Wanted: Your ideas for the new F1 Fanatic

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F1 Fanatic last had a redesign at the beginning of 2007 and it’s starting to look a bit tired in places.

There’s a whole host of new functionality I want to add to the site and there’s a lot of work to do in making it load more quickly and less prone to crashing.

But I also want to know what your ideas are for the site. How would you change F1 Fanatic? What bits should be chucked out and what should we keep?

Feel free to suggest anything including article or series ideas, changes to the layout of the site, the live blogs, the forum or anything else.

I’m going to be working on the new version of the site during the off-season. If you’ve got web design experience – particularly with PHP and MySQL – and would like to volunteer to help out, please let me know.

Thanks to everyone who replied top my earlier request for help with optimising the site. I’ve taken lots of your suggestions on board and will be in touch with you about further developments.

In the meantime, please let me know what you’d like to see on F1 Fanatic in the future!

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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111 comments on “Wanted: Your ideas for the new F1 Fanatic”

  1. hmmm… keep the font. keep the blue/green/white colours.

    my only real problem with this site is trying to make a poll when i create a forum topic. the button is either never there, or it just does nothing when I click it.

    and perhaps easier navigation around the forum?

    1. Sato, you need to right-click on “Do You want members to vote on this topic” option. A separate window opens up, where you can type the question & put in the choices. Try it next time.

      1. Yes, but it only works when it wants!

      2. where’s that option??? all i get when I click ‘Add new’ topic is three white boxes: topic title, post, and the tags box…

  2. First comment: Your site is great, keep up the good work!

    Menu navigation could be a little bit easier, like selecting a driver and then getting a list of all the articles relating to that driver. This propably should be on the top of the site, no one is scrolling down to the bottom that often.
    Definetily keep the articles by guest writers or even have more of them! (Nothing against your articles, but you can’t do all the work alone)

    something I’m missing: You used to number the comments, if you’d introduce that again, it made orientation much easier.

    1. Numbered comments is on the list, guest articles are definitely staying, and the navigation is going to get a re-working.

  3. I would like to suggest two small things:

    Having driver and team points listed in a column on the homepage,like on F1Wolf’s site.I know there is a page for that but,it is good to have a quick reference.

    I liked when the comments were numbered also.There are ALOT more people here now and it is tedious to scroll down the list and find my avatar to see if anyone responded to my post.

    Thanks for all you do Keith!

    1. I agree with Sato I love the colours and layout.
      But Wesley mentioned f1wolf’s site and they, during the season, show what engine number the drivers are on, gearbox stats and even qualifying between team mates and so forth. Perhaps you could try something similar?
      To be honest that is all I can really think of as the site prety much covers everything!

  4. @ Xanathos

    Ha!We were typing the same suggestion at the same time!

  5. 1)I think an archive of all old articles sorted by date-month-year would be very helpful. I know there are some articles in the community section, but it lists only the top 100. We all would love to read the older articles.

    2)The topics in the forum sections are repetitive sometimes. For example there are at least 3 topics debating as to whether Button deserves the WDC or not.

    3)At present there are 6 items in “Articles in brief” section including this one. Is there a way to read the “older” articles in this section? Like in the forum?

    The layout and everything is just fine. I love the site the way it is :) Simple & brilliant.

    Live blog is bloody brilliant! And I really have to thank you for the efforts you’ve put Keith, especially the Japanese Gp weekend ;) Who can forget that Saturday morning ;)

    1. mp4

      Regarding your ‘articles in brief’ question: when you click on articles in brief look at the bottom of the post,just above comments and there is a link to the side of “Read More”

      1. Wow! Thanx for that Wesley! I’m really blind,thought I knew everything bout this site. Dunno who I missed that!

    2. Saw THIS Just now! Wow!

    3. I’m not sure what can be done about the forums, I always check if topic has been discussed before which is very easy to do with the tags.
      You are spot on about the live blog, it’s one of the things about f1 I’m missing most. It’s really outstanding :) :P

      1. HounslowBusGarage
        7th November 2009, 21:05

        It would be easier to spot if the topic had appeared earlier in the Forums if there were more than the last six shown. Maybe you show the titles, but to actually sconnect to the foruum posts you have to click through to another page where the latest twenty or thirty threads are shown.

    4. Yeah the archives need a little sorting out. You might find this page useful:

      https://www.racefans.net/credits-and-contacts/f1fanatic-archive/

  6. Site is very good, good analysis, articles and reports. I think layout is of site good enough.
    But sometimes I face site loading problems. Sometimes error 300 or something like that.

    1. But sometimes I face site loading problems. Sometimes error 300 or something like that.

      same here. its probably related to the number of hits

    2. Yes it is traffic related, but it’s also down to the site not being very well optimised. More on that here: https://www.racefans.net/forum/topic.php?id=814

  7. I do not know if you would able to do this, but the big downfall of the website is the forums. So I would say we should change over to forums such as these ones: http://www.phpbb.com/

    Other than that no really much to add.

    1. Yep, agree the site is brilliant, I’ve visited it almost everyday since I discovered it, thanks very much Keith!
      I think the layout is neat but the forums could do with a little improvement. phpbb forums work very well.

  8. I tend to get an error when I visit your website. Something like ”Error 500″. Not sure if other people experience the same error. Perhaps it can be worked on?

    1. ”Error 500″

      yeah, that error loves me too

    2. Yeah that’s the same as what Ninad’s described above.

  9. To begin Keith, I come here for your content, which is leaps and bounds above everyone else’s. Your analysis continually astounds me as to it’s depth, but when reading into the analysis, the graphs always tend to frustrate me. Possibly a second “graphics” page associated with you fantastic graphs so we can see an entire post’s graphs at much larger sizes. I know I miss a lot of nuance with images that are 500-600pixels, but if we could get to a page where they were 800-900 wide and include 3 full graphs stacked vertically, rather than having to click, go back, click.
    For a standard wordpress setup, I think the theme works well, you can play with color and layout all day, and end up right back where you are, wouldn’t bother me a bit either way,, (again, I’m here for the great content).
    In terms of the forum and other bits,, here’s where I fail,, I had no idea! (plus I’m as anti forum as you can get, they never seem to work too well, whereas comments and facebook areas seem more fluid and alive (but I know, some people swear by forums,, sadly I’m not one of them).
    Keep up the amazing writing! Thanks!!
    Maybe an F1 fanatic T-shirt or sticker (wouldn’t mind one on my helmet!)

    1. There’s going to be a bit of a refresh of the design elements including the logo, and after that I’m finally going to get some merchandise done. It’s been on my ‘to-do’ list for 12 months at least! But the blue-green colour scheme probably won’t change much.

  10. I have not used the forums much, so will comment only on the website changes, I would like to have.

    1. Keep using the extra wide photos, for me thats one of the key differentiators of this blog. You had mentioned that finding such photos is a bit painful, but trust me, its worth the effort

    2. I think the upper array of options:

    * Home
    * F1 video
    * F1 live
    * F1 information
    * F1 2009 season
    * F1 2010 Season
    * F1 Pictures
    * About/Contact
    * Community

    are hardly used. Instead of keeping them, I suggest you change some of them and replace them with
    1) A drop down menu of latest articles (full)
    2) A drop down menu of latest articles (brief)
    3) A link to the “official program guide for XXXX Grand Prix” which you started using couple of races ago.
    4) Current championship standings
    5) F1 wallpapers/photos

    This way, a new user can find all the new stuff straight away.

    The bottom panel of “2009 F1 grand Prix”, “drivers”, “teams” can be moved to the right hand side below the “F1 Fanatic’s top videos and books” section. This way I can research about a driver easily.

    And most importantly Have a CLICK TO REPLY option right after the article ends. I hate to have to scroll down to the very end of the comments section to have to post something.

    And has been stated by many above me, the Error 500 thing.

    1. Blimey, I thought I was lazy! All you have to do is click on the arrow to take you down, it’s hardly running a marathon! But I suppose that would still be an improvement

    2. You had mentioned that finding such photos is a bit painful, but trust me, its worth the effort

      Not as painful as hosting them! That’s partly what some of the technical changes are aimed at improving.

      I understand your complaint about where the ‘reply’ button is, but my concern is that if it’s at the top of the comments people will just add a comment without reading them. I’m concerned it might diminish the quality of discussion, particularly contributions from people who are new to the site. What do you think?

      1. “I understand your complaint about where the ‘reply’ button is, but my concern is that if it’s at the top of the comments people will just add a comment without reading them. I’m concerned it might diminish the quality of discussion, particularly contributions from people who are new to the site. What do you think?”

        Totally agree.Can’t have a one sided conversation.

      2. Yes, I agree too. This will encourage people to just write something without thinking or paying attention. Nothing is more frustrating than having to deal with someone who has obviously paid no attention to the conversation at hand. I think keeping the reply button at the bottom of all comments is best.

    3. On a PC type CTRL+END.

  11. A like and dislike button!

    1. Like it, added to the list :-)

      1. A like and dislike kimi ;)

  12. AlonsoFollower
    7th November 2009, 17:46

    Keith, I’m aesthetically handicapped in general, but I’d say that I keep coming here for the content and (sometimes) for the discussion that is generated, not for the design.

    The design is ok as far as I can tell. The only thing that you could improve is with the older article videos. More often than not, when you want to watch something that is, say, more than a year old, you find that the video has been remoevd.

    Otherwise I find your current desing quite good and don’t see any point in you spending time or money to “fix” what is essentially not broken. The design may or may not win you some first time visitors, but ultimately the content will.

    1. The design is ok as far as I can tell. The only thing that you could improve is with the older article videos. More often than not, when you want to watch something that is, say, more than a year old, you find that the video has been remoevd.

      Yeah I’m afraid that’s down to FOM really, not much I can do :-(

      The design may or may not win you some first time visitors, but ultimately the content will.

      I agree – this is much more about functionality than design.

      1. maybe you could add a feature like:

        ‘if video on the link has been removed, click here to post fresh link of the same event’

        (and yes, then you – or maybe one of the mods – has to check if the link is proper and replace the original)

  13. 1) Make password protected replies. Where the user not only requires to supply the email address but also the password in order to post a comment or a reply. Also make the replies numbered as well as dated.

    2) Design: Get rid of some of the white background on the sides of the page and add a more neutral colour. Something relating to the F1 Fanatic logo colours maybe, light grayish – it just breaks up a bit of the white and does not make the page tiresome to read, and also focuses the reader to look into the article. Also your F1 fanatic logo could use a bit of a tweak – eg. make the “F1” part italic, bold and a larger font size (to be more fancy you could also add some cool graphics on those two letters “F1“). Also remove that “add” that sits right inside the logo because that add makes the site look cheap. Put the add underneath the logo, if not then put the logo underneath the add. And maybe try to group the adds in one place on bottom right hand side?

    Trying to stick with colours that match is good. If you use blue and white and gray – then green doesn’t really go there :), but if you like green then fine.

    To me, the headline topics should be dark blue not light blue, and when they are read turn them into lighter gray colours.

    3) We need a direct button that takes us to older articles, eg. where you have “Articles in Brief” and “Articles in full” they should be classified in dates there, and right underneath those put a link “Past” or “Previous” so they can be scrolled in those windows. Also, you only display the latest 6 articles in those two windows, where as it would be better to display the latest 15 or 20 articles. It makes it much easier for the user to search the most recent articles onto which they posted a comment or a reply.

    4) This last comment brings another point, it would be nice to setup a system where the user is alerted when a reply is posted onto their comments – something like what youtube does…

    thats all for now. ;)

    1. Get rid of some of the white background on the sides of the page and add a more neutral colour. Something relating to the F1 Fanatic logo colours maybe, light grayish – it just breaks up a bit of the white and does not make the page tiresome to read, and also focuses the reader to look into the article

      Yeah. I have to agree on the white background thing. I’ve spent most of the last 3 years hanging around this site. And I’m proud to say that I’ve developed “Dark Circles” around my eyes :P & now wear spectacles. My ophthalmologist says that I should reduce my time on F1F!! I said NO!!

      Probably a “BLACK” background will put an end to my eye woes.

      1. My ophthalmologist says that I should reduce my time on F1F!! I said NO!! Probably a “BLACK” background will put an end to my eye woes.

        lol

    2. Wow lots of interesting suggestions from Matsukov…

      I’m not sure what the benefit of having password protected commenting would be. Yes, it would help reduce spam but that’s not a huge problem right now and it would discourage people from leaving comments.

      remove that “add” that sits right inside the logo because that add makes the site look cheap.

      Is this the banner ad at the top-right or the ‘Ads by Google’ line underneath the F1 Fanatic logo and the menu?

      Placing ads is always tricky because I need to strike a balance between generating revenue and not having a site that looks ‘cheap’.

      That said, I am looking at offering the facility to make voluntary contributions. If that were enough to cover the costs of running the site then the perhaps ads could be scrapped entirely.

      On point three I am looking at something similar to this.

      And I like point four, that’s on the list too. You do know you can subscribe to all comments on a post already, right?

      1. I’m not sure what the benefit of having password protected commenting would be. Yes, it would help reduce spam but that’s not a huge problem right now and it would discourage people from leaving comments.

        yeah np, but not long ago we had some spams, as you saw on the forum, where somebody managed to reply using our username’s but i think we managed to sort that out using the avatar for now…

        Is this the banner ad at the top-right or the ‘Ads by Google’ line underneath the F1 Fanatic logo and the menu?

        Yeah it is the banner ad on the top right:

        http://www.marksandspencer.com/International-Delivery/b/183243031?extid=meint

        To me that ad “M&S” makes a part of the website logo, in that it sits effectively inside the logo on right side of it, im not sure if that was intended. I guess it is a little trivial, but positioning the ad somewhere else would make the site look more “neat” :)

        Regarding contributions im sure that many would help in that matter including me, if its financial the question is how to distribute that, since personally i dont trust credit card transactions. Running the site or looking after it in some way im sure there would be volunteers for that..

  14. Firstly the site is very good as it is Keith. So, it is hard to find anything to change. However, I agree with some of the above suggestions:
    * Drivers/Constructors table on the main page – you could also add a countdown to the next race as I have seen a lot of F1 sites with these.
    * Maybe change the links at the top of the page (F1 Video, F1 Live etc.) to drop-down menus to make navigation easier.
    That’s about it. I like the colour scheme how it is so I hope you keep it the same :)

  15. I Think A Much Cleaner Back Ground, Maybe A New Background Colour, But You Defo Have To Keep The Name Colour.
    Also Drivers/Constructors Tables Visible On Main Page, With Previous Results Of Last Race & Countdown Till The Next Race.

  16. I think the site looks OK as it is but I’m sure there is room for improvement too…

    o I’m a fan of bright neon colours and the like so I’d prefer it if there were a few brighter colours around the screen to liven things up, but perhaps that would make the text more difficult to read?

    o I’m not a massive fan of the F1 Fanatic logo, it’s hardly a priority but I bet someone could come up with something a bit more snazzy

    oI sent a message the other day, I’m not sure if you got it, but it basically said add more forum topics to the main page because too many get left behind because they fall off the top 6 list and less people see them

    o Depending on how good your contacts are, it would be nice if you could occasionally get hold of an ex driver/ team employee/ reporter etc, and ask us beforehand to send in questions they could answer. (If F1 Fanatic managed an interview with Ari Vatanen I’m sure it’s capable of getting an ex driver, especially if they were publicising somnething!)

    1. With the forum box, what I’d rather do is have fewer topics in there but have a clearer link to the forum itself, where people can see a much bigger list of active discussions. Or perhaps some sort of scrolling list. But I’m keen to make the front page a bit less busy than it is at the moment.

      And I couldn’t agree more about getting more original content and interviews. It’s not easy (I do have a full-time job after all!) but I’ll see what I can do :-)

  17. Keep the 470×150 images : )

    1. I’m definitely going to keep the width on the articles around that size but I think the aspect ratio may have to change. Sorry!

  18. To be honest, I mostly read the updates over RSS, so I don’t even see the design. Doesn’t look tired to me, when I click through every once in a while, either. So… sorry, no suggestions from me! ;)

    1. That’s fine – I always have an eye on the RSS feed as a lot of people get content that way now.

      But it’s interesting to see I’ve now got almost as many Twitter followers as RSS subscribers.

  19. Great site Keith, thanks for the early updates on fuel loads, most of us read and post on this site are aware of points standings etc and know other sites that will accomdate. I enjoy the topics and debates as a true F1 fan would, like it just the way it is. Well done

  20. Any chance to be able to actually watch f1 on your site? I think many of your users would appreciate such an option, even if they had to pay for it. Imagine a liveblog with the actual race in the same popout window. Now that would be great.

    1. That would be fantastic but the legal obstacles would be gigantic! However I think there’s a lot of room for improvement with the live blogs.

  21. A live news feed- i wouldnt have to check other sights like planet f1 if i had immediate news, F1fanatic does the best articles but not always up to date

    1. F1F is up to date but not updated by the hour. It is a blog after all not a F1 newssite and as Keith mentioned he does have a regular job too. What is great is the analysis and articles on any event.

  22. as I emailed you some time ago, I have an issue with sites that can’t use all the screen… here there’s at least 30% of the screen (all the right part) unused…
    It would be easier to read and images would be better handled.

    keep up w/ the good work!
    cheers

    1. Ah, also I never use the differentiation from articles in brief and articles in full…. i myself read all the titles, and if it interests me, I go on… they could be all together and I wouldnt even notice.

  23. Better galleries!

    1. Better how?

      1. Better navigation. Where the entire page does not need to reload when browsing the images. Perhaps something like on the Planet F1 site or the official site.

  24. I suggest more polls, have them on the main page.

    1. Oh, also I know it is not a feature for the website. But, could we create our own passwords, as my current one to hard to remember. I’ve had to keep the e-mail with my password, and I’ve have to sign to my MSN to copy and paste it.

  25. make an easier password.i can’t log in cos the password is a group of random numbers.and when i get it right it won’t log in.wrong password it says

    1. @ ciaran

      I have had lots of problem with this myself.

    2. Yeah, I have a problem with this too, I have to go to my email account to find my account activation email just to copy and paste the password. And for some reason it won’t let me change it to something I can remember

    3. This is a problem to do with the forum software, Unfortunately fixing it will cause some massive complications which, during the season, I haven’t have time to handle. Should get it done over the winter though.

    4. Yeah +1 for this. It would be good if we could change them to something we can remember, I know you can do that now but I’ve never got it to work.

  26. Hi Keith,

    First thing to say is that I think the site is fantastic as it is, and that if nothing was to change, it would still be the best F1 site around.

    However, if you want to improve, there are a few things that I think can be done. This will come across as nit-picking, but that’s only because there’s so little wrong with it that I can only pick up on the small details!

    My main concern is that the site is too ‘cluttered’. If you compare it to http://www.jamesallenonf1.com (one of only 2 other sites I trust for F1 news), you will see that James uses fewer colours, keeps headlines in the same colour as the body text, and keeps adverts to a single column on the right-hand side. I realise that Mr Allen may have a bit more money to spend on his site, but in my opinion the site is slightly more readable because of it.

    You can go to far, however. Joe Saward’s blog at joesaward.wordpress.com looks, I feel, rather bleak. Yes it’s readable, but you keep expecting tumbleweed to blow across the screen!

    Just a quick note, while I think about it, about RSS. Your site works excellently on RSS (or, at least, Google Reader). I subscribe to your blog and each post comes up in full, on time, and formatted correctly. The aforementioned James Allen site often doesn’t filter through into RSS until a couple of hours (or, even, as after Abu Dhabi, days) after posting, and I find that I get the first couple of paragraphs and then have to click through for the rest. It’s only one click, but it’s the most annoying click I make all day! So, whatever you’re doing with RSS, don’t change it!

    Finally, content. Almost all the content on here is excellent – insightful, informative and interesting. The only stories I find myself clicking past more often than not are the link collections. I find that they’re either stories that you’ve covered yourself, in which case they aren’t as interesting as your article (/sucking up) or they’re something fairly tangential to F1, in which case I’m not interested. I’d be happy to have a page on the site of ‘links in the news’ or something, updated once a week or so, which I could pop over to if I’m bored (and maybe you could tweet when it’s updated?) but I don’t really need them coming through on the RSS feed.

    So, there you go – those are my thoughts. Do with them what you will. If I were you, I’d read them, and then carry on doing things your way! It’s worked up till now…

    Ta ta,

    Mike

    PS – you asked for help with PHP etc. Hands up, I can’t code or write HTML and I think that PHP sounds like some sort of health insurance plan. But if you want any help in any other way, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands, so please let me know. Hell, I’ll even come round and make the tea!

    1. My main concern is that the site is too ‘cluttered’.

      I hear you loud and clear. This version of the site was pretty well de-cluttered at first but two years of use and little additions here and there have had the inevitable effect. The new version will tidy things up.

  27. One of the best, if not the best independent F1 sites on the web, and I mean that in terms of the content, look and replies left by the visitors.

    I personally don’t think there is any great need for a significant overhaul. But, if I’m being picky, I would prefer the page to centre in the browser and the second column beginning “Articles in Brief”,and then “Articles in Full” etc to appear on the left hand side of the page. The main editorial column in the centre, leaving the adds to the right hand side. From a visual point of view the main editorial and links becomes the main point of focus.

    I wouldn’t change the colour scheme as it is all part of the “branding” and generally white backgrounds are far easier to read than darker ones.

    I love the site and keep up the good work, for sure!

  28. Hope you don’t put too much stuff so that it looks clumsy.
    Anyways all the best.

  29. You’re doing an amazing job already Keith, but that’s no reason not to make it look better.. The content on this blog is unbeatable and I really thank you for all your efforts..
    There are some pretty good suggestions like changing the top links into topics that would be more used as sumedh and vettelfan suggested..
    Also I agree with LC Coelho, I sometimes miss interesting “articles in brief” because they don’t appear on the homepage. You should mix them in, there are good enough to be included..
    And having a link to the points, current standings, and countdowns on the main page is always helpful..

  30. Keith, I wanna say I love this site. It’s #2 after Autosport.com on my list, and ahead of GrandPrix.com, as well as Joe Saward and James Allan’s sites, and Pitpass. And, frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with your site.

    The blog itself is what I use most, and i use your beautifully large-sized pictures as desktop images. And that’s about it. So, if you decide to change certain things, all I want to say is, think about the purpose of those changes, what’s the benefit for my readers or for me? Best of luck!

    1. Make the site load quicker, make it easier for me to run so I can spend more time writing, make it look nicer, that sort of thing.

  31. First of all, Keith, you have one of the very-best F1 sites on the web.

    My two cents on this topic:

    1) F1 FANATIC LOGO:

    I agree you should actualize this logo a little bit. The font is little bit out of fashion. Maybe, as I’m “minimalist oriented” I don’t like so much those fonts with “excessive design”.

    Color scheme: Green and Blue can mix good but your green doesn’t mach quite well (IMHO) with your light blue. I think pure green (00FF00) could match much better (and making your light blue lighter than the current one). Those colors mix very well with dark grey.

    And as previously suggested, you should make the head of the site without including advertising at the right part of it, that devaluates your head and your logo.

    In any case, not being a designer, I’ve made some logos (and corporate image) for some companies as a hobby.

    Wouldn’t be great if you ask all your readers for a new logo proposals?

    Will be a great topic for off season, so every of us could vote for the designs all we could send you! (And I think some of the readers you have are professional designers Becken?)

    2) Comments:

    This part is really one of the best one things your site has, but it would be great if you can ad some little improvements:

    Let the people recommend the comments. I’m not sure about adding “negative” (not recommend the comment) but having a raking of the best ones, allowing the reader to organize the comments by: Newest entries, Oldest entries and most recommended, will be great.

    3) Articles in Brief, Forums:

    As someone else have suggested, is something that is not well placed now. I’ve been reading this site since 2 years, and still today I loose some good brief articles or forum topics because one have to pay so much attention to realize there is something new there.

    For that case, may I suggest you to ask us for a new design of your site and make some kind of poll allowing us to vote for the best one!! Another off season topic, that could be great!!!

    4) Images:

    Full size images is one of the most appreciated features of your site!!!! Please keep it despite it takes a lot of server space.

    On the oder hand, I you should improve the navigation scheme. Now is a little bit annoying you have to do 3 clicks (and charge three pages), to take full size image.

    Having an Image gallery feature allowing to see all pics in slideshow, and download directly those ones you are interested on (or all of them in one click) would be great!!!!

    5) Finance:

    Keith you are doing a great job here, and I’m still amazed you have to make a full time job for finance your passion! I honestly think, you should create a voluntary membership (60€-90€ a year) giving those members ( in return) just the possibility of creating a forum topic using all site features (upload images, video content…) Some kind of premium account.

    I’m not particularly upset with the quantity of ads your site has as well as the content of this Ads, but not being a professional I really wonder why you cannot have a good funding with ads, keeping in mind the number of readers. Anyway, more ads with the current scheme (not pop-up windows of Casinos on-line..) it will not hurt (IMHO) your site quality.

    And my last suggestion: Change your pic in “about F1 fanatic.co.uk”!!! :-) :-)

    1. Oh I forgot to make another suggestion:

      Many of us, are Joe Saward’s blog readers also.

      He has a good F1 knowledge and produce good articles about F1 life (and paddock gossip), but we know he is not as good as you with web technology. His blog is very basic (to put it mildly).

      Wouldn’t be great if you offer him to join this site with an specific column for him?

      He would take advantage of all your hard work in the site available for his articles (and comments) and both will benefit of increasing traffic.

      I know I’m going beyond your question, but you asked…

    2. I think IDR you have some excellent suggestions,

      eg.

      -Allow the readers to vote for the designs of the logo and site,.. etc
      -Let the people recommend the comments.

      most of all IDR your suggestion for Keith to:

      “create a voluntary membership … giving those members ( in return) just the possibility of creating a forum topic using all site features (upload images, video content…) Some kind of premium account.”

      Is a pretty good idea i must say. Furthermore, those members could have the ability to enter an alternate prize winning contest (in addition to the one that already exists). This would make the membership more attractive and ads another interesting dimension to the idea to raise some funds. ;)

  32. My only suggestion is to please centre the page. I really don’t like having to look to my left every time I come here, I know I can minimise by window and put that in the centre, but if possible I would like it in the centre in the first place.

  33. Hi Keith,

    your blog is great and I only want to change one thing: could you add the “Blog Archive” section so that we could see some older posts of yours?

    Other than that, the blog’s great!

  34. I think your site is excellent Keith :) top job! When you load the homepage, you can see everything you need to so and you dont have to go searching for stuff because its all right infront of your face.

    Two little suggestions though that are probably only nitpicking :)

    1 – Any chance of putting the adverts on the left? Sometimes when there is a large image on the page, the adverts will go over the top (see the recent forum post about Piquets singapore telemetry).

    2 – Easier navigation of the pictures archive? If I want to have a look at some of the pictures from melbourne or even last year then I have to cycle through quite a few pages before I get to them.

    Apart from that, I cant really think of anything else. Hope the redesign goes well! Please keep the colour scheme though :D

  35. have a ‘race day’ site, which is a slim version that can handle the extra hits you get on the busy periods on sundays

  36. Maybe you could have the background as a picture for the next GP, like on the official F1 site.

  37. keith, firstly thanks for another great season’s reporting.

    how about a “on this day in history” article every now and again would be a good way to highlight f1’s history and would get a few of the old un’s talking!!!!!!

  38. I wouldn’t write your own platform – use and customise something like Drupal instead. Life is too short, and you could use the time to write more good articles :-)

  39. Searching on an old article needs an to be redone.

    date and time stamp on comments would be good too.

    1. thats done, but in replies too.

  40. I have a few ideas.

    It would be good to bring back the editing tool in the comments.

    I think a calendar displayed prominently on the front page that when you select any date in the past, will show all archived articles in full and brief posted for that day. This would be less cumbersome and tedious than scrolling back to read previous posts in full. This is also great when some days articles have been missed. I personally don’t find the search engine very effective and thus useful. I’ve seen this tool before on other sites and its fantastic! Similarly it would be nice to scroll back through previous (or archived) forum postings and maybe this could be included into the calendar idea.

  41. My phone’s browser used to crash on the site prior to the launch of the mobile version, which is great.

    This site’s excellent but I think it’s become a victim of its own success – there are SO many posts on items now, especially the more controversial ones, that there’s a huge amount to scroll and read through before you can be certain that no-one’s made the same comment.

    That’s not a design issue though!
    Good stuff, Keith.

  42. I know this might be a bit of extra work, but I was thinking that maybe you could ad an, “This day in F1 History” thing. Just like a one sentence blurb about some driver or team. It doesn’t have to be daily, it could be by week or race, like if the upcoming race was in Canada, at the beginning of the week you could have piece of interesting history relating to past Canadian races.
    Or a piece of trivia and if you are competing in the F1 Pool, you could win an extra few points if you were the first person to get the correct answer.

  43. I think we need a better photo hosting/viewing solution. Maybe even just move to a dedicated photo hosting solution that’s gonna provide the latest/greatest in slideshows and the like. Sign up for a SmugMug account?

    Also I’d like to see a switch to some better/dedicated forum software. The current forums are pretty elementary and topics get repeated or are not easy to search through.

    Everything else is great, including the live blogs. Keep up the good work.

  44. Championship standings should be displayed clearly, maybe permanantly at the right of the screen.

  45. I think the site is pretty good as it is. If you do make updates, make sure you keep the colors and font as they are like sato113 said.

    I would love it if you had a championship table like the WRC table that lists the drivers on the left and the race on the top, then the points scored for each driver for each race. That table is so easy to understand and you can get a picture of the entire season in one glance.

  46. Whenever you have pictures in posts, being able to watch them as a slideshow would be immensely helpful.

  47. As far as design goes, I hope you don’t overdo the re-working. The site is very good-looking and functional as it is. Certainly the clean, simple, tasteful colour scheme is one big plus over other F1 (and most other sports) sites. As for future article series, it would be great to have some really informed technical analysis of the big changes the sport has gone through (aerodynamic, mechanical) going back to the very beginnings – accompanied by photos and design drawings would be fantastic.

    Like many others have said – great site.

  48. Off the top of my head the main thing I would change would be the archive section.

    For example, I don’t know if I am just using it wrong but when I was looking for an article I thought was from the beginning of a month recently I had to go through all the pages in the archive section for that month to get to the start of the month. So in the monthly archives I would probably only list the article titles rather than the first paragraph as well so then they may all fit on one page.

    Another possible idea would be to display current statistics throughout the whole season on the main page, such as the standings in both championships. But personally the main reason I come to the site is for the articles and to find out other peoples opinions in the debates, so I wouldn’t list that change as a priority.

    I am defiantly no expert on what colours work best or which colour is the best background to use for webpage to make it easier to read, but I don’t have any problem with the current colour scheme.

    Also just a general question but how do other keep up with recent posts on an article, if I have commented on an article myself I just click the ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail’ box and read them in my e-mail, but if I haven’t posted a comment myself apart from looking at the time a comment was posted I am not sure whether a new comment is at the bottom of the page or a reply in the middle of the page.

  49. You can’t say that we don’t care, Keith! ;-)

  50. Aesthetically I think it’s pretty good as is. The subtle blue/green theme works very well.

    The only gripe I have is that the standard page template seems to squeeze pages into a very long, narrow shape — confounded by adverts and article listings down the right hand side. It’s not a problem as such, more of a niggle of mine. I understand adverts are necessary and pages need to be compatible with low screen resolutions, but perhaps a re-jiggle could allow more of the article to be visible on the screen at one time.

  51. how do i change my little picture? Yeah as of suggestions i agree with having a Drivers/Constructors championship list on the homepage with a countdown to the next race (practice session). Also i quite like the idea of being alerted by email when somebody reply’s to what you’ve said, a bit like youtube. It just saves going back and checking i suppose xD Anyway yeahh great site Keith :)

    1. how do i change my little picture?

      Here’s what you’re after: https://www.racefans.net/2008/08/16/get-a-picture-next-to-your-name/

  52. The only suggestion I have is a revamp of the forum to make it a bit easier to use and more enticing.

  53. Fundamentally, if it ain’t broken, don’t change it, so keep the colour scheme, fonts, general page design, etc. (although, on reflection, how about red and white — got to support the chaps in Maranello! (just kidding….))

    My only grumble is that it is hard to find older stuff. You need to use JavaScript fly-out top-level navigation so users can get a feel for the entire site from the home page navigation, as well as a breadcrumb trail on each page. Plus the search function needs to be at the top of every page — don’t hide it beneath the ads in the right column, it’s a fundamental part of the site’s navigation. Plus the page it returns needs to load more than only ten links at a time — most monitors are now big enough to display 20 or 30 links and what’s wrong with a little scrolling? It’s far quicker than waiting for a new page to load.

    Other than that, focus on the content and the writing — that’s what we are here for.

    1. Fundamentally, if it ain’t broken, don’t change it, so keep the colour scheme, fonts, general page design, etc

      Got to agree with those sentiments, the simplicity with the site is part of it’s appeal. I think you can over “tweak” things sometimes, and that this basic format is very good. I think the Forum posts need reorganising and as we often see a rush of news, sometimes posts are missed, perhaps make the forum posts section on the home page larger or catagorised.

  54. A lockdown on the amount of posts a user can make per article, to stop the comments turning into a cesspit would be nice.

    It would stop me from making rubbish jokes and make us work hard on our comments.

  55. black background and pastel shaded font would be nice, early mornings and fine with me but the huge amount of text on a white background is a bit unconfortable.

    1. A black background with any colour font is very bad for your eyes – just look at Clives blog F1 Insight – it makes me go cross eyed !!

  56. Could the Forum password be eliminated ? I forgot what mine is

  57. New Series :
    1 — famous managers like Alfred Neubauer of Mercedes.
    2 — how is development work distributed within a team.
    3 — race weekend setup work and variables
    4 — weak and strong points of drivers, past and present
    5 — greatest scandals in F1
    6 — talented drivers that never made it to the top
    7 — how does a F1 simulator work – in depth !
    8 — off-season life of drivers
    9 — historical venues : Zaandvort, Avus, etc. With photos
    10 — the insides of F1 team headquarters
    11 — other racing series in which F1 drivers of past years partcipated : Can Am, Tasman ? down in NZ etc. A good way of talking of other series while staying within the F1 subject.
    12 what are retired racers like Chris Amon doing today ?

    Cheers

  58. My only gripe is with the Live Blog –
    It’s probably a limitation of the CoveritLive software, but could the message window be made larger (longer).
    The window scrolls so fast at times that it is difficult to keep up – especially as many are treating it as a chat room, in spite of your notice that it is a Blog.
    Comments should relate to the session (practice or race), not to what underwear Fernando was wearing last week or “where can I find a link” or “I raced here on PSP”
    The site itself is fine Keith, just a little tidy up is all that’s needed.

Comments are closed.