´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather: Design Refresh in Pictures
Post categories: Weather,Ìýuser experience & design
| 16:00 UK time, Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Hello, I’m Melanie Seyer and I’m the lead designer of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather product within ´óÏó´«Ã½ Future Media. In the middle of November we launched a refresh of the Weather site and I would like to tell you a bit about the design process of this project.
From Beta to Live
´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather is a key online product offered across News, iPlayer, Radio and News. The online landscape is changing very rapidly and many platforms (smart phones, tablets and iPTV) offer new design and development opportunities.
The current ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather site was our starting point.
The Vision
Senior Creative Director Ben Gammon came up with a set of design principles, ideas and areas for exploration:
- Move forwards, not backwards: Build on what we currently have rather than starting again from scratch. Many features have developed over the years in response to user needs.
- Simplify: Get straight to the point and tell people if it’s going to rain.
- Inject personality: How might we convey the experience of different weather types? What is ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather and what makes it unique?
- Work with platform differences: We don’t have weather forecasters talking people through our maps and symbols. How might we tell the weather story differently online? How can we make our weather symbols work harder?
- Create context: ...but what context is the user interested in? Is it just local weather or does it extend to holiday planning or event hobbies like gardening?
- Align: The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is a global brand and already offers services in different languages - how might we align these under one Weather product?
- Distribute: How do we ensure that the weather can be shown in a shorthand format across the rest of bbc.co.uk – perhaps accompanying Sport event locations such as the Olympics in 2012.
- Multiple access points: Users can now access weather information in different situations and on different devices - from tv, to car radios, to smart phones and iPads. The re-freshed design needs to be flexible enough to work across all of these touchpoints.
After initial in-depth research and a project kick-off workshop we were able to narrow down the situations in which the users could be interested in using weather information. For example could the weather forecast be relevant not only for planning a trip but also for weather updates at the holiday location?
Workshop themes (L) and an overview of situations and related services(R)
We developed key themes for our visual language and for further idea generation.
The kick-off workshop in full play
User-Centred approach
Users have different needs and access information for different reasons, at different locations and times. To offer them the best service we wanted to understand and explore the relationship users have with weather.
For example, these sketches explore when, where and how two imagined users find and use weather information.
Three days in the life of fictional pensioner Steve
A week in the life of fictional employee Bob
We carried out extensive user research with help from Kate Cook, Senior Usability & Accessibility Specialist. This ranged from guerilla testing in Westfield Shoping Centre in nearby Shepherds Bush to netchats, surveys and usability testing with "What People Want" (an external agency).
For any user-centred design, this is a very important part of the design process. Otherwise we designers might make too many assumptions about what our audience needs or wants. It's about identifying and answering core user needs.
Spider diagram of user needs - eg how, why, where and when they might wish to do what.
From this research we were able to identify five types of users:
Land and water hobbyists,
Weather enthusiast,
Eventer and
"Just give me the weather".
As you might expect, the majority of users wanted to get to the essential weather information quickly and in an easy, accessible way.
This insight and feedback helped us to focus on the core information and hence the core design elements. We had a close look at the sitemap structure again and realised that if we wanted to focus on the essentials we needed to flatten the hierarchy and get rid of clutter.
The new trimmed down sitemap.
The old sitemap offered lots of content (highlighted in grey) that was either out of date or very rarely used.
Design and Functionality Concepts
It quickly became apparent that wherever Weather is offered (mobile phones, tablets, desktop, TV or radio) users just want quick access to core information. The way this information is presented and accessed needs to be appropriate for the medium.
Overview sketch of different devices and how users expect them to function. It highlights, for example, which device is more likely to be used in which situation.
Compared to TV, the desktop version adds an "interactivity" factor to the user experience. Instead of watching the forecaster explaining how weather patterns are evolving, the user engages with the weather data to find out exactly what he/she needs.
There is always someone on the TV who guides you through the animated weather information. The context is created for you.
The redesigned weather service gives the audience the core weather information at a glance but gives them the opportunity to explore more detailed information by opening panels (such as for humidity...).
The structured design can help and support the process of exploring information by progressively revealing complexity.
Return of the symbols
Our challenge was to create the most appropriate symbols for use on digital platforms. They needed to work in a variety of contexts: on different background colours, at different sizes and without explanatory text. They had to align with the Global Experience Language (GEL).
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Early exploration of weather iconography looked at whether we need to show a weather sequence (A,B,C) ...
... or a snapshot of a certain weather situation (1: Raining cats and dogs, 2: High temperatures, 3: Weather perfect for a picnic)
We found that many of the necessary atttributes could be found in the iconic ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather symbols...
The legendary Michael Fish with the iconic weather symbols.
...but they needed to be modernised. Together with UX designer Adam Morris we were able to give the once vintage symbols a new modern face without losing their unique identity. We introduced sharper angles, heavier weights for smaller sizes and a new set of symbols for handling nighttime conditions. We are even trialling a new symbol for drizzle.
Examples of rebuilding and redrawing symbols.
Refining the symbol sets for online use.
The weather at a glance
The results from the user research and early user testings were clear: the majority of users just want the weather information in one glance. Using this knowledge we pulled the essential data together and re-arranged it in a way that made the information easily scanable. We switched from a vertical format to a horizontal format so that all key information would be visible in the first screenful. The design of the forecast tabs meant we could show the 24hr forecast and the 5 day forecast at the same time.
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1. It starts with early sketches and ideas - loads of them!
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2. Sketches become more refined wireframes.
3. The final design solution on a location forecast page.
4. The final design solution on the weather homepage.
Simplifying map functionality
A lot of technical knowledge and design expertise has already been applied to the forecast maps on the Weather site. Nevertheless we wanted to push the boundaries even further by radically simplifying interaction with the map. Furthermore we re-grouped navigation items to make it easier for the audience to spot and understand them.
The new (left) and old (right) map views.
New map, with local closeup-view on the left and the wider UK view on the right.
This solution tested quite well with a lot of users as it helped them put their local weather in a wider context. There are a few technical hurdles to leap before we can implement this on the website.
We also explored other ideas for maps - free from technical and data constraints. The outcome of this exercise might help inform future refinements.
An early sketch combining the five day weather forecast with an interactive map.
Exploration around a map that shows your location plus the sunniest places nearby or (by widening the search radius) around the world.
Exploration around a map that shows the six hottest, coldest, etc. locations around you or around the world – perhaps helping you plan a holiday or short trip.
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Early explorations around the map slider functionality.
Infographics
A key aim with the refresh was to make the information as readily accessible as possible. We therefore investigated the use of infographics – thinking big first.
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One of the data visualisation explorations: how we could visualize the average rainfall and dry weather at a given location in a year.
Comparative infographics: transforming dry facts and figures information into a compelling narrative.
The interactive chart lets users explore different data views – ideal when planning travel or a weekend trip as it lets you compare historical data.
Final interactive solution: using interactive chart module "highcharts.js" to automatically display average conditions.
Introducing weather ambience
As part of the strategy to inject personality we developed background ambiences that reflect the current weather at a selected location. The weather site consists of a lot of facts and figures and we wanted to balance this out by adding a rich, atmospheric welcome.
A lot of ideas and prototypes were explored. Instead of using flash, we worked on a solution using canvas and JavaScript. The work is still in progress and we intend to introduce some more variants soon after the live launch.
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How it came into being: early sketches and visual explorations around weather ambiences
In the end we had to optimise the elements in the background ambience to implement them efficiently.
Weather elements to be layed into the ambience, on post-it notes.
A beta view of the refreshed ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather homepage
Now live: View of a refreshed ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather location forecast
The new ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather site is a great team effort: from Adam Morris, Stephen Robertson, Will Round (Designers) and Ben Gammon (Senior Creative Director) to Peter Deslandes (Product Manager) and Kate Cook (Senior Usability & Accessibility Specialist).
We also worked really closely with the developers in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather team: James Broad, Andrew Nicolaou, Mike Taylor Stuart Wilson, Jeremy Tarling, Senthil Kumar Ramachandran Yoav Felberbaum, Andy Waite and Helen Sherwood-Taylor.
And finally, a big thank you to the audience. We listen carefully to your feedback and we will continue to improve the Weather product to make it the best experience for you.
Melanie Seyer is a Senior Designer in ´óÏó´«Ã½ Future Media UX&D
You may also be interested in blog posts by Liz Howell, Head of Weather, announcing the beta and announcing when it became the live Weather site; and the post by Peter Deslandes, Head of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather Product for future media, giving an update on the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather site during the beta.
Updated 17:50 to fix a typo.
Comment number 1.
At 29th Nov 2011, marc wrote:A really interesting blog that, as a web designer/developer finds it really interesting to see the processes that you have gone through. Very informative, that's even despite the dodgy spelling of Edinburgh in one of the images above!
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Comment number 2.
At 29th Nov 2011, Kit Green wrote:Thank you. Very interesting.
I hope you managed not to laugh at the second rate business and branding language you had to endure during the project (who ever talks about a "´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather product").
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Comment number 3.
At 29th Nov 2011, Andrew Bowden wrote:I am extremely disappointed that the "Oh my god, it's hot" icon didn't make it through to the final design!
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Comment number 4.
At 30th Nov 2011, Leg3nd wrote:Really interesting post! I really hold the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in the highest regard when it comes to online design. Can you tell me what software you use to create your site maps?
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Comment number 5.
At 30th Nov 2011, Duncan Robertson wrote:Fantastic post Melanie! So much interesting detail. That and the site is great again.
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Comment number 6.
At 30th Nov 2011, Melse wrote:@Andrew: I'm glad, you like the post. I use Omnigraffle or Illustrator a lot when it comes down to mind- or site maps.
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Comment number 7.
At 30th Nov 2011, Keith wrote:Slightly off-topic any chance of the 'Add My News & Weather Location' panel on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ News site being updated. With the changes to the weather site there's no longer a 'set to home page' option on the forecast pages, meaning the news site isn't sharing a cookie. Maybe it could instead use the location set on the new bbc home page. Also that panel is using the old weather graphics instead of the new ones.
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Comment number 8.
At 30th Nov 2011, Greg Tyler wrote:Fascinating post! Great to see how the design developed.
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Comment number 9.
At 30th Nov 2011, Liam McMurray wrote:Incredible amount of content in that post Melanie - thanks for curating it all. What was the timeline for the project?, I'd love to compare it to the design refresh work we do (I work for a leading UK university). I always use Illustrator to produce site maps, it just works.
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Comment number 10.
At 30th Nov 2011, richard wrote:Really enjoyed reading about the concept work and seeing the work-in-progress.
The caption "The old (left) and new (right) map views" needs amending though, as it is the old map on the right – although that did cause me to spend more time studying the maps and their navigation devices than I otherwise might have done.
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Comment number 11.
At 30th Nov 2011, Ian McDonald wrote:@richard
Thanks for noticing. Fixed.
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Comment number 12.
At 30th Nov 2011, brian192 wrote:What a load of claptrap! What you really mean is look how clever we have been in wasting loads of your money in redesigning a website to make it much less user friendly and far less useful than the previous one. But never mind the fee paying public,who just wanted the information they used to get, because all our designer friends will say how lovely it is.
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Comment number 13.
At 30th Nov 2011, TwilightSentinel wrote:I was going to comment, but @12, brian192, says it all.
Of course you won't bring back the old, easy to read, functional weather page.
Not after wasting all this time and money on such garbage.
It was a foretaste of the horrors of the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ homepage.
Dumbed down and tabloid.
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Comment number 14.
At 1st Dec 2011, easybizpod wrote:Excellent post. The one thing as a web designer I love about the ´óÏó´«Ã½, is that the website is always a shining example of exactly how a website should be. And with every change, it is always for the better and always in touch with what is going on now.
Great to see an insight to the concept. I have never found the weather so interesting before.
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Comment number 15.
At 1st Dec 2011, TV_As_Eyes wrote:this blog post *about* the weather page is, as many have already pointed out, fascinating. unfortunately the *result* of the process is dreadful (when compared to what we've lost).
I suppose, when a "Senior Creative Director" has a "Vision", common sense takes a backseat.
I'd prefer the ´óÏó´«Ã½ gave us a choice: provide both pages in parallel, wait for a year or two, and take the user behaviour (ie traffic) into account before making a final decision.
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Comment number 16.
At 2nd Dec 2011, Leg3nd wrote:@Melse Thanks! I'll check out those tools
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Comment number 17.
At 2nd Dec 2011, Dan-48 wrote:Quite happy with the changes so far with the exception of the Forecast video. The video frequently either fails to open, only gives sound or displays "A playlist was specified that is outside a valid bbc.co.uk domain: undefined". I watch the forecast on a iMac that had no problems before the changes.
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Comment number 18.
At 2nd Dec 2011, Ian McDonald wrote:Over on the blog post about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Homepage, @TwilightSentinel drew attention to the presence of "Don't make me think" amongst the workshop themes. I explained that this and directed any subsequent comment here.
Would you like to expand on that, Melanie?
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Comment number 19.
At 2nd Dec 2011, ONEGINA wrote:Totally agree with posts 12 and 13. New weather page is horrible and does not do the straightforward intelligent job which the old one did. It is change for the sake of change and finding something for people to do.
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Comment number 20.
At 4th Dec 2011, Ian Sibert wrote:Hi There. I Don't mean to sound negative, the new site looks good and seems easy to navigate. I do have one issue though, and feel sure I'm not the only one affected. When I change my home location on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ home page to Warrington if I then try to check the weather I find the word 'Warrington' written across the UK map, with black background that totally obscures the view of Warrington's weather. I suggest that most of us know where we live and therefore don't need to have our home town shown on the weather map in letters writ quite so large.
Really liked the blog though, very interesting.
Cheers,
Ian Sibert
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Comment number 21.
At 5th Dec 2011, Melse wrote:@Ian McDonald and @TwilightSentinel:
Thank you, Ian for explaining this.
The idea behind the term "Don't make me think" wants to give the user the chance to concentrate on the content rather than on needing to figure out how the navigation works. This work process doesn't work without the involvement of the audience and we are very grateful for all the constructive feedback from you in the past few days. We have already done some work, that has been initiated by your input and you should be able to see some updates soon.
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Comment number 22.
At 5th Dec 2011, rotciv wrote:I'm a bit confused about the temps.Underneath the day are 2 figs in bold and not so bold type,presumably max and min.Then under the afternoon,evening ect.is a string of figs,are these max and min if so why are some higher or lower than the top figs.
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Comment number 23.
At 6th Dec 2011, unklebuck wrote:The new weather site is easily the pick of the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ web pages, but for me at least there is one area where the "don't make me think" concept falls over.
I live in the Midlands, and the maps section of my local forcast just looks like a beige box with some place names scattered on it, it really isn't clear what is being shown. If I lived near the coast and had that as a reference point, or there was some other visual aid, much less thinking would be required to take the information in.
The map also contains forcasts for two nameless locations and lets down the otherwise clear, slick and well presented content.
Now if only the overly white backgorund could be softened, the expanse of white either side of the content is very harsh in appearance if you maximise a browser on a widescreen monitor.
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Comment number 24.
At 6th Dec 2011, Matt wrote:Interesting but I still hate it and would rather like the old weather site back please!
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Comment number 25.
At 6th Dec 2011, HM67 wrote:Personally speaking, I hate the new weather page. The older version was far easier to understand (a bit like the ´óÏó´«Ã½ homepage).
For wht it's worth, I don't use it anymore, preferring the Met Office offering.
I rreally doubt if I'll be back.
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Comment number 26.
At 6th Dec 2011, 2LO wrote:Oh Gawd. Nothing's changed in the three decades since I 'studied' graphic design, except that "Oh, which software do you use?" might've been met with "Oh, well we like to stick to the Pantone colour menu, because they really, really work on colour-coded toilet paper!"
Honestly, I've never read such tripe - all to no useful end. The new ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather site, not to mention the childish new 'homepage' is a confused hotch-potch. Evinced by the pictures above, it's a pity none of the 'designers' shows any talent in actually DRAWING with their pencils and markers - they've probably had any visual sensibilities sucked out of 'em by the overpowering technology coupled with corporate-speak in the boardroom.
"Senior Usability & Accessibility Specialist" indeed! Wossat in Inglish? Laughable really, just wish I didn't have to help pay for it.
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Comment number 27.
At 7th Dec 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:2LO - please think about your tone which is becoming rude and abusive.
Thanks
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Comment number 28.
At 7th Dec 2011, 2LO wrote:Nick, as one normally of a temperate disposition, I have to say this kind of thing makes me cross. Call it banging a head against a brick, corporate, wall.
Thanks
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Comment number 29.
At 8th Dec 2011, Chris Kemp wrote:I seem to be having dificulty having my chosen forecast locations stick. Each time I return to the site they have gone! Is just me that can't make this spendid site work just perfectly for me? Help please?
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Comment number 30.
At 8th Dec 2011, Nick Reynolds wrote:2LO - while I understand your frustration, being rude to ´óÏó´«Ã½ staff who have taken the time to blog and comment doesn't help this blog maintain a civil tone. Nor does it encourage them to blog or comment in the future.
Thanks
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Comment number 31.
At 8th Dec 2011, 2LO wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 32.
At 17th Dec 2011, dibberthetrasher wrote:I love the look of the new site and its functionality, but can't manage to set my location so that it automatically opens. I currently have to select it from my list each time. Any ideas?
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Comment number 33.
At 20th Dec 2011, Melse wrote:@dibberthetrasher: I'm glad you like the refresh.
Regarding your feedback:
As part of the refresh we have created the homepage as the main navigation hub. The old site would have taken you directly to the location saved as your My ´óÏó´«Ã½ Location with no chance of seeing the homepage anymore. Instead now, you see all your favourite locations featuring a 5 day forecast straight away in the carousel at the top of the homepage and with one click anywhere on the carousel, you would get to your favourite location detail forecast page. We are aware, that this is a quite a change and are currently working on improving this experience, so that this userjourney becomes a lot smoother for you.
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Comment number 34.
At 5th Jan 2012, GrahamG wrote:I'm so sorry to have to say this, but I am dismayed by what has been done to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website homepage, and even more so by what has been done to the weather page.
What set the old page apart from other forecasts was the availability of a localised 24-hour forecast in three-hourly steps. This was usually accurate enough for us to to be able to decide whether it would be better to venture out in the morning, or hang the washing out in the afternoon. Most importantly, it enabled the flow (or trend) of the day's weather to be observed at a glance. Getting warmer? Getting windier? Sunny in the morning, turning to rain by evening... Clear overnight? The new weather page simply does not present any of this information in the same instantly readable way.
Just last summer we spent a week on the Isle of Mull: The old ´óÏó´«Ã½ online weather forecast allowed us to make very well informed decisions about when to go on two sea trips for which good weather was crucial, and they ended up being the best moments of our holiday. At the time, we praised the accuracy of the 24 hour forecast, which had made a major contribution to our enjoyment of our time on the island.
I'd like to second the motion put forward by another contributor: Reinstate the 'classic' version of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather page alongside this new one and see which one we choose to use. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather website used to be my only choice for checking the weather - now I have no idea where to go to get a forecast with the level of detail no longer provided on your website.
As for the old homepage and weather pages, who complained about them? Why were they even changed, and who authorised that money to be spent? The old pages had a classic, clean, refined look which was entirely in keeping with the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s overall image as a respected British institution.
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Comment number 35.
At 6th Jan 2012, DBOne wrote:#34 GrahamG: So what's missing from the 3 hour detailed view on the new site as shown in diagram 3 in section 'The Weather at a glance' ( /staticarchive/ad52e0afd7aa56f18c4b675c52f1a9e046323ce3.jpg ).
It shows 3 hour buckets for the users specific location with the weather trend, temperature etc.
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Comment number 36.
At 9th Jan 2012, bbcCARE wrote:The ´óÏó´«Ã½ says "Multiple access points: Users can now access weather information in different situations and on different devices - from tv, to car radios, to smart phones and iPads. The re-freshed design needs to be flexible enough to work across all of these touchpoints".
COMPLAINT AND PRAISE:
When it comes to different devices please what about the people who are using computers which are not the latest model? I am using the 'not thtat old' 2007 Mac OS10.5 operating system for a PowerPC laptop computer. It is running the last updateable pre-Intel version for this computer of the Safari browser. Before the changes everything worked for me on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Weather website. Now it doesn't.... so sadly the changes for me are not an improvement. On the Safari browser I can only get the local version of the weather forecast video. On Firefox (latest version I can update to) I can only get the national version. The latest, and last updatable for me, version of Opera for PowerPC computers opens both but the video controls eg enlarge to full screen do not work. I fear any further changes could prevent my viewing ´óÏó´«Ã½ video as happened sometime ago when I was using Mac OS9.2.2 on another computer.
Most, women in particular, have enough clothes in the wardrobe to last a lifetime but for superficial vanity reasons they keep buying more and dump perfectly good clothes. This website change I suggest has elements of that.... for appearance sake. Surely functionality FOR ALL should be the aim. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ is a light for the world and always has been and I want it to stay that way. It is no good dozens of US-built and -designed Sherman tanks crewed by British and Canadian soldiers moving across the Normandy landscape looking impressive to the eye but functionally a disaster if German 88mm guns can knock out these easily burst into flames "Tommy cookers" as in a turkey shoot. My father as a young sergeant eye-witnessed, after his ammunition supply was cut, the destruction of British tanks and his artillery regiment by 88mm guns and more, years earlier in the war. After most of his friends lost their lives he understood and pointed out to me the importance of how things should be compared to how they are. Functionality for all license players please before flashy appearance is what I am asking for. The wheel was not invented by the masses. Please take into account minorities for invariably they have value to offer greatly more than their numbers. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ in my opinion is one of the worst for the way it disenfranchises not so old computers. A friend of mine, who has a two year old computer, was watching me at work on my desktop Mac computer. He exclaimed that computer is so fast. Well believe or not it is a 1999 Mac desktop computer using the no longer supported OS9 operating system. For me it is more productive than the latest version OS Lion because the former has excellent features lacking in all the bells and whistles of the new one! Let's not get into how so un-Green the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is being except I shall ask: is the ´óÏó´«Ã½ saying queue here to dump your 5 year old computers, buy new ones! We do not care about you, we work only for the latest model users. Many websites eg Youtube include options for people who cannot use the latest versions of Flash, this and that.
Having said what I have said I now want to offer praise. The video weather forecasts are marvellous. I go straight to the video as it is the only way I can get an idea of what the weather will be. Most text and symbol-based summaries are to vague to rely on as the weather in my LOCAL AREA has been markedly different in the East, West, North and South for most of this Winter. Only the video provides closer to 'what will happen' local weather forecasting and this is what I want. I want the simple weather forecast from beginning to end of day for me in my home area so that I can for efficiency determine what not to do and what to do in days ahead.... so please let me have the ability to continue viewing ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather video on my computer. I refuse to believe that with all the talent in the ´óÏó´«Ã½ that you cannot resolve this. Thank you.
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Comment number 37.
At 19th Jan 2012, beanosenior wrote:I've only just discovered this particular blog. Having gone to look at the weather for tomorrow I once again got frustrated because the new maps are so much worse than the old ones. Previously it was easy to see whether rain was predicted in my area, but now it's only guesswork. Previously, if I went to the UK map, it was quite clear where the rain clouds were, and what the intensity was, and what was the path or track of their progress across the UK (similarly with a regional map, eg here in Hampshire). Now, I've frankly got no idea at all. In this particlar respect (at least) this 'revamped' weather site is just worse.
Some few days or weeks ago I sent in a comment about this on the general ´óÏó´«Ã½ website, but of course didnt get any reply. I only discovered this blog (along with its comments) by doing an internet search on Google. I dont know why the ´óÏó´«Ã½ makes it so difficult to comment or question about specific things.
So, I share the views of a large number of previous bloggers about the Weather revamp; in my view it's largely change for the sake of change, and a waste of money. Could you please not bring back the previous maps, as an alternative?
Or at least have a rethink about the maps, or try asking some real people.
Sorry, but with ALL the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website changes over the past year or so I get the same concern; who on earth have they asked about these changes before they've implemented them?
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Comment number 38.
At 21st Jan 2012, GrahamG wrote:>So what's missing from the 3 hour detailed view?
Actually, nothing, now that I have managed to blunder onto it. I was under the impression that the site no longer featured a '24 hours in three hour steps' forecast.
The old page had clickable 'Next Five Days' / ' Next 24 Hours' tabs which were an obvious way to get from one view to the other. On the new site we are initially only presented with the five-day view with absolutely nothing, no cue, no clearly labelled clickable button to suggest that you could have a 24 hour (in three hour steps) forecast if you wanted one.
For anyone else who hasn't worked it out yet, if today is Tuesday and you want a 24 hour forecast in three hourly steps for today, go up to the five-day forecast and click on the 'Tue' Icon. - this makes the 24-hour forecast for that day appear underneath the five-day forecast. How we were supposed to realise that you need to do this is anyone's guess. I only found it out by accident.
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Comment number 39.
At 27th Jan 2012, Mike wrote:I also have the same problem as Bob-48 (post 17), I can't play the forecast videos.
Error: "A playlist was specified that is outside a valid bbc.co.uk domain: undefined".
Using a MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8) and Safari 5.1.2.
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Comment number 40.
At 27th Jan 2012, Mike wrote:Oops! I meant Dan-48, still post 17.
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Comment number 41.
At 30th Jan 2012, lettice wrote:Just seen this blog for the first time and must admit i have not been to bbc weather site for some time, but enjoyed reading the description. This is a big improvement, its clean and better to use.
Glad that you are not using the awful carosel, like bbc homepage.
I must admit I do not like the brown stain colour, one of my reasons for deserting the bbc site and bbctv weather.
I would rather have symbols on the map rather than a colour, the colour just blends into one and could be frost/snow/rain/fog/cloud, very confusing. I must be missing something.
The video does not work on an ipad2, suppose its using flash!
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Comment number 42.
At 5th Feb 2012, Chippsin wrote:37.At 22:09 19th Jan 2012, beanosenior wrote.........
My comment reflects pretty much an identical situation - I've e-mailed the feedback address and only just come across this thread. My point is that using blue to denote frost and a similar blue to denote rain has made the maps completely useless for me.
As a cyclist I would like to know if I stand a fair chance of getting to work dry in the morning (cold I can cope with but I prefer to avoid getting soaked by taking the train if necessary) and looking at the forecast for tomorrow, it shows Epsom swathed in blue for 9am - no way of telling if that's just frosty or rainy. Even less use than a chocolate teapot - at least I could enjoy eating that!
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Comment number 43.
At 5th Feb 2012, Chippsin wrote:Sorry - just thought I'd add this description for the day quoted on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ weather page for Monday 6th February;-
Mainly dry with broken cloud and mist. Some brightness possible at times in west. Occasional patchy light rain is likely, perhaps with sleet in east. Remaining cold with winds light.
So it's "mainly dry" and "remaining cold" and smothered in blue. I tried to use the description to figure it out, but sadly I have to admit defeat.
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Comment number 44.
At 14th Feb 2012, Meteorographica wrote:Nice.
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Comment number 45.
At 18th Feb 2012, website design bangkok wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 46.
At 21st Feb 2012, SteveH wrote:If you print out the web page you don't know if the windspeed is in mph or kph. Kind of important don't you think? Especially to a water user, number 2 in your priorities?
Sadly I share the opinion of many correspondents here, the description of the design process is excellent, but the result is, sadly, a pigs ear. I can't understand how this passed usability tests, I mean did you actually ask people questions to see if they had taken in what they were told, or did you just ask them if they liked the pwetty colours?
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Comment number 47.
At 21st Feb 2012, SteveH wrote:windspeed part 2
If you hover the mouse over the windspeed then a rollover does display the units.
in mph for the windspeed for the day
and in kph in the detailed 3 hourly section below
brilliant ! (not)
I have an email from the beeb telling me this site was done by "professional designers". Well no it !"£$%^&**( well wasn't!
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