Author Topic: WU redesign  (Read 2890 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
WU redesign
« on: December 08, 2015, 06:10:56 AM »
I know this was a hot topic here and I just came across an interesting article... it does not really matter whether you like the new look of WU or not, but this is worth reading...

http://alistapart.com/article/crafting-a-design-persona

Offline gwwilk

  • Southeast Lincoln Weather
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 2578
    • SouthEast Lincoln, NE Weather
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2015, 09:54:36 AM »
Thanks for the link, Jachym!  It is indeed a worthwhile read.  In light of the information the author provides I now realize that my web site has the same unaffiliative persona I of necessity adopted while practicing medicine.  Reaching me through my web site is intentionally difficult, and I don't encourage interaction 'outside the box'.  This 'persona' is definitely something for me to ponder, but I doubt any changes will be forthcoming because the unaffilliative mode is so ingrained after all these years.
Regards, Jerry Wilkins
gwwilk@gmail.com

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2016, 11:51:01 AM »
Btw.... this is how WU reports visibility:

VisibilityMPH

:D Given the value currently shows 3, my eyes are probably really slow, 3mph...

 ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)
« Last Edit: March 09, 2016, 11:54:06 AM by Jachym »

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2016, 03:22:02 PM »
Just found another problem....

I have wondered several times why they include Czech as one of their languages. The problem is that over half of the content on the page is not translated and the rest is machine translated. This of course results in fundamental errors in the translation.

For example, one of the first thing you will notice is that if you want to change day in history view of a station, there is a select box for the date and then a button, which in English has a value "View" -> clicking it "views" the records for this day.

The problem is, in Czech the translation is "Vzhled" - which means something totally different, it actually means "Appearance" - the word "view" was translated like that because in English it can have that meaning too, but here it is a verb and in Czech, unless you know English, you have no way of figuring it out. But ok, it is pretty much obvious that you should click this button.

However, now I have discovered a much more serious error, which can actually lead to lot a total misunderstanding.

So the problem occurs in the box which lists the nearby stations. The problem is that there is a column, which shows the way the station updates.
For about half of the stations it says "rapid fire" - I guess you all know what that means in this particular case.

Unfortunately, this phrase is translated to Czech and translated word by word.... so the actual phrase says "rapid fire" -> or "extensive fire"... the word "fire" in Czech only has the meaning of a natural disaster - fire. As you can imagine, especially in the summer during hot weather this can lead to big misunderstandings, people will immediately think there is a fire at that station... even I was confused and was only able to figure it out because I know WU relatively well, I know the rapid fire feature, I can translate it to Czech... but not many users are like this...

I tried contacting WU and never got a reply....

Offline ValentineWeather

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6370
    • Valentine Nebraska's Real-Time Weather
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2016, 03:54:05 PM »
It would be less confusing if Rapid fire was called "Flash".
Randy

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2016, 04:33:47 PM »
LOL... in fact that wouldnt help either...

in Czech the word "flash" means "lightning" :D

Offline Bushman

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 7549
    • Eagle Bay Weather
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2016, 07:42:00 PM »
Some things simply cannot be translated.
Need low cost IP monitoring?  http://wirelesstag.net/wta.aspx?link=NisJxz6FhUa4V67/cwCRWA or PM me for 50% off Wirelesstags!!

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2016, 07:48:11 PM »
Some things simply cannot be translated.

I know, but first of all, 60% of the text is in English even if you switch to Czech, and that remaining 40% is total nonsense in most cases, you cannot rely on machine translation, especially with phrases, which are just one word, where the translator has no way of determining the context... if it was in English it would be fine, like this it can lead to big misunderstanding and misinterpretation (not to mention how unprofessional it looks, really over 60% is in English anyway...)

Offline SlowModem

  • Weather at the speed of dialup!
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 6641
  • WX @ 26.4 kbs
    • Watts Bar Weather
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2016, 09:01:51 PM »
I read about half of the story and realized that's why WU is so screwed up now.  I've never read such a bunch of gobledy gook.  Bells and whistles and flashy stuff.  If I want to see data, I go to my PWS Weather page.  It's all laid out like it's always been, in a chart.  No fancy graphics, no excessive bandwidth, easy to see and use.  I still send data to WU, but I never go to their site to see data.  It's to graphic oriented and I have to search for the stuff that used to be right there.   It's sad to see what they've become.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2016, 09:07:50 PM by SlowModem »
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline Jáchym

  • Meteotemplate Developer
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 8605
    • Meteotemplate
Re: WU redesign
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2016, 09:36:35 PM »
I read about half of the story and realized that's why WU is so screwed up now.  I've never read such a bunch of gobledy gook.  Bells and whistles and flashy stuff.  If I want to see data, I go to my PWS Weather page.  It's all laid out like it's always been, in a chart.  No fancy graphics, no excessive bandwidth, easy to see and use.  I still send data to WU, but I never go to their site to see data.  It's to graphic oriented and I have to search for the stuff that used to be right there.   It's sad to see what they've become.

Well I think this is highly subjective - I personally like their new site much more, I like lot of graphs, tables, visualizations etc. That is something I actually welcomed, but the inaccuracy, inconsistency, and unreliability is a different matter.

I think the only reason why they are still so popular is because of the number of users they have, which no other weather website can get even close to. And it is a viscous cycle because because they have so many users, all PWS manufacturers, websites etc. support uploads to WU and because they support it they have so many users and because they have so many users, yet other manufacturers support it and it goes on and on.

 

anything