We’ve done our re-designing, refreshing and miscellaneous under-the-bonnet lifting and shifting, with the results of all this endeavour now plain to see. Welcome to Mayo GAA Blog 3.0, hombres.
Despite all the change in terms of look and feel, much of the basic underlying design remains in place but you can no doubt see that a number of new features have been added, with a fair few other tweaks here and there. For example, there’s now a site search function, a #mayogaa Twitter feed, a Facebook thingy and closer integration with social media generally.
The poll widget is back in action too and to celebrate its return there’s a chance for you to provide feedback on whether or not you like the new design. And, as I used to do before the old one hit the ditch, I’ll be testing the waters regularly with this toy over the coming months. Joe Duffy’ll only be trotting after me.
None of these changes would have been possible without all of the great work that’s been done on the re-design over the past number of weeks by Michael at Designate Creative Studio. As a clubman with Skryne GAA club in County Meath, Michael immediately got what this whole project is all about and he brought this to bear on the many improvements that are now in place on the site. And he never once rubbed it in over 1996 either. Thanks, Michael, for all the help and for a job really well done. Thanks too to Jimmy and Glen at Dara Creative for the helpful advice at the outset of the re-design process.
Looking good wj, well done. Working ok on mobile.
Thanks Willie Joe, it was a pleasure working with you on this re-design of the blog, we probably talked about football more than work. But I hope the changes will improve the users enjoyment of the site. As a huge GAA Fan and very active club member from a club in Meath, it was fantastic to work on a site that people as passionate as I am about the sport, use and come to enjoy the trills and spills of the GAA (even if it is about Mayo mainly :-)).
Hopefully Meath and Mayo will meet in the later stages of the Year;-) (Ye may be there, but I doubt we will) But I sure will be back for some banter if that happens!!
But in all seriousness, enjoy the season, and lets hope that the games are tough, fair and exciting! Cheers folks.
Site looks great WJ.
Fair Play to you Willie Joe, this is a fantastic service that you are providing. There isn’t another county that has anything even vaguely like this. In fact I doubt if there is another sport that could equal it, and along with that, you do it out of your own pocket. Service to the cause above and way beyond what could be expected from anyone.
If there are any IT geniuses out there that know how to design apps for smartphones, that would bring it on even further. Is there a lot of work in designing a mobile version of the site? It would be handy in a few places around the country where the signal wouldn’t be too hot. I have very limited knowledge about that type of thing, but if there was anything I could add, I would be happy to do so.
Keep up the good work cos it helps all of us Keep the Faith!
wow
Love the new look W.J. It also looks good on my mobile.
Well done w.j.
Well well fair play to sligo tonite on agreat win and me look,n to book a room n galway for conn. final..great to see it n look foward to meet,n ye n final , think tha will be c,bar with all due respect to leitrim n we owe ye sligo boys 1….. Goes to show wat an a……. spillane is with his full page devoted to galway 4 weeks ago n tha sunday world,another plonker…
maybe it is me but WJ why oh why did you change the website?I thought the original layout was excellent and I am dissappointed big time with the new format
FourGoal – A smartphone app of the site (i.e. a specific downloadable app for iPhone, iPad and Android) isn’t on the agenda for now, I’m afraid. We’ve looked at a mobile version of the site for this update but the issue is that the site is so damn big in terms of content, images etc. and all that hangs off it this meant that this solution proved difficult to get working great either. It is an issue that needs to be looked at at some point but I can’t promise any definitive solution to it, for now at least.
Tom b – I’m not sure what has you so big time disappointed with the new format. The reason I changed it was that I felt the look and feel of the site needed a refresh and I wanted to add a few new features as well as get things (in particular the polling tool) working again. All the old features that were there are still there, only they might look a bit different at first. I accept that design is a personal thing and I appreciate that the new look may not be to your liking but hopefully it’ll grow on you with time.
First of all W.J you have to be given great credit for providing a great service to all the Mayo fans all over the world but for me the original website was one of the best that I have ever come across in terms of layout and easy access.For instance the links to other websites has disappeared and maybe I am blind but I am unable to access your top class results archive.I do not mean to sound to critical of your new venture as I know you put in alot of time and effort to keep the website up to date but as you say your self maybe it will grow on me with time.Most of the other posters seem to like the new format but maybe old age and 60 years without an all ireland is having a bad affect on me.
Hi Willie Joe
Sorry but I am gonna put a thumbs down for the site and I hope you see my points as constructive criticism as opposed to just being negative for the sake of it. I am a graphic designer by trade and have been working in the industry for over 16 years, before I go into the negative I think the extra functionality is a good thing, social media connections etc my main problem is with the look and feel of the site for the following reasons:
Colour palettes are too heavy – think the black boxes just look too heavy and serious preferred the blues and greys of the previous site were easier on the eye and made for an better read where you could focus on the text.
Banner area looks clumsy the boxed slide sitting on the image area just looks a bit basic to me and unsophisticated could the whole banner area not be a rotating slide show?
Not sure if the site was tested in all browsers but viewing it in firefox the line ‘Following Mayo’s footballers’ isnt sitting as one line its being hyphenated as foot-ballers and returns onto the next line.
I feel the boxing of each article again is too heavy and clumsy looking there is no flow to the information as everything is in heavy black boxes.
I feel a lot of these visual problems could be solved by re-looking at the colour palettes make them softer and less harsh – that blue of the last site worked well with the red and green and would be softer on the eye.
So Willie Joe that’s my tuppence worth I am going to email this to you as well as I know I am late getting back with my feedback and i wanted to attached a screen shot as well.
I am a huge fan of the site btw think its one of the top GAA sites out there and that’s not being biased because I am a mayo man too!
Tom – the links are now back a bit of the way down the right-hand side. There was a lot of stuff there that wasn’t needed and the links got canned at the same time so thanks for pointing that out. The Results Archive is still there – it’s right at the top of the page, above the banner area, with all the other tabs that are still there too.
Well I’ve been away for a while and I come back to this! A nice fresh looking website and Galway planted on their arse by Sligo.
We should take heed of this result. Now I know Sligo are a better side than Leitrim, but lets not get complacent. Championship football can throw up some strange results, last weekend especially.
Love the new look WJ, a change is always a good thing. I’d say some people might just need some time to get used to it.
Thanks for the feedback, Nally Stand. As I’ve said already, look and feel is always going to be a personal issue and I accept that the changes won’t be to everybody’s taste. A lot of work has gone into the revamp and I’m very happy with the outcome, as it would seem the majority are too. I’ve loaded the site on Firefox just now and it looks fine to me – that problem was an issue the day the new design was first loaded but it was sorted during initial testing.
I see all the comments aren’t on the same page now, if there are too many (is it 20,30,50? I dunno). The extras go on a separate page – I preferred it when all was on one page. When I click on the recent comments section on Sligos Salthill shocker, it goes to the end of the first page, not Mayomagic’s comment which I’m clicking on.