2006 Supra Website is up

[Jon]

www.supraboats.com


Good job Supra. Very nice website.

[Erik]

**Edited**
Time and time again on here I've said that Master Craft and Correct Craft miss the mark when it comes to their Web presence. They employ hard to update, over-Flashed sites that offer nothing but a 72 DPI lo-res cut-down version of their print marketing material. Supra and Malibu stood ALONE as the 2 boat companies that understand the Web audience and the browser as a platform for delivering marketing material. This version of site changes that assertion. It is not a step forward for Supra.

[RickTinker]

Sorry you feel that way Eric. It was the same team as prior years. We will look into all your points.

Rick

[Erik]

Are you representing Supra as a dealer or as part of the corporate entity?

[RickTinker]

Erik,

I work for Supra

[Wakebrad]

Erik Jernberg, you don't know who Rick Tinker is? He's the president of Skier's Choice.

[Erik]

RickTinker, thank you for the info. Your company produces a magnificient boat.

However, due to my obligations to this site, I need to keep my comments in check to some degree despite my above rant. I can't believe this was done though. If I were a marketing VP over there I would tell them to pull the plug on this and reissue the old site again immediately and have a serious conversation with whomever decided to go all Flash, ditched the intuitave yet attractive hover menus, and turn the site into yet another overly designed Wake boat featurette.

I understand the need for revisiting the design, but that is done normally when you revisit the brand iteself. Was your company not aware of its' reputation as a company that produced an excellent Web site and arguably held the very best Web presense of any inboard boat manufacturer?

I am going to be covering this on my wake boat blog, with a full breakdown of what went wrong. Not that anyone necessarily cares, but I am getting some good traffic to my blog now, I find this to be a compelling story and I'm covering it.

[RickTinker]

My email is rtinker@skierschoice.com. You can email me directly and I will give you the email address to our designer. I am sure he would welcome your feedback.

[Erik]

Rick I am going to edit my posts and contact you, and hopefully your designer. It will be more constructive in that context.

[RickTinker]

Erik,

That is why I come here. To get the "real" feedback. Good and Bad. People's opinion's always vary greatly and it is good to get the direct version from all sides... to help in future and current designs of products and other marketing pieces, such as our website.

Keep it coming,

Rick

[chavez]

RickTinker, you need to have a low-res non-flash version of the site!

Can you imagine trying to use that on a dial up? I'd shoot myself.


I consider myself to be a flash minimalist. I hope the wake websites that I had a chance to give input on this year go with my suggestion for little to no flash - it will really set them apart from the competition (in a good way).

[Erik]

As a side note. I must say that the fact that someone at the top of Supra lurks here and reads what people have to say makes me feel even more strongly about them as a company. This person is taking the criticism and that says a lot for the organization.

Like I have said before, in another life I am a Supra fanboy.

[Neognosis]

Erik Jernberg, what the hell? What are you, afraid of this guy? You said you liked Supras, you gave a criticism of the website, why are you trying to candy it all up to avoid offending this guy? Stick to your guns, man, and don't justify your comments.

By the way, I like the new website. I really dig the 360 feature. the "customize and price" feature isn't working right now. What don't you guys like about it? Maybe I'm missing it.

[Erik]

[Captain_Tripps]

I like what they have done with the site. They have all the options that they have had in years past with a new sleak design.

I aggree that other manufacturers do leave alot ot be desired with thier websites, but the Supra sites seems to meld the flashier site witht he same content they have always had.

Erik, do you just not like flash sites? I also agree there could be an option for a flashless site, but all in all, I think the new site works.

Nice job.

[Nauty]

I tend to agree with Erik about the flash on the site. I posted some comments on the "other" site, but as long as Mr. tinker is reading this thread I'll cut and paste them over here.....

Last night I checked out Supra's new 2006 website and I have a few comments for the fine people at Skier's Choice. First off, I love my Supra and Skier's Choice, so I don't want to come off as a Supra basher. I just have some constructive criticism about their website.

For the most part the website is very cool. It looks great. It has tons of information. The upcoming "trick" page will be cool if it is indeed coming soon. Last year the 360 degree view of the boat was coming soon. We just didn't realize that soon meant next year. Speaking of which, Supra does have the 360 degree view up and running. It is a very cool tool to use. However, it would be nice if you could see inside of the boat and not just the outside of the boat.

My main beef with the new site, and even last year's site, is the photo section. I don't like the artsy fartsy half photos. What I mean about "half photos" is for example, the ones of the 22SSV dash shown in the "interior features" section where you can only see half of the dash. What is the point of only showing half of the dash?

It's kind of like watching MTV or one of those movies where they jerk the camera around and turn it sideways while zooming in and out real fast. That crap drives me nuts. Just give me a wide angle shot so I can see what's going on.

Having recently been in the market to buy a boat earlier this year I remember how frustrated I was when I went to manufacturers websites to see their product and I was unable to get a good view of "inside" the boat. As a boat buyer I want to see full on pictures of the interior of the boat. Not half of a dash. I want to see inside the storage lockers to see how much ballast I might be able to cram in there. I don't want to see some model acting like she just pulled a wakeboard out of the rear compartment when there'e no way that my board will fit in there. Okay, maybe we shouldn't do away with the hot model, but she doesn't need to be pulling boards out of a compartment where they will not fit.

Anyway, my main point is that I want more detailed wider angle shots of the interiors. Aside from that, everything is cool! Keep up the good work of making great boats. I love my SSV and have no regrets about buying it. But if you ever want to entice me into trading it in a few years from now you better get some better photos up on your website

[Neognosis]

Maybe they tease you with half-photos to get you into a dealer to see the boat in person?

[supralaunch21V]

First, I'm glad that the new web site is up. Nothing like checking nearly every other day for some fresh content and finally getting some. As a proud Supra owner, I am always looking for the latest and greatest on the company and their products. While I thought their web site last year was great my only complaint against it is the lack of fresh content. After a couple of visits I felt like I had been through every nook and cranny on the site and was hungry for some new content - and that was 10 months ago. Pictures, articles, more forum participation, anything! So with the launch of the new site I hope there are plans to publish new content more frequently. Things I like about the new site:
- the boat archive: cool to go back and look at prior stylings
- the trick room: while there is no content yet the idea sounds great and will be a good way to get repeat visits and thru fresh content
- bulletin board: glad it is still there although i wish it received more use. although hard to compete with wakeboarder.com and wakeworld.com
- resource library: glad to see more desktop wallpaper options. keep them coming
- online store: while it appears to be temporarily off-line getting stocked with 2006 gear I hope that the selection has increased. I think I speak on behalf of all supra owners that we need more gear. we have grown beyond the stickers, towels, and hats. more stuff please.
- interactive 360: this had been a teaser on the 05 site all year. so glad we finally got it.
- video clips: although this should be called video "clip" - unless they plan to add more than one. regardless, good to see the boat in action/motion. although please put some occasional wakeboarding, wakeskate, ski, surf, etc. shots in it.

All in all a good site. I like it slightly better than last years. I'll wrap it up with one request if anybody from Supra is listening/watching (Rick?) - my request is for more detailed, close-up images/pictures of the boats. We need a catalog (15-20 pics) that really show off the boats features and the options available. It is hard to get an appreciation of how great these boats are from the pics that are currently presented. I don't want to have to drive 50 miles to the dealer to just to get a better view/appreciation of the new light bar or bimini.

[Nauty]

[RickTinker]

Nauty/21V

Thanks guys for the input. Really appreciate it.

It wasn't really our intention to drive people to the dealership for better looks. Just a look for the site. I like your comment alot and will pass it on. Clear pictures and images should be something we can execute.

Rick

[Nauty]

Now that's what I call service!

Thanks Rick. As usual, you're right on top of things!

- Richard

[Mariognarly]

I partially agree with Erik, but I dont take as radical of a stance. By no means am I a professional web designer, but I am one none-the-less and have been offically one for 5 years.

I really like the new site. Its different and it catches your eye. All the pictures I've seen on any supra website have been low res, with the exception of the wallpaper section, but that was just desktop wallpapers, not hi res photos of the boats. I think it does the job quite well, and there are some things still to be updated.

From a webdesigner's perspective, my only beef is that it is flash. Between high downloads/plugins/browser issues I never recommend it for websites with a ton of content with a more professional business use to the site. Not to say Supra isnt a professional business, because thats the farthest thing from the truth. I am referring to sites with more dynamic content with low need for catchy images or whatever. This website needs to be (pardon the pun) flashy and attractive to catch user interest. I dont think a CSS or equivalent navigation/interaction would have done as good of job in that respect as the flash has done.

And honestly, I dont mind this flash site. And that goes a long way...I never say I like a flash site, its usually over-used and I almost always hate them. I've hated all of hyperlites flash sites. This one is concise, clean, and to the point. Now if I would have done the site, I would have done things differently, but thats just my design. Regardless of what I could have put together, I dont think I could have come up with a better product than what Supra has right now.

The only flaw I can think of is the poor user with the 56k modem or worse who has to wait a little longer to download his favourite boat manufacturer's site. But that only would need to be done once, as the .swf files would get cached. But even so, to see my favourite boat look that nice, I think I could survive the suspense, even if it is somewhat annoying. But those users are becoming less and less common, and its hard to please everyone, so I dont think Supra's use of flash is out of this scope. I really like the boat archive too, I think that might answer a few of the commonly asked questions that we usually have on this site. More companies should do that.

The only improvements I would do is improve the consistency (ie the Supra21V doesnt have the specs at the right side of the page like every other model does), possibly a link to some high res photos, and make the "Interior Features" section have a little bit more detailed of photos with a description of each feature, ie play pan bow, swivel board racks, etc. similar to the 2005 site. Thats it.

Maybe more ideas/opinions will pop into my head as I get used to the site, but I really think they did a quality job, as always.

Erik, your opinion on this interests me a lot, I'll be reading your blog for sure.

[Neognosis]

I suspect that people who don't have better than a 56K modem might not be in Supra's target audience anyway.

[Brit Rider]

cameraboy, Not necessarily, There are still many areas of the USA (and UK) where broadband connections are not available... 56k is still the most cost effective connection unfortunately. This is why i agree that making a site 56k compatible is neccesary.

[Tiffanator]

Wow, that boat archive is cool. I looked all the way back to 1998 and found the image of the Supra Legacy that was my desktop wallpaper on my computer, haha. I wanted that boat so bad, but ended up with a used Chris Craft. Now its 7 years later and 2 Supra's later, hehe, still a Supra fan. Ahh, memories.. what were we talking about again?
Later
Tiff

[chavez]

cameraboy, my Uncle lives on a 1m+ 16ac spread just above Sacramento.

Best he could get was a 156k IDSL line up there...

Gotta have a non-flash alternative.

[dirtysparks]

I agree with the non-flash alternative, but a lot of people dig the flash. Not everyone is a web designer or really care about the site buildup. A lot of people are going to want to see cool flash stuff that makes them get excited about a product. I read all of your comments before going to the site, and I expected to see something that was going to be something really cheesy, but I think it looks very nice...classy and not overdone.

[EWATER]

As a viewer of the 2006 Supra website with a 56k modem....I have no issues with the speed of the site. It's very quick. (In fact it's just as fast, if not faster, than last year's website). I do agree with the comments against the "artsy" photos.

[gene3x]

I agree with Nauty.... wide angle shots to get every little aspect of the boat. Flash can be somewhat distracting for some people. Other than that the site is awesome. Alittle off subject but since we have his attention: Mr. Rick Tinker, I am sure you are aware of it and have your engineers working on it but please please please get us a fix for the new 2006 throttle by wire and Perfect Pass problem. I just bought a new Sunsport 24V w/ wakeboard package ect... and I have been VERY frustrated with it not keeping speed. I have had the boat in maybe 4 times and been to the lake with the guys at WaterSki Boats Dallas (they are awesome), they have done everything they know how to fix it including Brandon fabricating a new spring. I absolutely love the boat and am not upset now but will be if we cannot figure this out by the spring. I understand all new boats and systems have bugs and problems, but the whole reason I bought a new boat was because my Four Winns would not keep speed. I hate to even mention this here because I don't want to cause problems but this is a HUGE concern when I spend 60K for a boat. Feel free to have someone email me and give me some peace of mind that this is being addressed. Thank You,
Gene Williams

[RickTinker]

Gene,

I will have someone check into asap. My direct email is rtinker@skierschoice.com, should you need it.

Rick

[gene3x]

Thank you Rick. I really appreciate it. From what the dealer has told me, there are so many steps that the throttle by wire goes through that there is a larger than normal lag time and the PP keeps over adjusting no matter what the settings are set to. My boat can't stay inside +/- 3mph Thanks again for your attention.
Gene

[ramseyglastron]

i didnt know much about supra, and i sure didnt know who rick tinker is, but him being on here helping people and listening to our opinions has made me very open to supra.

[karkid]

i think the site doesn't have enough info and pictures on the boats

and i a good friend of mine has a nice house, a new truck with $25k in stuff done to it, a fishing boat, other toys, and he lives too far out in the country for anything better than 56k