RaceDepartment New Website Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

RaceDepartment.com will be down on Wednesday 30th October, as we look to bring a fresh new image to the largest sim racing website in the world.

Having undergone considerable growth and change in the last decade and a bit, we feel the time is right to take our website to the next level of presentation and functionality. On the evening of Wednesday 30th October (approx 22:00 UTC) we will close access to www.racedepartment.com for much of the night, as we upload and launch our brand new website!

We anticipate access will be restricted for around 12 hours, but if you still need that essential sim racing fix, take the opportunity to check us out on our various Social Media platforms, which can be accessed via the below links.

See you all on the other side!

 

[Fat-Alfie]

I get this on my phone, logged out:

 

[Halcyonaut]

Ugh. Don't like this new design. The text is small and not as fluid to navigate between areas of the site. Far too text box orientated now.

Much preferred the menu tabs at the top, EG when browsing the downloads it's shifted the main content to the far right hand side. Almost as an afterthought instead of making it the primary focus.

So now on desktop we have a menu column [which takes up 1/5 of the screen] > another list column [another 5th] > a list of downloads on the right half of the screen. It really is like browsing Windows explorer, not a content rich 21st century web page...

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I get this on my phone, logged out:
View attachment 350313

Perfect fine look ad

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The layout of the front page is weird in Firefox with a large blank space between the upper bar and the news pics.

Screenshot please?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

you don't see what sim the download is for.

Fixed the bug! Thanks for reporting it

 

[AndrewBo]

Okay, shitstorm incomming in 3 -- 2 --- 1---

because:

I like the new layout.

"Hiding now"

 

[Jivesauce]

I get this on my phone, logged out:
View attachment 350313

Yes I just logged out and tried it also and it looks like this for me as well.

For those complaining about that, please understand that I am not intending to be critical, but I’m having trouble understanding why it is such a problem. The ad doesn’t scroll with the window for me, I can just scroll right past it to the content and it is gone. Is it behaving differently for others?

 

[Marisa]

No.
Bad.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Screenshot please?

It does not do it anymore. Perhaps it was due to the adblock plugin. If it does it again I'll take a screenshot.

 

[Marisa]

After some further ****ing around it's not too bad. But having to open the burger menu every time I want to go to downloads and then having to close it again because it takes up so much space is going to get annoying quick. Unless I'm overlooking something.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

No.
Bad.
View attachment 350338

Please provide more info. Are you on a full screen page? Which resolution? PC, Tablet? WIndowed mode?

I can't figure out how this happens as on my laptop it already looks alright. Are you on a very small screen?

 

[Marisa]

Please provide more info. Are you on a full screen page? Which resolution? PC, Tablet? WIndowed mode?

I can't figure out how this happens as on my laptop it already looks alright. Are you on a very small screen?

I am on a 16:9 screen but have the browser in a 4:3 ratio because 99.9% of webpages don't put stuff on the sides so it would be wasted space that I rather use to be able to click desktop icons without minimizing my browser.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

So this behavior you don't have when going full screen @Marisa ? Can you post a screenshot of a full screen page please?

 

[goffred]

What happened to the lightning arrow to see what's new? On Android phone Chrome page.

 

[Marisa]

So this behavior you don't have when going full screen @Marisa ? Can you post a screenshot of a full screen page please?

Works fine when maximized and in full screen.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Works fine when maximized and in full screen.

That's the trade off we have to make. I personally prefer a very narrow site of less than 1200px so sites can run on narrow browser settings but then people start complaining it's to narrow with too much space on the sides. This time we've opted for much more use of screen real estate (the site's maincontent is 240px wider than before!) and now issues arise on minimized browser.

Ill have another look soon on viewports with regards to browsers but for now i'd like to stress we can only develop based on maximized browsers

 

[gamer19]

Okay, shitstorm incomming in 3 -- 2 --- 1---

because:

I like the new layout.

"Hiding now"

Does that have anything to do with you being a part of "staff" ?


Btw..
maybe it'll all disappear if we simply switch to "premium" ??
Maybe all this mess is just a part of RD latest (premium them all) campaign.

 

[Marisa]

That's the trade off we have to make. I personally prefer a very narrow site of less than 1200px so sites can run on narrow browser settings but then people start complaining it's to narrow with too much space on the sides. This time we've opted for much more use of screen real estate (the site's maincontent is 240px wider than before!) and now issues arise on minimized browser.

Ill have another look soon on viewports with regards to browsers but for now i'd like to stress we can only develop based on maximized browsers

If most users run their browsers maximized then I guess that's understandable.
Just an unrelated thought about the user experience: I think it's not good that this is the first thing user see when they go on rd.
The navigation is hidden and only the news section is visible. The menu with all the categories is hidden behind a tiny 20x10px button.
Would be better if the menu was visible by default, I think.
Edit: nvm, seems to be saved in a cookie.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Menu is visible on the first visit by default.

 

[Marisa]

Menu is visible on the first visit by default.

I fixed my particular issue with updating my shortcut to take me to the downloads section directly, instead of the front page.
All good now, re-design looks nice.
The responsive design works well, as long as I keep the hamburger menu closed.
Maybe make it an overlay, like it works on youtube?
That way it wouldn't squash the layout on smaller screens by pushing everything to the right.