Ryanair replaces ‘loud’ website

The new site (at www.ryanair.com) is being gradually unveiled throughout November, with a homepage ‘clean-up’ and the addition of new functionality.

This includes the removal of the Recaptcha security interface for individual bookings and a 24-hour ‘grace period to fix minor errors in bookings’ since the beginning of the month as part of ‘phase one’ of the redesign.  Ryanair says all design work is being carried out in-house.

Dara Brady, Ryanair head of web development, says, ‘Ultimately we wanted a more consistent look and feel. The site was probably a bit dated in terms of the look – it was very loud in appearance with a lot of competing elements alongside the yellow and blue.

‘The clean-up of the homepage removed third-party ads and display advertising to make it cleaner and simpler. We’re moving away from the loud, “fighting for attention” design to a more consistent navigational flow’.

The second phase of the site overhaul will see further tweaks to the site’s look and feel, according to Brady, alongside an ‘aggressive development phase’.

This will see the introduction of features such as a ‘fare finder’ service and ‘My Ryanair’ feature, where users can save booking and contact details.

Other additions include a ‘Share the Fare’ option, launching in March 2014, where users can share their fares through social networks; and mobile boarding passes where customers will be allowed to download passes to their smartphones, rather than printing them out.

Brady says, ‘The appearance [of the site] will change again. We don’t want to go into too much detail but ultimately there will be different aspects of the design, some are currently there and some are not.’

He adds, ’We also announced new service initiatives as part of a full review across the service and digital platform. I’m sure in due course the marketing will follow.’

According to Ryanair, it is hoped that the entire redesign will be completed in May 2014, when an app will also be launched that Brady says will echo the Ryanair.com site in its look and feel.

Ryanair will also release tailored language websites in all its major EU markets starting with a Spanish language and tailored website and an Italian version by the end of June 2014.