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Richard

So, how does this new site work then?

July 2, 2008 12:00 AM

Welcome to the new Osprey website, we think you might like it.

Of course in the beginning there are going to be a few new features to explain which we will be doing over the course of the next few weeks. To get you started here is a quick explanation of all the old and new features you can see around you.

First the home page. From here you should be able to find everything. Whether you are interested in buying a book, taking a subscription, commenting on the blog or forums, updating you’re My Osprey page this is the place to start. From here you can go to:

The store

Where you can find every book you need. From the latest releases and bestsellers to our comprehensive backlist. You can search these in a number of ways:

   1. Use the simple search at the top to look by topic or keyword.
   2. Or use the Search Within function (more on that later) to refine your results by date, place, nationality and other criteria.
   3. Or browse by period (see below) on the left-hand side.
   4. You will also find that Google Book Search remains on the right-hand side.

Interested in researching just the ancient world? Why not click through to the ancient world period page. You’ll see it is sub-divided like the main page into home, store, blog, forum and articles – so everything on your particular period is held in one place.

The blog
Over the last year we have been really pleased with our original blog so we have decided to bring it into the site. With more of the same from our inhouse bloggers and guests, this is the place to visit to get the latest on Osprey books and other products, reviews, competitions and everything else related to military history.

So far so good. There are some more features we think you’ll appreciate but to access them you’ll need to register. This is very easy – the form can be found here and it does not ask for pages of information. Registering will allow you to access the following:

The forums.

We have really appreciated your active commenting on the blog and wanted to go one stage further. So we’ve set these up, open for discussion on anything related to Osprey or military history in general. Please comment on the threads you see here or start your own one up. This site is open to everyone – so please keep the language and subject matter appropriate. If you do notice a thread or comment that you find offensive, just click on the Report Abuse button and let us know about it. The same goes for all spammers and all spam messages – let us know about it and we will get it deleted as soon as possible.

My Osprey.

This consists of two main parts. My Wishlist and My library. Use the former to mark down the books you want then keep it for reference or send it out to your friends as a gentle reminder. Use My Library to record the books you already have. So just before you visit a show or store print it out and take it with you – never buy duplicate copies again!

Members.

This is probably the most exciting new addition to the site and gives you not only the chance to access both maps and plane profiles online but also a year long discount on your Osprey book purchases.

There are two memberships available. Both give you access to all the planes and maps, the Gold has a 30% discount, the Silver 15% for the length of your subscription. We have plans to add new material to the memberships as it is published. You will see a sample plane profile and map on this page so have a look and take a membership to access the rest of this incredible Osprey archive.

Once you have a subscription you can use the Search Within tool to find that key campaign map or perfect plane profile you require; it is also available on the Store pages to find the book you need. Click on the Search Within button just above the central panel, specify which date, nationality, place as well as other criteria you want and our specially commissioned taxonomy will hone your results.

Lots of our other features remain including competitions, Books I’d Like to Read and newsletters as well as some new ones including Quizzes, a store locator and advertising of related products and services.

This is a very brief guide to our new website. Please have a look round and let us know what you think. We think we have covered everything but if you find a bug, or something that doesn’t work please comment and we’ll get onto fixing it. If you have any feeback about the site, feel free to comment here on our new forum, otherwise I hope you enjoy it!
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COMMENTS
Pandur
02-Jul-2008 16:49

The new layout is really nice, but I miss the "Upcoming Titles" section. Has it disappeared from the web page or where can I find it.

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Osprey Webmaster
02-Jul-2008 19:24

Future releases and current releases are now all listed under the latest books section. Find them in both the period home pages and the general Store page. All you need to do is choose the period home page your book falls under and then scroll through the latest books. Along with buying current titles we are now giving you the opportunity to pre-order any of our future releases. If we find that a lot of our customers would prefer an ‘Upcoming Titles’ page then we will design one to fit in with your needs. Many thanks and I hope this helps.

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stuay
02-Jul-2008 20:35

I would prefer an Upcoming Titles section. I usually get books across several different periods and would like to see all upcoming books regardless of time period or sub genre grouped together. It was a useful tool and I miss it already.

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AndyButland
02-Jul-2008 23:46

Looks very nice to me.

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kuvaszsleepybear
03-Jul-2008 03:40

I second stuay

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Flashman14
03-Jul-2008 14:10

Looks good though one thing i find less than optimal is the selection of titles for My Library.

Why must it automatically take you away from the book you are looking at when you add it? and to the My Osprey page? I think it should work more like many shopping carts in that it adds it to the list in the back ground but keeps you on your current page in the fore.

Trying to add titles is a chore -going forward then back two screens only to have to repeat for each title (and I have a LOT of them).

If I'm missing something about that please let me know! =)

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kmn
03-Jul-2008 16:25

without an upcoming titles section why even check out the web page?

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Byzance
03-Jul-2008 17:20

I agree with some of the comments up there: the Upcoming Titles section is sorely missed. I have spent about an hour over two days trying to find my way around the new site. Watch out for the caveat of putting too many things up there but losing the essentials!

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Nambawan
03-Jul-2008 17:35

I agree with the chorus of comments complaining about the loss of the Forthcoming Titles section on the Osprey website. It was, as far as I am concerned, not only essential but the most important reason I visited the site.

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SJay
03-Jul-2008 18:11

I add my agreement to the other posters that a "forthcoming titles" section by month would be a great addition. Adding to this, even though dates are subject to change, it would be nice to have a "further out" section with titles but no release dates.

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cassibill
03-Jul-2008 19:02

I have been logged out of "My Osprey" FOUR times in less than an hour while trying to add tittles to "My Library". I check the relevant boxes, click "Update", and summarily find myself back at the "My Osprey" page and logged out. Does anyone else have this problem?

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Osprey Webmaster
03-Jul-2008 19:45

Future releases and current releases are now all listed under the ‘New and Upcoming Titles’ section. Find them in the period and series home pages as well as the general store page. All you need to do is choose the period or series page your book falls under and then scroll through the new and upcoming titles. Along with buying current titles we are now giving you the opportunity to pre-order any of our future releases. Because of the feed back regarding ‘forthcoming titles’ we are now in the process of designing specific pages for these future releases. Please bear with us while we construct these pages and in the mean time visit the ‘New and Upcoming Titles’ sections.

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White Eagle
04-Jul-2008 12:40

I too would prefer to see a clear and acccessible link to "Future Releases" - I loved the convenient link on the old site which gave up to 4 months in the future, covering all series and periods!

White Eagle

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scot
06-Jul-2008 12:23

The new site looks really good. I will miss the future releases section. I used to log on at the start of every month to see what books were upcoming. It used to have a list for the next four months. The list on the new site is not as comprehensive and many books on the list before the site was updated are not listed.

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Osprey Webmaster
07-Jul-2008 12:01

Hi Scott, we will have a dedicated 'Future Releases' page on the site in the next two weeks.

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Osprey Webmaster
07-Jul-2008 14:10

Hi everyone! It looks like we have been able to iron out all the problems that we were having with our membership sign-ups. The large volume of traffic through the site was causing problems, but that has been fixed and you should be able to purchase memberships with no problems.

Thanks for all your patience!

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Osprey Webmaster
08-Jul-2008 15:09

*We are very sorry to inform our North American customers that due to technical problems memberships are not available to anyone paying in the United States and Canada. We are working very hard to make Gold and Silver memberships available to our North American customers soon, and when we are able to do so we will let you know.*

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Leary
08-Jul-2008 21:10

Pls include some place a basic list of all books coming out in a specific month -- as you had on the old location -- the new site is really hard to find that out.

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Les
10-Jul-2008 00:39

It would seem to me that your new site de-emphasises the book side of Osprey to focus on other, newer areas. As one example: it is now much harder to find books of a particular type (MAA, Campaign, etc) for a given period than it was before.

As well, the new design is visually unappealing. While the full colour scenes are attractive, the general appearance of the site is one of greyed-out pages where one has to search to see if a function is active or not yet available.

Hopefully, you will bring in improvements that restore much of what has been lost.

Les

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Osprey Webmaster
11-Jul-2008 17:23

Hi Les, We realise that certain aspects of the site are not working as well as they should and we are in the process of fixing them. The current design allows users to view all the books associated with that period, however, it does not allow you to easily search for a series within a period. We are now fixing this and will also be bringing back the book series and number. Please bear with us while these changes occur and in the mean time make use of the search if you find our period and series functions confusing. We appreciate your patience at this time.

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SBN25
18-Jul-2008 02:13

I generally keep track of my wants and needs by its number within the Series. It appears that the only way to see the title's number is to click on the title within the series list .... can't you put the title's number next to it on the List? That would be very helpful. Thank you.

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Mike @ Osprey
18-Jul-2008 08:33

We are working on getting the series number to appear on the site - its taking a bit longer to sort out than we hoped, so thanks again for all your patience!

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msulli53
24-Jul-2008 17:17

Hi - I'd like to compliment you on all the fine work you've done on your website! It has many outstanding features. I would like to echo the comments of a number of the other readers and say that I really miss the old "Upcoming Titles" section.

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