Official Club Website

[finmack]

This is talked about on many of the threads on this site

I would make the following comments:

The site is always out of date!

Should the fans not be kept up to date with what is happening at the club?

Can the Manager not give the fans a weekly report on what's happening with the team? Bulivitus is a perfect example of this.

Who is responsible for keeping this site up to date?

And finally why have I to buy the P&J to find out what is happening at our club?

Would it not be great if we had a response from the top to this topic?.

[Scotty]

I am largely going to stay out of this debate (people in glass houses and all that) other than to say that the club are more than aware that their official site is far from perfect and they are looking to improve it soon.

[TinRoofMan]

This is talked about on many of the threads on this site

I would make the following comments:

The site is always out of date!

Should the fans not be kept up to date with what is happening at the club?

Can the Manager not give the fans a weekly report on what's happening with the team? Bulivitus is a perfect example of this.

Who is responsible for keeping this site up to date?

And finally why have I to buy the P&J to find out what is happening at our club?

Would it not be great if we had a response from the top to this topic?.

I emailed them about this issue a few months ago & they replied with an apology, saying they were "working on it"...

Within a couple of weeks they had sorted a lot of it...

[finmack]

Scotty, You run a great website, so don't worry about throwing stones.

[Scotty]

OK, I will make one further comment then I am going to shut up on the subject.

Bottom line is that one person is charged with running the website. I am not sure if she gets much or even any help or whether she still has other duties on top of the website ones but she does her best with the tools she has been given. Her efforts are not in doubt as far as I am concerned. I know the club want to get it looking better but the fact of the matter is that there is no budget to get this done so it certainly wont be done by PTV (the provider).

There are several problems with the site, many of which have been highlighted on here over the years but for me the biggie is the actual format. It may work well for the provider, who can trot out dozens of identical websites in a week if they had to just by tweaking colour assignments in the CSS files and creating logos or banners for the relevant teams but this standard template is optimal for 800 pixels wide (most screens are now a minimum of 1024 or bigger) and it is very rigid. It is equivalent to what we were using on SportNetwork 6 or 7 years ago and we left there almost entirely because the design was old even back then and as we developed we wanted to modernise our site and make use of more exciting and up to date features that could not be done on a global template shared by multiple websites.

Another problem is some of the centralised features ... like the squad list or the fixtures .... How many times have we seen players listed who were no longer at the club or just last week a report of our game against Livingston instead of Airdrie !!! The club dont control this info as it is pulled in by the provider and it is rarely if ever accurate.

It will improve, I am sure of it, but we need to be prepared to realise its lower on the priority list than some other things at the club. Darren still sends us info here so we will also continue to publicise whatever they send us either on the main site, in the events forum or both.

[+Gringo]

It's very rare I go on the official web site...it's not even in my 'bookmark' list.

[DornochCaley]

It's very rare I go on the official web site...it's not even in my 'bookmark' list.

It's in mine. Not that i ever go on it though.

[MissICT]

you don't need ictfc.co.uk when you have this website.

It's good for........nothing

[Brian]

Whilst I agree with what has been said I am still disappointed with it

Get the small things right and the bigger ones become easier!

Keeping fans in loop is a main aspect of running a football club I would have thought

I really do hope they get their act otgether and like others I am not having a go at the webssite manager, they can only work with the tools provided, whether the limited functionality of the site or more importantly the data to be published.

I would expect to see

1. a daily update/appraisal of squad injuries etc

2. Managers update

3. Captains thoughts

4. News (and not just who won the latest draw

5. Look forward to upcoming match

6. Appraisal of opposition

7. Guest interviews

Just a few thoughts but I am sure others could add many more suggestions

Surely we can learn from other sites, e.g Partick have a match review for tomorrow and other details related to tomorrow

Edited January 29, 2010 by Brian

[Caley Mad In Berks]

Whilst I agree with the proactive suggestions from both finmack and brian on this thread earlier to improve the official site, I fear it will for quite some time yet, compare unfavourably with this unofficial site. This is simply because we have been spoiled here, due largely to Scotty and Don's unstinting effort over many years. For the official site to 'catch up' is almost an impossible job. I'm not in the habit of looking at other Scottish clubs' official sites, but I'd venture a guess that ours is no worse than some of the others. I'm prepared to be shot down here by anyone who does compare other Scottish official sites. I do look at a couple of English clubs' official sites (not EPL) and I have to say that they are pretty much on the ball, and better than ours. I can see that for a club our size, with limited resources, expending time and money on a web site may not be seen as a high priority. But if they were to realise what a powerful tool it is for communication with their core supporters, I'm sure they would see things differently. So here's hoping that some of the powers that be within the club read some of the positive comments on this thread and act accordingly. I may be naieve, but I actually think that the individual board members (and I've met some of them) actually do try to act in the best interests of the club, but perhaps sometimes need an encouraging nudge in the right direction. Much of the 'muppet' talk we see frequently on this site is in my view, childish and unhelpful.

[Heilandee]

I think it's pretty straight forward for any club to provide a competant, up to date official website and anything less than competant and up to date is just lazyness.The problems only arise when interactivity via forums is introduced.I dont blame any club for not having forums on their website , but they should pay attention to associated unoficial site forums and respond accordingly where appropriate.The lack of official info from ICT re the Bulvitas movements has been pathetic.

[Council Juice]

Have the club ever approached Scotty or CaleyD for either assistance or advice?

A good website doesn't need to be a big flash powered nonsensical mess. It just needs to have up to date relevant material presented in a consise and well layed out manner.

[Scotty]

Have the club ever approached Scotty or CaleyD for either assistance or advice?

We were the official club site between 1999/2000 and 2003/04 and the "almost" official site before that but Mr Smith decided that PTV gave them more of an opportunity to make it a commercial success so went with them when we hit the SPL.

We are always available to talk to the club should they have any queries regarding their web needs. That applies whether they wish to discuss upgrading their site in any manner or just want an opinion about something. That was told to Mr Smith when he moved to PTV and it has been said numerous times since then but only Darren has ever actually asked for an opinion about something which is why I am confident they will get round to improving it.

[RiG]

I can't remember the last time I used ICTFCUK. Any info on the club I get from here, P & B, the P &J or the Inverness Courier.

Edited January 30, 2010 by RiG

[WYNESS101]

Did brewster know give a midweek report thing? When he was in charge.

Rather this site anyway

[finmack]

As I started this topic and to prove my point-just read the Hamilton official site and then read ours :D

[caleyrule]

I believe the club the will update the club website when ALL business is done

[finmack]

I believe the club the will update the club website when ALL business is done

And when will that be, as Hamilton know it's done.

[caleyrule]

I believe the club the will update the club website when ALL business is done

And when will that be, as Hamilton know it's done.

There is a few clubs today who only update there websites when they have done all there business

[finmack]

If a deal has been done - tell the fans, don't wait until the papers publish it.

[caleyrule]

If a deal has been done - tell the fans, don't wait until the papers publish it.

The website will be updated shortley after midnight ONCE ALL DEALS CONCERNING ICT, OR POSSIBLE DEALS CONCERNING ICT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED

[Johnboy]

Why don't they just scrap it?

It's a complete and utter waste of space.

There's nothing to stop them making any announcements they want to make on here.

[Jeepsaw]

It's almost funny! We've just sold one of our players after endless speculation and the latest news on the official site is about a car boot sale!

I don't post very often but that is why i only use this site and read the forums to get the latest news on our club.

JOKE!

[Bush]

If a deal has been done - tell the fans, don't wait until the papers publish it.

The website will be updated shortley after midnight ONCE ALL DEALS CONCERNING ICT, OR POSSIBLE DEALS CONCERNING ICT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED

I look forward to reading about Imrie & any other activity!

[caleyrule]

I did say possible deals incase none are done