Reader Smackdown: Outside Online
Recently a couple of our fans on Facebook said they dislike the design of our web site. We appreciate the feedback. And we want more.
If you could change anything on outsideonline.com what would it be?
Be as nice or nasty as you want to be, but please be specific. (We love examples from other sites.)
Thanks for your help!
Comments
I would like to see content that enhances what is in the magazine rather than just the same content. I love reading my issues when they come (the ONLY magazine I subscribe to) but then the site has a lot of the same content.
Flag ThisI would LOVE to see more info geared towards women or info that is at least gender neutral! Too many articles/workouts/gear that are men-specific that is useless for us women. Women read your magazine too!
Flag ThisI would like it if the Gear Guy stopped plugging REI and REI.com in almost every column. The stealthy pop-ups that pop up any time your cursor goes over or near them are annoying and should be eliminated.
Flag ThisI hate the little popover ad that I seem to constantly get.
Flag ThisI use two sites for my daily, "non-professional" life: Outside Online and Men's Health Online. Men's Health changes their site up daily, with new tips, info, and advice. My favorite part? The Men's Health Daily Dose, which includes fitness, nutrition, daily living, and other advice. What if Outside did an Outside Daily section with a product or destination of the day, a meal or recipe (adventurers and travelers eat healthy too), a link to another cool outdoor or travel site, or a spotlight on a great book/article/author? There are numerous others you could include, and you could make the Outside Daily an RSS and/or Twitter feed. Just some food for thought.
Flag ThisIt would be awesome if you added a mobile format. I follow outside of facebook and Twitter, and I think a lot of readers who do this do so on mobile devices. It would be nice having articles in a mobile format when you link to them on Twitter and facebook.
Flag ThisWhat happened to the podcasts?
Flag ThisI agree with Keith above, that's actually a detail that is about to drive me nuts! :) I'm a great fan of Outside and a subscriber to the paper magazine, but I think Outside online is very cluttered, with too many things going on (like things poppping up as Keith described) or millions of places to focus my eyes, and I tend to avoid the site because of it. Also, since I spend most of my webtime on laptops with limited screen sizes, the usage of screen estate becomes crucial. I think the experience of Outside online might be a lot easier/better on a 21 inch screen than it is on my 13 inch laptop, where I actually dont even see the beginning of the text of the article I want to read when I come to the page, but loads of banners, links and ads. The text column itself is quite narrow so even if the article is short, I have to scroll and when the mouse cursor then hits one of these REIs I have an interruption, etc. Things like that makes me just avoid the online version alltogether and stick to the paper magazine and the FB threads.
Flag ThisI would like to see a change in the design of the website. I think it could be a little more streamlined and sophisticated. I also agree that pages often seem cluttered, and it's hard to focus on just one feature when information is coming at you from every angle. I think a little bit more organization would go a long way!
Flag ThisI'd like to have the search not repeat results; say I'm searching for 'Los Padres National Forest' or 'New Mexico', the same link tends to come up multiple times. It'd be great to have less to sort through!
Flag ThisHi there! I know we all would love to see a twitter-service where events, gatherings, trips, freebies and contests get posted first. Go go go!
Flag ThisI canceled my subscription because I was sick of the lists. The ten best this and the five best that starts to seem like the writers don't have any ideas for stories that have a story to them...
Flag This