Radio 3's website - am I going mad?

[marvin]

I know that the BBC have revamped their websites but when I go the R3 I am dumbfounded by my inability to find a menus, as before, where one can see the list of today's programmes or the next few days, come to that. I find their websites most confusing now.

[Bryn]

I know that the BBC have revamped their websites but when I go the R3 I am dumbfounded by my inability to find a menus, as before, where one can see the list of today's programmes or the next few days, come to that. I find their websites most confusing now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/programmes/schedules

Just store it as a 'favourite'. It automatically updates to the current date when you access it.

[Frances_iom]

most websites, including those of the BBC, are not designed to be useful but merely to act as advertising portals for the owner and to illustrate how switched on the designer is in that the website requires the most up to date browser and works best when viewed on the apple watch sized screen - I can get a relatively short page by blocking javascript, images and any access to the static sites served by bbci.co.uk (this wrecks their formating which is not the one I desire)

[french frank]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/programmes/schedules

Just store it as a 'favourite'. It automatically updates to the current date when you access it.

Also, on the forum home page, the left-hand sidebar has a 'Useful links' block with several Radio 3 links - including that schedule! :-)

[Don Petter]

To be fair, there is an obvious 'Schedules' button at the top (next to Stations, Categories and Favourites), but the clue to an annoyance is that plurality.

Clicking this only brings a second drop-down with all the radio programmes listed, requiring a further click on R3. We came here from R3, dammit, so it should know which we want. Only a minor annoyance, and two clicks instead of one, but a typical example of sites not being tested properly from the users' point of view.

[french frank]

To be fair, there is an obvious 'Schedules' button at the top (next to Stations, Categories and Favourites), but the clue to an annoyance is that plurality.

There was a curious (technical? invented?) name they used for designing ALL the station websites along the same lines, so the Schedule button should be in the same place no matter which station's website you're on. Not that it helps. But, as I say, this forum has its own immediate links on the homepage.

As a point of interest, is the view with the sidebar OPEN the default?

PS Top right of the schedule page which Bryn indicated, opposite the date, is the link This week which has the week's programmes.

[marvin]

Ah yes, that's worked on my tablet just now but I'm not not sure it worked on my Windows 8.1 PC. Will have have to go and check. Seems silly when already in R3 and then press 'Schedules' to be presented with a list of BBC stations.

[Don Petter]

As a point of interest, is the view with the sidebar OPEN the default?

Which do you mean by the sidebar? The 'Stations - Categories - Schedules - Favourites' is part of the iPlayer Radio banner right across the top of the screen. This is always present, it seems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

[Nick Armstrong]

silly when already in R3 and then press 'Schedules' to be presented with a list of BBC stations.

Yes - it's really dumb. And when I go that way to a station, I often hunt for ages for the "Full Schedule" button, whose location is different in each station's web design (plus they do seem to wander about over time, as the design is 'tweaked')

For quick R3 reference, I do exactly what Bryn suggests.

[Dave2002]

There was a time when the BBC web site used "subtle" colour changes which reflected in some way the end user behaviour. I'm not sure that this has been carried on, but it was supposed to be a useful feature when it was active.

Confusing users on the same provider's web site by having inconsistent appearance and location of navigation features does seem dumb, and very probably violates some of Jakob Nielsen's usability guidelines - http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usab...-to-usability/. It may also violate some of the guidelines based on scientific evidence - http://guidelines.usability.gov/ and whether it helps some disadvantaged people I can't say.

[marvin]

There is a tendency nowadays for unnecessary, so-called website development which to my mind doesn't necessarily make it any easier for we mere mortals to find them easier to navigate. I find the 'blocky' design of the BBC sites ugly and take up a lot of space.

[Dave2002]

There is a tendency nowadays for unnecessary, so-called website development which to my mind doesn't necessarily make it any easier for we mere mortals to find them easier to navigate. I find the 'blocky' design of the BBC sites ugly and take up a lot of space.

Hopefully though it doesn't have, and will continue not to have, the dreadful random or targeted advertisements and other distractions which are a real pain on many other sites, and present all sorts of potential threats and problems. So many sites "require" Javascript and Flash - I was interested to read from Frances' comments that it might still be possible to use some of the BBC sites without those - though I don't think that always works for "play again" pages.

[Nick Armstrong]

Confusing users on the same provider's web site by having inconsistent appearance and location of navigation features does seem dumb, and very probably violates some of Jakob Nielsen's usability guidelines - http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usab...-to-usability/. It may also violate some of the guidelines based on scientific evidence - http://guidelines.usability.gov/ and whether it helps some disadvantaged people I can't say.

Judging by contemporaries and colleagues (including those younger and supposedly more au fait than I), I'm reasonably ept when it comes to website navigation. The BBC TV & radio pages are just about the only one which regularly flummox me. To be honest, it's one reason there's normally a copy of Radio Times somewhere in the house - often it's the best way of finding out instantly what's on (though not listings of music, usually, of course)

[Bryn]

Judging by contemporaries and colleagues (including those younger and supposedly more au fait than I), I'm reasonably ept when it comes to website navigation. The BBC TV & radio pages are just about the only one which regularly flummox me. To be honest, it's one reason there's normally a copy of Radio Times somewhere in the house - often it's the best way of finding out instantly what's on (though not listings of music, usually, of course)

The Guardian Guide on Saturdays does for me, especially when it (and a coffee) comes free with a £10 purchase at Waitrose.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

The Guardian Guide on Saturdays does for me, especially when it (and a coffee) comes free with a £10 purchase at Waitrose.

Other retailers are available.