Tell Iaaf to stop screwing up their site.

[gh]

I'm guessing I now go to the IAAF site 10% as much as I did a year ago; it's easier to find alternate sources up and down the line.

[nicest person ever]

I just realized the top lists only have the seasons best for each athletes instead of all the marks. It looks like that is something they did on purpose and plan to keep. Does anyone know where on the site i can find the old list with all the marks for the year? If they dont have it then we should attack them.

loooooool this fasttrack guy is fuckin awesome

[Master Po]

I'm guessing I now go to the IAAF site 10% as much as I did a year ago; it's easier to find alternate sources up and down the line.

I initially thought that some of the criticisms I read here of the IAAF's new site were overstated, but...my experience is the same as gh's -- it is now far less common for me than it used to be to go there in search of an answer. That seems like a really fundamental critique of their new site. Oh well, at least I can usually find stuff elsewhere.

[jeremyp]

I'm guessing I now go to the IAAF site 10% as much as I did a year ago; it's easier to find alternate sources up and down the line.

I initially thought that some of the criticisms I read here of the IAAF's new site were overstated, but...my experience is the same as gh's -- it is now far less common for me than it used to be to go there in search of an answer. That seems like a really fundamental critique of their new site. Oh well, at least I can usually find stuff elsewhere.

I've rarely visited it since it changed and when I do I swear*&^%*)& often.

[Jon]

I'm looking to find out what happened on this date(March 14) at the 1993 World Indoor Championship in Toronto.
http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-indoor-championships/4th-iaaf-world-indoor-championships-16

None of the links(startlist, results) under the timetable-by-day heading work. I have to scroll down to the "Winners in Toronto (SD)" section, where the results of all events are available.

From that page, click on 'Timetable/results', then 'by day'. You'll then be able to see results of all events.

Alternatively, you can use the results archive. From the home page, click on 'results', then 'open filters' to search for the event you need. It'll lead you to this page:
http://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world- ... onships-16

[norunner]

I had lunch today with the publisher who created the website, he was very interested to hear that there were problems with the site and wants me to email him with suggestions of how it can be corrected and improved

If people want to post here with specific issues i'll make sure he hears about them and hopefully we can get them sorted

Has this person ever published a webpage before? As far as userability goes the new iaaf page looks like it was designed by someone who never heard of it. For example the lists page, it takes up to 6 or 7 mouse clicks to get the list you want. No info on a webpage should take that many mouse clicks for access cause most people get annoyed way before that.
mump boy: Have you forwarded any criticism and has anything happened since you did?

[toyracer]

I'm guessing I now go to the IAAF site 10% as much as I did a year ago; it's easier to find alternate sources up and down the line.

Exactly. When I google search I click on results that do not take me to the IAAF site. That surely is the opposite of what they should have intended.

[vencio2]

Another one here who never goes to the IAAF site anymore.

Went on it a few days ago, first time in months. As someone noted, whoever was involved in this site cannot have been a T&F fan or interested in the stats/bio's side of the IAAF content, which used to be one of the main selling points of the site. I am seriously suspicious of their general 'web design/publishing' credentials as well. The home page is so distracting and difficult to read and it just looks like a tonne of 'stuff' floating around a white screen. Why the row of 'social' icons appears twice (once horizontal and once vertical), right next to each other, is also weird.

[gh]

I don't have time to go digging, but rumor has it that the historical results section is now easier to find data in. Like the Q/q data and reaction times being on the results without requiring another dig.

[jeremyp]

I don't have time to go digging, but rumor has it that the historical results section is now easier to find data in. Like the Q/q data and reaction times being on the results without requiring another dig.

On my last visit I was more easily able to find shit I was looking for, but I hope it's a work in progress.

[gh]

Am I just blind/inept (a distinct possibility), or is there no longer an option to view meet results as a whole? In the old days there was a link that opened a pdf with the composite results. Now all I can find is having to open each event as a different button.

[Weights&Shoes]

My only complaints are with their YouTube page.

1) I like their new interviews conducted by Ato Boldon with current athletes, but the videos are only available on their FB page. I would think in 2013, with social media being at such a high, it would make more sense to host the videos on their YT page.

2) Upload past World Championships content/moments more frequently.

[gh]

squeaky wheel continues to get grease... no idea when these changes were implemented, since I've grown to live without the IAAF lists, but this was passed along to me.

<<We reviewed the page and have eliminated three clicks from the previous format for the ‘Top Lists’:

- Default no longer ‘all-time’ >> top lists now open at current season
- Separate tabs for men or women removed >> both genders are now displayed on the same screen
- No need to select ‘Update’ which is removed >> now simply click on discipline to display relevant list>>

All in all, deffo an improvement.

[Daisy]

All in all, deffo an improvement.

That's a big improvement over their completely non-intuitive previous incarnation.

I'm realising that many of these problems come from the fact that they put all the information into a database and the views we see are dependent on the filters that they choose. This explains the nonsense of having to click on each event to see the result, rather than having one page of results for each meet. But it will be easy for them to create a filter to gives us the one page view.

Maybe they should allow third parties to access their databases and write filter options that fit our needs? That is how the human genome databases work. There are many different genome browsers that allow you to see the same information but with a different user interface.

[bushop]

Any idea why so many old articles (2012) are gone?

[26mi235]

Maybe they should allow third parties to access their databases and write filter options that fit our needs? That is how the human genome databases work. There are many different genome browsers that allow you to see the same information but with a different user interface.

Yes, but the genome project is much simpler and all of the people are from the same organization so it is much easier to get those things done....

[gh]

Any idea why so many old articles (2012) are gone?

because when you radically alter your platform, all old links may have to be rewritten, and there comes a triage point on whether or not it's worth it to do so.

T&FN is close to that point, sad to say.

[toyracer]

I "visited" their site today, courtesy of a link through a front page item here on T&FN. I really dislike the washed out look of their site, it makes me feel like I can't get away from it fast enough. I just read the article and left.

[Jon]

squeaky wheel continues to get grease... All in all, deffo an improvement.

A lot of the gripes raised in this thread have been addressed. (Click on the numbers of each point below to see the original post that flagged these up):

1. Dates of SBs now shown on profiles (example)
2. Top lists page now easier to navigate and even fewer clicks than before are required, and all other reported glitches were fixed a long time ago (example)
3. Improved presentation of combined events scores (including individual marks) in results and rankings lists (example)
4. In results, the default view now shows full series as well as qualifiers, wind speeds and reaction times (example / example)
5. When searching for results, the filter now stays open from the outset (example)
6. All 'Focus on Athletes' biographies have been incorporated into profile pages (example)

[Jon]

(continued... character limit reached - a gripe of mine about this website...)

7. Team members now viewable in relay results, and split times viewable in distance races (example / example)
8. Final scores (and intermediate scores) of combined events are now presented much better on results pages (example)

Any idea why so many old articles (2012) are gone?

All old articles (from the early days of the site in the late 90s) should all be there. Most automatically redirect, but some don't. Where there any in particular you were trying to find?

[gh]

(continued... character limit reached - a gripe of mine about this website...)....

Hey, at least our site has a board, unlike the IAAF!

[26mi235]

Jon, you are possibly pasting in a lot of spaces which do not show up here but count against the 2500 limit. That post is not close to 2500 characters.

[gh]

I wonder if it reads each character in the linked URL, rather than just the 7 that appear in "example"?

[Jon]

Jon, you are possibly pasting in a lot of spaces which do not show up here but count against the 2500 limit. That post is not close to 2500 characters.

I never use double spaces (and I hate it when people do). There were simply a lot of hyperlinks in my post, the formatting of which uses up a lot of the 2500-character limit (as gh suggests).

[gh]

Anybody who learned to keystroke in the days before computers afforded the luxury of proportional spacing was taught to double space after periods (and colons). And as one who had to unlearn that after 25 years of pounding at a keyboard for 8 hours a day, I can tell you, it's not an easy reflex to unlearn.

And for people who aren't in the journalism business, it's a minor typographical touch that's not even worth trying to unlearn.

[Serafina8]

One thing I miss in the redesigned "Top Lists" section is the ability to sort by column heading. I found it useful to be able to sort by "Nation" to easily see all athletes from a given country grouped together in order of performance.

[gibson]

dysfunctional organizations have dysfunctional web sites.

iaaf is just another federation that can't do, but can't be replaced through a competitive process. that's the process of de evolution.

you know, going from mammal to reptile to slime mold - that type of thing.

[Vault-emort]

The trouble with many sports web-sites is that companies are engaged that might be able to put up a 'pretty site' but don't really understand the functionality required by most fans.

#iaaf

[vencio2]

so bewildering that there's an article on main iaaf page about the ponce gp but it took me about 3 mins to be able to find results. rather confusingly the top related link to the ponce gp article is 'simon ziolkowski'.

iaaf website makes me want to cry, and then scream with rage.

[26mi235]

Consistently across race sites it is surprisingly difficult to find the link to the results. It is as though they can only think of the preparation for the event, that the fans are going to spend a lot of time going to the site before the event but are not interested in results. There are a number of exceptions, but they are almost exceptions rather than the dominant rule.