Is something wrong at Valley...

[chris-uk]

...or did they forget to pay the bill?

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/

Chris

[Ceegee]

Dunno, but this still works...

http://www.valleycanoeproducts.com/

Steve

[wilsoj2]

I just exchanged email with Peter Orton a short time ago. He noted that there was to be a new website and to expect some exciting news from Valley very shortly.

[Chris Bolton]

Hmmm..

The "Latest News" on http://www.valleycanoeproducts.com/ is from May 2005

But a 'whois' look-up on valleyseakayaks.com shows that the domain is registered until 31 Dec 2009, so it should be valid.

I hope Peter Orton can get it sorted quickly

Chris

[OwenBurson]

Valley had been unable to change anything on its site for a while, I assume that they are starting again.

[Jonas Karlsson]

Looks like Valley is working on a new website and it will go live in 32 days. Link:

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/

Jonas

[M-J-B]

Looks like Valley is working on a new website and it will go live in 32 days. Link:

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/

Jonas

Just a few days to go now... site layout looks interesting but I wish they had gone back to the old logo rather than coming up with something completely different. And what about the kayaks in the "leading the way since 1970" picture? Certainly does not look like typical Valley products to me... but I might be wrong.

[Rdscott]

M-J-B my enitial thoughs were "is that a rockpool" but im sure we'll find out soon enough.

[M-J-B]

M-J-B my enitial thoughs were "is that a rockpool" but im sure we'll find out soon enough.

My thoughts exactly :)

[Owen]

Yes that's a Rockpool, I think I even know the paddler. Is the text below the photo written in latin? As the only people who speak that are dead Romans it's not very helpful.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Owen> Is the text written in Latin?

Douglas

[Chris Bolton]

I'm not convinced those boats are Rockpool - the deck does rise in front of the cockpit but there seems to be a very definite chine just above the water. I think, given the context, that they have a genuine (not pseudo) Latin name?

Chris

[wideblueyonder]

As Douglas alludes to with his link to the 'Ipsum' website - web designers use 'fake latin' generators to create paragraphs of text to dump onto their designs where text will go to show clients what the site will look like with text on the page.

Like the new design - kind of agree about the logo, I liked the old one and it's a shame to see it go. Not sure about the boats in the pic - would be very interesting if they are new boats!! However, I think it may be a case, again, of the web designers grabbing an image to show how the design will look.

All will be revealed I shortly I guess!

[Dan@Tiderace]

They are Rockpool boats in the picture, though I would imagine that's more down to the web developers trying to find a suitable picture for the mock up. Either that or it's to get tongues wagging... ;)

[Ceegee]

For Gods sake everybody, I can even see the white starfish on the blue one!

Steve

[AllanC]

Starfish? You can tell it says "Rockpool Kayaks" on the front of the blue boat under the cockpit rim. I get what's being said about a mock up, but surely someone at Valley approved it before it went live?

[Rdscott]

Guys calm down not everyone one has high definition screans and what a not.

I can make out a white patch and a white line for instance, but I agree surely someone would approve it. doesn anyone Know when the site is going live other than in a few days im in the market for a boat and owuld be intrested in seeing whats going on.

[johnb]

I think someone has been reading this forum!... the mock up isn't there anymore.

[M-J-B]

I think someone has been reading this forum!... the mock up isn't there anymore.

Perhaps you need to refresh your browser cache?

[johnb]

Hmmm. Funny, I had viewed it before on this PC, strange that it somehow "reverted" to a cached version. Oh well, carry on as you are...

[wilsoj2]

http://www.valleyseakayaks.com/

As of this evening on this side of the pond those ARE Rockpool boats on the home page of the Valley site. I AM a big Valley fan and admire Peter Orton greatly, but how could the longest established British Sea Kayak manufacturer end up with 2 boats from an different manufacturer on its home page -- even if it is a temporary one. There are more images of Valley boats around than any other. Look at Gordon Brown's site of you need current images of a Valley boat put to good use.

As far as the logo... I prefer versions of the longstanding logo. The one that appears on the current homepage makes me wonder if the boats are from Estonia or some such.

[Steen Johansen]

As far as the logo... I prefer versions of the longstanding logo. The one that appears on the current homepage makes me wonder if the boats are from Estonia ...

We can hope they are.

[M-J-B]

As far as the logo... I prefer versions of the longstanding logo. The one that appears on the current homepage makes me wonder if the boats are from Estonia ...

We can hope they are.

Why?
Are you hoping for lower prices or poorer quality? If you wish better quality then you have to go further up north from Estonia ;)

[orton1966]

Firstly the picture was just a stock-shot used by the graphic artist when he first started working on the site. The page on display is just a static image; the actual front page will be dynamic with the main picture being randomly selected from a gallery page. The shot shown is not part of this gallery. Equally text styles and some layout graphics have already changed from those depicted, even the logo has changed marginally (but not much). Truth is we are inching ever closer to the full site being up and functional.

All this goes to show you can’t please everyone!

When we lost our most recent site and reverted back to an older version we were heavily criticised with “What’s gone wrong at Valley” type posts. Despite my own opinion that a site with mostly relevant information was better than no site at all we responded to pressure from some of our dealers (who were also taking stick) and pulled the site, leaving the “New site coming soon” page. Unsurprisingly we had as many complaints for doing this as when we had the out-of-date site up.

On reaching our forecasted date for having the new site live we had the choice of either; ignoring the fact that our countdown had reached zero and nothing had changed – Cue another round of “Why no Valley website” posts. Or we could reset the countdown clock – Cue some other negative round of posts. Or and this is the decision we settled on, we could show something that will give a feel for the new site and ask people to be patient a little longer.

Yes I did realise the mistake over the image but only after it went live, I made a judgement-call that it was better for the graphic artist to continue on other areas of the new site rather than spend what, in truth, would be a modest amount of time re-doing something that isn’t even going to be used on the new site.

Bottom line - it’s a nice picture, totally in keeping with the many of images that we have featuring Valley boats. Rockpool are a good company, making good boats that we have a good relationship with them. It doesn’t harm anyone or mislead anyone. It’s just one of those things that happens when you use a mock-up, meant for internal evaluation of a concept, in the public domain!

[Mikebelluk]

My wish list for the new site:

A page with ALL accessories and their prices, hatches, hatch rims, seats, backbands, fixings, tow ropes, etc...the lot.
It's annoying that I can find these on lots of US sites but not here, and in some cases cheaper than in this country.
[Yes, I know you have to pay P+P but thats not the point].

[wilsoj2]

As Peter is learning, the web is possibly the most important means of communicating. For an endeavor such as the highest rung of sea kayaks, interested parties are keenly interested. This is not a bad thing. The web is the most visible aspect of many, if not most, endeavors. It is the single most relied on source of information for the majority of folks with whom I interact. Among most I know, an accurate website is essential.

It would indicate a serious lack of interest and possible viability, if no one noticed that the Valley site was down, that the promised date for the new site was not met, and that the new temporary page features boats other than Valley's.

I understand the frustrations that can accompany web design and content in other's hands. It was years before I could directly edit the website for the gallery for which I am responsible. My heart goes out to Peter for the extended time it is taking to get up the new website, especially after years of the old website's errors and aging.

I hope that this time around Peter has the ability to edit and add to the new website once it is mounted so the issues of long standing inaccurate and out of date information of the old site are not revisited.

[orton1966]

Despite the evident frustration in my previous post I am indeed very pleased that people are, at least, interested in what we at Valley are doing.

Just to reassure everyone - yes when the new site its live it will be hosted somewhere we have full control over. Additionally the new site is based around a content management system that allows even us Neanderthals to keep it updated.

Instead of starting from scratch we could have taken the quick option and effectively uploaded our current catalogue as a series of static pages creating a basic website that would then age quickly, instead we genuinely are trying to finish up with something that provides more information and usability than what we had previously.

A couple more weeks and we’ll get there!

[Ceegee]

Despite the evident frustration in my previous post I am indeed very pleased

But please don't get narky at us all - we are just pointing out the obvious (and in some respects humorous) mistakes. At least it shows paddlers notice and value a decent web presence for manufacturers.

Per you previous post: nobody is denying that Valley have a great tradition and stable of designs. I've been a fan of your boats since first sitting in a Nordkapp in 1979, and until recently, an owner of one (and still of a Skerray).

I just had to smile, that since I've changed from a Nordkapp to an Alaw, it seems your webmaster felt it appropriate that you should too. Good luck with the new site, as regards Nordkapp ownership, I'll quote Governor Schwarzenegger

"Ahhl be baaak!

Steve

[puddled]

Despite the evident frustration in my previous post

Rise above it all. The main thing is Valley products are excellent and all of this hype can only help propel the company into the lime light more than an expensive ad campaign.
Good luck with the re-launch.

Pud

[Ceegee]

I just had reason to speak to Mike at Rockpool on another matter (Excellent customer service as always) who laughed it all off ;-)

That said, I needed to visit his website to get the 'phone number, and guess what I saw there? http://www.rockpoolkayaks.com/courses.php - Thought I recognized that photo from somewhere!

Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery!

Steve