USA WEBSITE

[rand17]

So is this new USA website an April fools joke??? HAHAHA!!! ok jokes over PLEASE TURN ON THE OLD WEBSITE!!!!....

 

[AlexThePalex]

I have the same feeling with the European websites which have the same design. It's simply terrible now, navigation is worse than ever and the information provided is absolutely miniscule.

 

[zapdafish]

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Needless to say I did not consent and continue.

 

[live4ever]

Yikes.

If you're going to bash the new website, at least provide some constructive feedback on how it could be improved.  I believe Shane used to work on it when he was at Festool and now maybe it's Tyler's domain?  At least provide the feedback in a manner in which someone could benefit from it.

 

[Stone Message]

Hi Everyone

I saw all of this on the UK web site some time ago:
http://festoolownersgroup.com/ask-festool/hey-what-happened-to-phill-buckley/msg501782/#msg501782

I really do not like what has been done. Maybe it is a work in progress and can improve but it is a long way from being user friendly or usable on a PC.

Perhaps the iPhone users will find it useful.

Peter

 

[antss]

Maybe they got the same bozo that did Shane's website to these ?

 

[Phil Beckley]

Hi
Like anything it takes time to settle and the UK version of the website is gradually becoming quicker to load - I guess some 'gremlins' lurk in the system but I am sure all will be good soon.
rg
Phil

I know absolutely nothing on how websites work or the complexity of launching  a new website and unfortunately the above is all I can offer on this.....

 

[TylerC]

Product information has been neutered. PDF manuals hard to find or non existent unless you know they are now in Ekat, which is anti-common sense. Put them with the product page day 1.

Manuals are also here:https://www.festoolusa.com/service/owners-manuals

It doesn't have all of them yet -- neither did the old site -- but more are being adding.

As an example, the TS75 product page requires 5 page downs to view everything on a 21" monitor. Everything can fit in 2 with more effort at page design. Too much wasted screen real estate doing nothing.

The in-page navigation should help minimize the amount of scrolling you need to do.
[attachimg=1]

 

[Paul G]

Perhaps the iPhone users will find it useful.

Unfortunately not this iphone user. I'm generally not a fan of blocking mobile users from using the PC version of a site. There's times I want the choice and it's not an option.

 

[TylerC]

[member=23087]bnaboatbuilder[/member] Instead of going line-by-line through your feedback, I'll make a couple notes of my own:

1. "Operation tool" just means that tool itself. The phrasing ("operation tool") doesn't translate well to American English, and we will update it. It's probably self-evident that you get the bare tool when you purchase a tool set, but providing self-evident info is probably better than no providing necessary info.
2. The "Includes" and "Accessories" sections are both being corrected now by the HQ and US teams.
3. There are some obviously some photos missing from the Functions section. This is also being addressed. The text in this section is identical to what was on the old website.

 

[antss]

while you're taking notes:

the artwork needs to be redone - looks like someone just cut and pasted low res. photos on the new site.

might be ok on a smart phone , but they are grainy and blurry on a desktop or ipad.

 

[Bob D.]

Guess they need to spend some more time running this new website in the sandbox and work out some bugs. Give some trusted, knowledgeable FOG members access and let them play and try to break things and find out what works and what doesn't.

Someone who worked on the design is not likely to catch these types of errors or shortcomings as their brain is already wired to know what to expect and how it should behave because they built it. They will jump right past what will be a problem for the average user and never see the problem. Likewise when you get a couple hundred people running different hardware and many variations of an OS and a half dozen versions if each popular browser you'll turn up a whole batch of problems you never thought could occur.

And then you'll get to fix all that BEFORE you go live.

Get a sandbox server set up and play in it.

 

[Bohdan]

The normal expression is "Don't fix it if it ain't broke" but apparently for Festool IT it's "Break it so we can fix it"

 

[w802h]

If I was rolling out a website, I would solicit opinions of what people liked and what needed improvement, make a plan, pull the whole think together, test it, and then when I was confidant with the product release it.  That's what we demand of our tools.  Right?  Is the website any different?  I don't get this approach to releasing an incomplete website when there was a great, user-friendly, well-organized site beforehand. 

 

[yetihunter]

I'm not fuming, but the lack of redirects was a first world burden the last few nights.
I tried to navigate the website but gave up and googled "Festool Supplemental Manuals" instead of "(insert tool) supplemental manual" and got what I needed straight from Rick Christopherson.

 

[Holmz]

Hi
Like anything it takes time to settle and the UK version of the website is gradually becoming quicker to load - I guess some 'gremlins' lurk in the system but I am sure all will be good soon.
rg
Phil

I know absolutely nothing on how websites work or the complexity of launching  a new website and unfortunately the above is all I can offer on this.....

Generally software developers develope in private and roll it out when it is ready... Not develop in public.

 

[mrFinpgh]

Generally software developers develope in private and roll it out when it is ready... Not develop in public.

In an ideal world, though, they are iterating throughout this process and getting feedback.

For example, a project I am working on right now is essentially a big new website for a specific set of customers to interact with.  NDAs and discretion keep me from saying too much about it, but the customer base is very specific.  We have been developing in private, but demoing to a group of stakeholders on a weekly basis. 

We have a user experience expert who is meeting with actual people in the field to discuss what they want and what is important to them in using this new site.  She also provides insight into how to best structure the data on the page for the users to understand and navigate with the least amount of friction.

Now, at the end of this first phase, we have a period of user testing where numerous individuals from across the customer's organization will go in and pretend to be customers and interact with the site.  This helps to validate that the design 'works' and obviously that the functionality is operating correctly (for the most part..  [unsure])

After that, there are pilot group users who will be specifically engaged to use the site and provide feedback on what they like/dislike and how it is working for them. 

After which, we will probably prioritize and then move to a phase 2, adding some new functionality and integrating feedback from the customer into the process.

It's pretty likely the whole site was built to be mobile-first, but I think it could have been implemented better.  There is a heavy emphasis on images and whitespace, and it makes the site feel large and more complicated than it actually is.  That should have been caught in user testing.  There is a marketing-driven aspect to it that might excite prospective customers, but as a service-portal, it is  bit less effective. 

Aesthetically, I actually like it.  But from a UX perspective, I find it a little hard to use.  I wondered for a while where my 'account' went, as I didn't want to go find my Pro5 sander and get the tool number off of it (bad change management..).   

-Adam

 

[yetihunter]

Guess what they got in Germany that's NAINA?  [big grin][attachimg=1]

 

[Cheese]

...what tool in that section does brushing? In that section, there are sanders and sand paper type items, but no brushes, or brushing.

I don't see the product section "Workplace organization" to have any relevance to those tools. Systainers, sortainers and sys-ports are workplace organization, not an MFT table or a radio or suction device.

Ya I noticed that "Brush" thing myself today. Having seen the Brush category, I immediately thought maybe one of those neat NAINA tools from Europe was now available. However, the Brush category turned out to be just an empty placeholder.  [crying]

And while you're railing on the lack of Systainer and MFT equipment, I also noted a total lack of any drill or domino information, or Vac SYS or ................

I just chalk this up to a premature website roll-out. It would have been nice if Festool had taken a more holistic approach to this roll-out and done due diligence on this. Right now, it's really just a half baked exercise at this point.

I really hate to be so negative, but in the last 6-9 months I've seen many items/circumstances that makes me question the clairvoyance of thought of the Festool USA marketing group. And this would certainly start with the gelded metric/imperial products that are now being offered as the new mantra for effective USA marketing penetration.

 

[promark747]

Shouldn't it be Domino "Joining" instead of "Jointing"?