Love's labours lost
I recently applied for a job at the Beebeesee for which I am woefully underqualified, and wrote the following in response to one of the questions.
Radio 4 is relaunching its website in several phases during 2009. Please suggest three important changes you'd make to our web offer
Ease of access over accessibility
The Radio 4 website stands out from its brethren in two key visual ways:
- It is still optimised for 800x600 resolutions, when 1024x768 has overtaken as the minimum standard.
- It is densely populated with technically accessible but unappealing text.
The 'Now on air' section is relegated to (on modern monitors) an inch-high block, conveying little about what is currently being broadcast. At various times of writing this has read, 'The Film Programme,' but has not informed me which films were being discussed; 'Book at Bedtime,' but has not said which book this was; and 'Classic Serial,' which I only discover now was part of the Science Fiction season and would therefore have been of great interest to me.
I would make the current programme more prominent on the page, similar in stature to BBC News's main headline or Radio 3's large panel. This could be simply constructed with a database linked to the schedule and populated with background images, general programme and specific episode descriptions (depending on the nature of the show). This will encourage listeners to try something new, rather than listen exclusively to the same shows or kind of programming they always have.
Ease of use and customisability
The same programming every week is, however, what many Radio 4 listeners come to the website for. Unfortunately, I should expect that many bypass the homepage altogether and have bookmarked one of the Programme Genre sites, most commonly Comedy and Quizzes.
The introduction of a Live Search function would draw more traffic to the front page and eliminate unnecessary scrolling or genre confusion (Terry Pratchett - Guilty of Arts and Drama). Listeners would be able to access three functions for their favourite show - Homepage, Listen Again and Bookmark - simply by typing in - for example - 'Clue.'
Homepage would take you to the page for that show, containing its detailed information. Listen Again would simply launch iPlayer for the most recent broadcast, with no clicking through unnecessary pages. Bookmark would add the show to a customisable, cookie- or account- (for preference) powered list on the homepage.
This would be similar to a blog's link list, or anything on last.fm, and would cater for the increasingly social networking/bookmarking Internet user. It will drive the 'picky' listener to the homepage (and therefore expose them to a broader variety of output), and facilitate recommendation between friends.
Consult and move forward
The Radio 4 website is a wonderful historical resource. It is a staggering achievement still to be able to listen to - for example - John Peel's soothing Saturday morning tones, dating back years. But it is overwhelming. The Science Genre site is, for me, 7 screens long, and the vast majority of these are past programming.
I would develop the website's feedback mechanisms, with one of its initial aims being to ascertain the best way of preserving this culturally significant archive without interfering with the performance and accessibility of the rest of the site.
There are several suggestions I could make - grouping by themes; a separate archive site with a schedule for promotion on the front page; extension of the proposed Live Search function; or simply for them to be hidden by default with an option to expand.
However, because any revision of such an important website is going to be contentious, I would take this opportunity to consult with its users before making this - or any other - drastic change.
ENDS
Delightfully, this has now appeared: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/help/sitetour/
Radio 4 is relaunching its website in several phases during 2009. Please suggest three important changes you'd make to our web offer
Ease of access over accessibility
The Radio 4 website stands out from its brethren in two key visual ways:
- It is still optimised for 800x600 resolutions, when 1024x768 has overtaken as the minimum standard.
- It is densely populated with technically accessible but unappealing text.
The 'Now on air' section is relegated to (on modern monitors) an inch-high block, conveying little about what is currently being broadcast. At various times of writing this has read, 'The Film Programme,' but has not informed me which films were being discussed; 'Book at Bedtime,' but has not said which book this was; and 'Classic Serial,' which I only discover now was part of the Science Fiction season and would therefore have been of great interest to me.
I would make the current programme more prominent on the page, similar in stature to BBC News's main headline or Radio 3's large panel. This could be simply constructed with a database linked to the schedule and populated with background images, general programme and specific episode descriptions (depending on the nature of the show). This will encourage listeners to try something new, rather than listen exclusively to the same shows or kind of programming they always have.
Ease of use and customisability
The same programming every week is, however, what many Radio 4 listeners come to the website for. Unfortunately, I should expect that many bypass the homepage altogether and have bookmarked one of the Programme Genre sites, most commonly Comedy and Quizzes.
The introduction of a Live Search function would draw more traffic to the front page and eliminate unnecessary scrolling or genre confusion (Terry Pratchett - Guilty of Arts and Drama). Listeners would be able to access three functions for their favourite show - Homepage, Listen Again and Bookmark - simply by typing in - for example - 'Clue.'
Homepage would take you to the page for that show, containing its detailed information. Listen Again would simply launch iPlayer for the most recent broadcast, with no clicking through unnecessary pages. Bookmark would add the show to a customisable, cookie- or account- (for preference) powered list on the homepage.
This would be similar to a blog's link list, or anything on last.fm, and would cater for the increasingly social networking/bookmarking Internet user. It will drive the 'picky' listener to the homepage (and therefore expose them to a broader variety of output), and facilitate recommendation between friends.
Consult and move forward
The Radio 4 website is a wonderful historical resource. It is a staggering achievement still to be able to listen to - for example - John Peel's soothing Saturday morning tones, dating back years. But it is overwhelming. The Science Genre site is, for me, 7 screens long, and the vast majority of these are past programming.
I would develop the website's feedback mechanisms, with one of its initial aims being to ascertain the best way of preserving this culturally significant archive without interfering with the performance and accessibility of the rest of the site.
There are several suggestions I could make - grouping by themes; a separate archive site with a schedule for promotion on the front page; extension of the proposed Live Search function; or simply for them to be hidden by default with an option to expand.
However, because any revision of such an important website is going to be contentious, I would take this opportunity to consult with its users before making this - or any other - drastic change.
ENDS
Delightfully, this has now appeared: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/help/sitetour/