New Royal Opera House website

[alywin]

I'm surprised not to have seen any discussion on here of the new ROH website yet - or is it that all the opera lovers are Friends and, having already booked, haven't had any need to visit the place recently? Or is the discussion somewhere else, and I just haven't spotted it yet?

[Constantbee]

Didn’t realise there had been any revisions. Loads well (ticks box) easy to navigate (ticks box) visually appealing (ticks box) plenty of background information (ticks box), and a helpful Audience Reaction page under the News menu, and I like the idea of a Learning section. Online booking on theatre websites can sometimes be confusing. Haven’t tried this one yet, so can’t comment.

[alywin]

I'm guessing you must still be on the old version, then :(

[Constantbee]

I'm guessing you must still be on the old version, then :(

Er, no I don't think so. It's showing all the current season's events so it must be the latest, thanks

[alywin]

Both the new and old versions should be showing the current season's events. It would just be a lot more difficult to find them if you were on the new version.

[David-G]

The new site is a catastrophe. In one easy step from the best opera booking site, to the very worst by a long way.

[LHC]

The new site appears to have been designed to look nice on a mobile phone. However, as David says, trying to use it to book for a specific performance or set of performances is now a terrible experience.

[David-G]

The new site appears to have been designed to look nice on a mobile phone. However, as David says, trying to use it to book for a specific performance or set of performances is now a terrible experience.

Even on a mobile phone, everything is MUCH TOO BIG, with large unnecessary illustrations, with the result that an enormous amount of unnecessary scrolling is required.

And the ordering is ridiculous. For example, we have to scroll past:

Live at Lunch
Sing at the Royal Opera House
Recitals at Lunch
Young ROH Insights: Billy Budd
Friends Rehearsals

(each of them being enormously large) before we get to Faust, which opens in a couple of weeks' time and is an important opera people might wish to book for.

It used to be delightfully easy to navigate around productions, dates, months with a comprehensive and beautiful set of hyperlinks. All gone.

I talked to the Box Office about this. I asked them - I used to be able to see at a glance everything that is on next week. I can't see how to do that now. They replied - you can't do that now.

There is an excellent discussion of this on the BalletcoForum, here: http://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/1...w-roh-website/ .

[oddoneout]

It's the current style of website construction I think - lots of pictures and chat, with real information either lurking behind many clicks and guesswork, or absent. Part of it may be supermarket psychology in action, making you go through lots of different sections to get to what you actually want in the hope you'll 'buy' something extra on your travels, in this case think 'oh I didn't realise they did that, I must go/buy/do'. Unfortunately this tends to have a negative effect on those who want to go into the website, find what they want and come out again; we don't all want to do the internet equivalent of wandering idly round a shopping mall.

[underthecountertenor]

Even on a mobile phone, everything is MUCH TOO BIG, with large unnecessary illustrations, with the result that an enormous amount of unnecessary scrolling is required.

And the ordering is ridiculous. For example, we have to scroll past:

Live at Lunch
Sing at the Royal Opera House
Recitals at Lunch
Young ROH Insights: Billy Budd
Friends Rehearsals

(each of them being enormously large) before we get to Faust, which opens in a couple of weeks' time and is an important opera people might wish to book for.

It used to be delightfully easy to navigate around productions, dates, months with a comprehensive and beautiful set of hyperlinks. All gone.

I talked to the Box Office about this. I asked them - I used to be able to see at a glance everything that is on next week. I can't see how to do that now. They replied - you can't do that now.

There is an excellent discussion of this on the BalletcoForum, here: http://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/1...w-roh-website/ .

The rush for tickets on booking opening day was stressful enough as it was with the old (excellent) site. Now I don't think I can face it.

[David-G]

The rush for tickets on booking opening day was stressful enough as it was with the old (excellent) site. Now I don't think I can face it.

That is exactly what is worrying me.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Using my account at the ROH, it takes me to the old style quarterly layout - but that is likely to be the end of it, new quarters may well be on the new layout. I've had a preliminary root around as I too will need to be familiar with the revamped site when the next booking period opens.

Short version - there are filters to use, to narrow it down to "Main Stage" "Opera and Music" Booking seasons (or a calendar for date ranges). Looks to me like it might be manageable.

Long version (in case anyone is interested):
On the home page, on the large image, there is the box "Find an Event" . There is a calendar and filters to use on the next page - above "see all Ballet and Dance" (what I'm seeing currently).

Using the filters, you can select "opera and music" (etc) and also by location - main stage, Linbury theatre etc. And can add to filter by the booking season.
So - Main Stage, Opera and music, Summer 18/19 booking season brings up the main opera productions plus the Jette Parker artists concert.

I will be right clicking and opening up the individual operas I'm after in a new tab on my internet browser. Arriving at the production - e.g. Fille du Regiment, takes me to a page similar to the pages previously set out before the revamp (and looks to me it conforms to the new style so might survive into the next Season). On my browser, I can reduce the size of the type and page using Ctrl plus minus keys. Its similar, then, to what I've seen before.

Using the calendar option as part of the search I have found one click on the start of the date range, and one click on the last date (after navigating into the relevant month) sets up the date range (all of the selected dates are filled in, with red background).

I will probably run a dummy session, booking tickets for various "events" (as they are all the same to the box office) hoping that using multiple tabs work well, but stopping short of completing the booking. I hope you are trying to book on a laptop or desktop computer - good luck on a mobile or a tablet. The morning of a new booking period is no time to try it out.

At least, fingers crossed, these days the whole booking process doesn't seize up and crash. Finally, I expect the website revamp cost a fair amount, I can't see them changing it much....

[David-G]

The problem with the new calendar is that it acts as a sort of filter. Yes you can select a date range, but what I want to see is what is on on each of those dates, so that I can plan. You don't get that. What you get is a list of events that collectively cover the date range. Totally unhelpful.

[oddoneout]

The comments in the link in #8 give an idea of the problems users are facing, one of which seems to be a feeling that the website isn't geared up to deal with multiple bookings, and voicing similar fears about when booking opens. Sounds as if CS's multiple tabs may be the way to go - but hardly the quickest and easiest way to do things. So much for the 'benefits' of online?

[Belgrove]

I agree with the above criticisms, it's a poor replacement. Looks like they are taking the openness and accessibility brief to its illogical conclusion and placing form before function. A website is primarily a vehicle for selling tickets, and if it makes that difficult then it has failed. I've written to Alex Beard, the CEO of Covent Garden, requesting that it should be rethought as a matter of urgency, I'll report back any reply I may receive. I'm glad I got all my tickets for the remainder of this season before the change was made.