RedSpottedHanky loses 'Mixing Desk'

[transportphoto]

Hi All,

Just gone to plan a journey on RSH as I normally do to be greeted by this mess, something they call a 'FaresView'




Luckily it hasn't spread yet...

Your opinions?

TP

 

[All Line Rover]

Horrid. I don't like such interfaces as they make it very difficult to display all of the available fares. What journey was this for, if I may ask?

 

[SS4]

That looks awful. A largely text based interface is one thing if it contains a lot of information but quite another where it doesn't and that is the latter.

 

[bnm]

It appears that the journey is Shrewsbury to Cardiff for a Child Anytime Day Single on August 10th.

I've tried replicating the journey using redspottedhanky.com and I got the existing interface.

It'd be helpful if the OP can describe the steps involved (and URL used) that got them to the page displaying fares as shown in the attachment.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Shrewsbury to Cardiff Central going on the codes in the screen save

 

[transportphoto]

Hi Mac,

It appears that the journey is Shrewsbury to Cardiff for a Child Anytime Day Single on August 10th.

It is.

It'd be helpful if the OP can describe the steps involved (and URL used) that got them to the page displaying fares as shown in the attachment.

I simply followed the normal steps from the http://www.redspottedhanky.com/ homepage. I note that the section where you fill in the journey details there has changed aswell, here's a screen shot of that page:

On clicking the 'Search' Button, I was taken to the screen as I attached in #1 with a URL of http://tickets.redspottedhanky.com/rsh/en/journeyplanning/FaresView.

The browser I am using is Google Chrome.

TP

 

[trentside]

I've also been presented with the 'MixingDeck' interface when using RSH today. I also tried replicating the same journey and was presented with the old interface, also when clicking the Fares View link above it takes me to the Mixing Deck.

 

[Greenback]

The interface was the same as its always been at 1400, and again when I tried it just now. Out of interest, I selected the text only option, and I got something that seems very similar to the original screenshot in this thread!

 

[causton]

Looks like a Flash issue! I think they use Flash for the interface and that might be the fallback one, let me see...

 

[WelshBluebird]

I doubt its a flash issue. Both me and a my gf were getting it (on different computers) yesterday when trying to book tickets. Not only is it ugly, its also potentially confusing as you now have to specifically select a particular service. Now, those of us in the know realise that if you are selecting a particular train but are buying a normal single or return ticket, then you are not tied to the service you have selected. I don't think "normal" people will realise that - certainly my girlfriend didn't.

 

[northwichcat]

Looks like a Flash issue! I think they use Flash for the interface and that might be the fallback one, let me see...

No they don't. I've just tried the site in Google Chrome with Flash disabled and the mixing deck comes up and works fine.

transportphoto are you accessing the site from a mobile or tablet device? If you are then different scripting and styling will apply compared to viewing it on a PC/laptop.

 

[tsr]

I've seen it a few times popping up on various booking engines in place of MixingDeck, but I don't know exactly why. I think I saw it on the Chiltern site once! I think perhaps (and I stress "perhaps"!) when one site using the MixingDeck system has problems, some other sites may automatically revert to the FaresView interface, but I haven't got any conclusive proof of that.

 

[transportphoto]

It appears, looking at FB posts its not only me getting it now. RSH seem to have admitted it giving a link (that doesn't work) to revert back to MD style. I am not using a mobile device / tablet to access the site. Its not going down well with everybody else!

What are you getting?

 

[bolli]

Looks to me like A/B Testing.

Give a small % of people the new site and the rest the old one and see what the results are -i.e. Which one makes people spend more money and which one has the higher rate of people giving up.

Fairly common on the web.

 

[Stats]

You can force the view you want by changing the cookies.

Look for a cookie associated with tickets.redspottedhanky.com, if you are getting the FaresView this cookie will contain

ExperienceCookie: DisplayMode=Alternate

to force this to MixingDeck change this to

ExperienceCookie: DisplayMode=Default

 

[benk1342]

I just saw this for the first time, and I agree it is a cookie issue. When I go to the site through my wife's user account on our shared computer, I get the new (read "worse") interface regardless of whether I log into RSH as me or as her. Conversely, if I am using my user account on the computer, I get MixingDeck regardless of whether I log into RSH as me or as her.

 

[AndyLandy]

I had this problem. Deleting all cookies from redspottedhanky switched it back to the mixing desk. It's definitely nothing to do with Flash or Javascript, since the mixing desk was still working via the EastCoast website.

 

[IanD]

After getting the "new improved" interface all weekend, I emailed RSH to tell them how horrible it is and they have confirmed that they don't give a monkey's and they will be rolling it out to everyone soon.

It really is awful - both in style and ease of use. They must have done some market research but who in the right mind would say they preferred it?

Maybe if a few more people who don't like it contacted them they may see sense. Probably not.

(On the plus side, I'm now getting the old interface again!)

 

[Max]

I very much hope this isn't being rolled out for all of the Atos sites, if so it will be a huge step backwards. It just looks like thetrainline's interface.

 

[IanD]

I hope it's not all ATOS sites too!

I sent another email asking if they'd done any market research on their new front end and hoping they hadn't wasted too much money developing it. The results would say the answer to both should be 'no' but, working in IT, I can imagine the sort of figure this "revamp" would have cost them!

Anyway, this was their response:

"There was a substantial amount of research done with regards to making the changes to the websit.

We do appreciate customer feedback and your comments have been passed onto our Marketing/Research and Technical Department as part of our continued effort to collate customer feedback which we will reflect on when taking our business forward in the future."

I'd love to have been the bloke who came up with the brilliant idea that if you don't keep changing the look of a website people will stop using it - thus guaranteeing constant emplyment for web designers for years to come. Whatever happened to "If it aint broke, don't fix it." We see to have moved to an ethos of "If it aint broke, break it."

 

[Bungle73]

I'd love to have been the bloke who came up with the brilliant idea that if you don't keep changing the look of a website people will stop using it - thus guaranteeing constant emplyment for web designers for years to come. Whatever happened to "If it aint broke, don't fix it." We see to have moved to an ethos of "If it aint broke, break it."

Things like websites need to be updated once in a while, otherwise we'd all still be looking at the monstrosities they had in 1997.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I'd love to have been the bloke who came up with the brilliant idea that if you don't keep changing the look of a website people will stop using it - thus guaranteeing constant emplyment for web designers for years to come. Whatever happened to "If it aint broke, don't fix it." We see to have moved to an ethos of "If it aint broke, break it."

So you'd still want the BBC site looking like this?

 

[thelem]

The mixing desk did need a bit of updating, but not like this! They've lost the key advantage they had over the trainline interface, which was displaying a wide range of times and showing you which fares were available on which trains.

Who are red spotted hankey anyway? Please tell me it's not the in-house site of the company that runs the similar sites for rail operators (they have an about us section, but it didn't explain who they were).

 

[northwichcat]

Who are red spotted hankey anyway? Please tell me it's not the in-house site of the company that runs the similar sites for rail operators (they have an about us section, but it didn't explain who they were).

It's a brand that ATOS Origin set up: http://www.redspottedhanky.com/about-us/media-room/atos-origin-launches-redspottedhanky/

ATOS Origin being the company with the online booking system that companies like East Coast use a white label version of.

 

[IanD]

Things like websites need to be updated once in a while, otherwise we'd all still be looking at the monstrosities they had in 1997.

True but, there's updating for the better and there's updating for the worse. This case falls in to the latter.

Having designed, developed and trialed many user interfaces I can honestly say there was nothing drastically wrong with the mixing desk that called for it to be totally abandonded. Ok it maybe needed tarting up slightly but it was (and IMO) still is extremely fit for purpose.

It's still better than both thedrainline and virgin's interface though.

The worst thing they've done is removed the 'show trains calling at' option from the timetables only section which means that it is now more difficult to get the site to offer all of the cheapest fares and specific routes rather than the defaults thrown up by the booking engine.

 

[thelem]

It's a brand that ATOS Origin set up: http://www.redspottedhanky.com/about-us/media-room/atos-origin-launches-redspottedhanky/

ATOS Origin being the company with the online booking system that companies like East Coast use a white label version of.

That's what I feared. In that case, expect to see this rolling out on all ATOS sites in the future. Hopefully the A/B testing will show that the current interface is better and they'll have a rethink.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

So you'd still want the BBC site looking like this?

Ha I like it!

 

[northwichcat]

Update on their Facebook page:

Need to ask us something, or have a suggestion for us to improve our service? Head over to our customer service tab and let us know! You can also browse through other people's questions and answers!

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I can honestly say there was nothing drastically wrong with the mixing desk that called for it to be totally abandoned.

The problem might be the less well educated rail user could see the mixing deck as more confusing than the ticket office.

If I walked in to Knutsford ticket office now and asked for a day return to Chester I would be told it is £9.80.

If I ask the mixing deck for the same it lists 5 different tickets ranging from a £9.70 single to a £13.30 Anytime return.

 

[185]

Old view showing when I just checked it.

 

[IanD]

The problem might be the less well educated rail user could see the mixing deck as more confusing than the ticket office.

If I walked in to Knutsford ticket office now and asked for a day return to Chester I would be told it is £9.80.

If I ask the mixing deck for the same it lists 5 different tickets ranging from a £9.70 single to a £13.30 Anytime return.

A human interface is not really comparable to using a web-based booking engine. You get the same multi-price response from the new interface (and all other sites) but in a more confusing way.

thetrainline does show you what the cheapest ticket is in a box but it forces you to select a service before it will sell you that ticket which probably leads many people to believe that you have to use the trains selected regardless of the ticket type. Then adds on those fees so you've no longer got the cheapest ticket!

Virgin - don't have time to list all the faults with that one but the worst is that it often does not offer the cheapest fares.