Speedway Star Revamp 2 Months On

[ABS]

THANKS for the constructive comments. I do pass them on.

 

With regard to the Match Reports ... it was a production decision. Enables them to get some pages done and dusted earlier than before. But we will review it although in all honesty it is not something we have had many complaints about.

 

Not quite as easy to preview GP races, etc, without knowing the draw, as we did a few moons ago.

Not a fan of the re-vamp and without question, not having the results sections by league is my main gripe. My subscription renewal has arrived and for the first time I'm considering not renewing. Had the Star received complaints about how the presentation used to be? If not, then why change just for the sake of it?

[manchesterpaul]

Not a fan of the re-vamp and without question, not having the results sections by league is my main gripe. My subscription renewal has arrived and for the first time I'm considering not renewing. Had the Star received complaints about how the presentation used to be? If not, then why change just for the sake of it?

 

Exactly my thoughts. Maybe after doing all the previous work setting up such a superb layout (club by club with the club's crest) it's left the designer with nothing to do but twiddle his/her thumbs and they need to show some work for their wages lol.. Seems to me to be a clear case of change for changes sake and i fail to see how those changes will attract new subscribers?

[Backless]

If only there was a regular sequence to the days of the week that the Speedway Star could adopt for their match reports - and why do they have to have SO MANY days in each WEEKLY issue.

 

Jesus Christ, in the last issue that comes to hand the Match Reports are spread over THREE double spreads- and that includes three quarters of a page taken up with adverts & Saddo Fantasy Cobblers.

I don't know how people can be expected to spend days of their lives trawling through THREE double page spreads - I'd be demanding a refund, never mind pondering cancellation.

[Bruiser McHuge]

not seen the Star for a bit but had a look the other day....are people complaining about the match reports being mixed together in date order rather than league by league ?..if so then i cannot see the problem and i think i prefer the results done on a date basis...it doesn't really matter what league it is surely , but it is easier just to look for a specific date...makes sense to me...

Apart from that i couldn't see a massive change...it looked fine to me though

[Tsunami]

Not a fan of the re-vamp and without question, not having the results sections by league is my main gripe. My subscription renewal has arrived and for the first time I'm considering not renewing. Had the Star received complaints about how the presentation used to be? If not, then why change just for the sake of it?

 

Surely must be for other reasons for your decision. You would honestly cancel your subscription because the data is not by league. Oh Dear.

[manchesterpaul]

not seen the Star for a bit but had a look the other day....are people complaining about the match reports being mixed together in date order rather than league by league ?..if so then i cannot see the problem and i think i prefer the results done on a date basis...it doesn't really matter what league it is surely , but it is easier just to look for a specific date...makes sense to me...

Apart from that i couldn't see a massive change...it looked fine to me though

 

Ok say Coventry are riding in a match and you want to look up their recent match reports quickly give me their last 6 specific dates! Have you memorized them for every team in the league

 

No major biggie this one and it did occur to me some will prefer the by date order. But say you've got a match on TV, or just ahead of a match you're interested in, and you want to read up on the teams recent matches, it's a lot easier to go to the Elite League section to find the team's reports than try and remember what days the teams had raced on or thumb through a whole weeks matches over three leagues. Also i'm pretty sure match reports normally take more than three double pages.

 

My only true gripe is the scattering of a teams articles over multiple pages in bits and pieces. Again reading up on a team means thumbing through many, many pages instead of glancing at the one page. Life will go on though before anyone/usual suspects try to turn this into a big incident lol.

Edited June 5, 2013 by manchesterpaul

[lucifer sam]

I think there should be an index in each issue

 

Seriously, the new look Star is very good. The changes seem to mean even more is crammed into each 48/64 page issue than before. And I like the history pieces that accompany each previews of a BSPA Major event.

 

All the best

Rob

[manchesterpaul]

I think there should be an index in each issue

 

Seriously, the new look Star is very good. The changes seem to mean even more is crammed into each 48/64 page issue than before. And I like the history pieces that accompany each previews of a BSPA Major event.

 

All the best

Rob

 

Lol ouch.

[TwoMinuteWarning]

To those of us who no longer have a team to support (I'm ex-Wimbledon), the more "scattered" nature of the club news has made me read more, rather than less, of those news items.

 

I preferred the old system of having all match reports in league order, but it's no big deal.

 

Would like to see junior/second-half matches get the same reports and heat details as the senior matches each week. Current junior coverage is patchy. I'm also surprised that there is rarely/never any coverage of amateur meetings (Scunny, Lydd, Northside etc)

 

I also like the team pics on the back cover, though that must be difficult with all the injuries, guests and doubling-up in teams these days.

 

It's a steal at just over 2 quid a time.

 

Please print a blank scorechart for people to use when watching EL on TV, like you do for the GP. Or maybe the BSPA wouldn't like this as it may reduce programme sales?

 

And, for someone with a big interest in the history of the sport, the Star documents that history in hard copy, which is invaluable. Information on the web is fine, and is here today ... BUT possibly gone tomorrow.

Edited June 5, 2013 by TwoMinuteWarning

[manchesterpaul]

Please print a blank scorechart for people to use when watching EL on TV, like you do for the GP. Or maybe the BSPA wouldn't like this as it may reduce programme sales?

 

Too be honest i personally never make racecards available for UK league meetings for that very reason, it might stop the odd person or two from buying a match programme. The only exceptions are UK staged GP, SWC, British FInal and the odd other major 'sell-out' meeting. That's why i do the Swedish and Danish leagues but not UK. I have a UK one set up on my computer for personal use, but wouldn't like to make them available to a wider audience.

 

Having said that, don't Sky themselves make a printable racecard for every match they cover??? Just go to their speedway home page and check, i'm sure they used to.

[PHILIPRISING]

I PUT some of the comments above to Andrew Skeels, Deputy Editor of Speedway Star. Here is his reply

 

Can't please all the people all the time obviously but I honestly can't see why it's coming in for the criticism it has (although I'm bound to say that as it was me that instigated the changes!).

If you look at the PL news section this week, it's four consecutive spreads. If we had two pages of PL news near the front, then you have to move on 10 pages to the next spread, then another six pages to the next, etc, then yes, I agree, it would be 'all over the place'. But you don't.

Within those four spreads, there's a 'main' piece on each club (under a red headline), roughly three to a spread. It can't be that difficult to locate which ones you want to read within the space of four spreads surely? Or is the consensus that everyone only wants to read about their own club, and not any of the others?

The only real change is that there are now a lot more side panels to give readers more to read about their own club.

Worth noting, too, that PL news this year is eight pages. Last year, it was seven. EL news last year was five, this year it's six.

In terms of the match reports, the main reason for switching to a chronological date order, rather than league by league, was that it saves space which can be used more effectively elsewhere. Using the National League as an example, you may get a week where there's six meetings, which is too many to fit into one page but not really enough to fill two, but under the old system we would still have to allocate two. Now we don't.

You may also get a week when there's four NL meetings and three get rained off. Under the old system, we would have to allocate a page to that for what would effectively amount to a column and a bit.

Bearing in mind that every week throughout the season, we have to leave stories out because we simply don't have space to cram everything in, any space saving we can make is welcome, hence the decision to alter the format of the match reports section.

We're constantly trying to offer readers better value for money and I believe the revamp helps us to do that. Of course, it's everyone's prerogative to cancel their subscription at any time if they wish but to do so just because you don't like the layout of some pages seems a little extreme to me.

 

I PUT some of the comments above to Andrew Skeels, Deputy Editor of Speedway Star. Here is his reply

 

 

Can't please all the people all the time obviously but I honestly can't see why it's coming in for the criticism it has (although I'm bound to say that as it was me that instigated the changes!).

 

If you look at the PL news section this week, it's four consecutive spreads. If we had two pages of PL news near the front, then you have to move on 10 pages to the next spread, then another six pages to the next, etc, then yes, I agree, it would be 'all over the place'. But you don't.

 

Within those four spreads, there's a 'main' piece on each club (under a red headline), roughly three to a spread. It can't be that difficult to locate which ones you want to read within the space of four spreads surely? Or is the consensus that everyone only wants to read about their own club, and not any of the others?

 

The only real change is that there are now a lot more side panels to give readers more to read about their own club.

 

Worth noting, too, that PL news this year is eight pages. Last year, it was seven. EL news last year was five, this year it's six.

 

In terms of the match reports, the main reason for switching to a chronological date order, rather than league by league, was that it saves space which can be used more effectively elsewhere. Using the National League as an example, you may get a week where there's six meetings, which is too many to fit into one page but not really enough to fill two, but under the old system we would still have to allocate two. Now we don't.

 

You may also get a week when there's four NL meetings and three get rained off. Under the old system, we would have to allocate a page to that for what would effectively amount to a column and a bit.

 

Bearing in mind that every week throughout the season, we have to leave stories out because we simply don't have space to cram everything in, any space saving we can make is welcome, hence the decision to alter the format of the match reports section.

 

We're constantly trying to offer readers better value for money and I believe the revamp helps us to do that. Of course, it's everyone's prerogative to cancel their subscription at any time if they wish but to do so just because you don't like the layout of some pages seems a little extreme to me.

[manchesterpaul]

I PUT some of the comments above to Andrew Skeels, Deputy Editor of Speedway Star. Here is his reply

 

Can't please all the people all the time obviously but I honestly can't see why it's coming in for the criticism it has (although I'm bound to say that as it was me that instigated the changes!).

 

If you look at the PL news section this week, it's four consecutive spreads. If we had two pages of PL news near the front, then you have to move on 10 pages to the next spread, then another six pages to the next, etc, then yes, I agree, it would be 'all over the place'. But you don't.

 

Within those four spreads, there's a 'main' piece on each club (under a red headline), roughly three to a spread. It can't be that difficult to locate which ones you want to read within the space of four spreads surely? Or is the consensus that everyone only wants to read about their own club, and not any of the others?

 

The only real change is that there are now a lot more side panels to give readers more to read about their own club.

 

Worth noting, too, that PL news this year is eight pages. Last year, it was seven. EL news last year was five, this year it's six.

 

In terms of the match reports, the main reason for switching to a chronological date order, rather than league by league, was that it saves space which can be used more effectively elsewhere. Using the National League as an example, you may get a week where there's six meetings, which is too many to fit into one page but not really enough to fill two, but under the old system we would still have to allocate two. Now we don't.

 

You may also get a week when there's four NL meetings and three get rained off. Under the old system, we would have to allocate a page to that for what would effectively amount to a column and a bit.

 

Bearing in mind that every week throughout the season, we have to leave stories out because we simply don't have space to cram everything in, any space saving we can make is welcome, hence the decision to alter the format of the match reports section.

 

We're constantly trying to offer readers better value for money and I believe the revamp helps us to do that. Of course, it's everyone's prerogative to cancel their subscription at any time if they wish but to do so just because you don't like the layout of some pages seems a little extreme to me.

 

First of all don't take too much hurt or umbrage at criticism as one should always bear in mind the extreme ratio that applies in that people always pick up a pen or type on a keyboard to complain way more readily than they do to praise.

 

It did cross my mind that the chronological order of match reports was to squeeze out a little more space. I agree with whoever mentioned earlier that there seems to be a little more reading available.

 

It's not far off 11pm and i'm off out for the night so haven't got the time to check back through the thread, but if the 'all over the place' reference was only myself that made that i do indeed stand by that. I see no reason, and please can you give one, why the news about a club should be split over several pages, what is the purpose behind that?

 

No offence to whoever posted it but i was taken aback that someone said they would consider cancelling their subscription because of a minor layout change!

 

Nothing that would stop me from subscribing (lol) BUT....one major annoyance i forgot to mention....the use of bold font for the home side in the fixture list. Sorry but i think that is truly awful....lol yeah i used bold font deliberately there It is not easy on the eye and very imbalanced for a fixture involving two teams.

 

Glad to see that you keep to a minimum these days the, at times, psychedelic clash of particular font colours against a background that makes one feel as if one has overdosed on LSD, trying to read it has everything swirling around like those black circles on a white background that start to spin the longer you look at it.

 

Got to admit though veering on the edge of that is the still current relatively heavy use of white text on a black background, bearing in mind that you use a very small text size it can tend to zoom in and out a little lol. If you instantly look up and blink your eyes you can see the text in front of your eyes, yeah ok i do like those pictures where using a black and white contrast you look at the picture then close your eyes and can still see it clearly lol lol. By the way my eyesight is perfectly healthy when i am mentioning all this stuff about the text and background.

 

At the end of the day i still praise and congratulate all involved in producing a truly superb magazine...in the past i've gone into detail as to the many reasons the Speedway Star is state of the art when it comes to layout (nope not got time now to dig them out).

 

So do take in the positives that are often mentioned in the forums about the magazine.

Edited June 7, 2013 by manchesterpaul