You spoke, we listened! 4 improvements we made to the PyeongChang 2018 site

The moment the torch was extinguished at the end of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games we began our work on the digital experience for PyeongChang 2018. Our goal: Make our next site better and sharper based on feedback from audience members like you.

Without further ado, here are four key improvements we introduced for PyeongChang 2018.

1. Start times at your fingertips

Screen capture of the schedule, which is organized by sport. For each sport, an information message is displayed about the events for the sport on that day: one or more event is live, the start time for the first or next event, and whether all events are completed for the day.

We heard from you that the schedule presentation could use some improvement.

With so many events, athletes and medals in play, it’s challenging to keep track of the action, especially when it’s taking place in another time zone. Our goal with the PyeongChang schedule was to make a very complex experience both simpler and more satisfying to use. Specifically, we wanted to make it easier to scan for events that are live, upcoming or finished. And we’ve been mindful to avoid spoilers with the event details while linking to the results and videos for each event.

Because we know you also enjoy watching events on the big screen, we added a TV guide that automatically incorporates adjustments to the planned viewing times.

Screen capture of the TV guide, which is organized by broadcast channel and time. For each day, you can scroll across the listings to read descriptions of what is being broadcast on each channel.

2. Find and seek! A robust new search

Screen capture of search results for curling, which shows the news and videos available for the search sorted by date. You can filter the search by either news or video, and you have the option of switching the sorting to a sort by relevance.

For Rio 2016, the search functionality was limited to searching for athletes, which many of you found constraining. This time around, the search has been greatly improved to include a full slate of relevant stories and video, along with the athletes.

3. Full event replays, highlights, must see and more

During the Olympic Summer Games in Rio, some of you had to work really hard to find video of the events, so for PyeongChang 2018 we tried to make it easier to discover this content. Videos are grouped in more obvious collections, such as highlights, full event replays, athlete stories and interviews. We’re eager to get your feedback on this new approach!

4. Accessibility improvements

To help prevent those not using a mouse or touchpad from getting lost, we improved how to navigate interactive elements on our pages. In addition, elements like buttons, menus, and links have a distinct visual state, which makes them easier to see, and better identifies which part of the page is currently in focus. These changes make it easier for everyone to navigate across all the various parts of the Olympic site and find exactly what they are looking for — hoorah!

Some of our best learnings come from real people using our site, so we’re also doing extensive testing to find areas to improve. (We are very excited about this!) Specifically, we are looking to learn more about people visiting our websites using specific tools like:

• screen-reading software
• screen-magnification software
• closed captioning
• specialized technology for moving a cursor

These are just some of the user experience improvements we’ve made for PyeongChang 2018. While your using this new site, we’re reviewing your feedback and identifying ways to ensure the Tokyo 2020 experience is even more aligned with your wants and needs.

If you have any comments or suggestions about CBC Olympic Games and the changes we made, we’d love it if you shared your thoughts and experiences with us here, too.