New Newsletter Format

[Darren]

Although I'm posting this ahead of publication, those of you who subscribe to our Newsletter will hopefully notice we have tried an entirely new format this week and would love to hear your views on whether it is a change for the better or not!

So please post your views, good or bad here once you have seen today's Newsletter which can be viewed on-line here.

<fingers crossed>
_________________
Darren Griffin

[BrianA]

I like the content, but have problems with the format:

- a really annoying speed camera image that keeps flicking

- smaller font size?

- grey rather than black font which, with the small size, makes the text unnecessarily difficult to read.


_________________
Brian Abbott

Go 520 + Navcore 8
(was a happy PDA user until TT stopped updating the software)

[sailorman]

Excellent and well thought out change. Very readable; so keep it up.

[Darren]

[Anita]

I much prefer the new style.

1) I like your compromise with the flashing Gatso, Darren. It catches the attention without being intrusive.

2) The text size is considerably bigger in the newsletter, but maybe it looks smaller on the website, depending on the user's settings.

3) I find the grey font easier on my aged eyes than high-contrast black on white.

You're never going to please all of us, Darren!
_________________
Anita
TomTom VIA 135 - App 12.075
UK map 1130.12368
Samsung Galaxy S21

[carl_the_cobbler]

It is much more engaging to the eye, easier format to read and holds the interest a lot longer.
Must be honest and say that I never used to read it all, today I did.

So several from me

Cheers

Carl

[pushandpull]

Congratulations to the team on the new format for the Newsletter.
I think it is excellent and a big improvement.
.
Larger print - nice touch for us oldies
Very clear and uncluttered - no excessive use of distracting colour and graphics
Easy to navigate thanks to all the links
.
I hope you will retain this format and not revert to the old one!

…..Ken (Heywood, U.K.)
_________________
Nobody is perfect, which is why I'm called nobody!

TT940 Live TTG920T, TTG700, TTG Classic, Nuvi1410

[luing]

The grey charactors are very difficult to read. Black gives a much better contract on white background

[ropsey]

I like the new format, good on you for trying something different.
A lot of work goes into producing an interesting article in a new format.
Well done, change is progress.
R S PLACE

[Pocketgps]

Looks good to me - Well done

[SpikeyMikey]

Looks good for me too

I agree with comments about the grey text too. It's fine for me but I can understand why others may not see it in the same light

Keep up the good work
_________________
Mike
TT GO6000 (Europe); iPhone and iPad Pro with iOS TT GO & MyDrive + CamerAlert

[i0i]

Much better. The old news letter was a constant source of amusement to me, in Thunderbird all the text would appear about two pages off to the right. I had to scroll sideways to find it. Actually, I looked forward to the crazy scrolling layout, but this new format is much easier to read.

You still have some Thunderbird issues. The first few lines of this new newsletter appear like this;
"function viewOnLoad() { if (document.location.href.indexOf('spi=1') != -1) { if (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('msie') != -1) { window.print(); } else { window.setTimeout(window.print, 10); } } if (document.location.href.indexOf('hgd=1') != -1) { var footer = document.getElementById("view-footer"); if (footer) { footer.style.display = 'none'; } } } Web Bug from http://rs6.net/on.jsp?t=1102355973445.0.1100360207501.107195&ts=S0369&o=http://ui.constantcontact.com/images/p1x1.gif"

Then the rest of it displays nicely. As mentioned, the text is a touch pale. The grey is nice, but could be a little darker.
Nice width, it's easy to read, and the different sections are more clear.

[Darren]

Thanks for the feedback, that's interesting that Thunderbird doesn't like the format, there shouldn't be anything in there that does not conform to the common standards but I'll pay some attention to it and see what is tripping it up.

Damn standards, I already have to implement custom code to force IE to display properly because MS choose not to abide by the defacto standards and now it looks like I'll have to add Thunderbird to the list too!
_________________
Darren Griffin

[richard345]

I like the new format. It displays perfectly in Outlook 2003 and the quick links are excellent.

The Gatso flashes three times for me, but it's not at all distracting.

I was unsure about the grey font at first, but opening the message a couple of times, I've found it more easy on the eye than stark BLACK on white.

I too hope it stays.
_________________
Ric - TomTom 520 DEAD - Passed to the great traffic jam in the sky. Now using Maps & Waze on Samsung Galaxy S4 + CamerAlert of course!

[Darren]

I chose grey as I found it easier on the eye against the high contrast white page and it fits with our overall colour scheme. I suffer migraines that can be triggered by high contrasts but I'll test a slightly darker grey shade next week and we can solicit feedback as to whether that is an improvement or not.

This week the major test was the layout, next week I hope to spend some more time on editorial content with stuff that will be unique to the newsletter.

Thanks for all the feedback, the old format was easy to produce but we realised it was well overdue for an overhaul. This format is much more work but if its well received then it will be worthwhile.

The newsletter is sent out to over 100,000 members and even with the old layout we always saw huge increases in traffic to our site in the days following release so its important that we make the most of a valuable resource and make it something people actually look forward to receiving.
_________________
Darren Griffin

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