Henson.com under construction

[frogboy4]

After months of neglect, the artists at Henson are back at work. What's changed? Well, not much, but they seem to be integrating a new font and breaking up that toxic green color with some subtle shades.

The one part I really like is the character section. They have only started the Muppet section and Frank is still listed as the only performer for Miss Piggy, Fozzie etc, but Bill Barretta is featured and most of his characters are listed. Check it out. They certainly deserve kudos for taking a step in the right direction.

Now they have to go back and fix the kazillion broken links and remember to update the news section more than quarterly. Their new design has been around a year without much change. I hope these recent additions are a sign of things to come.


By the way, just noticed in reading some of the blurbs, that the copy is very old and there are some errores - Seymour is listed as one of Hunt's characters. I guess it's still a work in progress.

 

[sarah_yzma]

what's the URL again????

ooooh Bill Baretta.........must gooooo

Sarah

 

[sarah_yzma]

i still get the old one at muppet characters! ahhhhhhh oh wait that's a good pic of bill baretta....oooooooooooooh...no must....stay...on...track.....i think i'm in the wrong place....ahhhh

Sarah

 

[sarah_yzma]

ok how do i get that open....i am fighting this little flash box or whatever you want to call it!!! it's not fun!!!

Sarah

 

[scarecroe]

It's still crap. Crap being tweaked by the same monkeys responsible for launching the initial crap.

No kudos deserved for anything on that site. In fact, they're in the negative kudos zone at this point. If they were serious about developing a useful site and not having a floozie attitude about it, they'd revamp and relaunch completely. They've done it before and the work they'd have to do to get it done would be minimal. Strip away the Candy Land that exists there now, use the last version of the format that came just before this Flash crap, and build from there.

I'm done now. The topic disgusts me.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

The only improvement is when I see the video clips, I can see the WHOLE screen; the worst part is that more than half of them are GONE.

 

[frogboy4]

Sarah-

What exactly are you fighting with the pop up window? They still have some broken links.

Scott-

I was being a bit facetious in my kudos. I don't think the Henson.com issue is Flash or a JavaScript window - it's the lack of content, active updates, broken links and general sloppiness. Warner Bros and Disney both use Flash etc, but they pay for the best in the business. They haven't really taken advantage of Flash's abilities so far.

I'm just encouraged that some work is going on - and they have started to improve things. I'm sure they are waiting for the sale until they pour too much money or energy into the site. I still like their old site layout better. I remember when the released the Flash site last year. I used it as an example of Flash on the web at school. It received more jeers than cheers.

I feel that some corporations see the web world differently than the rest of entertainment. They wouldn't release a film that had key scenes missing or wasn't completed. They also wouldn't expect the crew to work for free. That will change, but I'm impatient. I'm just pleased that something's happening over at Henson.com. Hey, it all can't be as brilliant as Muppet Central.

 

[scarecroe]

The whole issue just makes me extremely cranky. Currently Henson.com exists as the perfect example of a site built by people who shouldn't be allowed near Flash. It can be used well, they just need to learn how.

As for content, well yeah, obviously it's lacking in that department. Not to mention navigation which is one of the worst I've seen.

Ugh, I just feel so dirty even talking about it. I try to avoid Henson.com at all costs.

I'll give cheers when they start doing something productive. Adding to the existing crapiness only makes things worse.

 

[frogboy4]

The character list for the Muppets is promising start; I don't think it's crummy. It works for a corporate site. It seems they are trying to improve the site. The rest of it, well... it doesn't seem that they have a serious team working on it or somehow the money train stopped for their multimedia projects. Me, I would have started from scratch and built something entirely different, but they seem to like the look of the site - kind of looks like The Works book. I feel they should go for something a little more dignified, but the improvements are interesting. Sometimes you have to think within the sysetem. I hope to see more drastic changes, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Crazy Harry]

I checked out the site and the character list is the same as I remeber it. Pepe is the only one of Barretta character featured.