Taylor's New Website Q&A

[Shannon McGlathery]

Hey folks,

My name's Shannon and I led the redesign of Taylor's new website.

You guys are some of our biggest fans so we'd like to know what you think of the new site:
- What do you like?
- What could be improved?
- Anything missing?
- Ideas for new features?
- General questions about the site?

To frame this up, the site we launched is just the first phase in what will be an ongoing evolution. We will continue to add content and features.

Please try to be constructive with any critiques.

The floor is now open for questions… 

[ataylor]

Shannon -- first off, job well done! I'm a designer myself so I'm well aware of what kind of undertaking something like that is.

As such, I do have some opinions. Take them with as much salt as you'd like.

I like that the format is going to give a more consistent experience across different platforms. It's obvious tablet and mobile use was taken into account with the new direction, and I think that's very smart.

In terms of improvement, there are a few things that are a little awkward to me. First is the navigation. It's kind of odd that it's in the middle of the home page and then goes to the top everywhere else. I feel like it should be consistent throughout. Secondly, the hierarchy seems a little awkward once you start going down the page -- lots of competing visual elements that make things hard to digest once you get past "the fold".

I don't love all the textures and the chunky typography, but that's more subjective than the other concerns above. I will say that it looks more like a Fender website now, which isn't necessarily a bad thing per se, but it's not an aesthetic I would generally expect from Taylor, if that makes sense.

All that being said, I'll get used to the new site and I'll look forward to the evolution and additions. And seriously -- job well done overall!

[jjrpilot-admin]

A Great BIG welcome to you Shannon!  Having you AND Brian here is definitely an honor and a privilege.

I do like the website...it'll take a little time to get used to it.  I will say that I love all the pictures...but at times it seems to visually over-whelming.  My eyes dart all over the place...so much to take in.

All that being said, I'd rather have too much than not enough.  I really DO like how all the models are grouped into sub-categories...either by body shape, woods, series or category...that part is slick!   

[Strumming Fool]

Thanks Shannon for providing us a venue to comment. I like the look of the website - bold, bright with great photos. However, I become easily lost in looking for specific details about a particular model, or knowing where to find things like the price list, BTO options, etc.  Perhaps a site map or navigation instructions would be helpful. These are just initial comments, and in all fairness, I have to use the site a bit more to make a final judgement.

Welcome to our forum, and please stick around!

[The Wink]

This makes me happy as I have been looking at the site having really only one issue and now I get to tell someone about it.

I think when you select a series (like GA) for example, the guitars should go in order-114, 214,314, etc. when you pull it up now it jumps all over the place. Some flow with the series numbers would be really nice and make it easier for non Taylor owners to find their way.

I hope that makes sense.

[Jeremy]

In terms of improvement, there are a few things that are a little awkward to me. First is the navigation. It's kind of odd that it's in the middle of the home page and then goes to the top everywhere else.

Overall I think the site is a nice aesthetic improvement over the previous version. I agree with ataylor regarding the navigation. I think it'd be better to stick it at the top and leave it there. Right now when I load the page the nav bar shows up at the bottom of the viewing area. To actually interact with it I'm forced to scroll way down because the drop down menus disappear off the screen otherwise.

If you click on the thumbnails below, I don't like the first one which is what how it loads by default, I prefer the latter which is how it appears elsewhere or when scrolling down the page a bit.




If the nav bar menus were to pop-up on lieu of dropping down on the index page that'd be one way to fix that in lieu of moving it to the top if that's not the desired location on the home page.

[bo1142]

I also prefer the navigation at the top of the page.  I visited a few times before I got the whole layout on the main page.  Overall, I really like the new website, and I'm looking forward to the new Taylor store, as well.  All in all, I like it now that I've gotten use to it.  Great work!

[Gary0319]

First off, thanks for asking......I'm sure we all appreciate the offer to take suggestions.

I too have been building commercial sites for the last 15 years (can it be that long?) and I'd have to agree with the others that the navigation could really use some help. There seems to be no consistancy. Sometimes the navigation is on the top, sometimes it's imbedded in the graphics, sometimes in drop down submenues, etc. Truth be told, by the time I get it all figured out I've forgotton where I wanted to go and why. I'd hazard a guess that the database navigation that is underlaying this site is fighting with the graphical navigation. Could be wrong.

Anyway, hope this is taken as constructive as that is the way it is meant.

And, sincerely,  thanks for asking....

Gary 

[byrd]

It's GREAT to have see Taylor looking for direct feedback from their customers/fans.  Thanks so much for the opportunity!  Some of my comments below were included in a different thread, and some are new:

- What do you like?
1) I really like how all different specs on the guitars are intertwined.  No matter what spec is listed, ALL the corresponding models that include that spec are listed, then from any of the listed guitars, any new spec can be selected to redefine the list.
2) I also like how the shape and wood info is now integrated into the guitar section and not in the separate resource section.

- What could be improved?
1) It seems to be better suited to a larger screen.  I had to zoom it out a bit when viewing.  The main page doesn't even fit on my laptop screen (1366x768 pixels). The menu is cut off at the bottom of the screen.

- Anything missing?
1)  I wish string spacing info was included in the guitar specs (spacing @ nut, spacing @ saddle).  I had a 314ce for a short while and now have a 714ce.  The nut width is the same, but the string spacing is different.  I think this is good info to have readily available, and it seems to be a frequently asked general question.
2)  On a related note... I wish there was more information on the various neck profiles.  There's plenty of info on the NT neck, but no info on the various neck styles.  Standard vs Slim vs T5 vs other neck profiles.  What are the differences, on what guits are they offered?, etc.
 
- Ideas for new features?
1) It would be cool if you could select more than one spec to be used to build the list of results (for instance if I wanted to see all rosewood bodied, GS guits, etc).
2)  I wish, when displaying the lists of results, they could have a selectable format (like small icons).  This could allow many more guitars to be displayed on a single screen.  There would be less pages to of results to click through.
3)  Some sort of compare feature would be nice.... like a little check boxes that can be selected and a main "compare" button someplace.  This would allow direct comparison of a couple models.

Overall, I think the new website is a nice improvement.  I think it would have make sifting though all the various series and models much easier a few months ago when I purchased my guitar.

Thanks again!! 

[jjrpilot-admin]

Can I add one more suggestion?   

I'd love a virtual guitar maker...not sure what you'd call it but where you could plug in your specs like your typical BTO and it would show you what it would look like instantly.

[Jeremy]

Can add one more suggestion?   

I'd love a virtual guitar maker...not sure what you'd call it but where you could plug in your specs like your typical BTO and it would show you what it would look like instantly.

+1. This is a great idea.

[prusaw]

A virtual guitar maker would be super cool!

You guys do such a great job with everything-- always appreciate and am impressed by every facet of your work!  Thank you!

[dangrunloh]

Hello Shannon. I am unable to find the tech sheet PDF's that were available on the old site. I have 11 of them including Taming the beast, breakage and buzzing, adjusting action, understanding ES, steel restringing, and bunch more related to moisture.  Are they on there somewhere?  It should be under "SUPPORT" or "Owner Resources".  I bring it up also because one of those original PDF's would never completely load for me, there was an error in the file. It was "Adjusting the truss rod" and I could only read the first page and could never save it.  I would love to finally get it.  Thanks.

[dangrunloh]

Hello again Shannon I  just found  some short articles under  the Home tab and then Support instead of the Support tab on the top banner. They are not the same as the original Tech sheets which had much more detail.  They were great.

[Tammany Tiger]

Hi, Shannon.

There already is a quite long and interesting thread here about the Taylor website with loads of constructive suggestions, including my own. It's here, although I would be surprised if you had not seen it:

http://www.unofficialtaylorguitarforum.com/index.php?topic=866.msg6645#msg6645

One of the biggest things that I think needs attention is the vertical page layout. I am not used to seeing many high quality commercial sites that require a lot of scrolling to find content.