Unfortunately the RNIB have so far been unsuccessful in trying to get private sector websites taken to task for failing to provide proper accessibility support (although I believe some cases settled out of court - likely to avoid PR disasters).
But they won’t give up
It’s rather remiss of any company to launch a website in 2024 which doesn’t support accessibility. We must assume a Focal/naim executive with Legal/Compliance responsibilities was involved in approving the launch.
There’s lots of information available to web dev teams
The basics of accessible web design would include the idea thst a site which scrolls vertically up to 2 sides of A4 is just about acceptable. One which scrolls vertically to the equivalent of 6 pages has been designed by a team in need of really really basic accessibilty training.
The next most basic thing is that you simply don’t use all capitals as it makes everything harder to read for everyone. Not just the likes of me with a VI.
Then add in a perpetual video which communicates no key message at all. Took my 6th visit before my eyes finally spotted that you could pause it. Have just run it past a friend who loves Naim but for whom English is a second language. Didn’t tell her what the site was and just showed the video element. Her best guess was that the story was a posh bloke had crashed his Bentley.
Clearly testing on multiple browsers is not complete as the way it renders on DDG only works properly in landscape.
To be honest I could go on all night. It absolutely reflects the poor approach to accessibility within the Naim app; the recent YouTube videos and the screens on the new devices which are effectively mirrors.
Apart from the issues with the design, which could simply be related to budget. (One would hope not) There’s a lot of content issues, including obvious ones like mixed language, things miscategorised, etc.
I struggle to understand how this was allowed to go live like this. If Naim didn’t have budget for any testing, at least they could have made it available at an alternative URL and asked its employees (and this forum?) to have a look first.
Loaded-up via MS Edge (Microsoft Edge Version 123.0.2420.65 (Official build) (64-bit)) – all UTD per Settings, and the main 'site header page loads, but going in to the tabs below and selecting a sub-page e.g. Partners under Universe, simply loads the main 'site page again.
The content of the main page (accessed by the logo) needs reconsidering/editing IMHO (like many other things). It’s just a series of headers thrown on the main page.
Richard, respectively I think this was a missed opportunity. A small group initially delving through a website in development based as @n-lot has commented, on an alternative URL, would have provided concise comments that could be researched and hopefully addressed, before going live.
I have read every post, some more than once, in part for feedback via my dealer HFLounge. It would take some considerable time to summarise all the relevant points made in this thread. I would hope that swift changes will be made, although the lack of previous changes might suggest otherwise. It is no doubt a disappointment to all Naim’s uk staff, who as we know, work hard to bring us products we enjoy.
I think many on the forum would appreciate a post from who is responsible, not to hold them to the fire, simply acknowledging the comments and a way forward, otherwise regretfully interest may well wain in supporting Naim.
This somehow reminds me of what happened to the website of the previous Naim distributor in Germany (musicline) which was a bit „old-fashioned“ but provided all the information I was looking for (user manuals of current and older products, firmware updates etc.). This has now been replaced with a new Focal/Naim website where none of this information is available anymore and instead provides all kinds of infornation about car audio.
Can we please try to keep it constructive and specific - that way it’ll be easier for the marketing team to sort through the feedback and address specific issues with the site. Thanks.
HL, it would be interesting to see whether you are experiencing similar issues with the Focal website (which appears similar in overall look and format). Please let me know.
Seeing Richard’s opening post I assumed that was what this was. I was flabbergasted and shocked to later realise it actually was the live site that people with no idea that it was new and very much in beta mode would see if they looked up Naim. Given the major content errors with language, and the confused and missing data, let alone the awful moving images, I think any person not already knowing Naim would assume it is a foreign company, and though the mixed language initially hints at German the errors are more reminiscent of low budget Chinese.
And it looks like both the Nova and Nova PE are able to rip CD’s. Is this a new feature?
But interestingly only the Nova PE seems to be able to play them as well, not the regular Nova.
In my view the first thing that should be done is take the site offline and temporarily reinstate the old until the language errors have been fixed, these giving a truly awful impression of the brand. And to achieve that they absolutely need someone with an excellent command of the English Language go through every page and fix - which of course also needs cross referencing to sources of the necessary accurate data. Of course the same is needed of any and all other language versions.
I’ve already made suggestions re the moving and other images so won’t repeat here, other than to say have regard for accessibility guidelines.
The other thing needed before going to beta testing is to check all links, given that several people have Of course that is where it starts to get complicated because there are so many links within links etc, and subsequent beta testing would be invaluable in hopefully picking up the odd one that might still have been missed, as well as any different browser issues etc.
Find a Naim Store has quite a few problems, which seem to be common to the Focal site:
UK postcode search does not work, although you are invited to enter a zip code
Brighton on the South coast UK is an unknown location, locations in USA, Australia and Canada are offered.
For my home location, near to Brighton, my local dealer Audio-T is not shown, instead other retailers are given prominence. Indeed my 4 local dealers are shown as being in Northern France.
At last though, if I click on Find a Distributor, Audio-T Brighton is revealed in a cryptic manner without telephone number, url or geolocation.
Richard - Focal.com loads OK – and some clarity is emerging, as the (copied from) Focal 'site exhibits similar behaviours e.g.
On the Naim 'site, if I tab Universe, 3 options present on screen, but the scroll bar sits at the top, suggesting you can scroll down - but if you do this, these options/selections disappear (same on the Focal 'site), and the main page re-appears.
This is also the case on some of the other header tabs e.g. Accessories, where you tab and option selections appear, you scroll to see if there are more out of screen, and these options disappear and the screen reverts (I think) to previous screen loaded?
The Focal 'site does the same for me e.g. selecting the High-Fideliy Speakers tab, you get 2 boxes for Speakers and Home Cinema – which then disappear if I scroll, and main 'site displays.
I can see the logic and construction, but it’s confusing IMHO.
I’m also wondering if ‘dealers’ has been auto-translated to ‘resellers’. Focal’s 'site uses the term dealers, which begs if this has been developed off-shore?
The 350 product page - the large text NAP 350 is overlaid in HTML (it can be selected with a cursor) - because of its position it completely spoils the look of the product picture,
Naim have recently moved into offering a more simplified range that can be easily interactive with each other.
Moving away from the past that offered many options and complicated combinations.
The old website rightly so had in big letters “Dig Deeper” maybe not needed to dig so deeper today.
Just leave a few links for those that do want to look at the legacy.
Richard a p.s. on scrolling - on Naim’s 'site, scrolling is required to view the fuller Uniti range and also the Muso options. The Integrated Solutions (CI range) page also scrolls OK.
It’s like the 'site is using pop-ups at times, perhaps driven by other media e.g. 'phones and tablets?
