Idiotic ATI website

[J]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks away
from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs, incidentally.
Something is definitety severely wrong with these morons. I'm shocked
they're smart enough to put out any sort of product at all...

 

[Doug_Dread]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks away
from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs, incidentally.
Something is definitety severely wrong with these morons. I'm shocked
they're smart enough to put out any sort of product at all...

They've also established a new help centre which doesn't let you contact
them by email anymore. I was in the middle of an email discussion with a
customer care contact when 'kaboom', I got an automated "unmanned address"
message and a link to the new no-help centre. End of discussion!

 

[cowboyz]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks
away from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs,
incidentally. Something is definitety severely wrong with these
morons. I'm shocked they're smart enough to put out any sort of
product at all...

well, somethings up with you.

I typed ati.com into my address bar and on the left of the main page is the
latest drivers, both the CCC and control panel versions. One click of the
mouse and it was downloading.

So I thought you must be talking about going through to the download area.
Took 5 clicks from the main page to download the driver.

Not too shabby really.

 

[Pagan]

well, somethings up with you.

I typed ati.com into my address bar and on the left of the main page is the
latest drivers, both the CCC and control panel versions. One click of the
mouse and it was downloading.

So I thought you must be talking about going through to the download area.
Took 5 clicks from the main page to download the driver.

Not too shabby really.

It's the site. On one computer, it only took a few clicks to get to the
downloads. On another, it took many more, because for some reason I have to
go through the old menus first before getting to the new ones. It was even
more exciting getting the older drivers for the 8500dv, because you have to
look very carefully to see there's yet another almost hidden menu,
especially when your video drivers aren't loaded yet.

The CCC is a mess, and the new CP version isn't much better. Lord help you
if you choose large fonts.

Pagan

 

[Sleepy]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks away
from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs,
incidentally.
Something is definitety severely wrong with these morons. I'm shocked
they're smart enough to put out any sort of product at all...

I agree - the old layout was far easier for downloading drivers etc ..

 

[STE ;¬!]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks away
from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs,
incidentally.
Something is definitety severely wrong with these morons. I'm shocked
they're smart enough to put out any sort of product at all...

Npw it needs cookies enabled to work.
Piece of shit.

 

[J. Clarke]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks away
from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs,
incidentally.
Something is definitety severely wrong with these morons. I'm shocked
they're smart enough to put out any sort of product at all...

I count 5 clicks from the homepage to the Windows "open or save" box. Where
do you get "like 17"?

 

[J. Clarke]

It's the site. On one computer, it only took a few clicks to get to the
downloads. On another, it took many more, because for some reason I have
to
go through the old menus first before getting to the new ones.

Then you should fix whatever has your browsing hosed up on that machine.
Maybe flush the browser cache.

It was
even more exciting getting the older drivers for the 8500dv, because you
have to look very carefully to see there's yet another almost hidden menu,
especially when your video drivers aren't loaded yet.

Hidden where? Under "previous drivers and software"? If you call that
"hidden" you need new glasses.

 

[Arthur Hagen]

Why did they go and change it again? Now you're only like 17 clicks
away from finding your download--which contains 17 brand new bugs,
incidentally. Something is definitety severely wrong with these
morons. I'm shocked they're smart enough to put out any sort of
product at all...

I agree that the site is hard to use. The fonts are too small to read on
any high res system, and the layout too big to read on a system that doesn't
have any drivers installed. The menus are designed for IE only, and often
freak out with Mozilla or Thunderbird.
I gave up trying to find a BIOS on the site -- if anyone has managed to
navigate to that, you're far more patient than I am.

Mind, the nVidia site isn't *that* much better. And Matrox won't even let
you into their site unless you declare what business segment they should put
you in. Their driver download page, though, is something that both ATI and
nVidia should take a good look at. There's actual *text* descriptions that
help the customer make the right choice.
http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/
The ATI and nVidia sites, on the other hand, are horrible if you don't know
the exact jargon (and use the right browser and desktop resolution).

Regards,

 

[J]

I count 5 clicks from the homepage to the Windows "open or save" box. Where
do you get "like 17"?

I hope you're not serious! I got it from a dictionary...it's called
hyperbole.

Anyway at first I couldn't even find any mention of a WindowsMe driver I
needed. Until I noticed a "more..." which you have to click to get to the
full list for the category. That's so plainly idiotic I conclude that they
or their web designer was on heroin at the time. The design they had before
was really quite good and that model should have been kept. What made them
go to huge dumb and cluttered bulleted text lists? Really quite stupid I
say.

Also, once you tell it what system you have, it could list all the available
downloads. Why do you have to go to 18 different pages to get drivers, then
MMC, then, etc.? Not smart.

This reminds me of Multimedia Center. That trashware changes each version
to suddenly include completely random new bugs for no apparent reason.

 

[J. Clarke]

I agree that the site is hard to use. The fonts are too small to read on
any high res system,

I didn't have any trouble adjusting the font size.

and the layout too big to read on a system that
doesn't
have any drivers installed.

Viewing at full screen at 640x480 wasn't any great burden for me under IE or
FireFox--didn't try it with any others.

The menus are designed for IE only, and often
freak out with Mozilla or Thunderbird.

Works fine for me under Konqueror and Mozilla. Took me a while to get
anywhere with Lynx, but that's probably because I don't know Lynx very
well. Still was able to navigate to the drivers with no trouble.

I gave up trying to find a BIOS on the site -- if anyone has managed to
navigate to that, you're far more patient than I am.

When did they _ever_ have a BIOS on the site for anything but Macs?

Mind, the nVidia site isn't *that* much better. And Matrox won't even let
you into their site unless you declare what business segment they should
put
you in. Their driver download page, though, is something that both ATI
and
nVidia should take a good look at. There's actual *text* descriptions
that help the customer make the right choice.
http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/
The ATI and nVidia sites, on the other hand, are horrible if you don't
know the exact jargon (and use the right browser and desktop resolution).

Now let's see, on the ATI site you need to know your OS, your video board,
and whether you want MMC. Doesn't seem that hard to me.

 

[First of One]

Apparently the site is designed to work with product registration, so you'll
get custom-filtered driver downloads and support FAQs.

Interesting enough it uses SSL, and will log you off after 10 minutes of
inactivity.

 

[Pagan]

Then you should fix whatever has your browsing hosed up on that machine.
Maybe flush the browser cache.

Nothing is hosed with either machine. In fact, they're both rock solid
stable.

There might be a setting or two that's different, but I fail to see why that
would matter. It's not unheard of, either, for the same web site to show
different formats with different computers. Ebay has had this issue for a
couple years now.

Hidden where? Under "previous drivers and software"? If you call that
"hidden" you need new glasses.

And where do you find "previous drivers and software"? You easily reach the
download screen for current drivers without seeing that link. The only way
you know it's there is a tiny square box with an "X" in it, indicating a
longer thread. This does not follow established conventions for displaying
threaded content, where when a thread is expanded, the entire thread shows
up.

This is just as annoying as when programmers put radio buttons and whatnot
in unusual places. It's like using one of those weird faucets where you
turn it to the left to shut it off. Eyesight is not an issue in any of
these cases, and if it were, it would not explain my ability to hit an apple
at 25 yards using a rather unwieldy pistol.

This is a good time to remind you, as well as others, that not everybody who
uses the internet has eagle eye vision, nor do they all have large monitors
with high resolution. Poking at someone whom you believe "needs new
glasses" is silly, and to those who's eyesight isn't 100%, inappropriate,
unless you somehow believe those folks should be shunned for their physical
shortcomings.

Pagan

 

[Pagan]

Apparently the site is designed to work with product registration, so you'll
get custom-filtered driver downloads and support FAQs.

That seems to be the case. I've never been a big fan of giving personal
information to those who don't really need it, and I really hate those
custom-filtering things. They're great for those who have one computer,
don't know much about this stuff, and want to have their hand held, but it's
a pain for those of us who work on more than one computer, assist friends
and family, or add aftermarket stuff. Dell's site has caused me much
annoyance. I installed a mini-PCI network/modem in a Dell laptop that
didn't come with one from the factory, and even though this was a Dell part
from another model, finding the right driver for it was pure hell, made
worse when that custom stuff kept filtering out everything else.

Interesting enough it uses SSL, and will log you off after 10 minutes of
inactivity.

That, too, is a pain, and I hope they drop it. Try having more than one
window open on their sight. heh

Pagan

 

[J. Clarke]

Nothing is hosed with either machine. In fact, they're both rock solid
stable.

There might be a setting or two that's different, but I fail to see why
that
would matter. It's not unheard of, either, for the same web site to show
different formats with different computers. Ebay has had this issue for a
couple years now.

A hosed browser configuration will not necessarily make the machine
unstable. If you are using the same browser on two different machines and
the page is coming up differently then that is a problem on your end, not
the web page.

And where do you find "previous drivers and software"? You easily reach
the
download screen for current drivers without seeing that link. The only
way you know it's there is a tiny square box with an "X" in it, indicating
a
longer thread. This does not follow established conventions for
displaying threaded content, where when a thread is expanded, the entire
thread shows up.

Huh? It all came up expanded just fine for me. And it is _not_ the
convention that expanding the top level expands all sublevels. That
defeats the purpose of having expansion.

This is just as annoying as when programmers put radio buttons and whatnot
in unusual places. It's like using one of those weird faucets where you
turn it to the left to shut it off. Eyesight is not an issue in any of
these cases, and if it were, it would not explain my ability to hit an
apple at 25 yards using a rather unwieldy pistol.

What radio buttons?

This is a good time to remind you, as well as others, that not everybody
who uses the internet has eagle eye vision, nor do they all have large
monitors
with high resolution. Poking at someone whom you believe "needs new
glasses" is silly, and to those who's eyesight isn't 100%, inappropriate,
unless you somehow believe those folks should be shunned for their
physical shortcomings.

My eyesight is not particular good and I am not using a "large monitor".

The bottom line is that while the ATI site may not be up for any Web
excellence awards the criticisms I see are mere carping.

 

[J. Clarke]

That seems to be the case. I've never been a big fan of giving personal
information to those who don't really need it, and I really hate those
custom-filtering things. They're great for those who have one computer,
don't know much about this stuff, and want to have their hand held, but
it's a pain for those of us who work on more than one computer, assist
friends
and family, or add aftermarket stuff. Dell's site has caused me much
annoyance. I installed a mini-PCI network/modem in a Dell laptop that
didn't come with one from the factory, and even though this was a Dell
part from another model, finding the right driver for it was pure hell,
made worse when that custom stuff kept filtering out everything else.

The machine I used to access the ATI site does not have an ATI video board
in it and is not "registered" with ATI in any fashion. Yet I seem to have
no trouble navigating the site.

That, too, is a pain, and I hope they drop it. Try having more than one
window open on their sight. heh

Works fine for me.

 

[J. Clarke]

I hope you're not serious! I got it from a dictionary...it's called
hyperbole.

Anyway at first I couldn't even find any mention of a WindowsMe driver I
needed.

What driver was this? "Windows ME" is right there 2/3 of the way down the
driver page.

Until I noticed a "more..." which you have to click to get to the
full list for the category. That's so plainly idiotic I conclude that
they
or their web designer was on heroin at the time. The design they had
before
was really quite good and that model should have been kept. What made
them
go to huge dumb and cluttered bulleted text lists? Really quite stupid I
say.

I see no "bulleted text lists". Perhaps you are using some nonstandard
definition of "bullet"?

Also, once you tell it what system you have, it could list all the
available
downloads. Why do you have to go to 18 different pages to get drivers,
then
MMC, then, etc.? Not smart.

More hyperbole? There's a page for the video driver and another for MMC.
Two clicks. You remind of George Jetson complaining of his gruelling day
at work at which he actually had to push the button.

This reminds me of Multimedia Center. That trashware changes each version
to suddenly include completely random new bugs for no apparent reason.

So why do you upgrade it?

 

[Pluvious]

That seems to be the case. I've never been a big fan of giving personal
information to those who don't really need it, and I really hate those
custom-filtering things. They're great for those who have one computer,
don't know much about this stuff, and want to have their hand held, but it's
a pain for those of us who work on more than one computer, assist friends
and family, or add aftermarket stuff. Dell's site has caused me much
annoyance. I installed a mini-PCI network/modem in a Dell laptop that
didn't come with one from the factory, and even though this was a Dell part
from another model, finding the right driver for it was pure hell, made
worse when that custom stuff kept filtering out everything else.


That, too, is a pain, and I hope they drop it. Try having more than one
window open on their sight. heh

Pagan

Discussion about the changes to the download page.. the vote so far is
4139 to 1062..


http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=69940&page=1&pp=15


Pluvious

 

[Pagan]

Discussion about the changes to the download page.. the vote so far is
4139 to 1062..


http://www.driverheaven.net/showthread.php?t=69940&page=1&pp=15

Thanks for the link.

Pagan

 

[Pagan]

The bottom line is that while the ATI site may not be up for any Web
excellence awards the criticisms I see are mere carping.

Bitching common on newsgroups. It's a fine way to blow off steam.

On the other hand, while not exactly rare, it's somewhat uncommon for a
poster to run around telling everybody that they're wrong, and that what
they see as difficult, tedious, and annoying is really exceedingly easy.

So what is it, exactly, that you are hoping to accomplish with your posts?
I'm certainly not trying to be offensive or imply somehow that you are doing
something wrong, but I am curious as to why you feel the need to tell
everybody, repeatedly, how easy it is for you to navigate ATI's site.

Frankly, it's foolish to be critical of a user of a web site because they
find it difficult to navigate. The whole point of the WWW is to make things
easier to find, and until it was developed, most folks stayed away from the
internet as well as BBS's due to the complexity and confusion of text based
'surfing'. If a web site isn't easily used by the least experienced of
users, the developer has failed in his job. The same applies when a web
site is radically different from others of it's type. I've assembled half a
dozen computers in the past week, and not one of the sites I downloaded
drivers and applications from is even remotely similar to ATI's new site,
nor did I have any trouble instantly finding what I need.

The fact that at least four thousand other people in the past few days have
the same issues shows that it's not a browser, vision, or IQ problem.

Apparently, you don't agree, so I'm quite interested as to why.

Pagan