Revamped Ilford/Harman website

I am extremely happy they are investing time energy trying to update their website, it shows future thinking, Actually it kind of reminds me of my new website . Which by the way was picked apart here and in most cases we looked and adjusted to comments , some we ignored but others we really appreciated the help.

I really like their efforts with the tutorials and I think they are really well placed in the world market to add onto their website and be a great resource as well of supplier of materials for us..
One thing I have learned in business that without an audience there is no show, I applaud them reaching out and trying to Connect. (see my website crass plug).
I would love to see images , more of them on their site... before it was one image on the box of paper and that was it... More images from around the world I say.

Sean is going through the same issues right now trying to reach out to new blood and still keep us old members happy. So I would cut anyone slack trying to revamp
and still become relevant in this new economy we live in.
Sean is going to take some heat by some here and I get that, we already see people here throwing daggers at Ilford on this thread. My 2 cents is that those who throw the daggers should pony up and present their business websites for us to pick apart. Probably in most cases there is no website for us to look at and comment. I think that would make a great thread, rather than show us your Darkroom, it should be show us your company's website, I think we would learn a lot about the participants here.

I do not own an Iphone or cell phone for that matter , and I do take the bus or ride a bike to work , I love observing ... I am the wrong person to run my company's Online
Profile, for that I hired Carissa who was raised in the new technology and I give her full range on my website... she will make mistakes controlling the website but I can say that without her I probably would be in a much more dire position and looking for business blindly.

I think Ilford is going in the right direction with this website and we should all cut them some slack and rather than nit pick offer solid constructive ideas for them, think about it we are an extension of them and we are the people they are trying to get to so lets tell them what we want . Complaining about the price of a roll of film should go on another thread .

At the old site clicking at "products" you had the whole gamma at sight, then clicking on "films", again the whole gamma.

I find that much more pleasing than the current filtering. I understand that from a certain amount of items such overview is no longer feasible.
That is why I even prefer printed catalogs where I can scim through pages and am much faster than at any internet site.

Likely I shall still use the old site-version.

Did I already I say I am conservative?

AgX said:

At the old site clicking at "products" you had the whole gamma at sight, then clicking on "films", again the whole gamma.

I find that much more pleasing than the current filtering. I understand that from a certain amount of items such overview is no longer feasible.
That is why I even prefer printed catalogs where I can scim through pages and am much faster than at any internet site.

Likely I shall still use the old site-version.

Did I already I say I am conservative?

Click to expand...

I am going to send you my Fred Picker notes, before the days of the internet.

I actually still have a huge binders archive with notes, manuals, catalogs, including broshures of Fred picker and Ilford data sheets.

The internet was not benefitial for all purposes.

AgX said:

At the old site clicking at "products" you had the whole gamma at sight, then clicking on "films", again the whole gamma.

I find that much more pleasing than the current filtering. I understand that from a certain amount of items such overview is no longer feasible.
That is why I even prefer printed catalogs where I can scim through pages and am much faster than at any internet site.

Likely I shall still use the old site-version.

Did I already I say I am conservative?

Click to expand...

Can you tell us how you reach the old site version? I still have the old site bookmarked and when I click on it I get taken to the new site where I cannot see how to get to more than a few basic articles

Some articles such as the one on reversal processing seem to have vanished completely. You get the 404 Error - Not Found. I even tried googling it and the only place where it seems to exist is on a site unconnected to Ilford where you can read the first page only and unlock the rest with a free trial which would seem to suggest that at some point it is no longer free.

I wonder if Pemberstone has any intention of making these articles available again and why it could not have been added into the new site from the start?

pentaxuser

The old site is filed at archive.org .
(But often filed sites lack deeper levels.)

AgX said:

The old site is filed at archive.org .
(But often filed sites lack deeper levels.)

Click to expand...

I can find archive.org which seems to be the same as Wayback machine but all I can get there is statistics on how often IlfordPhoto has been accessed. How do I get to the old site in simple terms?

Thanks

pentaxuser

You chose a year, and then a day. With a bit of luck and some waiting you get the page you want.

pentaxuser said:

I wonder if Pemberstone has any intention of making these articles available again and why it could not have been added into the new site from the start?

Click to expand...

Have you clicked "Contact Us" on the new website and told them that useful and important things are missing?

Because Simon isn't here any more to pick up our moans and groans (not belittling at all - I think it's really bad that so much hasn't made the transfer yet) and get them sorted out ... we'll have to start doing it ourselves.

AgX said:

You chose a year, and then a day. With a bit of luck and some waiting you get the page you want.

Click to expand...

Thanks. You are right it does seem to need luck and involve waiting time but I got there. When you say chose a year and a day I presume you mean that I choose one of the highlighted days. So yes I can choose a year but I cannot chose any day I like but only one that
has been highlighted. The highlight indicates that the site was "crawled" by the Wayback Machine. So what does crawling mean? What does the crawling and why? As I write these words" crawling and Wayback Machine" I feel as if I must be in the middle of a science fiction book or episode of Star Trek

Thanks

pentaxuser

Yes, only the highlighted days may take you further. I say "may" as sometimes at those days there are no files nevertheless. I never quite understood the way archive.org works.
But it turned out often as helpful.

pentaxuser said:

When you say chose a year and a day I presume you mean that I choose one of the highlighted days. So yes I can choose a year but I cannot chose any day I like but only one that has been highlighted. The highlight indicates that the site was "crawled" by the Wayback Machine. So what does crawling mean? What does the crawling and why?

Click to expand...

A web crawler is simply a piece of software that roams the web collecting information about or from web sites. The highlighted dates for a website are the ones on which the Internet Archive's web crawler(s) visited that site and recorded a copy of it. Think of it as taking a snapshot of the website on those dates. On other dates it didn't visit the site, or if it did, it didn't record anything, so the archive doesn't have anything for those dates.

It's 10 days since I spotted the site's revamp.

In some ways it's better but in others it's much worse, it's much harder to find data sheets etc. Now I don't need them (I have them saved or printed versions) but I do (or rather did) point people on this site (and others) to them quite regularly.

It seems that there's a conflict as well as it appears Harman Direct (online sales) has become part of the main site and that is a conflict with Ilford's overseas distribututors, as well as UK retailers.

The reality is the people writing and devloping the website don't fundementally understand or grasp the way the company works, and the way it works also depnds on local markets.

Ian

Well a good number of Harman Express prices rose between my last order (end Jan 2017 ) and when the new site was launched it would appear that the new site's shop has avoided conflict with its U.K. retailers by raising prices considerably to the extent that Harman prices no longer compete with its U.K. retailers.

Previously its prices largely matched its retailers and when taking into account the free delivery for orders over £50 it was really competitive but not now.

Just as an example I bought a set of MG filters from Harman at the end of Jan 2017 as part of my order and this matched most of the retailers and undercut some. That same set is now about £7 more expensive from Harman but has hardly risen in price from the retailers.

Compared to some retailers the price of a 36 frame cassette of 35mm HP5+ is now much more expensive. Short of buying several 5L containers of chemicals such as fixer, developer etc which are delivered free as £50 is exceeded, users will find a direct purchase from Harman will cost them more and in some cases a lot more.

pentaxuser

Bob Carnie said:

Complaining about the price of a roll of film should go on another thread .

Click to expand...

Hi Bob,
I'm pretty sure you are seeing a different version of the Ilford website than we in the UK are seeing.

In the same way as the URL is the same, but the presentation is different according with the platform you are using, be it a Stupidphone or a Desktop PC, I am sure the Americans aren't seeing the prices as we see them here.

It seems they read some complains and backtracked in some product prices as well as completing some pages with the Datasheets.
Well done!

Ricardo Miranda said:

Hi Bob,
I'm pretty sure you are seeing a different version of the Ilford website than we in the UK are seeing.

Click to expand...

You mean "regional pricing"?

ozphoto said:

The social media buttons on the LHS drive me crazy - they cut into the page covering information.

I have seen versions that allow the user to show/hide, which work much better - if you want to share you can, if you don't it doesn't interfere with the website experience.

Currently, it clutters the clean feel and is an annoyance because it doesn't work adequately. See the attached image for what I'm seeing on my laptop running Safari 10.1.1.

Click to expand...

Dear ozphoto, The social media icons can be hidden from view. If you mouse over just below them a pop up arrow appears allowing you to hide them.

Neil

I couldn't find the data sheets either… but I love seeing the chrome OM-1!

--Ben

The data sheets are on the pages for the relevant film/ paper/ chemical etc under 'downloadable information' if you scroll down the page slightly.

Thanks, Lachian — I see them now!

--Ben

The link for my place www.alternativephotoservices.com is incorrect on your find a lab service ...

Sorry Bob. I have just asked for that to be corrected.

-David

Harman Tech Service said:

Sorry Bob. I have just asked for that to be corrected.

-David

Click to expand...

tks

Today, looking at the website, it is well organized for me. I did not check for completeness.