New Hattons Website

[blueeighties]

I select OO for Oxford items and got OO plus O gauge plus N gauge. It was funny at first seeing the same OO gauge Landrover model with 3 different prices £14-50, £4-50, £2-50 until I figured out that the filter had not worked.

 

To be honest, Hattons current (old) site was for me the best out there. A joy to visit and research. Rail's site is right pain to use.

 

After toying with the New Hattons site, the old is much clearer and easier to use. This thing looks like most cloud tech based rubbish we have now where the user experience is at the bottom of the list of IT priorities. Good job today's IT people don't design cars. They would put the steering wheel in the boot.

They do. Look at the Nissan puke.

[PJ10]

My first reaction was, “Oh no! No! No!” That was because the new Bachmann site is so bad that I rearely view it, whereas I often checked the old one. Rails (pause to wash my keyboard in soap) made a sorry mess of its website too. The old Hatton’s site was clear and brilliant for running to earth something without knowing a reference number. The major way it could have been improved (in my opinion) was the photographs. .....

 

Same first reaction from me when I heard the news. I absolutely agree about the Bachmann and Rails sites - complete disasters in my opinion. Large photos on their old site and Hatton's would have cracked it. That said I've had a little play with the new site and if I'm honest I like it. More playing to do - don't tell the wife as it may result in some purchases - and I'm sure there will be some glitches but I'm happy to say that I'm reconcidering my initial reaction.

 

PJ10   

[JSpencer]

If it ain't broke, why fix it.

The old site was good.

IT today does not work like that. It is more : If it ain't broke, then it must be old and expensive and should be replaced with something cheap and chearful that end users will detest.

[peterfgf]

I like the functionality of the existing site, except that it is a bit slow sometimes and you have to de-select the secondhand models every time you use it.

 

As previous contributors have said, if it isn't broke why fix it.  Hattons don't exactly have a great track record with software - they had a real foul up in September 2017 when they sent out notifications for models that weren't in stock.  I was rather pleased to order 'Clan Macgregor' and they even debited my credit card for it.  Shame it was all fictional.

 

I would suggest the following could be added to the new site (perhaps these are already there but I've not tested it thoroughly):

 

1. An ability to remember your choice of filters (perhaps only if logged in).

2. An ability to select not look at secondhand models or to only look at secondhand models (perhaps this would be covered by item 1).

3. Page backwards and forwards buttons at top of screen as well as bottom.

 

Peterfgf

[Harlequin]

One of the big goals for a website like Hattons' is to cope with the multiple different ways people approach the site and the different things they expect from it, giving good service as widely as possible across the customer base.

 

On the current site it's very difficult (almost impossible, actually) to narrow the results down after you've done a search. That is a pretty major failing and that's clearly one of the things they are trying to fix.

 

In doing so they may affect some of the familiar methods that people currently use to navigate the site. The new methods might be different, maybe they'll take an extra step or maybe customers need to think slightly differently about how they do things.

 

So please don't be too quick to condemn and please don't complain about newness simply because it's new. Delve in a bit and see if in fact there's a better way to do what you used to do on the old site. Then, if not, explain the specific failing as clearly as possible so that Hatton's can understand it and fix it.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Harlequin

[JSpencer]

 

One of the big goals for a website like Hattons' is to cope with the multiple different ways people approach the site and the different things they expect from it, giving good service as widely as possible across the customer base.

 

On the current site it's very difficult (almost impossible, actually) to narrow the results down after you've done a search. That is a pretty major failing and that's clearly one of the things they are trying to fix.

 

In doing so they may affect some of the familiar methods that people currently use to navigate the site. The new methods might be different, maybe they'll take an extra step or maybe customers need to think slightly differently about how they do things.

 

So please don't be too quick to condemn and please don't complain about newness simply because it's new. Delve in a bit and see if in fact there's a better way to do what you used to do on the old site. Then, if not, explain the specific failing as clearly as possible so that Hatton's can understand it and fix it.

 

 

The problem is the new goes from today's so called "limited" drill down to over whelming you with 1000s of possibilities organized via number of each case found. I quickly get fed up on the new sites click "see more" (typical of cloud tech rubbish) then "see more" again and again and again trying to find what I was after.

 

On the old site, I found the existing drill possibilities adequate and efficient for my needs and if I wanted something finer, I could put Warwell in the search bar and it would give me Warwells.

 

Anyway Hattons just won an IRUK award for being the in top 500 online retailers. To better that, the new site needs to keep ALL the positive areas (it has an awful lot of positive areas) and address the pain areas. The New might address pain areas but for me lost many of the positive ones.

Edited September 21, 2018 by JSpencer

[Philou]

Hello chums,

 

I had a look at the new style web site - my reaction 'meh'. The old site, IMHO, was easier to navigate. Scroll down the left hand side for what you want 'click' on subject heading eg: 'OO gauge'. What do I want? Coaches? All or by manufacturer? 'Click' as required. Untick (or not) pre-owned - job jobbed. The filtering was already there - why change? The only thing that really needed to change would have been the ability to click on a photograph and have a bigger picture.

 

Rails' site, for example, looks clumsy as the pictures when loaded up are just TOO big and you're forever scrolling down to see what's available or 'load more' when a dozen (maybe more) have been uploaded onto the page. Hattons' present site is good as you can get (on my screen) at least 12 items in view without scrolling.

 

Just my two pee's worth.

 

Philip

[Ryan91]

Thanks for alerting me to this issue! I've flagged it with our IT guys to look into. Might I ask what browser and device you're using?

 

 

I'm using Firefox 62.0 (64-bit) on a Windows 10 (64-bit) Desktop PC.

[37081LochLong]

The important thing for me about an online store is the search function and I find the new sites search engine to be far superior!

 

As a test I typed in "Hornby class 50" into the current site and it gave me 6 pages with 446 results, the whole of the first page (72 results) were steam locos, then on page 2 another 47 steam locos before finally getting to the diesel class 50's, nothing on page 3, one on page 4, a few on page 5 (finally including the two newest just released models) and nothing on page 6...

 

Compare that to the new sites search for the same "Hornby class 50" and it's narrowed down to just 22 results on 1 page, and the first 12 results were Hornby class 50's! No more scrolling through pages of stuff I don't want to look at!

 

So there are some positives. The search is much tighter.

 

Due to numerous problems with orders from Hattons I stopped using them this year and cancelled all my pre-orders for everything and transferred them to other retailers except for stuff I can't get elsewhere like Hattons exclusives, but I will say that the search functions on the new site impresses me.

[5BarVT]

What I found frustrating with the old site was the search function: the new site solves that and I like it.

What I miss is the product database as it is useful to see what might come up sometime in preowned.

Paul.

[Heritage Tim]

Much prefer the old site to the new one. The preowned section of the new site is a complete mess, the news section has been stuck right at the bottom of the homepage with each item taking up way more space than is necessary, the useful menu down the left hand side of the page has been removed. I just don't understand the reasons for the radical change in design?

[maq1988]

I'll throw my opinions into the ring.

 

- 'Product Index' should be 'Scale' or 'Gauge' as thats what is listed under the menu - it's not an index

- Filters should be listed alphabetically, rather than being ordered by number of items - took me a minute to find Peco for some track

- Please keep the domain as hattons.co.uk as it's much easier to remember - or add an auto-redirect to the new domain. Pick one. Hattons.co.uk is well known and I'd argue the stronger contender

- - - On a sub-note to this it's also less consistent for email addresses to be different. Website is hattonshobbies.com but emails are just hattons.co.uk?

 

- A little pet-peeve of mine. If I add something to my cart please don't take me to the cart, otherwise I just go back and forth constantly. Especially true if I'm adding multiple items from the same category (say track work)

 

- Search seems much faster

- I'd also opt for a way to save 'new only' items by default

 

On a positive note I've always found the Hattons website to be much easier to use/navigate than other websites.

 

On mobile (iPhone 6s, iOS 12) the tick box buttons are slightly cut off on the filters. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by maq1988

[richarddavies]

Hello, Richard Davies, MD (& now an owner of) of Hatton's here

 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has given feedback on the new site. We agree with practically everything that has been suggested and are working on lots of different modifications, in view of what's been said. We may see these features added to the site from early next week

 

We would like to eventually run the new site from www.hattons.co.uk but we won't do that until we have consensus that the new site provides a considerably better experience (toall) than the existing one

 

I'm a "If it's not broken, don't fix it..." kind of person - but we need a site that usable by those who are new to the hobby and don't necessarily have the same level of understanding, as many of the more experienced customers and users of the previous sites "nuances"/failings 

 

I'll be on our stand at Great Electric Train Show and Warley, if anyone would like to chat in person (about anything whatsover model-railways related!)

 

Thanks again

 

R

[paul 27]

Yes like every thing else its geared to the tech savvy new members/modellers I also prefer the old sight though it had small problems

 it was easy to navigate, but then nothing is these days.

[90rob]

Yes like every thing else its geared to the tech savvy new members/modellers I also prefer the old sight though it had small problems

 it was easy to navigate, but then nothing is these days.

 

I've just spent a frustrating 15 minutes trying to find something on the new site (actually a DJM 58xx 5802 h1407)  - gave up! Not for me.

[maq1988]

I've just spent a frustrating 15 minutes trying to find something on the new site (actually a DJM 58xx 5802 h1407)  - gave up! Not for me.

 

 

Looks like it's not actually listed on the new site at all. I'm sure it's an oversight as it's still on the normal www.hattons.co.uk website.

 

Wonder if that means the current site and the 'new' site are running from two different stock databases, otherwise congratulations - you've found a bug! (I used to do bits of software testing and always enjoyed finding bugs).

Edited September 30, 2018 by maq1988

[richarddavies]

Looks like it's not actually listed on the new site at all. I'm sure it's an oversight as it's still on the normal www.hattons.co.uk website.

 

Wonder if that means the current site and the 'new' site are running from two different stock databases, otherwise congratulations - you've found a bug! (I used to do bits of software testing and always enjoyed finding bugs).

 

Thanks for reporting that - we will get onto that in the morning

 

In the meantime DJ Models Class 58xx 5802 in GWR unlined green is still on www.hattons.co.uk

 

Best

 

Rich

[pom-pom]

I for one really like it, it's a fantastic improvement over the last version especially the new faceted search. I expect that once you've ironed out the few implementation/hosting issues that are influencing page load/refresh speeds then folk will appreciate the speed at which the product view panels update without reloading the whole page.

 

Nicely implemented as a responsive website too - a big thumbs up.

 

I think the design is nice and clear and a definite improvement too... good use of white-space to ventilate what will always be busy pages.

 

One thing I don't like is the main navigation menu in full desktop viewport widths - the drop-down menus look rubbish, half-finished. And making the menu items jump around in font size is not a good idea in terms of usability and instilling user confidence. Furthermore, the drop-down menus seem to be inaccessible to keyboard-only users. Conversely, the drop down dynamically built menu driven by the search form field is rather nice.

 

One other thing - the "Text size +/-" control... it doesn't really work well in Firefox (I haven't tested in other browsers) as the increase in size creates overlapping text. This type of control was in existence on the previous website but is really an outdated concept nowadays. Users can simply use the 'Ctrl' plus '+/-' keystrokes to the same effect. I don't use the general browser 'zoom' function but using 'zoom text only' works very nicely on your new website using the keystrokes previously mentioned.

 

All the best,

Nick

 

[richarddavies]

I for one really like it, it's a fantastic improvement over the last version especially the new faceted search. I expect that once you've ironed out the few implementation/hosting issues that are influencing page load/refresh speeds then folk will appreciate the speed at which the product view panels update without reloading the whole page.

 

Nicely implemented as a responsive website too - a big thumbs up.

 

I think the design is nice and clear and a definite improvement too... good use of white-space to ventilate what will always be busy pages.

 

One thing I don't like is the main navigation menu in full desktop viewport widths - the drop-down menus look rubbish, half-finished. And making the menu items jump around in font size is not a good idea in terms of usability and instilling user confidence. Furthermore, the drop-down menus seem to be inaccessible to keyboard-only users. Conversely, the drop down dynamically built menu driven by the search form field is rather nice.

 

One other thing - the "Text size +/-" control... it doesn't really work well in Firefox (I haven't tested in other browsers) as the increase in size creates overlapping text. This type of control was in existence on the previous website but is really an outdated concept nowadays. Users can simply use the 'Ctrl' plus '+/-' keystrokes to the same effect. I don't use the general browser 'zoom' function but using 'zoom text only' works very nicely on your new website using the keystrokes previously mentioned.

 

All the best,

Nick

 

 

Thank you Nick

 

We will definitely be going through your points tomorrow - I really appreciate you taking the time to give us such clear feedback

 

Best

 

Rich

[37081LochLong]

I decided to make my first order through the new site instead of using the old one. I'd already created an account on the new site so I thought why not

Just one thing... When filling in details it says "Phone (Optional)" but it won't let you proceed until you put in a phone number in!! So not so optional!

[dave56]

Just had another look on the new web site, something has changed , thumbnails seem to have disappeared. After reading some other comments I have tried the firefox browser and the thumbs are working but not in the Chrome browser.

Edited October 1, 2018 by dave56

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Just had another go, and I am afraid it isn't a user friendly browsing experience. The old site format was infinitely superior for someone who knows what he wants to look at. You need simple shortcuts like 'show me all OO wagons, grouped by maker'. The present format is rather like the 'shop from hell', Ikea. You may view our stock in the most awkward and time consuming way we can devise, and no other possibility exists.

[paul 27]

Just had another go, and I am afraid it isn't a user friendly browsing experience. The old site format was infinitely superior for someone who knows what he wants to look at. You need simple shortcuts like 'show me all OO wagons, grouped by maker'. The present format is rather like the 'shop from hell', Ikea. You may view our stock in the most awkward and time consuming way we can devise, and no other possibility exists.

I second that my views exactly, please scrap it and return to the old site, the worlds gone mad.

[ColHut]

At least the new site works properly on Safari on my Ipad 1. Not an enormous demgraphic, but at least I don't have to scroll down for several empty pages to see things anymore.

 

Generally though, it needs to work better on a desktop taking advantage of a typicl 24" wide screen.

 

regards

[MarshLane]

We will definitely be going through your points tomorrow - I really appreciate you taking the time to give us such clear feedback

 

Best

 

Rich

 

 

Hi,

I've read this topic a couple of times in the past month or so, and given the comments, I'll be honest and say I haven't progressed to looking at it.  Having done web design in the past I am fully aware of the problems and issues that can be faced, and also the 'no change' mentality of some people - thats not a criticism of anyone, I think human nature is that change is not necessarily good, we so we tend to take to new websites and find that what we used to click on is not where it was and it puts us on the back foot straight away.

 

However, I've just spent 10 minutes going and having a look. Doing a couple of the searches that I've done myself in recent weeks on the old site and I have to say it was a pleasant experience for me, and in many respects better than the normal site.  A couple of comments, and these are more feedback for Hatton's, I have no personal complaints, things were easy to find and logically laid out.  The search is far more accurate and 1000% better than the old site, so well done on that!

 

1) There must be a lot of pre-processing going on in the background as the site is a bit slow at times.  I am running on a 350Mbps fibre connection here, so sites are normally like 'lightening' - but some aspects of the new Hatton's site are taking 5-8 seconds to appear.  I recall reading a web stat a few years back that the two rules are more than 5 seconds of waiting, people move on, and that things should be capable of being found in three mouse clicks from the home page.  The latter I thought Hatton's succeeded, but the former sometimes was lacking.  For example, I selected 'O' gauge from the Home screen, then typed in Class 37 ... I got Clas and the page hung for about 4 seconds, before catching up.  I then closed the browser, and did the same again, but this time types HAA wagons, again I got HAA<space> and it hung for about 6 seconds, before catching up.    I wonder how that plays out on slower connections or 3G/4G on mobile? 

 

On both occasions however the selection that it provided was spot on.   If I was going to be critical of the search, then I would say there should be some 'rules' in the background for common phrases - for example I typed hydraulics in and go nothing found, yet I would have expected Heljan 'Warships' (and westerns if on the site) to be displayed.  I think more and more people search on their own terms and expect the systems to work.  So perhaps one thing for Hatton's would be to log the searches that people do, and have an internal fortnightly or monthly review of the top 10 search terms that returned no responses and see if the system can be 'tweaked' or educated into what it should be responding.  Things like diesel-hydraulic or hydraulics should be relatively simple to say search instead for a match on any of these terms. ... ie Class 35, Hymek, Class 42, Warship, Class 52, Western.

 

I then typed in LNER (again it hung for a few seconds after the third character) but returned a variety of products. Interestingly with this one, the search order seemed to be all over the place.  I thought at first it was listing by manufacturer, but no, so I suspect there may be a 'relevance' factor in there that is reading wrongly?  Something perhaps for Hatton's to look at.  If you were looking for their A3 model, you would expect them all to be grouped together?

 

 

 

2) It was interesting that having Selected O Gauge entering the search terms, the search results were limited to O gauge, well done.  However, having also looked at the site on an iPhone 7+, and done the same searches, the search terms did not take the selected gauge into account.  So having selected O gauge and typed 37, the first option returned was a Bachmann 37 in OO gauge.  Perhaps something to look at?

 

 

3) I would like to see 'New' added to the 'Condition' box - so that a user can specify if they want pre-owned, secondhand, new or any combination of the above.  I personally also think it would be a good idea to save that choice as a cookie that way the site remembers what choices the user wants each visit without any need to log in.  Ok, its no hassle to select it, but from a user experience point of view it makes it easier.

 

 

4) If there was one thing I found confusing, it was the large number of selection boxes down the site.  It took me a few looks to find the Era box (oh, I like that you can now select more than one era! Great!). Perhaps some further thought into the order of those boxes is necessary?  One thing I didn't like, a minor niggle, was that on selecting multiple era's, the screen kept jumping around as the products were reloaded.  I presume the IT developers would be able to anchor that 'Era' box (I presume the same applies for the other selection boxes) to the middle of the screen, in a vertical position after the first click, that way the user is not always looking up and down for where its going to if selecting more than two eras.  

 

On the same topic, one suggestion - maybe three extra entries in the Era box at the top - 'BR Steam Era' (pre-selects Era 4 and 5), change over (pre-selects Era 5 and 6) and modern traction (pre-selects Era 6 to 10).  People will generally be looking for a particular era (le Big Four, 1980s etc) or they will be looking for a period, something such as those three would make it easier and quicker, and any that they didn't want, they can still unselect.  It does not remove user choice, just makes multiple era selection quicker.

 

 

5) Given the style of layout, if your on a larger screen - ie greater than 1600 pixels) it should be responsive enough to load additional boxes on each line, and adapt the layout from three or four across to five or six if necessary to fill the space.  I like the white space down each side, doesn't make it look cramped, but equally in eCommerce, that is real estate that can be working for the business, so expanding the grid at specific screen widths, just as it contracts for mobile devices, should be something of a 'no-brainer'.

 

 

6) Finally, on product data, is it possible to start including the length of the vehicle.  You already include an image with a ruler, which is great (I use that a lot for planning) but having that information in a text format is just one less mouse quick, makes it easier and quicker for the user.  If it was me, Id also look at possibly laying out the product data in a tabulated form, or possibly over two columns - its a bit spread out at the present.

 

Just my thoughts, hope it helps somebody!

 

Rich

Edited October 29, 2018 by MarshLane