Volvo UK website - rubbish or what?

[Simon Linton]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Volvo website is appalling?

The car configurator doesn't load, the links along the top don't work, the whole thing takes forever to operate and of course, they've got rid of the comprehensive used car section to restrict it to current models.

If I didn't like the cars, the site would certainly put me off.

PS, I'm using a Mac with IE, Netscape and Safari browsers, all of which have the same problems.

Is a bit sucky. As an ASP developer I have to say poor testing and design.

I wonder if it's designed to work with Netscape / Safari etc. They don't stick to W3C standards for DHTML (for once MS is right) and so the client script can be a pain in the neck to get things working for both.

Stu

[Simon Linton]

Yes, I've fought my way through the configurator on IE, with many refreshes when the next page wouldn't load.

This of course means that anyone who doesn't use IE won't be looking too hard at a new Volvo - guess that doesn't worry the lads in Marlow, but it should.

The issue is howmany sales lost, compared to how much effort to sort I think. Macs make up is it 3% of home computers, and Netscape doesn't have a high hold on the market. Of all the stuff I have had to do only one has actually wanted something that will work in IE and Netscape. I just wish designers woulfd pay attention to the standards rather than making up their own (MS *and* others). It would certainly make my life soo much easier.

Stu

The Volvo site works perfectly in Int Explorer which I imagine is all it was designed for.

As a web design company we never ever design for Netscape. Stats for this week so far show just 38 visits from Netscape out of just over 500000 unique visits on hosted sites including many professional photographers.

Put simply, Netscape on the PC is a waste of time and anyone using it is just doing so to try and make a point. Why bother.

Having said that with almost everything programmed in php the output should work anyway cross browser without too much aggro.

As for Mac users they have two chances - sites will display or they wont.

I'm happy with that, so are the clients and that's what matters.

Thats my opinion.

Mike

[Bob]

I passed this on to Volvo Car UK and this is the reply:

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The site has been designed with the following OS/browser combinations in mind:


1) IE 5+ on PC with modern Windows OS (Win2000 and WinXP)
2a) IE 4+ and Netscape 6+ on PC (all Win OSes)
2b) IE 5+ on Mac
2c) AOL browser on PC
3) any other combination


The priorities have been based on the usage of the site in the last 2 years, and user focus groups.


Our web provider will do more extensive testing (Safari on Mac, the Opera browser, different Unix OSes etc.). I have heard reports about problems with Mac, though we haven't yet received any detailed information that we could examine ourselves. The sites did pass Volvo Car Corporation Mac tests, and they are looking into these.


Your feedback has been passed to our web developers. I do hope you like the new look and feel, and I will do my best to resolve the technical issues as soon as possible with our developers.