First, let me say that I'm a big Food52 fan and have introduced many friends to the site. I think Amanda and Merrill have created something very special here.
I do agree, however, that the new site is rather cumbersome in places and less user-friendly than the old one. While I do like some of the new features and appreciate how easy it is to stumble upon great new (or old) things, it feels less intuitive and it often takes longer to find what I'm looking for.
I'm a freelance writer, and website content development represents a large percentage of my projects. That means I look at and work on a lot of sites! Unfortunately, I feel like the user experience was sacrificed here. Hope to see that change as the site continues to evolve.
I'm also still struggling with the navigation, and think much of it has to do with which browser I'm using. But, overall, the prior layout may not have been as "cool" but it was much much easier to use. Now I don't know if features (like the weekly "food in the news") have been discontinued, or if I can't find them. Likewise with the contests...
It is easier to navigate now that I have discovered that there are drop down menu's across the top (Recipes, etc). I can't see them in IE8 so I have to switch browsers, but for a long time I was really scratching my head how you were supposed to find anything. I'm sure there are others wondering too.
Sorry if you have done this already, but did you click on the "my recipes" button up at the upper left corner of the screen near your user name? Then when you are in there you can see a tab for your recipes and your saved recipes among other things. Click on a tab for your list. Hope this helps. It took me til today to figure how to access my saved recipes...
I still find the whole thing cumbersome, difficult to look at, difficult to nqvigate, the poor contrast makes it hard to read, it's still not working correctly way too often, still no way to organize/catalogue recipes one saves, etc, etc., etc........so it's easier to avoid the site more.
yes, I find it more difficult. But I have discovered recipes I could never find before and/or didn't know existed!
I have a lot of trouble posting comments and editing recipes, particularly multiple comments appear even when I've only clicked the button once.
After my first reaction to the 'new' food52, I learned a new routine to approach the site: Go to Recipes, click newest; go to Hotline, go through questions and answers; go to Articles, look for new features on the site, which includes new contests and community picks. When I've covered the basics I follow my nose. I rarely look at the home page -- I figure that's for newbies who are getting their feet wet. So many improvements have been made that I think we can keep on following the process, and if necessary, email [email protected] when we have an issue.
But a great site shouldn't require practice; it should be intuitive and easy to navigate. :-) I think the site update ended up sacrificing the user experience (function) for the sake of design (form), when the two really need to work together seamlessly.
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I do agree, however, that the new site is rather cumbersome in places and less user-friendly than the old one. While I do like some of the new features and appreciate how easy it is to stumble upon great new (or old) things, it feels less intuitive and it often takes longer to find what I'm looking for.
I'm a freelance writer, and website content development represents a large percentage of my projects. That means I look at and work on a lot of sites! Unfortunately, I feel like the user experience was sacrificed here. Hope to see that change as the site continues to evolve.
I have a lot of trouble posting comments and editing recipes, particularly multiple comments appear even when I've only clicked the button once.
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