Skodadriver Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Heading says it all really. I've used airliners.net as my primary reference source for as long as I can remember but it's now been "improved" beyond all recognition. A number of years ago a journalist called Patrick Hutber expounded what he called "Hutber's Law" which said, quite simply, "Progress equals deterioration". Airliners.net seems to have proved Hutber's Law beyond any doubt. Does anyone else feel the same way or am I just falling into grumpy Luddite mode? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Bunsen Honeydew Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 (edited) No, you are not alone. Somebody at A.net managed to give poo-poo a value. Thank God there are still planepictures.net, abpic.co.uk and flickr.com. Edited June 18, 2016 by Dr.Bunsen Honeydew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 So, what happened to Airliners.net that's got you guys so unhappy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 So, what happened to Airliners.net that's got you guys so unhappy? Go and have a look! In a nutshell the biggest civil aviation website which had a simple, straightforward, intuitive, easy to use photo search engine has been turned into a trendy mess for no apparent reason. To give only one specific example, you now have to use the advanced search option to find almost anything which is a big backward step and shows how little attention those responsible paid to usability. Like Dr Honeydew unless airliners.net has a rapid re-think I'm off to abpics, jetphotos and planepictures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Well, I do have to admit up front to being a Luddite, but I have been lecturing anyone I can reach in the IT world "Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to." In the office, I used to have one password I used for years. Well, with our enhanced security, there are now fourteen passwords ( I wish I were making that up ) that all need changing with such rapidity, I have them on Post It notes on my monitor. My screen looks like it has a yellow frame. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 You're definitely a luddite Just find the search facility, which is in Photos (I would always try to keep the Search function at top level), then use that as your bookmark instead of the home page. Here for example. Get past the "Oh Bod it's changed, I can't use it!!!" panic (and that's what it is), where your eyes are thrashing about looking for something familiar to cling onto. Look at the page, analyse it and you'll start seeing familiar aspects of it, although they'll probably look a bit different. It looks to me like their home page is now a summary of everything going at Airliners.net, rather than the almost direct jump into the search that it was. perhaps their regulars in the forums and so forth were their priority? Can't speak for them, and wouldn't presume to Just give it a few weeks and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Can anyone here remember the furore when we moved from V.2 to V.3 of the forum software? A few people stomped off in a huff, and people were upset. Now I bet you can't even remember V.2! Change on the web is inevitable. If you're really upset about anything like that, you should use whatever feedback methods you have available to let them know, but always try to be concise and positive. "It's all wrong!" isn't very helpful to their developers. Tell 'em what, and tell 'em how you think it should be done. Cut the guys some slack too, as they've clearly worked very hard on the upgrade, so let's not have any bad words, histrionics or stupidity, or the thread will be closed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted June 18, 2016 Author Share Posted June 18, 2016 Mike, I understand where you're coming from and I am aware that Airliners.net can be litigious but what I wrote was well within the bounds of fair comment. I certainly don't believe I've used any bad words or histrionics and if it's stupidity to express a view about something that makes a formerly excellent site rather less than excellent for the ordinary non-teccy user then I plead guilt to being stupid. The corresponding thread on Airliner Cafe is considerably more forthright! And yes, I have given Airliners.net direct feedback, specifically about the search function which is my real complaint. It also obviously annoys the inhabitants of Airliner Cafe. So far I've been ignored. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 It works, what's the problem? Just tried and found exactly what I want, and without their 'thumbnails'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Mike, I understand where you're coming from and I am aware that Airliners.net can be litigious but what I wrote was well within the bounds of fair comment. I certainly don't believe I've used any bad words or histrionics and if it's stupidity to express a view about something that makes a formerly excellent site rather less than excellent for the ordinary non-teccy user then I plead guilt to being stupid. The corresponding thread on Airliner Cafe is considerably more forthright! And yes, I have given Airliners.net direct feedback, specifically about the search function which is my real complaint. It also obviously annoys the inhabitants of Airliner Cafe. So far I've been ignored. I wasn't meaning you directly, but I did spot an amusing bad word filter result further down. That's what I was trying to discourage. As Frank says, the old functionality is there, so I guess it'll just take time to become accustomed to the new layout. We'll have a bit of that happening when we move to V.4 of the forum software, which I'm really looking forward to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowRaider Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 (edited) Completely agree with those that say that THE best aviation-oriented and photo-oriented web site is ruined completely. For ten years now I've been visiting Airliners.net every day (except when I was on holidays). I never post and never comment, but just search for photographs and enjoy them. Now it looks like it is 100% targeted on those who don't know what a keyboard and a mouse are for, and are only capable of sticking their fingers at the screen. And yes, I did send my feedback to the Airliners team straight away. In their reply they are very polite and they say that "if you give it a chance, you'll appreciate the new improved features". I'm sorry but I don't want no "new" features. I want to use those that worked perfectly well before this "change". 90% of the time I used Airliners to search for specific photographs that I want. For example, I used to go to "Search", type "EA-18G" (or "RF-4B", or whatever), clicked a button, and got hundreds (or in some cases thousands) of photos found in less than 1 second. I selected "60 photos per page", and again the search results were rearranged nearly instantly. Switching to each next page took much less than 1 second. And how it works now? Now, when I use the same search options / same screens, it takes about 1 second for a single photograph to appear on the screen while I scroll. So 60 photographs = nearly 1 minute. Why should I give this "a chance"?... Edited June 18, 2016 by ShadowRaider 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 I'm not a member there, and ever have been. It takes a fraction longer to load, because you are loading larger images, instead of thumbnails. The added bonus is I can now get full screen images for free. What's not to like? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Hi! Personally the new Airliners look does not bother me that much and I would take new ˝no thumbnails˝ policy and other adaptations to ˝finger age˝ we live in into my stride, admittedly not without ranting under my breath. Also, I attribute some obvious errors in Advanced search like Basic aircraft type scroll ending with Mil Mi-12, Airlines names list ending with letter ˝H˝ and similar to teething problems of the new version. I inquired about all that in an e-mail and perhaps when their reply arrives I will learn it was all my mistake, who knows. No doubt I will eventually adapt to these changes. However, if the new look really is an improvement over the old one is another question. For the desk top user, probably not. Regards Jure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 Yup, it's been re-designed in what is known as "responsive HTML5" - its layout changes according to the detected screen resolution so that the site can adapt automatically to the devices it's being viewed on, and their orientation . It's the latest thing (and I know, because it's part of what I do for a living). The overall look is in keeping with current styles, which - IMHO - are a bit too clunky and simplistic for what airliners.net do, but were probably forced by the perceived change of device used to view the site. Peoples' fingers are increasingly used in site navigation, with the increase in use of touchscreens, so you have to consider the fact that most folks (me included) suffer from "fat finger syndrome" when jabbing at the screen. You have to give them a bigger target, so to speak. They will have spent a fortune on the upgrade, so unless something is actually broken, I wouldn't expect them change anything in the near future. For me, the change is fine, but I use the site seldom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whisky Papa Posted June 18, 2016 Share Posted June 18, 2016 (edited) Oops! An Error Occurred The server returned a "404 Not Found". Something is broken. Please let us know what you were doing when this error occurred. We will fix it as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. That's the response when I use my bookmarks for my carefully filtered selections on airliners.net. I don't regard that as an improvement! Edited June 18, 2016 by Whisky Papa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Callahan Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 If you had your link pointed at the search page (ie airliners.net/search) that page no longer exists. You need to repoint it to the home page. Happened to me too at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 I think John summed it up just fine. To me it feels like switching from Win 7 to Win 8, unfortunately without fallback option. One gets used to that if necessary, but I wish Airliners would keep a Classic Layout button for us desk top guys somewhere. Regards Jure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Is it different? Yes. Does it work? Yes. Could I find what I was searching for? Yes. Moving on.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jure Miljevic Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Dave, I wish it was that simple ... Is it different? Yes. Does it work? Not really. Could I find what I was searching for? In about a quarter of cases or less. Try and find photos of United Airlines planes. That would be a problem, because the Airlines list ends with Highland Express Airlines. How about any photo of DC-9-50 series plane? No go, as Version list ends with DC-9-32. Could one work around these limitations? Yes, if one knows a thing or two about airlines and airliners. Are all these just teething problems, which are going to be solved in near future? Very probably. Still, for a desktop users the new Airliners layout is a step back. Nevertheless, you are absolutely right, it is time to move on. Cheers Jure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted June 19, 2016 Share Posted June 19, 2016 Oops! An Error Occurred The server returned a "404 Not Found". Something is broken. Please let us know what you were doing when this error occurred. We will fix it as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. That's the response when I use my bookmarks for my carefully filtered selections on airliners.net. I don't regard that as an improvement! I would put good money on the directory structure, database and search engine have been completely changed in the process of the upgrade. Any one of those would render your carefully developed selections invalid (and I understand that's of no consolation to you - sorry ). Dave, I wish it was that simple ... Is it different? Yes. Does it work? Not really. Could I find what I was searching for? In about a quarter of cases or less. Try and find photos of United Airlines planes. That would be a problem, because the Airlines list ends with Highland Express Airlines. How about any photo of DC-9-50 series plane? No go, as Version list ends with DC-9-32. Could one work around these limitations? Yes, if one knows a thing or two about airlines and airliners. Are all these just teething problems, which are going to be solved in near future? Very probably. Still, for a desktop users the new Airliners layout is a step back. Nevertheless, you are absolutely right, it is time to move on. Cheers Jure Not all search engines are created equal, unfortunately, and search engine optimisation depends hugely on the skill of the programmers and the analysts who do the upfront work. As the site's revenue stream will depend on people being able to find what they're looking for, the search functions will improve rapidly, trust me. Send them examples of what isn't working, and it'll speed up the fixes. As an example, the site of the company that produces the software I use to create responsive HTML5 on a daily basis sprung an unannounced and total revamp of its support site on us, its users. It had been so badly designed and/or tested that it was virtually unusable. You couldn't even find the community forums to ask what the hell was going on, and the search functions simply did not work. After many emails and frank exchanges of views, it became obvious they were still working on it, and it's likely that someone released it well before it should have been. Now, some months later, the site is much better... I'm just not sure if that someone is still working there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techniquest Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 "The Best Aviation Site on the web just got a new look". And it's completely unnecessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinBK Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Before : easy to use and without any watermarks (if you pay) Now : long to download and watermars everywhere. Is that progress for you ? not for me....how to destroy a (very) good site in one lesson ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 I suppose it gives 'IT' people a reason to exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin-42 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 Well, I do have to admit up front to being a Luddite, but I have been lecturing anyone I can reach in the IT world "Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to." In the office, I used to have one password I used for years. Well, with our enhanced security, there are now fourteen passwords ( I wish I were making that up ) that all need changing with such rapidity, I have them on Post It notes on my monitor. My screen looks like it has a yellow frame. The good news is our hobby provides us with endless obscure type designations that have capitols, lower case and numbers for passwords. That is what I use for my work passwords, which I don't give a toss if someone hacks. If you break in, you might find my work schedule-the horror, or umpteen pages of policies and procedures that are freely available elsewhere. Spitfire will take you to 24 passwords if you take liberties the Roman Numerals. Spitfiremk1, Spitfiremk2............. As to websites changing interfaces. I am just grateful they exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin-42 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 And weren't the Luddites a political organization? EXTERMINATE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AV O Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Is it different? Yes. Does it work? Yes. Could I find what I was searching for? Yes. Moving on.......... Of course ! BUT, which is the most comprehensive and quicker searching way : the present one or the "old" one ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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