Arthur,
Please be assured I do appreciate and respect you, the Dev Team and your combined efforts.
But there is a problem here that appears to be becoming a pattern of problems that needs addressing. I apologize for the lengthy post. Please bear with me and note suggestions for improved website behavior predictability and stability at the end.
If I understand your message correctly, you are telling designers that because of a Dev Team coding change that the Dev Team cannot or will not fix, I am going to have to go through over
700 products and thousands of photos (each product has several photos), and associate each photo, one at a time, to a specific material because the Dev Team made a no-notice coding change three weeks ago
during the Christmas shopping season? This is an utterly impractical solution.
This is the second time over the past month I have been told, basically, "fix all of your product descriptions yourself" because of two different coding changes made by the Dev Team. And these two self-inflicted problems happened going into the Christmas shopping season.
What happened twice this past month must be addressed because it was self-inflicted and continues to have the potential to harm sales.
Twice this past month, a significant coding change was made that adversely affected product descriptions with no notice of possible adverse affects to designers ahead of time. Designers only found out about the coding change after our product descriptions no longer appeared as intended, as originally set, and as previously appeared (previously working very, very well, for my shop).
The latest change in coding altered existing product website behavior, hiding the most important product image, the default image. The new website behavior was a surprise to designers, its cause not easy to understand by designers, thus not fix by designers.
When I as a designer reported by initiating this thread that the product descriptions were no longer behaving as they had been, possibly negatively affecting sales, after some confusing responses over a three week period, I ultimately received the polite "yes we made a change, here's how you can fix it yourself" response.
The "we made a change now fix it yourself" response is becoming a pattern of Dev Team conduct and not a welcome one.
When the first coding change happened in November (HTML to BBCode) causing product description problems, I was basically told by Dave Ho over a two week period (paraphrasing),
1) There is no bug, then
2) There may be a bug and we are looking into it, then
3) There was a bug and we fixed it, then
4) The fix is not retroactive and you'll have to fix all your product descriptions yourself
This time, I was basically told over a three week period (paraphrasing),
1) You don't understand a change we made but we'll explain it to you later, then
2) There may be a problem and the Dev Team is looking into it, then
3) Yes, there is a problem, it's complicated, and the Dev Team is still looking into it, and now
4) You don't understand a change we made, here's how things work now (not like they did three weeks ago), so you fix all your product descriptions yourself
A designer's time is better spent designing products than spending dozens of hours fixing all of a shop's website product descriptions after behind-the-scenes coding changes were made. These changes adversely affected product descriptions and were only discovered by designers after product descriptions no longer appear or function as they had.
The necessity of associating photos to materials was need-to-know before the coding change was made.
Suggestions
1. In the future, Dev Team, please help designers understand any of the coding change's possible effects you know of BEFORE the change is made, thus giving us some time to adjust our product descriptions (such as associating photos) before the change adversely affects product pages and possibly harms sales.
For proposed, significant coding changes, make an announcement that clearly reads something like, "New Product Description Coding Change Coming - Designer Action Needed". Then just tell us what you think we designers will have to do and describe some of the possible adverse affects your testing has revealed.
2. Please don't make big, product description coding changes as we enter the Christmas shopping season. There is no time available during that season for a designer with a lot of products to change product descriptions, in my case, over 700 products (with thousands of photos).
3. In trying to make the website's behavior predictable and stable for designers and customers,
please consider establishing a website coding "good idea cutoff date" of October 31 that lasts until January. Many other businesses have adopted "GICOD"s to good effect.
I appreciate that the changes the Dev Team are making are intended to improve experience and functionality and I applaud the Dev Team's efforts to do that. Many of the changes (e.g. facets, CSV tool, etc.) are brilliant, hugely welcome and great functionality ideas. But there has got to be a better way to implement some of these changes, specifically the ones that affect product descriptions and website behavior.
Thanks for your time and efforts to fix problems.
Respectfully,
Steve
____________________
Uittreksel in het Nederlands (Mijn excuses voor mijn slechte vertaling)
Suggesties
1. In de toekomst, Dev Team, gelieve te helpen ontwerpers begrijpen één van de mogelijke effecten van de codering verandering's jij voordat de wijziging is aangebracht, waardoor ons wat tijd om onze productbeschrijvingen (zoals het associëren's) aan te passen voordat de wijziging nadelig beïnvloedt productpagina's en eventueel schade verkoop. Voor voorgesteld, significante veranderingen codering, een aankondiging die duidelijk leest zoiets als: "Nieuw product Omschrijving Codering Change Coming - Ontwerper Actie nodig". Dan vertel ons wat je denkt dat we ontwerpers zal moeten doen en te beschrijven een aantal van de mogelijke nadelige invloed op uw testen is gebleken.
2. Gelieve niet groot, productbeschrijving codering wijzigingen aan te brengen als we de kerstinkopen seizoen in te voeren. Er is geen tijd gedurende dat seizoen voor een designer met veel producten die beschikbaar zijn productbeschrijvingen te veranderen, in mijn geval, meer dan 700 producten (met duizenden foto's).
3. In een poging om het gedrag van de website van de voorspelbare en stabiele voor ontwerpers en klanten te maken, kunt u overwegen de oprichting van een website codering "goed idee cutoff datum" van 31 oktober, dat duurt tot januari. Veel andere bedrijven hebben "GICOD" s aangenomen met goed resultaat.
Ik begrijp dat de veranderingen die de Dev Team maken zijn bedoeld om ervaring en functionaliteit te verbeteren en ik juich het Dev Team inspanningen om dat te doen. Veel van de veranderingen (bijv facetten, CSV gereedschap, etc.) zijn briljant, enorm welkom en grote functionaliteit ideeën. Maar er moet een betere manier om een aantal van deze veranderingen, in het bijzonder degenen die productbeschrijvingen en website gedrag kunnen beïnvloeden voeren.