BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
road.cc has undergone a full redesign, the first stage of a wider development of functionality and features on the site.
The new design, which went live on Friday morning, has been designed to work better with tablets and mobile devices.
Functionality tweaks include a separate classifieds section, where users can post free adverts for bikes, components and kit; previously this was part of the forum. Site users can now like comments on the site too.
"We’ve got lots of ideas for new ways for people to use and interact with road.cc", said chief web guy Dave Atkinson, "and the redesign will help us to roll out those new features. Mostly this redesign was about creating a platform we could develop further. The previous incarnation of the site dated back to 2009 and was in need of a refresh, both in terms of its look and the structure behind the scenes.
"The proportion of mobile and tablet traffic is growing, and will only continue to do so. Already we’re seeing mobiles and tablets making up more than half the site traffic at certain times of the day, and the new design is responsive to offer users a better experience on those devices, with dedicated grids and features such as touch/swipe sensitivity on galleries. We’ve also moved all video serving on the site to YouTube to make sure mobile and tablet users can access all content."
"This [site comment] data will allow us to build up a picture of not only who’s active on the site, but also who is providing useful input on news stories, reviews and forum topics. Our next phase of development includes an overhaul of user functions and interactions, and this data will play a part in shaping that work."
“road.cc has continued to grow this year and now sits at 785,211 unique visitors (aug-sept 2013). The redesign and added features can only help the continued growth of the UK’s number one road cycling website.”
We’ve more on road.cc here.
