ADP Cobalt - WTF?!

[Daniel J. Mondello]

There are a lot of things I look for in selecting a Automotive Website these include:

1. Good, flexible platform that will accept custom code and scripting.
2. Strong VDP/ SRP structure that can be customized and improved as I deem fit.
3. Platform must be intutively designed so content loads fast and is arranged according to Web standards.

Admittedly, I have yet to find a single Automotive Website platform that checks all of these major boxes as well as some other smaller ones.


That said, HOW THE F*CK IS ADP COBALT STILL BUSINESS? I mean, Sh*t my team writes custom CSS, Javascript, HTML, and PHP on our Dealer.com website and I can't even get a navigation link to function properly on our cobalt site... WTF!?

I have already wrestled with this thing for twenty minutes and it's still fighting me! And our f*cking cobalt rep wonders why I think she's a good damned moron when she asks "why won't you consider using Cobalt for all of your websites?"

Well on top of the fact that you make me change my damn password every 3weeks and if I forget it I have to call you instead of clicking a link, answering some questions and having it emailed out to me... here's why:



I'm pissed thinking about all of the more meaningful, productive sh*t I could've been doing instead of fighting with how a link in my navigation opens.

I think this is Cobalt paying homeage to the movie inception... an iframe within and iframe within an iframe...

 

[Daniel J. Mondello]

Re: ADP Cobalt Go F*ck Yourself

Sweet! I just got this dandy little message. 45minutes into my endeavor to perform my weekly Cobalt QA and I am firmly reminded why this platform is an absolute piece of crap.

Any of you out there using Cobalt as your primary platform should be stripped of your marketing title and be ashamed of yourself for doing your dealership an unforgivable injustice!
View attachment 1991

 

[Daniel J. Mondello]

Re: ADP Cobalt Go F*ck Yourself

I should just let General Motors and VW run the site without any help from me. I don't know why I even bother. I could've built a Automotive website from scratch in the time that it has taken me to try and remove a few links from the navigation on a cobalt site.

 

[Manny Luna]

Re: ADP Cobalt Go F*ck Yourself

Wow!
A real Internet Marketing car guy!
I been thinking I was the only guy fighting the Dark Side!

@Admittedly, I have yet to find a single Automotive Website platform that checks all of these major boxes as well as some other smaller ones.

BAM BAM BAM!

 

[joe.pistell]

Re: ADP Cobalt Go F*ck Yourself

7 years ago: Reader Spotlight: Joe Pistell of the Sun Auto Group

"...I’d say the most valuable tool in vendor relations is knowing which vendor can help you reach your goals, then make that vendor your partner. Sell that vendor your vision with a smile and back slapping enthusiasm and you’ll find above average service and someone who gives a sh*t about you, because you need them and they need you. "

...

 

[Glenn Jimerson]

Daniel I feel your pain. One of the first gigs I got in automotive was to SEO a Cobalt site. You're handcuffed at the start for any on-page optimization because of the template system. And then, they sanitize the code you can submit so what you think would look good gets mangled for the sake of security.

A few years ago I tried to install a Wibiya toolbar on a Cobalt site. It worked fine on every browser but IE. This was an IE quirk with rendering pages of a certain doctype. Come to find out they used the 4.01 Transitional doctype declaration. By simply changing to 4.01 Frameset which is identical to 4.01 Transitional with the added benefit of supporting frameset content. For 2 years we tried to convince them to switch it. We were met by the great stone wall of Cobalt. And the rep would then tell the dealership that it's our fault.

 

[Daniel J. Mondello]

Glenn - it isn't even worth the time it takes to log into a Cobalt site to work on it. I think I am just going to give up and let the effing OEM's run it as they see fit. It's pretty much what they're doing anyways... am I right?

 

[Chris Cachor]

You could always do:

$(function() {
$(body).html('');
$.get('someothervendor/betterpage', function(data) {
$(body).html(data);
}
});

If they allow custom CSS/JS my Cobalt site would be pulling from another vendors API, effectively replacing their own website while still getting the OEM link