Hroth Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 I think they've taken the whole site offline now... Perhaps they're going to point the URL at the old site whilst they do some headscratching? No, its gone back to 502 Bad Gateway. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Someone beat me to it - error 502 for me too. Thought it was the works firewall! Al. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PeterStiles Posted January 28, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2021 Do we feel that this website was underpowered compared to the prior one? So that all of us eager beavers clicked on the link to read the Engine Shed and Whoosh there it went? Strange thing is that the web site seems to be written in a CMS tool (concrete5 I think I saw in some meta data) which means that bugs shouldn't happen unless they are simply related to the data. Having "the wrong pictures" up and bad categorisation of the stock is expected, but the web site being able to count how many items in an Era (three pages at 12 a page... but only 24 items in the category) should be sorted at the base framework level. The Bad Gateway errors are just reprehensible.. And I'm glad to say someone has notice that Era 3 was being represented by a BR loco and has replaced it: Oh well. I've got a web-site to install a major update on this weekend and I really hope mine goes better than this debacle. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damo666 Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 Here, try this link instead: https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/category/model-railway (Now, wonder if that'll get Hornby's attention ) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Decorum Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 On the Engine Shed, Montana thanks us for our patience and understanding. I don’t think she reads RMweb. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MikeParkin65 Posted January 28, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2021 I have found the service sheets MUCH easier to find. Likewise Engine Shed and the ability to comment. First impressions are very promising 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AY Mod Posted January 28, 2021 Moderators Share Posted January 28, 2021 Having been in those shoes it's really encouraging and motivating when you know someone (who knows absolutely nothing about the complexities) is moaning and criticising elsewhere on the Internet when you're trying to get something running as it should. Just let them get on with it please. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InterCity80s Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 The website's been fine for me every time I've accessed it since the new version launched. I did need to reset my password but tbh that might have been memory failure on my part. I did notice that one of the Class 90s was listed as being Era 6 (i.e. pre-TOPS) but I don't think that's really an issue with the website itself. Seems much easier to navigate and search than on the old site. What is it people are trying to do when you're getting all the errors you're reporting? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InterCity80s Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 1 hour ago, cbrooks122000 said: I got the email today, I thought that is good they have fixed it. Went to do a search on class 60 and I got the page error. Still no forums. I suppose I had better check to see if it has lost my preorders. That works fine for me (just now). Got two pages of results: a mixture of Class 60 locos and spares for them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PeterStiles Posted January 28, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 28, 2021 51 minutes ago, AY Mod said: Having been in those shoes it's really encouraging and motivating when you know someone (who knows absolutely nothing about the complexities) is moaning and criticising elsewhere on the Internet when you're trying to get something running as it should. Just let them get on with it please. Oh alright then. We're really just worried that we'll lose some of the Greatest Forum Posts Known To Human Kind.... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damo666 Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 1 hour ago, AY Mod said: Having been in those shoes it's really encouraging and motivating when you know someone (who knows absolutely nothing about the complexities) is moaning and criticising elsewhere on the Internet when you're trying to get something running as it should. Just let them get on with it please. I fully understand and agree with you, Hornby don't need this forum to be on their tail nagging them (I'm guessing the web tech people at Hornby who are dealing with this are probably not even reading these posts anyway and are focusing on the site's issues, or at least I hope they are focusing on it and not reading RMWeb). But in fairness I think a lot of the posts here are the observation that the site appears to have been rushed out without proper testing / proper cataloguing of their stock (wrong eras, incomplete or inaccurate searches) etc. The 5 of the first 6 posts on this thread were very complimentary. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Hroth said: I suppose "testing" was done by the developers and the commissioning department, who knew what they wanted it to do. They didn't test it using real-world subjects who had no idea of how it was expected to be used and who click willy-nilly approach the website in unforseen ways. I always found it a bit of a bu@@er when users attacked software in unusual ways! Pre release testing was offered by the forum com mods but not taken up. Ditto on the other HH brand forums. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithMacdonald Posted January 28, 2021 Share Posted January 28, 2021 7 hours ago, AY Mod said: Having been in those shoes it's really encouraging and motivating when you know someone (who knows absolutely nothing about the complexities) is moaning and criticising elsewhere on the Internet when you're trying to get something running as it should. Just let them get on with it please. I appreciate you feel a great sympathy for them in their current predicament. What you having been there and got the T-shirt etc. I also have been in those shoes, learning a great deal about the complexities of ecommerce and websites (some supporting more than a million customers). So I feel fully qualified to have a comment about the e-learning curve many web businesses have to climb up, learning from pain instead of awareness. Or (as it sometimes called) engaging with technically-competent project management, used to a full product lifecycle, including use-case compliance testing, stress testing, bug fixes (there's that JIRA again), release cycles, data integrity and governance, etc, etc. Fortunately for Hornby, I can do something more positive as well, and contact them direct, to offer some constructive feedback and positive suggestions on what they can learn and apply (for the benefit of us all). 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 (edited) With sympathy for those trying to fix the Hornby web site, I find it quite hard to trust the pre-order promise of Spring 2021 for a wartime black Merchant Navy. Maybe there is a disclaimer somewhere, or maybe it will arrive 'in just a few weeks' as the heading says. What a terrible customer I am! Good grief! Even Kernow say Feb 2021. Can this be true...? I still find it hard to negotiate from 'train sets and rolling stock'. Once you have clicked on that major tab in the home page your search tool disappears. If I choose 'locomotives' there is still no search tab. Only filters. Clearly I am doing things in the wrong sequence.... Perhaps my writing of basic computer language since 1990 (not the Basic program I hasten to add) is an 'unsuitable' way of viewing things, or my early successes in maths and additional maths at an academically competitive high school , 3rd and 1st respectively, maybe this is why I have trouble with some websites from a user point-of-view, yeah, that'l be it. I am too logical. I enjoy Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Somerset Maughan and others. I even enjoy a lot of the excellent stuff on RMweb. Thankyou Andy and mods. I still think the new Hornby website is pretty poor, an hope it improves. With my logical hat on, I advise readers of the site to ignore all the layout options and simply enter a part number into the homepage search box ... browsing 'popular' items has never been a particularly sensible way of finding anything of particular interest, but it seems to have been carried over from the old website. I am not disposed to tell Hornby what I think. I don't think a website designer should need guidance for basic choices like a bulletproof menu-based sequence. Edited January 29, 2021 by robmcg rambling 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Going Spare Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 As I see it, there are two areas of concern: the working of the site and the information available to the user. Having no computing knowledge, my comments relate to the latter. Examples of many inaccuracies: there are just 3 Railroad locomotives offered (against 39 in the catalogue) and even one of those is a main-range item; there is no mention of Railroad Plus at all; there are many detailed errors such as 12 rather than 2 'Lionel' points offered at the 2-pack price, and bufferstops having 5-pole motors. Also, the choice of locomotive types/liveries to illustrate eras 3 through to 10 seem to me to be misleading. Presumably all this information was provided by Hornby for the website designers so the blame lies at their door. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maico Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 I was trying to find a HSS on the new Hornby site and you can't seem to search parts sheets by model rxxxx number. Poor show really, on the Trix site you just type in a model number and exploded parts diagrams, part availability, and the price is shown. Goes back about 18 years. Roco/Fleischmann are even better, there is still good parts availability on my 1977 Br 103 loco. and full parts availability on more modern models which can be bought online with a click of a button. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maico Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, cbrooks122000 said: Merchant Navy locos seem to be an issue with Hornby, especially ones that are not green. I have had the blue one on order for over 2 years and I noticed Hattons were quoting third quarter, which in Hornby speak, usually means next year. The search function seems incomplete. I typed in merchant navy and the 2 Dublo die-cast models don't show even though they are available to pre-order. In fact the website will let you order 154 x r3970 (production run 500) before the out of stock warning pops up... Edited January 29, 2021 by maico Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
InterCity80s Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 7 minutes ago, maico said: The search function seems incomplete. I typed in merchant navy and the 2 Dublo die-cast models don't show even though they are available to pre-order. In fact the website will let you order 154 x r3970 (production run 500) before the out of stock warning pops up... They showed up when I just did a search. When you type something into the search box it show you the (top?) six hits but underneath it show the number of hits against each category in the catalogue. If you click on one of those categories then you get the full list. So if you type "Merchant" into the search box, the top six hits I got were a couple of sound decoders and four locomotives (not including the Dublo ones). When I then clicked on the link to "Train Sets and Rolling Stock" I got eight locomotives (including R3970 and R3971). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Depending upon how you search gives different results. I was looking for Elite controller and Class 66. One search method got me nothing for both products, another search method got me the expected results. Obviously quite a few glitches remain to be purged. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maico Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 (edited) 14 minutes ago, InterCity80s said: They showed up when I just did a search. When you type something into the search box it show you the (top?) six hits but underneath it show the number of hits against each category in the catalogue. If you click on one of those categories then you get the full list. So if you type "Merchant" into the search box, the top six hits I got were a couple of sound decoders and four locomotives (not including the Dublo ones). When I then clicked on the link to "Train Sets and Rolling Stock" I got eight locomotives (including R3970 and R3971). When I type in Dublo nothing shows, with 'merchant navy' 4 show up, 6 show with 'merchant navy class', and bingo, 8 show up selecting the train set link! Only super intelligent beings like moderator Andy York will find them without model number... Edited January 29, 2021 by maico 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellocoloco Posted January 29, 2021 Share Posted January 29, 2021 Just placed a pre-order for a couple of Hornby Int'l models with no issues - just need to wait until Novemberish or later.......... Have noticed that a couple of models have gone straight from pre-order to OOS status overnight as the website changed..........hopefully a mistake for models not due until August! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AY Mod Posted January 29, 2021 Moderators Share Posted January 29, 2021 Wasted my breath yesterday obviously. 2 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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