Wunderground News

Er, UK here - I've got my page settings set to both f's and c's for temps but I've lost all my METRIC!!!!

You know us foreigners need metric readings, can I have my C's back please?!

So I started playing with some custom CSS, trying to un-suckify it a bit... Here's a quick preview:

(you may need to right-click and view image to see any detail)
So far I've shrunk the current conditions back to reasonable size, got rid of a huge amount of whitespace (virtually every element has 10px or more of padding on at least one side), removed the subheaders, and restored the multi-column layout...

Full unsuckifying will have to wait, as I originally discovered this atrocity when I hit reload before heading to bed, and it's now way past wolfy bedtime.

If wunderground doesn't improve the layout themselves, I'll go back to work on it, and try to make a make-un-suck .css file you can load... but for now I'm going to bed, then will wait to see what they do.

--Bushytails

TRY THIS: Go to weather.gov. You can enter your zip code or even click on the location of your house on the detailed map. Store the generated URL in favorites. Any time you click it on you'll get an extended seven-day forecast, radar screen, satellite image, current conditions and a written narative describing the entire coming week all on one screen. Very similar to whate Wunderground used to provide. The only thing missing is the vertical stack of favorite cities and no collection of local weather stations further down the page. Best alternative now that Wunderground has shot itself in the head. Next best alternatives seem to be my local newspaper and television station sites (in SoFla), but still take more navigation that the old Wunderground. For a quick useful overview, TWC and Accuweather now seem to be roughly comparable to the new Wunderground, though they don't seem to be as data-rich if your thing is endlessly clicking on numbers and more numbers.

So, SO unimpressed - both with the new look AND with the timing of the launch. Seriously, guys? This sucks.

The look is beyond annoying. So much white space to scroll through, hunting (and hunting... and HUNTING) for the info I want! (The info that classic gives me right up front.) I am disappointed that you guys have jumped on what looks to me like the dumbing-down bandwagon. There are plenty of sites out there that have stupid covered - you *were* refreshingly different.

And I could think of a better time to spring this on your users than in the middle of the event of the winter.

Oh, and the whole "Surprise! We just totally messed with the site; isn't it GREAT???" thing? Not working. I would have appreciated a heads-up. A lot of the outrage I'm seeing in comments (mine included) might have been lessened if we'd known this was coming.

Thank you for the option to revert to classic, at least. I plan to use it from now on (and will be *seriously* peeved if you take it away!).

@Bushytails

Nice work. I didn't want to Greasemonkey this fiasco. I really didn't. Now with the classic version back online, I won't have to.

Sorry, I have fooled around with this website for over an hour and I'm done! I don't like it! Please put it back the way it was (classic). Thank you...

Quoting OneDay:
Hups. Bzzr. There was a problem loading your prezi.

Hups? Bzzr? It's not MY "prezi", it's YOUR "prezi", and it doesn't flippin' work. Really, this is just a mess.

Like the tool tips in the current data tab.

I don't like to have to use the arrow to see my favorite cities I've saved. They used to be on the left and I saw them all at once. I don't like all the blank white parts on the sides of the page either. I can put up with it though, but I really wish the favorite cities were put back the way they were.

Interesting changes. I find the new look cleaner. It may take a day or two to get used to. I notice that the Google map now admits that the body of water just South of the Texas, Louisiana,Mississippi,Alabama and Florida Coasts is indeed The Gulf of Mexico and not the Atlantic Ocean as before.

I wrote Google tech support about that a few months ago and either they or Wundermap Guru's fixed it. We appreciate the little things.

The new design is horrible. All I want is the radar and detailed forecast for the week, which now requires multiple scrolling and clicking actions. I appreciated how the old site gave us real forecasts and data instead of cutesy icons; the new one is just another USA Today clone. So glad I didn't spring for a membership when I was considering it last week.

It also seems ridiculous to go with a "clean" look (i.e. tons of white space) when people have bigger monitors than ever these days.

Fire your designers and demand your money back.

I like it, clean, uncluttered, easy to find the information. Current weather and 3 day forecast at the top of the city page, along with radar and trends and all without scrolling. One click to the severe weather map, radar and favorites.

No No No No No
Make it go away.

I never post anything on these blogs, but I just had to day that the new site, at least for me, SUCKS! I appreciate that they're working to make something better, but I don't feel this was even close to finished, and certainly not ready to swap over. I had already started seeking out an alternative, which really sucks as I love WU. As long as the classic site is up I'll keep using it, but if that goes away and there's nothing better than this new site, I'll have to go elsewhere. Just my opinion!

You have a choice of sites. Quit complaining and go to the classic view.

classic.wunderground.com

362. Your flagged. We don't use the F word on this site.

Admin,
Just to let you know, someone in my blog using IE7 is seeing the blog owner's (mine) comments cut off.
e.g.


I believe this is happening in both neo and classical views. Please see my blog for details. We had a long discussion there trying to figure out what was wrong. Starts around comment 108.

JUST NOTICED: To the far right of the "Notice anything different?" line, there is a link to the "Classic site." Click "here" and we get our old format back. I just hope they'll keep that active. Was it always there, or did they just add it in response to all our (legitimate) kvetching?

Unfortunately, these days, people are always fixing things that aren't broken. wunderground is one of the latest examples. I wasn't aware how illiterate they were until I read their blog for the first time after seeing a link for it regarding the site changes. They said "You found you're way to this blog".... On another note, I've used the same bank for the past 10 years. Their toll-free phone banking easily gave me my acct. balance and records of all transactions. I was always able to get my balance through their voice mail system in less than a minute. They decided to fix what wasn't broken. Now when I call in to get a balance or transaction info, I'm sent on an endless merry go round and can never get the info I need. They've had countless complaints. When you have people sitting around with nothing better to do than fix things that aren't broken, you need to thin the herd/trim the fat.

Sorry - this has to be one of the worst site (re) design jobs I've ever seen...

.

I like this look. It's a cleaner look, and not a bunch of flash ads dragging it down. A lot of so called weather sites have so much spam ads now, it takes them 10 minutes just to get to get the page opened, like my TV station here in Indy. This one sticks to the point, and that's the weather. Took me a moment to find my favorite thing here, and that's wundermap, but I found it. Good job wunder guys :)

Yuck!!! The new site is as bad as Microsoft Office with the Ribbon - it doesn't do anything new that I really wanted, and all the things that I used to know how to do are moved around so that I can't find them. The classic site was tight and efficient. This new site doesn't do anything for me - take it back.

And contrary to weatherboy's comment, I have been supporting wunderground for at least five years.

OMG -- the new format is horrible. It wastes too much space on the page and info is scattered and unrelated.

For a couple of years I thought Wunderground was a reliable, easy to use, all-inclusive, accurate, and user-friendly weather website, but I guess I need to find a new one.

Thank you all for your dedicated time and efforts to redesign and promote such aesthetic science/meteorology!

TOTALLY hate this - going back to classic. This is horrible...just horrible. I'm glad WU developers and a few select of you enjoy it, but my reading prove I am FAR from alone on this opinion. Sad thing is a I reloaded the page several times before I realized my connection wasn't bad - the site was just FUBAR, now.

Sorry, but I vastly prefer the old design to the new one. The 5-day forecast, which is the single thing on the site I consult daily, has been de-emphasized and made smaller. I also have to scroll down to see it, which I never had to do before. The tendency to make changes simply for the sake of change is far too common in the world of computer technology. I find that changes are rarely improvements, but usually involve making things more complicated and more difficult. Ordinary people (even those who work on the computer daily, as I do in my profession as a photographer) do not enjoy constantly having to re-learn how to use the same websites or software programs. I plead with you to bring back the old design, even though I expect that my pleas will fall on deaf ears. Website (and software) designers are very reluctant to admit that their efforts have made things worse.

To weatherboy1992 who said to ignore all the comments by handles created today:

I've used WU for over 3 years, but just today created an account. Why? To express my displeasure with the new look.

This new lay-out : I hate it ! It sucks! Please go back to the old one.

Quoting Barefootontherocks:


Always there.

No, it was not always there. I received a facebook message from a wund employee who told me that it would be there later (meaning when it happened).

It wasn't always there.

The old layout fit easily on an 800x600 display. The new layout doesn't even fit on a 1024x768 display. It's spacey and requires a lot of panning and scrolling to view, sort of like trying to watch a movie through a keyhole. Just Plain Stupid.

I spent about 60 seconds looking at it and decided to stick with the old site design. I'm changing the bookmarks on all my computers from www.wunderground.com to classic.wunderground.com.

All I can say, is THANK YOU for giving us the option of the "classic" site. You can keep your "new and improved" site for the newbies.

Looks good, Wunderground. Lots of improvements.

Regarding all the negative comments, just remember, "You can't please them all all the time."

Bleah! Dislike!

I've just discovered that the old ("classic") design is still available. Please do not get rid of it! If the new design totally replaces it, I will find some other site to get weather information.

I'm not liking it at the moment...but I'm sure I'll get used to it and start to see the improvements. I wish the 5-day was a little more distinctive and up front

WUG has been my first choice for online WX for 15 years.

Love the new look, will spend the time to get used to it. I can revert to classic if I want to .. but I don't.

This thing is good, really good. Ignore the negative krap on these reviews. Seriously, nice job and very impressive. Clean, info rich, just great.

Keep tweaking it, it's a winner. I shop regularly for other WX sites and I have never been lured away from WUG as my number one. This new design seals me for a long time to come.

Grade: A

Congrats.

BTW, I did software dev for 30 years. The negative stuff here is standard for a new design. The main thing people like about the old one is that they know where things are, they are lazy, and don't want to learn a new UI. They will, and soon enough. There are always users who will bitch if you turn a period upside down. Ignore them. Your people know what they are doing, the site shows that. Stay on track. And comments like "where is my familiar text, I hate those cutesy icons?" Good lord. Give them back their dial telephones and vinyl records, and let the rest of us move on for crissakes.

Well, despite reading 45 comments and getting board with the condescending tone in most, I like the new design.  As a web designer, I am very familiar with the difficulty in putting out a product that makes everyone happy ... totally impossible.  So you strive to put together a working product that improves overall the use and distribution of information.

I've been using WU since it first appeared online... and a member since they offered memberships .. and have had a blog since they offered them.  I use WU daily - even though I don't post here nearly often enough.  So.. I know this site VERY WELL.

In just a few minutes I was able to find my way around the site very well.  I've found it to be easy to read and navigate.  Much less congested as the old layout.

So I'd just suggest we back off and give it a few days.  The folks at WU have given a lot of thought to the development, we should at least give them the benefit of a week of testing out the new ground before we slice 'n dice 'em.

Thanks to all at WU who have worked hard to push their site into a new era and venue.  Change is never easily accepted by the masses.  But when it's good - it - and the masses come around.

Thanks.

thank you for putting back the classic site!! whew!!

Quoting Globe199:


No, it was not always there. I received a facebook message from a wund employee who told me that it would be there later (meaning when it happened).

It wasn't always there.

lol. When what happened?

It was there near the start of the beoiching, shortly after this blog went up. I believe that was the question. Always there, as in part of the plan vs. there as a response to the complaints. If it was put up as a response to the complaints, it sure showed up quick!

So happy for you that you are able to communicate directly with "wunderground employees" on facebook to get the real scoops. I have no further desire to communicate with you. Have a nice day.

I HAVE NEVER COMMENTED ON A BLOG IN MY LIFE BUT THIS I COULD NOT IGNORE!

YOU HAVE MANAGED TO ALIENATE YOU FAN BASE IN ONE FELL SWOOP! CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MUST HAVE SOME OF THE FACEBOOK DEVELOPERS WORKING OVER THERE FOR YOU! IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT! SMH

Quoting Barefootontherocks:


lol. When what happened?

It was there near the start of the beoiching, shortly after this blog went up. I believe that was the question. Always there, as in part of the plan vs. there as a response to the complaints. If it was put up as a response to the complaints, it sure showed up quick!

So happy for you that you are able to communicate directly with "wunderground employees" on facebook to get the real scoops. I have no further desire to communicate with you. Have a nice day.

Huh...nice. Would you like me to name the employee and paste the message I received? I don't think I need to do that. I certainly didn't expect a direct message from anyone acknowledging my displeasure with the new site, but there it was, a very polite, understanding message indicating that the classic site would be online soon.

Greetings,

Twas a bit of a surprise this morning!

Right now I'm in need of basic information of conditions and NOAA reports. Therefore, I'm back in the classic view.

The new layout appears to require quite a few more clicks and mouse scrolls to find what I'm looking for. I'm not a fan of site layouts that require a lot of screen territory. However, in all fairness I'll play with your new design before commenting again.

My very first impression is that this new layout is a game killer.

Be well,

Kim Baily
Unionville, CT

Humans just do not like change. Too bad they have to be so bloody RUDE about it. As my grandmother always said: "Ya buy 'em books, they eat the covers". I think the "new" version is a lot cleaner. Yeah you have to read it differently, but you can actually read what's there and it's not gobbed up with so much crap. Jeez, give it a chance or go back to the old version, but don't bite the hand that feeds you. You know what else Irene always said? "The nerve of some people's Brats!"

Quote: "I have never commented on a blog in my life."

After reading your comment, believe me, that is obvious.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it" would have us driving Model T Fords and using crank telephones. Those things weren't "broke" either. They just got passed up by change and improvement. What you have on this new design is worthwhile change, and therefore, improvement. Get used to it, invest the time you spent learning the old design, and move on.

Honestly, the comments here are so inane I am beginning to wonder if interactive tools are even worth the trouble. WUG, just put your work out there and let the chips fall. Who cares what the hillbillies think?

This new design reminds me of the Obama Health Care Plan. It is all blown up just to cause confusion and leaving the people dazed and COSTING EXTRA MONEY which we do not have. I cannot believe how bad you can screw up a home page that is working well.

FIRST RULE IN BUSINESS FOR YOU DOPE HEADS: IF IT IS NOT BROKEN DO NOT FIX IT. REMINDS ME OF A NEW MANAGER HIRED AND THE FIRST THING HE DOES IS MAKE CHANGES AND PISSES PEOPLE OFF.

I think I will go back to my old weather site

Quoting geekgirl:
So, SO unimpressed - both with the new look AND with the timing of the launch. Seriously, guys? This sucks.

The look is beyond annoying. So much white space to scroll through, hunting (and hunting... and HUNTING) for the info I want! (The info that classic gives me right up front.) I am disappointed that you guys have jumped on what looks to me like the dumbing-down bandwagon. There are plenty of sites out there that have stupid covered - you *were* refreshingly different.

And I could think of a better time to spring this on your users than in the middle of the event of the winter.

Oh, and the whole "Surprise! We just totally messed with the site; isn't it GREAT???" thing? Not working. I would have appreciated a heads-up. A lot of the outrage I'm seeing in comments (mine included) might have been lessened if we'd known this was coming.

Thank you for the option to revert to classic, at least. I plan to use it from now on (and will be *seriously* peeved if you take it away!).

I totally agree!

This happens every time you guys do a major change! You don’t warn anyone, but I do appreciate that you left us with a way to get to the classic. At least you let us choose! I’ll flip between the new and old page for awhile, but the classic is hard to beat! All the info you need in one place.
You guys need to figure out what we want not what you think we need! (I think I pointed this out last time you guys did this)
New and improved? The new page isn’t all bad, but if it isn’t broken why fix it? You turned into the Weather Channel and they suck!,
Is there anyway to get rid of “Weather Summary” and “Weather Events”? Maybe you should be more like a Google homepage! Let us pick the modules we want on our member page. That would be a change they would appreciate even in Cairo!
You guys did it again! Good luck! You're gonna need it!