-
http://validator.w3...?uri=www.southwesttrains.co.uk

The Great Western page (which is of course the subject of this thread) looks like this in IE7:-
fgw_ie7.jpg


it should look like this (this is in Firefox):-
fgw_ff.jpg



Frank
 

Tom B

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Ouch. One would hope they fix such problems before releasing it.

I didn't know about that validator (or if I did I'd forgotten about it), thanks for the link :).

Edit: umm, BRJ fails. Time to fix!
 

joeholmes

Member
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4 Jul 2005
Messages
367
Do you think the site would be better in the syle of the FCC website?

www.firstcapitalconnect.com

Im asking from the target markets (eg, a family day out) not the from the more technical side!

Do you think it would be more wise to change the site into the stile of the FGW site to the FCC site?

Do you think that would be a good idea?

Joe
 
T

Tom

Guest
Each part of the company needs its own style to differentiate it from other parts so I don't think its a good idea.
 

Coxster

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tubechallenger said:
Each part of the company needs its own style to differentiate it from other parts so I don't think its a good idea.
I agree to some extent however I think there should be some similarities to identify the First Group brand.
 

joeholmes

Member
Joined
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Messages
367
No you see, i would like to know why due to the fact that the target market, familys and just the average commuter wants to find his facts easyily and quickly.

I know for a fact that FGW have recieved many complaints on the complex nature of the website. FGW are changing there website soon. But to what who knows?

Joe
 

Techniquest

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Well I was joking but also trying to find a way to say I couldn't say what precisely is wrong with it. There's lot of bits I can't say I like, but hey.

Liking the new colours and stuff, looks more professional than their pre-April website! Took a lot longer to find the timetable alterations though than I'd like though, which I don't like.
 

lev441

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
77
joeholmes said:
Do you think the site would be better in the syle of the FCC website?

www.firstcapitalconnect.com

Im asking from the target markets (eg, a family day out) not the from the more technical side!

Do you think it would be more wise to change the site into the stile of the FGW site to the FCC site?

Do you think that would be a good idea?

Joe

I don't like the FCC website one bit! So much harder to navigate round. I also don't like how its not the electrical sweep thingy but rather blocks (supposidly to look like the citys tower blocks)
 
H

HR2

Guest
That site is far better than some TOC sites I could name and easier to use for an old git like me. Seems to respond to queries readily and quckly enough as well. Yes all-in-all I like it. :D
 

Coxster

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After looking at the images, passengers may think they are getting a Class 175 - misleading advertising ;)
 

Coxster

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WSXFan said:
People think 175s are Great Westerns anyway, so it wouldn't make much difference TBH!
More understandable that they get mistaken for FGW units as boths 175s and FGW serve Cardiff but on Capital Connect?!
 
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