Wunderground News 

Man! You sure have a bunch of grumpy old sticks-in-the-mud looking at this site!

Personally I love the changes you made. In fact, let me tell you something: I've faithfully subscribed to Weather Underground since 2003 and have always loved the vast amount of weather data available since I'm kind of a weather fanatic. But when it came up for renewal last November I let it lapse, and have been getting my weather fix from the Houston/Galveston NWS page. I figured could get most of what I wanted there so why shell out $10 for this site? I never really liked the way it looked, the color scheme, the jumbled, putzy, 1990's look. What kept me coming back was the wealth of information.

But tonight, after a long period without it, I flipped back to Weather Underground to see what you said about this winter storm that's supposedly coming in tonight. I could hardly believe this was the same site when I saw it. It was neat, clean, easy to navigate, but the torrent of information was still there. It impressed me -- impressed me so much that I renewed right then and there. Then I noticed you only charged me $5 instead of the $10 I've been paying. That impressed me too.

So don't listen to all these grumps. I like it. It's got the same depth of information we weather nerds crave, but neater and easier to access and manipulate.

Thanks, Weather Underground!

Quoting UncleJim74:
I like the look and the additional information, but after giving it some time to sink in, I'm pretty disappointed with the new content, for several reasons:
. The lack of the "detailed" 7-day forecast. This is what I come to Weather Underground for!
. The lack of a quick path to the local high-res radar.
. The drop down menus below the tabs went away before I could reach them, but that seems to be fixed now (IE9 Beta)

And yes, I'm a long time paid subscriber.

I see you have been here longer than me. So I know you remember when they changed the site before. It was a great change. They added features and cool stuff over the years and they all added to the sites appeal. I understand people like different things, but I truly feel this new format is a step backwards. I do like the mobile link for my droid though it's awesome.

JFlorida,

Loved your comment referring to the Classic View as the "Kiddie Pool"! Why did you edit it out?

Just because some of us prefer to use that view to find a concise presentation of the weather without having to click here, there, and everywhere does not mean we don't have a sense of humor! :-)

I applaud your effort to help us learn and grow in appreciation for the new site.

I like the new layout, it is taking a bit of getting used to but still very good. The only thing I miss is the LARGER wundermap. I have widescreen monitors on all my machines and it would be nice to be able to setup to utilize more of the screen and not have to scroll as much.

Keep up the good work, THANKS!!

OH yeah droid app anytime soon??

I think  'wunderground' has done a fantastic job with this new site.  For the small amount of money we pay, we get a very comprehensive 'all in one' web site with more options than most folks may realize.  I took the tour...and do recomend it for 'everyone'.

I a 10 year plus user and pleased with the change.  Like anything new, it's a learning curve and I hope users with take their time and look around the site and DO take the tour.

GOOD JOB!

I Love the New Look of the Site. Great Work.

sucks sucks sucks i want the 7 day forcast back! Or you will experiance something new.... ME GONE

Keep the Classic site going so I can choose the one one I like best. As of right now I like classic best

As a longtime user (from 2002)I appreciate the redesign's cleaner look, additional information, and ability to collapse some sections.
• What I do not like is the inability to customize which sections appear and to remove (or move) some of the huge sections above the fold that are irrelevant to me.
• The 'classic' view puts all information I need in the prime real estate at the top of the page. No scrolling or clicking is required unless additional details are desired. I will continue to use it.

Thank you for being the best weather information source available.

Don't like the new look...can anyone tell me how I get the classic view to appear when I open?
Thanks

The new layout "looks pretty"....but, the pale, small print is a problem.
I still prefer the old site, but if the new one must be used, it would certainly help if you could use larger, bolder, black fonts on a white background.
"Older eyes" often have difficulty with the type of layout on your new page.
Thank you.
WU is still the best! The rest of them don't even come close!

For those talking about learning curves, etc, you're missing the point people are complaining about. No amount of learning can make the new site present data as efficiently as the old site.

On the old site, the first screen had the entire current conditions and most of the forecast. No clicks or scrolling - instant access to the information. The new layout shows only a tiny bit of the current conditions and none of the forecast. To see the rest of the current conditions, you have to scroll. To see the forecast, you have to scroll again. To see the entire five days, you have to make four clicks. You can scan a screen for the information you need much faster than you can scroll and click to get it.

Consider a book. You know, printed on dead trees. Which is faster - scanning a regular page of text for information, or printing one word per page and turning the page every time you want the next word?

Then there's the technical problems, like being fixed width, making it even more wasteful of people's screen space. Or the use of low-contrast colors.

Most of the people saying there's new features in the new version are pointing to things that already existed. For example, one person liked how they could change the station used for the current conditions - something trivially easy to do before as well.

An occasional facelift, or even a radical change, isn't necessarily a bad thing - just as long as it's change for the better, which this isn't. I really can not think of ANY benefit to the new version, at all.

--Bushytails
(P.S. Visit my blog to get my un-suck-ifying .css file - my first attempt at trying to make the new site useful again...)

Who is your audience? I think that people who want the details of weather, wind and pollen are well served by the new site. People who want a quick overview of the hourly forecast and the coming week are probably better off going to accuweather (although it is not as readable as the Wunderground Classic. You might be able to serve both groups, but I don't see an easy direct way for doing that. I regret the loss.

Quoting Pleonic:
Man! You sure have a bunch of grumpy old sticks-in-the-mud looking at this site!

That's because us "old sticks" are also old-set-in-our-ways forecasters who have enough crap running around in our skulls and don't want to have to relearn to navigate around a site we have come to depend on.

WUnderground, please give me the option of the classic layout. I don't care how much server space a new AND old site will both take-up. (Jeff Masters kowtowing to the Global Warming advocates/media probably brings in plenty of cash anyhow.)

Said my piece. Stick firmly entrenched in mud.

Link Link to classic wu.

It's obvious the format was changed to make room for more ads and future video. If you are'nt a paid member you wo'nt have all the white space, it'll be filled with flashing ads. All good things usually fade away for the almighty dollar.

I've thought a bit more about this and want to approach this from a common sense use case approach.

Q: Why do users come to a weather website?
A: To find out the current conditions and the forecast for where they are or where they are going.

If you subscribe to that belief, then information that supports use case should be most predominantly displayed above the fold, making it most visible and immediately accessible.

Q: Does "Weather Events" support the use case?
A: No.

Which leads one to wonder: why is it taking valuable screen real estate above the fold?

If a common use case approach was taken to this redesign, people wouldn't be reacting so strongly, IMHO.

I'd like to see more contrast with the text and the graphics. (especially in the weekly forecast area) I have a large screen resolution, so tiny graphics with low contrast don't show as easily. Perhaps it could be helped by making those graphics a little bigger and also adding more color to them.

I've been a paying member here since practically the beginning. I send anybody/everybody I know to wunderground simply because you are easily the best weather site anywhere. Sorry (and no slam intended)... hate the new layout. I will gladly pay more for the classic site if that's needed, I understand this is a business. Please keep the classic site up.

Many thanks to the link to the classic site! I will be re-setting my browser to that. One of the main reasons why I go to Wunderground for weather instead of Weather.com is because the layout was WAY more organized than weather.com (in addition to being a member and no ads - another big plus). I'm registering my vote here - my personal preference and opinion. Sorry that it might not agree with other users, and I don't see the need for postings that call people names because of a preference one way or another.

Well I fixed the icon issue through the classic view. In some ways I don't mind the new layout and in other ways I do. What I don't like is having to scroll down to find more of the info. This is even on a large 27" screen. I can imagine it being even more annoying for smaller screens.

About the ads: I'm not as worried as long as I am able to block them. If I become unable to block ads on this site then I'm gone.

The thing about the classic lay-out is everything I normally need is available without having to scroll down. The new site, I have to scroll... it's unavoidable.

I prefer the old classic style as I was easy to find the other station in my area and now they are all gone.Why change if it is not broken.Just a bit of improvement would have been enough.
Disappointed:John

Thanks so much for the new look.... luv it and thanks from Florence, OR......

i think the new page is no bad, going to take some getting use to. the only thing i don't like is how everything seems to blend together because of everything being so faint, i think everything could be a little more bold in color so they stand out.

What happened to the detailed 5 day view. Now you get a 2 day detail view and beyond that is the simple view. Here's an example.

New view) Rain 38|29
Classic view) Rain...mainly in the morning. Highs in the upper 30s. Southeast winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain near 100 percent.

Please add this to new view and maybe let us customize what is shown on the page and how its displayed.

How do I turn off the erratic and always obnoxiously mistaken ip lookup?

Is there a blog or members page that addresses specific issues?

I have come to like the new view better, in spite of (not because of) the data-lite appearance. I really think the Favorite and Recent locations would work better as a sidebar in the now empty left side of the screen and how about a customizable short-cut and link sidebar on the right? A week view forecast in place of the current 5 day forecast would also be nice.

As far as I can see, no other weather site matches WU's content and usability, regardless of which view you use.

@JohnTucker

Actually, on the new site it takes a scroll and four clicks to see the same seven day descriptions that you see on one screen in the classic view.

Re the ip lookup: setting a location as home page will show that location on the opening page.
However, the Location window in the "Full Screen" view, always presents me with a choice of typing in a location, selecting "We think you are here" (which is always wrong and not always the same) or selecting from recently viewed locations. I would prefer the location in full screen to default to my home location or favorite location selection.

Hi,

While it definitely looks slicker, please bring back the 7 day forecast (or extended forecast) and include the wind speed in the overview box for each day (like in the "classic" view). The "Add to Favourites" star isn't very obvious either!

Thanks for leaving the classic view there - I'll have to continue to use it for the time being, so I hope you plan to leave it there. I can always replace "www" with "classic" on any page to see ye olde layout!

My observation is while the new look is nice I find it requires more steps on my part to view all the information that the I primarily visit the site to see. The classic view meets all my requirements in a single step on opening.

Okay, call me a stick or kiddie or slow learner if you like. The point is that I renewed every year because the site was quick, easy, and gave me exactly what I wanted. Can I learn to use the new site? Of course I can. Will I bother to take the time? No, I doubt it. I will continue to use the classic site as long as it lasts. When they take it down, which I promise they will do, I will use some other weather service. The days of renewing are over unless they tell me that the classic site will be available for the length of my subscription. Oh yes, now the flamethrowers can add cheap to their description of the multitude of folks who don't like the new format. In summary, I will put up with the ads, which is what this site change is really all about, and continue to use the old stick-in-the-mud site for free.

As a long time paid user, I wanted to use the new site for a few days before commenting. And, as a web designer myself, I can also appreciate your comments re: needing to reorganize the Site Architecture due to more and more items having been added over time.

However, I really do find the previous version easier to gather weather info at a glance. The various sections were well demarcated with color and crisp icons. The new design has all the various sections "running together" due to lack of clear, contrasting colors.

And, as others have said, having to scroll down to get the info that used to be visible as soon as the screen loaded.

Additionally, the redesign of the favorites is not at all user friendly. I have a list of 8 favorites that I previously could view at a glance, when the page loaded, with no scrolling. Again, due to good use of sharp color contrasts and sharp icons, I could immediately get weather data on these sites, almost without actively doing so. Now, I have to intentionally look at the favorites, scroll right, and actively READ the data. Something I never really noticed that I did **NOT** have to do with the previous view.

I really appreciate you keeping the "classic" view available, and I have changed my home page settings accordingly.

As an avid weather buff, I really do appreciate this site and all the work that goes into it. NOTHING else out there comes close!

Holy Moly.. there is alot of criticism and some good points. I'm still roving around in the newness and haven't a full feel for the newness.
It sure looks good, now to find if I like how it works.
I think Wunderground is awesome...
thanks for all your fine work.

The new layout is good. It's not great because of the pale small font. I've never understood how any web designer can think that small pale fonts are a good thing.

Is there a way to let the use configure the fonts?

Love the new look! Have been subscribing to Weather Underground for years to satisfy my inner weather geek. Over the years I've enjoyed the increasing amount of information and fun new tools that were added, but it was time for a change. You can only add-on so much, sometimes you've just gotta "move out" and start fresh! Great job.

Please bring back the week at a glance. I like the new site, but the site needs a brightness and contrast control. On my computer it is too faint. I like black text, not light gray. Keep up the good work.

Under aviation products, you have the old style US flight rules chart. Any chance of getting the new version in it's place
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/mwmap3.php?map=usa

I like the new updated look, but have to agree with many other subscribers who point out that all of the important info should be top and center. No clicking or scrolling needed. Current weather, today's forecast, weekly forecast, radar. Everything else should be shuffled to the bottom (as it was in the classic view). Come on people, I expected better!! People PAY for a weather site for WEATHER, not flashy designs and ads.

They have ads ?

Love Wunderground, hate the new look. OK, you've added great features, but it looks terrible... the new layout is frustrating!! I'm a long time user, very adaptable guy, professional degree, business executive, who normally loves change... but you missed the mark badly on the page layout.

1) I have no use for a "national weather summary" - I want focused, accurate reports for the cities of my interest. No use for this. NONE. Sorry, Dr. Roche.

2) Terrible placement of map of "world weather events" right on the top line, displacing the former easy-to-read 5-day local forecast. This is a misread on your part, of why users come to Wunderground.

3) My "favorite cities" list is now jammed in a hard-to-read usless list at the top, and it can't even fit 6 cities into view? Bad page design!

1) Add back the 7 day detailed forecast ... it WAS your strong suit.
2) If I had designed this site I (like your web designer) would have made it difficult to post a comment too ... a) figure out you have to register, b) register, c) open email and get the code, d) insert the code, d) wonder if this is really where the comments go, etc.
3) Ask for you money back on the new design project.
4) Tell your readers to bookmark the classic version (in very large bold letters so they don't have to waste time looking at this attempt to stop being useful)

Change is accepted but please keep the classic view link forever and consider putting it on the home page... or if it is... help me find it! ;)

On the detialed forecast ... a cartoon picture of a snow cloud with NO information on "how much" snow is not useful. I hope the A team gets back from vacation soon.

Quoting MichaelSTL:


Go here and click on the map, which brings you to your local NWS office, then click on the map there for your forecast. By the way, the WU forecast is nothing more than the NWS forecast with all of that pretty stuff added in!

Even before the change, I always used the NWS to get forecasts (plus, the NWS is paid for with your tax dollars; very few, if any, commercial forecasts sites actually make their own local forecasts, instead using the NWS's forecasts).



(some other things, WU's "scientific forecaster discussion" is just the NWS's forecast discussion, as seen in the lower right), they also have hourly weather charts, forecast maps, and other stuff - basically all the stuff that WU has but on just one page, or via a few links that are all grouped together)

I have stuck with WU over the years even when the NWS redesigned their local forecast pages a few years ago. Now their site looks a whole lot more like WU than the new WU does, and I'll switch over to that if the classic view goes away permanently.

What bothers me as much as the site redesign is those people who are insulting those of us who don't like the new design. If you like the new design, fine...that's your choice! But why don't we have the same choice to dislike it? As long as WU keeps both designs, that's fine by me. Let everyone use the format they prefer. But like some others have said, I fear they will eventually get rid of it. I hope they don't--that would be a terrible mistake.

I admit I generally don't care for change, but can adapt when necessary. However, this goes well beyond that. I don't like the new site because I can no longer easily find the main things I have always used this site for--mainly, the 7 day NWS text forecast, which I still haven't found! Instead, the new site is filled with things I'm not interested in.

I'm also having a problem that I haven't seen anyone else report...I can't see the 7 large menu buttons at the top of the page. When I point to what little of the top of the buttons that I can see, the menus load underneath the rest of the page, making it literally impossible to access anything. Has anyone else had this problem?

It would be great if the 'Classic View' actually restored the users personal setting. The new and improved design may prove in time to be much easier, but please don't shoot us in the foot to find out!

How do you spell change........AWFUL! I like having my favorites show up on my home page and on the current city weather info. I like the 5 day & 7 day forecasts all on the same page. Satellite image was right there too. New site requires too many clicks to get the info that you had on one page on the old site. If you must have the new site, at least keep the old version as an option for those of us who have better things to do than spend time clicking from page to page to get info. I always use your site rather than other sites BECAUSE of the ease of seeing the information. In my opinion the new version is worse than other sites.