Wunderground News

First you will notice how long I've been a member so I am really trying to support wunderground. The problem here is that Wunderground attracted people who were actually interested in weather. Weather.com was for those people that simply wanted to know if they needed bring an umbrella tomorrow. They also had the attraction of having video. But people visiting Weather.com really didn't care about weather if you know what I mean. What appears to have happened here is that Wunderground is now trying to cater to those people who are basically what I would call "weather illiterate". These are the people that don't want anything complicated listed on their weather page, don't care about other locations, and like forecasts like "Beauty Forecast" (yes, that exists on weather.com).  It is unfortunate that in today's society (especially in the USA) we have to dumb everything down and get rid of anything scientific because the general population doesn't care or can't understand it.  Both sad situations.  Since I realize economics may be at play here for the reasoning behind the site change I think you could do a lot of service to your "old-school" users if you continue to improve the "classic" site.  The Classic site is starting to look antiquated with all its text links.  Like, why doesn't the the classic site have tabs in the U.S. Severe Weather Map like the new site does?  A nice little GUI improvement without affecting the actual usage of the classic style.  I'm sure there are plenty of other little improvements that could be done to the Classic one as well.  Just don't abandon it.

Preferred the old site. It was compact (the new one has much lower density), with the things that I most often want to know -- current stats (not just temperature!), weather radar thumbnail, and next-few-days' daily forecasts -- at the top of the main page, without having to scroll down. It was also lightweight: loaded quickly, more so than the elaborate new default design. I don't understand why so much main-page space is devoted to the block of fine print of regional weather summary, or the map of worldwide weather events. Valuable stuff, but *not* for the main page for most people, I think.

Of the new designs, the "Lite" view (wund.com) isn't bad. I'd often be happy with it. But the original ("classic") design really was quite good, especially for those familiar with it.

One nice feature of new design: the wind gauge. Circle with direction tick and speed number is slick, concise, clear. But the overall layout of the Current Conditions block is too sparse -- attractive, but not a good use of prime screen area. As an amateur astronomer, I'm personally interested in sunrise/sunset/moon phase, but I don't think that belongs in prime space for most people either.

Old design put an appealing random Photos thumbnail in prime space too. That was a nice touch -- I'm surprised you've moved it down to an out-of-the-way Community block. The whole block-structure scheme is, well, too blockily coarse grained.

You're unable to modify recommended links or edit profile information with the new format.

Don't get rid of the "Classic View". You ruined a great site. On the classic view, the NWS forecasts were at the top of the page with clear descriptions, not cute icons. I have been a member for ten years. If you get rid of the classic view, I will forced to abandon this site and get my weather from another.

The redesign is all about ad revenue, more space for advertising. Guess I'll just go back to NWS which is not too bad especially now.

I use this site A LOT...and was very comfortable with the old version.....but this new version IS GREAT! Took a little while to get oriented, but I think it's much more intuitive and has a lot more, easily accessible, information. GREAT JOB!

i have been a member for about 7.5 years and i like the new web page.
it is simple and easy to use.
good job!

Didn't like it at first but found lots of neat features. But it takes way more resources and browser support than the old site.

However, I don't like the multi-day forecast. In the classic form, you'd see things like:


Saturday
Snow likely. Highs in the lower 30s. Chance of snow 70 percent.

but I can't seem to find that info in the new form. The 5-day forecast just says "Snow".

And I'd like to get rid of the "Weather Events" and the "Weather Summary" (the picture of the forecaster and the long winded forecast).

I don't like the new format AT ALL. We actually have counted on WeatherUnderground for several years as self-sufficiency advocates and gardeners. Since the temperatures, humidity and wind speed are only updated once an hour or even longer, we're moving to a different weather site. This site is no longer adequate.

For those looking for another site, try the actual NOAA site for your area. Accuweather isn't bad, either.

I think the number one problem is the user and not the new site.

One gets used to a certain way of doing things, a certain way they have things laid out and all.

And then WHAM! BAM! LOL! It is like a whole new beginning and starting all over again.

First impressions for me were not so good but as I spend more time looking at things it gets a little bit better and better.

I think what users here should do is calm down and give the new site a good looking over and then see if they like it or not. First impressions are not always the best.

First time I saw the classic site was not necessarily the best first impression either.

So how about it, give it a bit more time? Please?

I have to scroll now to see the 5 day forecast. No thanks. There is a bunch of unused space on the left and right side.

I will have to also agree that I really do not like the new design and will be using the old until something is done to address the following issues.

I think that one of the main problems is the type of user that this seems aimed at - much less sophisticated and scientific.

If I was not a scientist and not able to digest vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently I might agree that the new design has merits. I however find that there is far to much clicking now to get to the same level of data detail. Additionally there are forecast elements that just don't seem to have an equivalent at all at this point.

For example, the old design had a short 5 day forecast horizontally and a detailed 7 day forecast vertically. The 7 day equivalent does not really exist now - particularly when you read the element detail with in each day. These two forecast blocks actually conveyed different data and told a different story when viewed in aggregate.

Also the TAF is really hard to get to now (was less than perfect before) - now is just painful.

There are many other issues preventing me from glancing at a page now and getting a very complete picture of what is going on.

I hope the dumbing it down (simplifying) trend does not continue and that we realize that these data products are often utilized by a very sophisticated user base and complex data rich views of the data is not only desired, but necessary. Please consider having an alternate (advanced) view for such a user base. For now I will have to use the old 'classic' view as I can't get the data effectively from the new one.

Bahumbug! I do not like the change!

As as application designer for the Air Force, I don't believe UIs are solely functional (a means to access a wealth of information) or aesthetic. Having dealt with some of the God-awful stuff that the gov tends to deploy I commend the effort of trying to provide both. You will have purest that think that a "pretty site" will now attract a non-weather loving crowd, but as long as the information is there and organized intuitively (human factors was no doubt a major push toward revamping the interface) then I must say job well done.

Those that are hell-bent on reading through lines of ascii-generated reports that only a mother would find attractive still have noaa.gov to play with.

I have a question.

When I was posting in my own blog just now, in the neo mode-which is quite fast by the way-I couldn't see where I need to go to find my wumail. It is not in the "My Quick Menu" or in the side menu where I go to ban and ignore etc.

Do I still get a RedBot to notify me of mail? Well, I guess not if I can't even see a link to my mailbox.

Help, help! It must be there and I'm just not seeing it.

I will send a ticket in.

Quoting HadesGodWyvern:
You're unable to modify recommended links or edit profile information with the new format.

That's true. I could not put up an about me thingie last night without going to the classic wu page.

Can you see you wu mailbox link in the new view?

bf - I've got a mail link in the top bar, next to "My Quick View". No idea if there's a notification function though.

ADD: BUT I can't get back to the main page from the mailbox.

Oh wow. I got 666. Maybe we'll never get our mailboxes back now. lol

Interesting in this blog how many users of the site have come out to comment on the changes when they have never commented before.

Have been enjoying the classic site for years. My initial reaction to the new format was "why did they change an already great site?" Well, after viewing the "What's new" link I like the new format MUCH BETTER. Thanks for your efforts to improve. We are full time RVers who change locations often. Your site is perfect for our needs. I can't speak to those who mention "too many ads" as I am a paid member.
Mark

667. Barefootontherocks 11:14 PM GMT on February 02, 2011


That's true. I could not put up an about me thingie last night without going to the classic wu page.

Can you see you wu mailbox link in the new view?

The mail link is to the right of the Quick Menu.

Always difficult getting used to changes, but they are inevitable. If I had been on the redesign team, I would have encouraged what I liked best about the old site: at-a-glance 5-day forecast and Wunderphotos "above the fold", scroll down for more weather detail and more pws options when I wanted that content.

Wund.com gives me the at-a-glance, and I will probably visit the photo section of wunderground.com when I want to see it. But I will miss the photos up top. I was often surprised to find myself checking the forecast, only to wind up following a photo to a new vista - a new viewpoint on the world. Many of the photographers are really very good, offering me inspiration to improve my own photography.

I will bookmark wund.com as well as the main photo gallery (now called wunderground.com/wximage/), and I will look for other weather sites besides wunderground.com.

Edit: I just realized how important wunderphotos were to me. That's what hooked me to the site! Amazing what you learn when there is a change. I'll just keep on using wunderground, but I'll go in via the old site at classic.wunderground.com.

Thank you for continued access to the classic site for all who are distressed with the new format; hope you will keep that option available. I was horrified to open up wunderground this morning to be confronted with a large "current location" box with data for a city over 100 miles away (how did they come up with that?) but felt much better after I found out how to change it to my actual location. I am not as much into the extremely technical aspects as many people are and haven't explored the site fully, but I think I will get used to the changes. I do like being able to look at several photos with one click; I was not too happy before when it was changed so all you could see was one picture when you clicked on the photo on the main page.

shore,
Happy you have a mail link.
I have no male link. lol And no wumail link either. Not on this page and not when I'm in my own blog. That is not happy. Are you in FF or what?

As with anything change is not always something that is immediately accepted or looked forward to; we become familiarized with what we are accustomed to.

As WunderPress mentioned there is so much as regards changes that it would take too long to list everything. In addition this is the culmination of over a decade of redesign.

I find the the new lay-out refreshing - but I am also currently a bit awkward at navigating about.

I am pleased to hear about the software changes that incorporate en element of speed.

I'm certainly looking forward to exploring more.

Curious? how can you switch to the new style from within the old style?

Best of regards Wunderground...

The site is great. The only thing that should be focused on more is the wunderphotos, there should be larger banners on each page. The site was really made through Wunder Photos and you should stick with what made you succesful

Quoting HadesGodWyvern:


The mail link is to the right of the Quick Menu.

Cut off for me. I'll try a different screen resolution.

This morning, I noted the reduced usability and readability of this new site. Before this morning, I had not bothered to register for a Web site of this type anywhere, but the problems drove me to complain.

On the positive side (from my standpoint), the new look got me to look at other sites. I discovered http://forecast.weather.gov from the National Weather Bureau is clean, clear and helpful. I have changed my preferences on my other computers to that site (set for my local area and zip code), and I will do the same for this computer after I finish typing.

Thanks to the Weather Underground for your help in the past. It is a shame that the new site works so badly, but this gave me the incentive to look elsewhere, and now I truly appreciate the National Weather Bureau.

Signing off --- bye, bye.

Quoting SethatMarine:
As with anything change is not always something that is immediately accepted or looked forward to; we become familiarized with what we are accustomed to.

As WunderPress mentioned there is so much as regards changes that it would take too long to list everything. In addition this is the culmination of over a decade of redesign.

I find the the new lay-out refreshing - but I am also currently a bit awkward at navigating about.

I am pleased to hear about the software changes that incorporate en element of speed.

I'm certainly looking forward to exploring more.

Curious? how can you switch to the new style from within the old style?

Best of regards Wunderground...

Just take away classic, in the url

ADD: BUT I can't get back to the main page from the mailbox.

I hope they fix that or you could be stuck in your mailbox forever.

I do not like the new site either. Going back to "classic view" didn't take me back to my old home page. I just want to immediately see the 5-day forecast and will dig deeper if I want. I'll be searching for a new weather site, too, unless someone can tell me how to actually get my original view back. Change is not always better!

wow. Navigation is a little harder with Internet Explorer 9. for the blue tabs. You hover over the tab and try to navigate down the list and it disappears.

maybe that is why people are upset.

Ah, I see, now. I'm a paid member - have been for years - and didn't realize all that white space was ad space. Well, know what? I'd happily pay more to have the old site back. How many people can't pay at least 5 bucks a year for ad-free access to a great weather site? I'd pay 5 bucks a month, for that matter.

But not for the new, useless, hard to navigate site. I'm glad it's not just me, because when I first commented, I hadn't read many comments. But obviously someone should have done some beta surveying prior to committing to this.

I find it disheartening, while predictable, that people are objecting to this marvelous new site design.

It's predictable, though, because no matter how brilliant the idea or implementation, there will always be people who assume that new and different equals "unusable". Because something(s) moved or expressed differently, that means it's "garbage".

Speaking as an independent web developer (freelance, not corporate), I can tell you that this site is a clinic on usability. If you study usability experts like Jakob Nielsen, you'd understand that this site was NOT designed by programmers or marketers. Trust me, the folks behind this took time to seriously think this through and they had some talented people who drew this up. A project of this scope would take years, as, in fact, it did.

Weather Underground has lagged behind so many other sites for over a decade now in terms of modern design. The functionality has been there but only as a patchwork of additions over time (that never really all fit together). This site has suddenly leaped past everyone else. Accuweather comes to mind as a your next closest competitor. But when you go to Accuweather, you never feel like the information is coming from anyone locally. It feels like someone in some office building in the middle of nowhere is making the weather for everyone. And, invariably, it's always off and rarely useful.

Weather Underground has achieved, through modern, real-time data technology (front- and back-end), to integrate a sense of community with a staggeringly rich and complex array of global weather data. This is no small feat and I applaud you!

Please go back to the drawing board and try it again. This redesign is not at all good. If I wanted this view, I would go to Weather.com. I agree with the person who said that Weather Underground is for those who study weather. I support this site with expensive equipment.

Please put back up the old site and call this one off.

Thanks

I agree with most posters on here. Your new format just plan crap. I have been a paid member for quite some time and I will not renew. I think your developers made it this way because it was just plain and simple easier for YOU!!

The new site is nice once you get used to it.
Change is not all bad you old farts.

I have been a memeber for quite a few years now and I have to agree with the general concesus that the reason I joined WU was the sofistication of the site gearing towards weather inteligence. Now it looks like Weather Channel or any other cookie cutter site. This is a sad day.

OK, I can cope with change, but WHERE is the iCal link?

It is hard to go back and forth and the new first page misses the old USA views, radar, fronts, snow depth, etc., which are now hard to find. Switching to classic does not go back to the new format and getting there requires a location view.

It is hard to look beyond 5 days. Also it now takes a lot of scrolling to get the alll the old information.

I would favor a higher information density in the new view.

Also, I should add, I'm a huge weather nerd. I take great exception to the comment earlier that this site is now for people who are weather illiterate or just trying to see if they should bring an umbrella to the office.

I invite you to slowly look around at this new site without prejudice. Then, when you're through, give me the URL of another site that has as much local, regional, national and global weather data all at your fingertips and within no more than 1 or 2 clicks. I'll tell you right now: there is no such site.

Once again, just because something has moved or looks different doesn't mean the data isn't there. Look!

Speed's great. Usability needs some work. When I changed from 800x600 stretched to 896x600 I could see a rust-colored"New..." which did indicate new mail. Once I clicked it, any indication of a mailbox disappeared. Which means, ugh, 1024x768. Now, with that, I see Mail, Settings, GMT+100 on the right. And a whole column of white space along the right side.

Gads, this is way too tiny on a laptop wu devs.

I guess, if I want to use wumail I'll have to do so in classic or switch to this view just to use it. Pain is, this is TINY and I gotta restart my computer to get the screen back where I like it at 800x600 stretched.

Anybody got any ideas? I'm back to classic for now.

Would putting the mail link over to the left where it can be seen at 800x600 screw with wu advertising revenue or something?

I like the speed but I'm back to classic for now.

Being a web developer, I completely understand that it is impossible to please everyone when a site is redesigned. There were some things on the "classic" site that were rather antiquated and needed a facelift. However, a site shouldn't lose key functionality when you do a redesign.

One of the key functions for me was the detailed 5-day forecast. In the Classic view, Friday's forecast reads, "Mostly sunny in the morning...then becoming partly cloudy. Highs around 30. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph. Wind chill as low as 5 below in the morning." Tell me exactly what to expect and when. The new view says "31 (degrees). Partly cloudy." To make matters worse, I have to scroll down to see even this new abbreviated "forecast."

Ditch the "Weather Events" and "Weather Summary" on the right hand side of the page. If I'm on the page for a specific location, I want the details for that location. If I want a national or world view, I'll click on those links. You're mixing unrelated functions on the same page.

I'm trying to like it -- I really am. But too many features are missing, like the detailed forecast.

The new menu system is incompatable with Internet Explorer 9 Beta, even when in "compatibility mode". I, as do many others, prefer the original site we began supporting years ago. Please do not discontinue with the original site at this time.

If weather.gov added favorites to the side I don't think I'd come back to this site again.  People complaining about the new look should take a look at weather.gov.  They've really tried to improve it over the years and in some cases provides better info the wunderground.  The Severe weather map is a perfect example.  Wunderground shows white for anything "cold/winter" related.  Weather.gov actually makes a distinction between blizzard warning and wind chill advisory.  Big difference in my book.  As others have said, look at the new layout compared to Weather.com's layout.  Looks nearly identical to me now.  

I do not like the new site! Please change it back!!!!

Haven't read all the comments, but I see many are complaints about the new format. I am very happy that I don't have to go to the bottom to see sunrise sunset times. This is the key data I need to see, and I always wished there were a way to get it near the top. Thank you very much wunderground!

Plain and simple. You took the greatst web site on the internet and turned it into the worst.

Quoting wideopenvista:
I find it disheartening, while predictable, that people are objecting to this marvelous new site design.

It's predictable, though, because no matter how brilliant the idea or implementation, there will always be people who assume that new and different equals "unusable". Because something(s) moved or expressed differently, that means it's "garbage".

Speaking as an independent web developer (freelance, not corporate), I can tell you that this site is a clinic on usability. If you study usability experts like Jakob Nielsen, you'd understand that this site was NOT designed by programmers or marketers. Trust me, the folks behind this took time to seriously think this through and they had some talented people who drew this up. A project of this scope would take years, as, in fact, it did.

Weather Underground has lagged behind so many other sites for over a decade now in terms of modern design. The functionality has been there but only as a patchwork of additions over time (that never really all fit together). This site has suddenly leaped past everyone else. Accuweather comes to mind as a your next closest competitor. But when you go to Accuweather, you never feel like the information is coming from anyone locally. It feels like someone in some office building in the middle of nowhere is making the weather for everyone. And, invariably, it's always off and rarely useful.

Weather Underground has achieved, through modern, real-time data technology (front- and back-end), to integrate a sense of community with a staggeringly rich and complex array of global weather data. This is no small feat and I applaud you!

I'm a software developer myself, and I certainly don't assume that new and different equals "unusable". I also admire the work of Jakob Nielsen. However, this site, especially for the paid members, is a special-purpose site. It provides technical information to a technical audience. It also is a site that people use very frequently, and they are willing to invest some effort in learning how to best use it. While needless complexity should always be avoided, technical people can deal with, and in fact prefer, complexity when it is inherent in the data being provided. These things make this site far different than a typical web site, with different goals and priorities than the sites usually studied by Jacob Nielsen and other UI gurus.

There are some things I like about the new site, and the old site does look a little outdated by modern standards. But from my perspective the old site works far better for its special purpose. The old site could be modernized while keeping the same general design and organization, and that's what I would ideally like to see.

I like it, it is a lot cleaner looking!