Monday, August 4, 2008

The New Beckett.com

My first impressions are not good ones. I have spent the past two hours trying to access my existing collections. It's not happening.

I keep getting loading errors that tell me to press F5, and may resolve that error. It's not helping. I would like to have access to my online database of cards, which is nearing 5,000. If I have to manually add each card into the database, I will not be a happy camper.

I know my collections loaded properly. I could see a few of them in the preview and I got a note in my inbox from Beckett that everything was peachy keen! Somehow, as I see "Loading, please wait..." continually on the screen, I am not comforted by that note in my inbox.

Maybe it had something to do with the amount of collections I had. On the old beckett.com, you were limited to 5,000 entries for each collection. So, I recently split my White Sox collection into several collections, covering several spans of years. This doesn't count my separate collections of Harold Baines and Carlton Fisk, which are both notably smaller than my White Sox collection. Although they do tend to have overlapping cards.

The one thing that I noticed when I split my collections on Beckett was the amount I thought I had for some years was much more minimal than I previously thought. Some years, though, I was astounded at the amount of cards I had. I think that action alone gave me a better understanding of my collections weak areas. Or at least it reinforced what I already knew.

Even without being able to access my collections, my first impressions were anticlimactic. I was impressed by the new look, where the majority of the cards had images attached. I found that pricing was not immediately noticeable, which will infuriate some members. It's also a bit hard to navigate and very slow to load. I guess you take the good with the bad here, but it would be nice if it was a bit more manageable and quicker. Maybe when my collections actually load properly, my mind will change on these issues.

Still loading.

In theory this new site is great. In reality, it's a logistical nightmare, so far. I'm finding it very difficult to like this new design with no functionality. I just want to be able to view my collection and manage it quickly. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is, after 2 1/2 hours. Let's hope these snags are fixed quickly.

2 comments:

Jason T. Carter said...

I can't stand it when perfectly functional websites are revamped. It's happened to Wordpress, Last.fm, now Facebook is going through beta testing (and I hate the new look). I hope Beckett gets their problems resolved. Regardless of their irrelevance as a price guide, the online collection tools were awesome.

Steve Gierman said...

The only time I look at the actual price is if I'm trading with someone who wants to trade at "book value". I just use Beckett to keep track of my collection.

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