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2CC’s New Website

So 2CC have a new website again [1]. I’m starting to have trouble keeping up with the almost annual changes to the layout of their website, but I have to admit that I do like the clean and simple design of the new site, even if I don’t understand what everything on there is supposed to do.

Here’s the new site.
2CC's New Website for 2009 [2]

The main difference to the front page from my perspective is the “now, next, then, later” box is gone. I’ll miss that box, but considering that each “now, next, then, later” box was a separate image, I can understand why they would get rid of it…any change to the program line-up would have meant editing at least four images. The “what’s happening at the station” box has been given a more prominent spot, and the “listen live” links are also much more prominent, as are 2CC’s latest podcasts which are also now easier to play, as the page for each podcast has a Flash MP3 player on it.

The right-side bar is interesting, as under the opinion poll box they have a weather and stock market box.
2CC's New Website for 2009

I like these, but I haven’t got the faintest clue what the dropdown box on the stock market report is supposed to do. I tried the various options and couldn’t see any difference. I’m sure that it has a function…it’s just not obvious to me. I could ask what it does (I think I will, and report back), but unless it’s blindingly obvious and I’m just thick, it could probably use some kind of description on the page. Other than that, I think it’s great, especially if the aim is to get people to use the 2CC website as their homepage.
Update: I have been informed that the menu relates to how many stocks the graph compares at any given time. If you enter some stocks in to the box next to the menu, they will be graphed. Quite a nifty little feature. End Update

Another improvement is the presenter menu. It easily fits on one screen now rather than stretching to well below the bottom of the screen.
2CC's New Website for 2009

And the presenter page looks good too, having dismissed the 2UE photo backgrounds and only kept the heads of the presenters.
2CC's New Website for 2009 [3]

Also of some interest is the fact that the Tradies Post ads have a much more prominent spot and are easier to navigate.

On the whole, I think the new site is great, but there is one thing that I just don’t get. The new site has search engine friendly URLs. For example, Tim Webster’s page on the old site was at http://www.radio2cc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=46 and on the new site it’s at http://www.radio2cc.com/presenters/tim-webster.html and yet for some reason, 2cc.net.au is still one giant frame serving up content from radio2cc.com. If it were me, I’d turn one of the domains in to a redirect rather than doing the horrid frame nonsense. I’d move the whole site over to the 2cc.net.au domain and turn radio2cc.com into a redirect to 2cc.net.au (or, if moving the site isn’t viable for whatever reason, do the opposite). It just doesn’t make any sense to me why, now that search engine friendly URLs are in place, they would want to use frames to hide long convoluted URLs from the address bar.

Samuel