LRR, et. al.,
Some of you have asked, point blank, "Why is Go2Net abandoning the old SI interface? Why couldn't we just leave well enough alone?" Well, here is my answer...
For starters, these decisions are not made lightly at Go2Net, and contrary to some opinions on these boards, are not made out of some innate, compelling force to "Go2Netize" our properties. The primary objective with all of our sites is to deliver a quality product that will attract and service our customers in the best possible manner. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be all things to all people.
Although there are a number of reasons behind the change, there are essentially four critical factors that support our decision.
1. The old SI interface has several limitations from a UI perspective that make it difficult to add new features seamlessly. Yes, we could have stuck in the "View 10 Messages" feature fairly easily, but integrating research and analytic components; editorial content; advanced search and other enhanced message center features that are in the SI product plan would have been "kludgey" at best. We would have ended up needing to stick things here and there without rhyme or reason, and it would have become a confusing mess. Perhaps a way to summarize this thought is to say that the old SI interface was sufficient for what SI was, but not for what it will become.
2. The old SI interface was...in a word...old. Look, I'm definitely not trying to offend anyone here, and I'll admit that the old interface has a certain charm - like an old friend that you've known for a long time. I know there is a group of you out there who have literally fallen in love with the old SI interface, and I don't mean to belittle that in any way. The bottom line is that SI is in an extremely competitive market that places huge rewards on innovation and growth, and we feel that the new user interface delivers a product that will compete and grow in the future.
3. The new SI interface is intuitive and much easier to use - especially for new members. Okay - a bold statement, I know. And, I'm sure that I will attract some heavy flak for making it. When we did usability testing, we put the two sites in front of someone who had never seen either site before, and they invariably preferred the new site and understood it much more readily. For the most part, the only folks who think the old site is easier to use are those of you who are intimately familiar with all of its nuances after months or years of usage. Granted, you are an extremely important group of people. As a business, however, our challenge is to grow Silicon Investor, and that means attracting new people - as well as retaining our current members. In fact, since launching the new site, we've attracted a record number of new registered users in 4 of the last 5 months.
4. Which leads me to the final factor. Most people (members included) prefer the new site. I can almost hear some of you cussing and swearing at me as I write this, and you may never believe me no matter what I say. <g> The fact is that 85% or better of our total traffic comes from the new site, not the old. Plus, traffic on the new site is growing rapidly. If you don't believe that, then you can definitely believe this...if it were the other way around, I would have canned the new site a long time ago. As I indicated above, we are not in this to "force our will" on anyone. We're in this to attract, engage and please as many customers as possible. Period.
Which brings me to a related, but slightly different topic, that I want to - at least briefly - mention. Someone in this thread (I forget who, sorry) wondered whether Go2Net thought that we doing you a "favor" by offering the Classic SI Customization Option. That is not at all how we looked at it. We saw an opportunity to address the concerns of a sizable and very important segment of our member base. We felt that it was worth the extra effort (and it turned out to be a more significant effort than we originally imagined) to address those concerns for as many of you as possible. We also saw it as an opportunity to not completely abandon the old user interface. For those of you who are still not satisfied with the interface, I am truly sorry. I hope that you will stick with the new SI interface (or the Classic option) long enough to fall in love again, so that you can continue to enjoy, benefit from and contribute to the robustness of the SI community. By the way, we will be making a number of the tweaks to the Classic SI option that have been suggested by you, and we should be rolling those changes out shortly.
I guess that wasn't such a short answer. :) I appreciate your time and patience in actually making it to the end of this post.
Thanks,
Bryan |
