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Post by chris on Oct 22, 2014 9:31:47 GMT
Around 20% of our traffic is mobile / tablet, and it's increasing all the time. That's actually relatively low for the web as a whole. UX refinements will be made continuously and we have a new UX expert joining the team full time tomorrow. So if you can tell if the display device is a tablet or a pc can't you tailor the display a bit accordingly? That stat is from google analytics, so is external to the site. We can tell and tailor the display and it is already responsive to a degree on different screen sizes, but with the UX function being brought in house we can work on improving this. I see the UX role as one of continual evolution and refinement, so expect many very small improvements over time that continually improve the way lenders interact with the site, alongside the occasional bigger and wider leap.
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sl75
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Post by sl75 on Oct 22, 2014 10:58:37 GMT
So if you can tell if the display device is a tablet or a pc can't you tailor the display a bit accordingly? That's one of my pet hates... When I access a website using the browser on my smartphone, it has a good screen resolution so that I can usually navigate the "normal" website anyway, and I can readily zoom in on any parts of the page which are not clearly visible. Some web designers see fit to give me a "special mobile version" of the website, with a completely different layout to the normal website, and hardly anything fits onto the screen, or otherwise restrict the normal operation of the android browser (preventing me from zooming in/out), so reviewing long lists of loan parts, bids, etc, becomes highly tedious. At least when I tick the "Show desktop site" option in the browser, many websites do at least do me the courtesy of showing the normal web pages I asked for even with a mobile version... but some website have highly arrogant web designers who override even that decision - actively refusing to let me use the website in the manner in which I am accustomed on my mobile device. If they must do a "special mobile version", at the very least please respect a user's decision to browse the desktop version of the site even when using a mobile device. [note to self - must try the new Assetz site on my mobile device!]
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Neil
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Post by Neil on Oct 22, 2014 11:13:07 GMT
I've been a bit of a lurker on these boards the last few weeks but thought I'd join up and stick my oar in. I've only dipped my toe into AC with a tiny amount of money so I apologise in advance if I don't understand all the terms/abbreviations etc.
Personally, I like the new website. For someone in my position and with my level of investing "skills", I think the new site is going to be much easier. I'll almost certainly be adding more cash in the coming months. I often felt a bit bamboozled by the older site and options.
I don't mind the look of the new site - it reminds me a lot of the new PayPal design. It's fresh and clean. I imagine it's always a bit difficult having to accommodate everything from 27" 5K-display iMac's down to 4" phones. I only access AC on my desktop and it looks fine for me.
Anyway, it's a thumbs up from me.
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ianj
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Post by ianj on Oct 22, 2014 12:22:12 GMT
This a bit of "Curate's Egg" for me. First impressions were not good. I want as much useful information on one page as possible and consider the spacing and font sizing to be wasteful in this respect. I've set Firefox to display at 67% which helps reduce effects of 'in your face' font sizes, but I still can't get a full screen of loan details displayed without scrolling, and I now have over 50% of available screen space unpopulated by anything useful! To my mind, there was at least one failure in pre-launch communication, and that related to the behaviour of the replacement for the old AI mechanism. While I understood that Bids, Pre-Bids & Shadow Bids were to disappear, I don't recall being told that existing Buy/Sell settings would not be respected. Yesterday morning I wasted my time going through all AI mandates switching off any Sell marker. Never thought to check whether targets were set identically to loan value held. I was lucky, only having 12p of loans unexpectedly sold. Others, it would seam were not as fortunate. Was this scenario really never envisaged? On the upside, everything I've tried works as it should, but not necessarily as I expected (resetting loan targets caught me out at first, but without damage) and the new system appears resilient to date. So far, I see the new 'dealing' feature as a major improvement over what went before. While I would prefer to have all loan holdings in round numbers (two 0s at the end) I have auto-purchased more in the last 24hrs than in the previous month. Most importantly, AC are heeding what their users are saying and responding positively (unlike the recent 'like it or lump it' attitude from RateSetter). Assuming reported glitches are sorted, and promised 'tweaks' are implementable, you will get a thumbs-up from me. But...if AC were to provide us all with ipads a second digit would be immediately raised.  Oh dear, I hear il moro's porcine aeronauts approaching!  |
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j
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Post by j on Oct 22, 2014 13:17:10 GMT
Nearly 40% have rated the transition bad or very bad, with another 18% as OK, so far. That does not paint a picture of a smooth transfer (btw not trying to knock what I'm sure has been very hard work behind the lines by AC personnel). The main issue that has caught AC out is the resetting of AI mandates with no prior notice & no apology/explanation forthcoming. This resulted in many unwanted buying/selling which has cost members monetarily. Maybe AC will eventually learn after making little errors over time, this being the biggest & most significant by far. I'll monitor & look to switch funds to other platforms if these little issues still emerge over the next few weeks/months, esp coupled with the change in policy in how the platform operates its investment strategy
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ilmoro
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'Wondering which of the bu***rs to blame, and watching for pigs on the wing.' - Pink Floyd
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Post by ilmoro on Oct 22, 2014 13:36:25 GMT
But...if AC were To provide us all with ipads a second digit would be immediately raised. Oh dear, I hear il moro's porcine aeronauts approaching! Theyve just put in a bid to deliver said ipads if they are forthcoming. Cheaper than drones. Will work for scraps and deliciously recycleable! (Service excludes bananas due to unexplained losses in transit)
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Post by chris on Oct 22, 2014 14:20:53 GMT
Nearly 40% have rated the transition bad or very bad, with another 18% as OK, so far. That does not paint a picture of a smooth transfer (btw not trying to knock what I'm sure has been very hard work behind the lines by AC personnel). The other way to look at it is that 35% didn't like it but the rest were okay or happy. Compared to the RateSetter rollout that's not so bad. The main issue that has caught AC out is the resetting of AI mandates with no prior notice & no apology/explanation forthcoming. This resulted in many unwanted buying/selling which has cost members monetarily. Maybe AC will eventually learn after making little errors over time, this being the biggest & most significant by far. I'll monitor & look to switch funds to other platforms if these little issues still emerge over the next few weeks/months, esp coupled with the change in policy in how the platform operates its investment strategy That is just plain wrong or misrepresentation. I have publicly said that a mistake was made on that one and explained what happened and why, so to say otherwise is false. The retention of AI targets was a last minute change based on feedback from lenders on the forum and a mistake was made in implementing it in that user's advanced settings were ignored. That has been the only mistake in relation to that and the handful of users who PMd me with details of settings they didn't remember making with AI have been shown to be incorrect - in each instance they had put those settings into AI albeit in two cases they had also set advanced settings which were then ignored. Clearly that's not good enough and I wish I hadn't implemented it at the last minute like that, but as I say the intention was to listen to users and respond accordingly and we've been bitten by our haste to please our users. There have been a handful of other display issues, such as term remaining on certain lists, but other than that there haven't been any major bug fixes or issues and considering the scope of the changes where with the loan model changes released a few weeks ago some 80+% of the site has been redeveloped (not just reskinned) and that's a testament to the hard work of my team. Most of the other "issues" have been user preferences or nice to have features or carry overs from the old site rather than something new that's been introduced. You are of course free to invest wherever and however you see fit and we're well aware that the direction AC is going in will not be to everyone's liking. I've been saying for months that there are many changes happening behind the scenes in the industry and this site is both a reflection of and response to that, on top of laying the foundations for the future developments and services we wish to offer. We can't be all things to all people, we have to choose our audience and serve them well. This site is just another step along that path and whilst it is unfortunate that some users will get left behind or choose to leave us it is an inevitability in the face of change, but we must change if we are to maximise our place in the market.
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oldgrumpy
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Post by oldgrumpy on Oct 22, 2014 14:58:11 GMT
I will not be voting yet. I want to see how efficiently the implementation of my existing shadow bids is dealt with. That will mean getting enough notice (two working days minimum) to place the money in my cash account, then whether that money is not gobbled up by other targets when I transfer it to my MIA* (which I will have to neutralise somehow, temporarily, just as before). I also want to see how much notice we get to put set targets and put money in to allocate to imminent drawdowns. So, I suppose I won't be voting for weeks. I've played a bit with the new manual system. The amortisation problem is being addressed. Other functions operate OK (when I don't KiU*). I think the upcoming loans need more prominence so that dd can be done and q&a. So, I still might vote a 3, but it could well be a 2. * Kokitup! Huh!!!!!! KiU indeed. The red words were missed out, so I didn't say what I meant. Thanks be to ramblin rose  |
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ramblin rose
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Post by ramblin rose on Oct 22, 2014 15:06:28 GMT
I will not be voting yet. I want to see how efficiently the implementation of my existing shadow bids is dealt with. That will mean getting enough notice (two working days minimum) to place the money in my cash account, then whether that money is not gobbled up by other targets (which I will have to neutralise somehow, temporarily, just as before). I also want to see how much notice we get to put set targets and put money in to allocate to imminent drawdowns. So, I suppose I won't be voting for weeks. I've played a bit with the new manual system. The amortisation problem is being addressed. Other functions operate OK (when I don't KiU*). I think the upcoming loans need more prominence so that dd can be done and q&a. So, I still might vote a 3, but it could well be a 2. * Kokitup! Money won't ever be gobbled up by targets from your cash account - that will only happen from your Manual Investment Account, and is why the two are separate now. It can only disappear from your cash account if you redirect it into the MIA, withdraw it, or AC take it to pay for your shaddow bids.
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oldgrumpy
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Post by oldgrumpy on Oct 22, 2014 15:14:33 GMT
I will not be voting yet. I want to see how efficiently the implementation of my existing shadow bids is dealt with. That will mean getting enough notice (two working days minimum) to place the money in my cash account, then whether that money is not gobbled up by other targets when I transfer it to my MIA (which I will have to neutralise somehow, temporarily, just as before). I also want to see how much notice we get to put set targets and put money in to allocate to imminent drawdowns. So, I suppose I won't be voting for weeks. I've played a bit with the new manual system. The amortisation problem is being addressed. Other functions operate OK (when I don't KiU*). I think the upcoming loans need more prominence so that dd can be done and q&a. So, I still might vote a 3, but it could well be a 2. * Kokitup! Money won't ever be gobbled up by targets from your cash account - that will only happen from your Manual Investment Account, and is why the two are separate now. It can only disappear from your cash account if you redirect it into the MIA, withdraw it, or AC take it to pay for your shadow bids. Hi Rosie What a plonker!! I missed out the words which I have now added in red!!!! Sorry to wast your time... nice to read from you though
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mikes1531
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Post by mikes1531 on Oct 22, 2014 15:19:18 GMT
Money won't ever be gobbled up by targets from your cash account - that will only happen from your Manual Investment Account, and is why the two are separate now. It can only disappear from your cash account if you redirect it into the MIA, withdraw it, or AC take it to pay for your shaddow bids. Have AC actually said that they'll take money to settle shadow bids from the cash account? Might they take it only from the MIA? If a lender has money available in both their cash account and their MIA, have Zopa said which account they'd debit to cover shadow bids?
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pikestaff
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Post by pikestaff on Oct 22, 2014 15:24:28 GMT
I will not be voting yet. I want to see how efficiently the implementation of my existing shadow bids is dealt with. That will mean getting enough notice (two working days minimum) to place the money in my cash account, then whether that money is not gobbled up by other targets when I transfer it to my MIA* (which I will have to neutralise somehow, temporarily, just as before)... Based on an earlier response from Chris I'm expecting shadow bids to be funded direct from the cash account, so there should be no need to transfer the cash to the MIA, and no need to neutralise the MIA as previously required with AI. Fingers crossed...
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ramblin rose
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“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” — Alphonse Karr
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Post by ramblin rose on Oct 22, 2014 15:24:56 GMT
Money won't ever be gobbled up by targets from your cash account - that will only happen from your Manual Investment Account, and is why the two are separate now. It can only disappear from your cash account if you redirect it into the MIA, withdraw it, or AC take it to pay for your shaddow bids. Have AC actually said that they'll take money to settle shadow bids from the cash account? Might they take it only from the MIA? If a lender has money available in both their cash account and their MIA, have Zopa AC said which account they'd debit to cover shadow bids? To be fair it hasn't been confirmed - it was suggested as probable by chris, but he did say he would check. Good point regarding whether they'd take it from MIA if there was a shortfall - doesn't affect me as I had no bids outstanding yesterday, but there'll be quite a few waiting to hear. (FIFY above)
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oldgrumpy
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Post by oldgrumpy on Oct 22, 2014 15:27:42 GMT
I suggest AC specify which account to leave it in when they send out the request to settle the shadow bids chris ? |
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mikes1531
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Post by mikes1531 on Oct 22, 2014 16:20:22 GMT
I suggest AC specify which account to leave it in when they send out the request to settle the shadow bids chris ? And surely the cash account is the best place since there'd be no risk of it being used for something else unbeknownst to the lender.
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Oh dear, I hear il moro's porcine aeronauts approaching! 
