NYCB.com's Front Row Center photos are up

[Dale]

NYCB.com's Front Row Center photos are up:

http://www.nycballet.com/programs/frc.html

[whitelight]

Thanks, Dale. I've never seen this part of the webpage before.

Slightly related: are other people having problems scrolling down on the NYCB webpage? I can't look at dancer bio's past B, any more that the first two photographs on the Front Rown page... it's very frustrating.

[Petra]

whitelight, you can scroll down the internal frame of the bios and the photos. Yes, it's very annoying. I can only do the "internal" scroll with my mouse and not with arrow keys.

[OneThird]

To scroll, just left click on the scroll bar and begin dragging, but let go as soon as you begin the drag. Then just keep your cursor on the scroll bar as you move up and down. It's weird, but it works.

[whitelight]

I should have clarified:

I know the set up is strange, and I have been able to use it in the past. But for some reason my computer is not registering the scroll bar-- nothing for me to click and drag.

I take it it's just me. But no worries, I figured out that "click here for the printable version" works almost as well.

[Leigh Witchel]

Whitelight, the NYCB site works badly on some browsers. If you're using Firefox, try Internet Explorer.

And could someone tell me why a 30+ million a year organization has a website that doesn't work properly on several browsers?

[whitelight]

Ah, thanks, Leigh. I think I'll stick with "printable versions" rather than going back to IE. *shudder*

Here's hoping the website gets an overhaul, so as to be friendlier for Firefox enthusiasts.

[Dale]

One way around the non-slider thing is to hit the printer friendly option. It brings up a window that can by navigated on by macs, firefox etc... It's frustrating to add an extra step, but at least you'll be able to see the site.

[Helene]

But no worries, I figured out that "click here for the printable version" works almost as well.

Thank you so much for posting this. At home, where I run Firefox on my Mac, I've been going into the Windows simulator, which is soooooo sloooooooowwwwww. This is so much faster, and I don't have to use the annoying little scroll thingy.

And could someone tell me why a 30+ million a year organization has a website that doesn't work properly on several browsers?

Or why a 30+ million dollar a year org has a website that doesn't use standard navigation?

[KayDenmark]

I've heard for years that a new website is "just about to be launched." Is there anybody closer to the company who can check the status on this?

[perky]

This week's photo's are all of Mauro Bigonzetti's In Vento.

You can access the link at the first post in this thread.

[hbl]

And could someone tell me why a 30+ million a year organization has a website that doesn't work properly on several browsers?

It is outrageous. I have been planning to call them and offer to f ix the damn thing for them but I have been busy lately. The fact is that a scrolling region is a very simple thing to do that would be compatible in all browsers (or all that follow the w3c spec). I have used it on some sites that I have developed and test it for functionality in IE, Firefox, Opera and Netscape. There are many other lesser issues with the site but the failure of the scrolling region to work on any but IE is a disgrace. If my time frees up in the next few months I will offer to fix it for them.... but a) I might not get freed up enough and b) they may not want an outsider messing with their site. So don't hold your breadth.

The url for how to do it is at http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/visufx.html

Checking their site they are using special complex coding to do this that is specific to IE. With much older browsers that was necessary but all modern browsers to my knowledge support the scrolling region and

it is trivial to set up in HTML.

For an example of the correct way to do it check out:

http://www.marklamster.com/Praise.html

[Drew]

I have exactly the same scrolling problem with the NYCB website mentioned above. (I'm another person who does not use explorer.) Outside of that problem, I have also found the website generally difficult to navigate--even the various menus sometimes leave me more perplexed than anything else. As a result I practically never visit the site.

I was particularly irritated, too, when I tried to buy tickets through the website. I don't live in New York and last year, for the first time, I used websites to buy tickets to the Metropollitan Opera House and the State Theater. I found it easy and convenient to buy tickets to the Met. -- I was able to determine exactly what seat I was buying and more or less easily try out some alternatives before I made my purchase. I was also able to make multiple purchases with just one purchasing/mailing "fee." (Buying tickets from Covent Garden was even easier.) Buty NYCB? I did not find the system anywhere near as easy, though I guess it still counts as convenient, and not only could I not pick a seat, I could not even get a guaranteed section. I also somehow ended up paying two separate purchasing/mailing fees even though I was buying two tickets together for the same performance at the same time. I assume I myself made a mistake that led to the extra fee--but somehow on other websites that particular mistake has never come my way.

Since it is not as if the Metropolitan Opera (or Covent Garden) doesn't have the same box-office complexities to navigate as NYCB, I find it outrageous that the company cannot do better. No artistic genius is required to solve this problem...no Balanchine website legacy is there to weigh heavily or Oedipally on his successors....no rival computer coaches whose talents have been banished from the State Theater . There is no (good) reason the company can't solve this. (But I see my irritation is such that I am way off topic. Well, let's say that if I found the website easier to navigate I would check out the front row center photos which sound well worth a look.)

[Helene]

No artistic genius is required to solve this problem...no Balanchine website legacy is there to weigh heavily or Oedipally on his successors....no rival computer coaches whose talents have been banished from the State Theater . There is no (good) reason the company can't solve this.

(I'm sorry you were frustrated, but you this into making my day!)

[Estelle]

I'm a bit relieved to see that I'm not the only one with that scrolling problem !

Drew, thanks for your humorous post. It maked me think of the web site of the SNCF (French national railways), it has improved a little bit over the years but there still are quite a lot of dysfunctional things (especially considering that's it's such a big state company and so many people use it to buy tickets or find timetables), and actually even now when I need to know a train hour quickly, I generally use... the web site of the Swiss railways, which is far more convenient to use, even for trains in France :rolleyes: (I used to use the site of the German railways, but the Swiss one is more convenient for me because it exists in French )

[carbro]

I also somehow ended up paying two separate purchasing/mailing fees even though I was buying two tickets together for the same performance at the same time. I assume I myself made a mistake that led to the extra fee--but somehow on other websites that particular mistake has never come my way.

I don't think you made any mistake, Drew. It is increasingly the norm for theaters and ticket services to charge a per-ticket, rather than a per-order (or even per-performance) handling fee.

[carbro]

Photos for May 9-14 are up, featuring both of last week's premieres, Red Violin and Evenfall.

[AmandaNYC]

Photos for May 9-14 are up, featuring both of last week's premieres, Red Violin and Evenfall.

Isn't the final picture mislabeled? Woetzel is holding Rachel Piskin, at a part where I think Weese was offstage and Woetzel was just with the 6 small girls.

-amanda

[carbro]

Yep!

[perky]

This week's photo's include four of Liebeslieder Walzer (yeah!!) and one of Tess and Albert in Momentum Pro Gesualdo.

[drb]

Just posted are two of Fairchild/de Luz in Donizetti and four, especially moving, of Whelan in In Memory of....

[carbro]

Thanks, drb.

Boy! Those pics of Megan really do recall Kay Mazzo in the same role! Different lines, but the faces . . . .

You think it would be asking too much of NYCB to have windows large enough to show the photos in their entirety, so we don't have to scroll to see Wendy from her upraised hand to the tip of her pointe?

[SingerWhoMoves]

There are two new pictures up on Front Row Center...from Russian Seasons.

[carbro]

Final week's photos: two each of Vienna Waltzes and Slice to Sharp.