Cineworld – new site: Part one

So, Cineworld have a new website. Hurray! It was long overdue and in my opinion it’s now the better looking one out of the 3 chain cinema sites, the Vue and Odeon. I have a Cineworld card and I visit the site frequently to check cinema times and film info. I’ve been using the new site for a while now and as much as I like it there are just a few things which, if tweaked could make the site much slicker for return users.

Here’s what I like about the site

• Much improved design; fresh and contemporary
• Apart from the ads not an overly busy looking site
• Simple site navigation
• Good consistency of design and layout throughout the site
• Simple one page booking system
• Site degrades gracefully with no javascript

However as a frequently returning visitor (at least twice a week) the most common task for me is viewing cinema times – which feels like a long winded task; and I am already tired of repeating it. I personally, have a choice of 3-4 cinemas that I like to visit (in and around London). When I return to the cinema page I would like it to remember which cinema/s I visited last. And in fact it does – but it’s not very discoverable in my opinion. It’s hidden in the first drop down menu “Choose a cinema”.

I can imagine finding the same (or a select few cinemas) is a common task on this page for over 90% of visitors. Here are a few ways this could be dealt with.

The map could default to a view with the last visited region loaded. In my case the default page view would be like this, showing the inner London region. Now I am one click away from my cinema.

The version with no javascript could be improved from this version:

To this, which includes links to the last three cinemas visited, a rewrite of the flash message and correct font sizes on the region list:

These are 2 simple changes for getting to a cinema’s listing page and it would make the process much more intelligent and helpful for returning users. It is worthwhile optimising the most common site scenarios. It’s also a good way to be the best in your field. The Vue and the Odeon have a “Remember my favourite cinema” option – which is also a good idea. But as we’ve just discussed you might have more then one cinema that you visit; so you should consider this scenario.

If in doubt, research into this would be the best way to make the decision, although it is not a big change. Perhaps people who go to more than one cinema is the edge case and Cineword should optimise for people who have one main cinema. However I think with these small changes and the addition of a “Remember my favourite cinema” both scenarios can be easily catered for. It’s always a good idea to make a site more intelligent right?

Stick around for part two when I go through the cinema listings page.