RTE 2fm - New Website

Sully

So after hearing the presenters harp on about their great new 2fm website, I thought I would take a gawk. Personally, I don't like it. Seems to be very amateurish. Looks like a flash template you can get from the likes of TemplateMonster etc. It seems to be powered by something called "Catch" and a lot of the website refers to it, including emails.

See for yourself: http://2fm.rte.ie/

p

It's a bit all over the place. A lot of cheesy bevels and drop shadows. Also, there's no contract between items, poor guidance and hierarchy and generally just a case of throwing everything at users and not directing them.

LowOdour

There are actually some cool features in the site itself, but the presentation is nothing short of shocking. I guess they are trying to reach out to younger folk but might think it looks "cool", but it doesnt.

I mean, the menu bar along for example. Every link has text e.g. My 2Fm, Shows Catch Up etc.
But for the Home link they have an image of a house. Why just not keep it consistent and have it the same as the others. Some really silly things going on.

tricky D

In relation to the 'cool' web2.0 stuff, curves and gradients, I'm reminded of some of this
http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/bbc_homepage_redesign/

adm

Looks like a load of iphones which i guess makes it supercool....

EKRIUQ

I hate left aligned websites just don't work and this website just looks like a dark blob. Can they not use good design principles

Sully

I wonder is that system just pre-made and they skinned it? Seems like something a student designer would do. See that kinda thing a lot down here.

kjt

It's pretty horrible. Far too dark for my liking too!!

Axwell

According to todays independant it cost €230,000 to get it done. The catch software is the same one used on Spin 1038's website so they are just following a trend with that and trying to get back a younger listener base.

Sully

Axwell wrote: »

According to todays independant it cost €230,000 to get it done. The catch software is the same one used on Spin 1038's website so they are just following a trend with that and trying to get back a younger listener base.

What a waste.

Epic Tissue

Pretty messy alright

Webmonkey

Its fairly bad alright. Where is the top irish charts? - Friend was complaining they couldn't find it.

peejay1986

The dreaded 'outer glow' on the section headers is enough for me.

I like the content of the site but the design is shocking. Embarrassing for such a well funded station.

NickNolte

They should ask for their money back. Then again, if they don't know any better they probably deserve to be ripped off.

Doubs

Horrendous. As mentioned seems very amateurish, the background doesn't even cover the width of the screen, left aligned... 230k, whoever authorised that should be given the door.

S.M.B.

It just looks like someones messy myspace page and oh I do hate myspace.

Luckily i'll never have any need to use this site.

Pub07

Good god, 230K for that shite? Nice work if you cant get it. That is an absolute dog's dinner of a website aesthetically. I haven't been doing web design long but I can appreciate good work when I see it and I can also recognize a complete turkey of a design and 2fm's website is a serious turkey. There's hope for me yet if there's people out there getting 230K for this level of work. I'm off to put drops in my eyes now to ease the burning sensation.

ocallagh

awful. what a waste

NickNolte

Not having spent a huge amount of time on the site, it's hard to say if it's not worth €230k. For all I know there could be a massive back end, 3rd party app integration... the development team could have spent a load of time writing media management applications, etc. We just don't know.

My problem with the site is the overall quality, not how long it took to build or how much it cost. It's as plain as the nose on your face that this site is designed and developed by complete amateurs. Catch FM appear to be yet another bunch of cowboys who are targetting a profitable niche with the promise of 'wonder Web-based software solutions tailored to your business' yet they don't have the first bloody clue about the Web. This site willl fail. I hope 2FM sue Catch FM. Although I suspect that if they're not sister companies, it's probably nepotism that got them the contract. As is usually the case in Ireland.

cianclarke

Even from a brief glance, the presentation is awful.

I can't find the information I want to find (charts!!??)
The colour palette is a bit of everything, and the banner adverts just do not fit the current design.
The typography is boring and uninspired.
The site is left aligned WHY? Looks ridiculous on my 24" monitor.
The pathetic not-quite-coverflow "features" flash just stinks of a generic animation purchased, and the banners their in-house guys are putting in just don't fit - a mish mash of designs...
Load times are actually noticeably poor for me in FF.
Tried it at 800X600?
Infact the only decent thing they've done is having a comprehensive site map at the bottom of each page.

Oh lord, I could go on but what's the point...

cianclarke

NickNolte wrote: »

Catch FM appear to be yet another bunch of cowboys who are targetting a profitable niche with the promise of 'wonder Web-based software solutions tailored to your business' yet they don't have the first bloody clue about the Web. This site willl fail. I hope 2FM sue Catch FM. Although I suspect that if they're not sister companies, it's probably nepotism that got them the contract. As is usually the case in Ireland.

I haven't seen mention that the whole project was carried out by Catch? What's to say the platform was provided by Catch and bastardized in house, or by another company?

If this is the case, I'd say there's a bit of a gap in the market for this Catch idea for smaller local radio stations who don't want to spend big money developing something custom coded to bring them into the 21st century.

I'd lay the blame with RTE entirely, I've always been highly critical of their entire online services - riddled with misprints, mistakes and failure left right and centre. If they honestly believed spending 230K on a prebuilt platform for the countries leading radio station was a good idea, they deserve their money going down the drain. For something of this scale, they should really be starting from scratch...

mewso

Knowing IT these days it was probably €220k on consultancy and €10k for the site.

jimmybeige

Was just viewing this on Chrome. Wow, half of the topbar links (A-Z Win, Fab 50, 2Tube, Contact the Studio) are on the wrong line and overlapping the content! Looks very bad!

gimme5minutes

Looks like the site was updated a bit. At least they managed to center it for a start.

Dumb

Nobody seems to like it. I don't either. Hard to navigate and is a bit tacky and dark alright.

Sully

See, I often wonder do I dislike these sites because of my job or whether its actually because they are terrible. 2fm DJs are plugging this as a "great site". Cant say I like it at all myself.

John_Mc

The website is much like the station in my opinion, and I don't listen to the station at all..