Critique of new features

[AASuper80Fan]

I am having issues trying to scrap a plane.   

[BBAir]

Please add the following back to 'View Aircraft':

 * Age
 * Fleet
 * Book value

...would be much appreciated!!  Anyone else missing these? (I know Seattlepilot is!  )

[Seattlepilot]

BBAir,
.. I am pretty amazed to see all these flaws on a supposedly 'upgrade'. Do you all work for Microsoft or something?

Here comes another bug :
- Aircraft Fleet summary shows 16 B735 aircraft.
- When I click on B735 , i see 11 of them.
- I own 9 and have 2 leased. So I guess 11 is correct, but why I see 16 B735 on the summary i don't know.

Here's another issue i have with this upgrade, everything should have been announced before. You don't release an upgrade without announcing the enhancement in an environment where you virtually don't have any competitors. Instead, the coders/administrators were tight lipped about this..

[cameron1991]

The confirm closure button in the view routes section doesn't work...

[MrOrange]

Here's another issue i have with this upgrade, everything should have been announced before. You don't release an upgrade without announcing the enhancement in an environment where you virtually don't have any competitors. Instead, the coders/administrators were tight lipped about this..

We do have competitors, mind you. Do a quick google search and you should come up with some quite easily. Second, please do mind the fact you're actually taking part in a mass beta test of Airline Mogul, instead of playing a fully developed airline management sim. Third, while I understand your criticism on the new design, there's no need to post the exact same feedback three times in the same thread. Fourth, now that you've found so so many problems with it, why on earth have I only seen two posts that actually contribute to getting the design better suited to everyone, none of which is yours?

[Singapore Airlines (SQ380)]

I think the new design looks very professional and it must have taken a while to create such an improvement.

In my opinion, is it possible to include the loadfactor on the quick stats box, because since the box appears on the pages, it makes it easier to check the loadfactor. The previous site had quick stats on the top right-hand side of the page, which included loadfactor. Having loadfactor information on the quick stats box (new site) would make it easier to keep an eye on the loadfactor for your airline.

[MrOrange]

Noticed that post already on the second page of this thread. In short, yes it is possible, we'll probably get around to it in the coming days. Thanks for the feedback.

[Seattlepilot]

MrOrange,
what do you want me to do, code it for you?
You keep addressing my critisism instead of addressing the issues i have reported. There is no need to get offended on these issues. You can design a very good looking site with lost functionality and that is a step backwwards, not forward.

I haven't seen anything from you saying 'Thanks for the bugs'. I haven't seen you asking for some extra help which i wouldn't mind providing if you were looking for some help with release management.

You addressed having competitors. You didn't address how many people have beta tested this applciation.
If this is a beta test, then why we are doing it publicly.
Did we stop the clock on the sim?
Why i feel like i am playing the real game when you claim this is a beta test? Show me an IT project where testing is done on the production side.
Did we take the before image of the game so that we can resume the sim from the time it started?

I am sorry, you have dropped the ball on this.

[seafly4fun]

WOW! This new design threw me for a HUGE loop when I woke up loaded up the laptop and logged onto AM. But WOW! I am speechless in a very good way. I'm still getting used to where things are but that would happen with just about any major update imo. The best part imo is that one of my pics was used in the rotation I got my scoot back last week from the shop so this coming week I'll be heading down the street to BFI to get more pics since I have most of the week off from work. Keep up the great work guys and if there are any girls do some work too.

[StephenM]

Show me an IT project where testing is done on the production side.

If AM had the funding to make this a fully commercial project where it is backed by a large bank balance to pay people to develop and test, then we might be in a position to have a 100% bug free product. But then again, its impossible to be 100% bug free.

There will always be bugs that wont be found during testing.

[Seattlepilot]

Stephen,
fair enough on that.. But , taking already implemented functionality away is a big no no even when you are working a homework.
Would it be hard for you guys to create a subdomain where some invitees would beta test a private world for you?
Also, the 'spirit' of the upgrade sacrifices functionality and easy of use for better looks.
I would never implement pictures and new site all in one release. If you need some help with addressing these issues i am here to help.
If you don't have time , ask for more people.. Ask for more people to delegate some of the work you do..

[czhang]

Seattlepilot, i believe there are and were some beta testers. Also a small-scale beta test cannot uncover all the bugs, especially those arising from a heavy server load. I believe this is why it is currently labeled as having a "24 hour testing period".

On the topic of critique, the only issues I have are the lack of drop-down menus, load factor not showing on quick stats, and some tables being improperly placed.

Tables I can live with, and you have already talked about the load factor. For drop-down menus, I understand it has had some bugs previously, but here is what I suggest:

-Keep the current system
-Make it so that mousing-over a heading will make its subheadings appear

For example:
I mouse over "Operations" - the options for "Create Route", "Edit Route", etc show up.

As the previous system only gave the option for a drop-down menu, this works better because those whose browsers do not support the menu can continue to do what is necessary now - click on the heading and then click on an option.

Other than these issues, the new look for AM seems to be much like the new Facebook. Its evolutionary and introduces some good features, but  some things become harder or more complicated to access. Over time, people will get used it. I have...pretty much Same deal with vista

Thanks and great job with the new look!

edit: one more suggestion - with all the links on the site anyway, could you please make the load factor (on each route) clickable so it takes you to the edit route page? This would make editing more efficient.

[dktc]

Stephen,
fair enough on that.. But , taking already implemented functionality away is a big no no even when you are working a homework.
Would it be hard for you guys to create a subdomain where some invitees would beta test a private world for you?
Also, the 'spirit' of the upgrade sacrifices functionality and easy of use for better looks.
I would never implement pictures and new site all in one release. If you need some help with addressing these issues i am here to help.
If you don't have time , ask for more people.. Ask for more people to delegate some of the work you do..

Ok... I understand your confusion, disorientation, and distress over the loss of the old easy-to-use interface. It is quite frustrating to try and find everything in this new setting. It is also hard to go on the website and see something that is totally different from what we have been seeing for the past several months. The emotions that you are going through, we are also going through, more or less.

On the other hand, it is inevitable for a website to move on. The fact is that the old text  interface is not up to par when compared to our competitions. To keep ourselves competitive, we have to change. As a response to the market trend, this new interface has been put together. We have not taken away any old features, except for the ones getting replaced with newer versions. The issue is that we have encountered technical issues unforeseen by our developers, and of which we are truely apologetic. How things should have worked was that when you move your mouse onto an icon of a plane, the information should have shown. We do see that that is not how it is working, and it is causing quite a bit of grieve. Nonetheless, if we don't improve our website, we would be increasingly unatttractive and therefore we would have to make such a dramatic change.

We do have an elite group of core testers. However, they are all volunteers who at times get side tracked with their airlines. Everytime we have made any big changes, there have been issues. Therefore, we have this 24 hours as buffer, trying to get bugs fixed based on constructive criticism. Regretfully, I have to agree with MrOrange that you could have offered criticisms of higher quality. We very much want to improve your gaming experience, so please help us help you. Please do understand that our staffs are volunteers who give their time in this game, without any monetary rewards. The bottomline is that you are playing this game for free. That said, one would wonder if your expectations are a little bit off balance.

Once again, we are truely sorry for all the troubles caused. As Sir Colin Marshall once said, "The customer doesn't expect everything will go right all the time; the big test is what you do when things go wrong." Please give us a chance to rectify the issues, and keep an open mind for the future. Thank you.

[MrOrange]

You keep addressing my critisism instead of addressing the issues i have reported. There is no need to get offended on these issues.

OK, point taken, my response probably was a little on the harsh side. My apologies for that. And, obviously, thanks for the feedback, but I've previously stated I'm looking for some more ideas on how to improve things, instead of what to improve. After all, as you would be the first to recognize, the people who would be using the site are the ones whose opinions we value most, but for that to happen, we need opinions even more than bug reports. Seeing as you are by far the most active poster in this thread, I expected you to have more suggestions on how to improve things.

2. The maintenance cost on the Aircraft page are incorrect - showing a completely different (lower) figure than in Finances.

The maintenance cost shown on the Aircraft page is the daily maintenance cost. Might need some labelling.

[oblivion468]

You guys sound like a bunch of little kids complaining about the new facebook. 

The new website is great and I am sure it will only get better.
If any of you guys have a problem with AM, than do something to help. Report bugs, and most of all, buy tokens. I am amazed how great this game is considering there is almost no funding.