As you may have noticed, we have a slightly updated design to our "Start" page where you are taken after logging into SparkPeople. The overall functionality and all the links are the same. However, we did an extensive amount of testing the page with both new and experienced members to find some things that were not as intuitive as we would like. We also added a small "Hide" link by each section so you can hide sections if you don't use them.
As part of this, we slightly changed the "navigation" links at the top of the site (My Trackers, Healthy Lifestyle, etc). We used to have a 2nd row of links, but these were redundant with the "dropdown" links you get when putting your mouse over the navigation. Again, this was done to simplify the site.
Here's a new tutorial video that points out all the key features of the Start page. It's a great thing to watch whether you're a long-time member or a new one, plus it'll point out all the new features of our redesign.
If you have any problems or questions, please let us know here.
All I'm trying to do is update my e mail address, user name and password and find my account....please, what am doing wrong...I do not want a new account...
Icons much nicer in the old design. I also found the graphic 'thermometer' calorie count much more motivating than the new 'shouting numbers'. I appreciate the hide feature, but I guess I just don't understand the rationale behind the other changes.
I see some things that are nice. One thing that I noticed is missing, and which I am said about is the link to the health articles which seems to have been replaced by the Video tab. The health articles were a link that I used daily, and i will really miss it.
Please help, if you can. I have been using this site for some time now. My daughter uses another site that she said is much easier. The other site categorizes the food into groups from the favorites. Not the groupings like Sparkpeople, that we make up ourselves. She has large groupings such as meat, dairy, veggies etc. etc. Example -- when I put in my food ( not all starts with the food group name like bread or meat) it may start with a brand and then I have to remember that brand and sort through the list to find it. She said her site sorts it all by food groups and then she can find her favorites within that. Much easier. Am I just not finding how or where this is? I have made up a few of my own groupings --ie. salads that I always fix the same or my breakfast meals. But she is talking about the favorites, being in their own individual groups. Much easier, she said. I hate to switch sites now, if Sparkpeople has this. Thanks -Evelyn
there is something that drives me nuts. when you pick a food from the favorites, you select the servings, then the portion size then the meal time. if a person is not careful the quantity gets reset because you need to choose the potion size first, then the quantity. it's frustrating because it is time consuming to fix. also, it would be nice if you could do a family thing. i had to enter everything twice and that is time consuming, esp if i make a mistake (hubby is computer illiterate so i enter his) otherwise i love love love this site!
How do I manage to get my weight loss on the new design to reflect what's accurate. I've lost 46 lbs and it says 17. I think its because a while back I was a certain weight then I gained weight and lost weight from that point. I need help in fixing it.
I will be checking this out. Unfortunately I am not very good at finding things no matter how simple it is made. I get lost and confused easily. Sorry about that. I do enjoy traveling around the site and reading the interesting articles and bloggs, they have really helped me progress towards my goal.
I always manage to find my way about your website changes -I'm neutral about the recent changes . Question: Why are my daily emails coming so late in the day and sporadically? (No need to reply.) I just hope it gets remedied once you settle down.
For all the work you've done to upgrade our Start Page.I really like the My Goals & Progress section.It's very motivating to see how much calories you need to burn but I wish it was for the day instead of for the week.Also there is a little problem with My Goals & Progress section under Pounds Lost it says I lost 13 pounds when in fact I have lost 22 pounds.Is there anyway this could be corrected,please and thank you again for all you do for us.
The change has it's good poimts, and bad ones. Overall, I like it. I go with the flow, in general, because I benefit from SP being a free site... and I realize you cannot please everyone all of the time. I take what I need, and leave the rest. The only change I am NOT fond of is how the "progress" yells at you! LOL! Thank you for trying to keep the site efficient and functional. Things evolve... Keep SPARKin'!
New features are well designed. My issues is that now there is a continuous slide show that eats up my memory so response from the front page is slow. Progress section is easier to read...for me and my entire office it seems. Slow death of privacy. The hide feature does not set as a preference but has to be reselected each time I go to the front page. Also...daily mailing have not been received since the change over...coincidence ???
I liked the second menu below the drop downs, I do a lot of my surfing on a tablet and the second menu bar was much more convenient than trying to do the drop downs.
I miss the red line graphs in the Goals and Progress section, but I bet I will get used to it. Thanks for working to constantly make improvements for us!
I prefer the new layout as it looks more 'up-to-date' and 'modern'. However, I do agree with some of the points made about the old layout:
The 'My Goals and Progress' does seem to 'yell' out at you - Maybe you could reduce the font size or add the bars back. I personally prefered the bars and I think they would suit the new layout design a lot better!
I really like the new changes. I find it more user friendly. I like that I don't have to go into nutrition to see how many calories I have left for the day. I like that I have the options to hide the boxes as well!
Sorry, but I prefer the old setup. I miss the "Spark Points" tab, and I thought the old format was more user-friendly. Also, if someone is standing over my shoulder I don't like the way the new Start page yells out my weight and my goal. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but sometimes change isn't necessary.
The new set-up is more streamlined with less redundancy in the menus.. I remember feeling kind of overwhelmed by the site when I first joined Sparkpeople, and I really think the more streamlined look will help new members navigate better. The graphics are kind of 'in your face'.. but I'm guessing we'll all adjust soon enough, and then not remember that it was any other way. The one thing I wish had been added.. a link for our personal Sparkpage in the menu bar. If you're on your Start page the link is always right there and easy to get to.. but if you're on one of the other Spark web pages, you kind of have to scroll and hunt to get to it. Would be nice if that had been part of the streamlining. :)
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