
Offer HN: I can review your web app usability and UI - perucoder
The recent postings of people offering free services has been great, and I've taken advantage of a few to help me with website copy and design.<p>I'd like to pay it forward by offering my own services for any who need it. Send me your web app and I'll test it out and let you know what I think of the usability and what could possibly be improved.<p>My email is in my profile or post a link to your app here.
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nischalshetty
Here's my app <http://justunfollow.com> Any help would be appreciated :)

~~~
perucoder
You've got over 100k users, so I think you're doing pretty good on your own
:-)

The home page is a little bare. I understand what the product does, but it
would be good to move some of the questions on the help page to the home. For
example, one thing I wondered was, once I login, will justunfollow unfollow
everyone all at once? ON the help page, there's an answer to that question but
the avergae user might not search it out.

Screenshots are always helpful. Gives me a chance to see what I'm signing up
for.

Not really UI related, but saw your faq and you charge per year per account.
Something like this, I can see it pissing off your power users/people who
could promote your product and not really bringing in that much extra revenue.

After I signed up for your service, I see that its just basic and you have a
premium package. It would be better if this was explained upfront. Perhaps a
pricing page. The pricing is confusing also. On the FAQ, you say you charge
per user per acct. On the upgrade page you say someone can link multiple
accounts.

Home page needs to be widened. On Chrome, the top nav is being pushed to 2
lines. My Twitter username is partially covering the Like button and the
upgrade link is on a second line.

Can the big justunfollow image be removed once I login? Its a better use of
the page if this is reduced once people login. As it is now, the image is just
pushing the stuff that people really want to see down the page.

------
citizenkeys
Mine is <http://wikitorrents.org/> . It's goal is to be the internet's largest
collection of user-created pages of downloadable videos. It's a work-in-
progress.

Tell me everything that's wrong with it.

Patrick Keys citizenkeys@gmail.com

~~~
perucoder
The light blue text color needs to be changed. It's too bright on a white
background. Same with the yellow in your logo. Try using several different
colors in your color scheme. I think the recommended number is 3. So have the
nav in one color and the title of articles in a different complimenting color.

I noticed a lot of the articles are submitted by you. It might be good to not
show this on the main page as it gives the impression of a low quality site.
It's fine to show this info on the article page itself, but showing on the
home page only lets me scan down all the articles and see they were written by
you.

~~~
citizenkeys
I really like the idea of not having author in the main page. I went with
light-blue because that seemed sort of a neutral color. Any ideas for
differetn colors?

I want to re-design the main page entirely. I want a mix between youtube,
vimeo, and khan academy ( <http://www.khanacademy.org/> ). Any ideas?

Also, what about the site layout did you like?

~~~
perucoder
I don't have a specific color in mind, but definitely something darker to
provide a better contrast for the white background. Try using this site,
<http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html>

I suck at picking colors that match, so this site is useful in generating a
color scheme.

I think a lot depends on your budget. Vimeo's and youtube's sites are both
clean and professional. Do you have the budget or design skills to do that
sort of redesign? Looks like Khan academy was recently redesigned as it looks
much better than the last time I went there. They might be a good template to
use as the site is straightforward and doesn't try to be too fancy.

What I liked about the site is a little bit harder, as I hardly ever look for
torrents. The site was clean and organized well. Liked how you had a lot of
torrents organized together, such as the mike tyson link that has background
info and all his fights.

------
dfl
Our web app (free to use) was released earlier this year, it's pretty simple
and I'd be keen to get your views the UI. <http://www.tabzon.com>.
matthew@tabzon.com

~~~
perucoder
Here are some quick thoughts, although I didn't get too far:

The demo video audio didn't work, so I couldn't figure out exactly how to use
product. There's also no help section or features section, which left me
guessing on how to use product and what problem it would solve for me.

Minor UI issue I noticed, in Chrome, the background images on the signup page
show a light grey background instead of the darker page background.

If you can fix the audio issue, I'll take another shot at reviewing.

------
LabSlice
A timely offer for my recent launch of <http://LabSlice.com>. I'll send you a
private email request, but don't mind if you paste back a reply over here.

~~~
perucoder
Site looks good. Your call to action could be more prominent. Took a me a few
seconds to find it because it didnt really stand out. Maybe changing the
button color merging it with the register link that is higher up on the gray
background. Because the button is orange, at first glance it doesnt stand out.

Your register for free option is a little confusing. I dont see a free plan on
the pricing page, so it makes me wonder what I'm getting for free. Can this be
changed to a trial period of 15 or 30 days?

Good job on highlighting a plan on the pricing page. Making the highlighted
plan a little more prominent would be better. Right now, the only thing you've
done is raised the gray box with professional. Adding more cues would be
better, like a border around this one or maybe a shadow. Not too much, but a
little extra to make it stand out more.

------
jacquesm
Super, while you're at it: <http://ww.com/>

we're in the midst of a redesign and any input you have on the old site will
be used to help make the new one better.

thank you very much!

email is j@ww.com

~~~
perucoder
Button design seems disorganized. I see 3 different button styles on home
page.

Only the latest news should be shown on home page with a link to the rest on
another page.

The wording "There is a free plan" seems confusing. Does this mean that there
other plans I have to pay for? I didn't see any on the site, so I'm assuming
its all free. Maybe reword or get rid of it.

I answered my own question once I signed up. It would be better to put a link
to all the plans up front, rather than showing after I sign up. It might even
be better to combine the basic membership and 5 day free trial. Make it so
they automatically get the 5 day trial and then have it revert to a basic
membership.

On the personal ww.com home page, the icons seem amateurish. Can these be
replaced with more stylish icons? There are a ton of free icon sets that would
look better than these.

top nav links are confusing, as they all lead to an upgrade page if I'm not an
elite member. These should be combined into 1 page with a title like "Benefits
of upgrading to an elite membership"

Overall, site design needs to be upgraded as I get the sense this is a scam
site. Look for some free templates that can give it a more professional look.
Not trying to be harsh, but wanted to give honest feedback.

~~~
jacquesm
Thank you for the very useful feedback. We will take your advice to heart (we
really will!) and work it in to the redesign specification.

And I agree with everything you wrote, the site is essentially unchanged from
the last 5 years. The button and the 'there is a free plan' are actually part
of an ongoing AB test to see what works in terms of conversion.

You've confirmed my suspicions there :)

thank you again, if I can return the favor let me know, j@ww.com is my email.

------
dennisgorelik
www.postjobfree.com

Reviewing the whole web site would probably be too much to ask for, but could
you review job details and resume details pages? They have the most traffic.

For example:

1)
[http://www.postjobfree.com/Job.aspx?id=69531a3762d0430cb0615...](http://www.postjobfree.com/Job.aspx?id=69531a3762d0430cb06150599409ccc1)

2)
[http://www.postjobfree.com/Resume.aspx?id=4c6bea8dec2e45a4b6...](http://www.postjobfree.com/Resume.aspx?id=4c6bea8dec2e45a4b649d89f5c17911f)

~~~
perucoder
Job details page.

First thoughts, its very white with a lot of text. Can some colors be added to
differentiate sections? This could be in the form of background colors for
different sections, perhaps borders. There's multiple ways to do this, but
basically something that draws my eye to the most important points, such as
job description and job details.

Google map on page doesnt seem to serve a real purpose and just takes up
space. Is it really necessary?

Posted date seems to list a date range. This is confusing as I'm not sure how
old this job posting is.

Posted by is highlighted but this seems to be rather insignificant info. There
are more important things on the page to highlight. When I look for a job, I
care about job description, salary, location and job type.

On the apply for job page, the subject is prefilled but it makes no mention of
the specific job posting. What happens if I have multiple postings? How can I
tell which emails are for which posting? This page should restate some of the
info from the previous page. At a minimum it should include company name.

Rather than having a text field for resume, you should offer option to upload
a resume. I would be wary of putting my resume in there as I will lose all
formatting and it'll look terrible.

Resume details page

Same advice as job details page. Contact info links are confusing and really
dont tell me what is supposed to happen. Can the call to action be improved
with an image perhaps or more descriptive text? For the free send message, is
login or registration really required? Not sure if I would send a message due
to the inconvenience of having to register. If this can be dropped, great. if
not, think about offering something that lets people login using a google acct
or facebook, etc...

~~~
dennisgorelik
1) I changed text colors to make logical blocks. I also rearranged order of
fields according to the priorities you suggested:

[http://www.postjobfree.com/Job.aspx?id=69531a3762d0430cb0615...](http://www.postjobfree.com/Job.aspx?id=69531a3762d0430cb06150599409ccc1)

[http://www.postjobfree.com/Resume.aspx?id=4c6bea8dec2e45a4b6...](http://www.postjobfree.com/Resume.aspx?id=4c6bea8dec2e45a4b649d89f5c17911f)

Does it look better or you had something else in mind?

Does it make sense to use something like Crazy Egg to find out what's the most
popular attribute on the page and rearrange fields accordingly?

2) Google Maps snippet gives user instant hint about the location.

I have couple of users explicitly mentioned that having maps on PostJobFree
was nice.

Nobody complained even when I asked if the map was unneeded distraction.

Google Analytics indicate that for every nine (9) Job page views there is one
click on the map. Does it look like useful feature now?

3) "Posted Date" is a date range, because it includes original posting date.

Does it make sense that way?

~~~
perucoder
It's a small improvement, but in my opinion, I think the site would do better
with a more complete overhaul of the design, rather than just making tweaks.

I think the biggest general problem is that the pages are just one big mass of
information. Very little white space or different background colors to
highlight different sections of the site. On one page, you have search boxes,
similar jobs, the specific job details, job description. Take a look at some
web design sites such as <http://webcreme.com/>

You can get some good ideas from looking at other people's designs.

The Google Maps thing is nice, but is it really necessary? I was looking at it
from the point of view of someone searching for a job. If I live in Miami and
see a job posting for a position in Sarasota, its nice to see the mp but at
the same time, I probably already know where Sarasota is in relation to Miami
and about how far it is as well. So the question is, is this info useful? Or
could the page be enhanced by using this space for something else. Sometimes,
less is more and providing too much info to the user can backfire.

The Google analytics info can be looked at two ways. Yes, 10% of your users
are clicking the map, which is good. But you could also look at it like this,
10% of your users are clicking a link which causes them to leave your site.

The date range still doesn't make sense because the field is called Posted
Date, which implies one specific date when the job was posted. Most people
will know what the current date is, so displaying this info to them is really
unnecessary.

~~~
dennisgorelik
1) Are you suggesting to move elements from Job page or add background color
or both?

2) Would you expect web site performance improvements if the changes you are
suggesting would be implemented? If you expect improvements -- what kind of
improvements and would it possible to measure them?

3) With posting date -- there could be more than one posting date. Recruiters
re-post there jobs. The end of date range is not current date, it's the date
when was this job was re-posted last time.

4) When users click on Google Map -- they not necessarily leave PostJobFree.
Usually they just scroll the map.

~~~
perucoder
1\. Both 2\. The suggestions I made would make the site more visually
pleasing, easier for users to find info, more professional appearance. 3\. OK,
I understand why its there now. 4\. Its a judgement call on this one. I'm
saying remove based on my experience.

------
HackyGeeky
Great ! This one is in alpha, but let me know what you think -
www.areafarming.com Thanks again ! Let me know how I can return the favor -
geek . 1701d at gmail

~~~
perucoder
This is a cool app, although the name threw me off. I'm sure you've heard this
before, but I thought your site had something to do with farming in the
literal sense of the word, meaning a farmer growing crops or something like
that. I get the explanation but if you have to exaplin the name, it might be
better to come up with something that just instinctively makes more sense.

The design of the site is a little jarring because somethings are really well
designed, such as the buttons with nice gradient images, but the text of the
button looks like minimal effort was put into it so it doesn't seem to fit.
Thats probably the biggest complaint I have with the site. Imprving the
typography will go a long way in your case.

Is the actual app using frames? I'm getting the dreaded horizontal scroll bar
when I try to demo the app. The help is useful but it needs to be moved so I
can keep it open and be able to change the map. Right now, the help covers the
map when open.

When thinking how to change the layout, try putting yourself in the shoes of
someone who has never used this before. Maybe rather than showing the map
first, you can collect info from the user step by step and then draw the map
from there and allow them to customize further.

~~~
HackyGeeky
Awesome bud, that helped a lot more than you can imagine !!

------
Concours
Thanks for the great offer, beta product stage here, please take a a look at
my site: <http://www.mcsquare.me>

~~~
perucoder
I'd like to see some kind of explanation on the home page about what the site
is or does. First impression when I visit is its just overwhelming. All these
links but I'm not sure exactly what this is. I would probably go back under
normal circumstances.

Also, when you first go to the home page, the first things that stand out are
the google ads and the flickr images. Brings an association of spam or scams,
which is probaby why I felt as described above.

This is basically an aggregrator, right? Tell me how I can save time coming
here or how its better than all the other aggregators out there.

~~~
Concours
Thank you for the great feedback, I'm trying to improve the design and try to
find a way to make the site advantages stand out. Thanks

------
iworkforthem
Hi. I just put up my pre-alpha release - <http://www.tradesalerts.com/> ...
Any feedback welcome.

------
endtime
I'd love to get your thoughts on <http://track.com> \- thanks! Email is rich@
that domain.

~~~
perucoder
On the subscription page, the border of the text fields is very light and
makes it hard to see the text field. Can these be darkened a little?

Also, both FF and Chrome say their is unsecured content on these pages.

I think your site might be a good candidate for gradual engagement. Chech out
this article: <http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1128>

Regarding the above, perhaps the subscription offers could be combined, so I
can just start using the site and get everything for 2 weeks and then once 2
weeks is over, the site changes for me and presents me with subscription form
if I come back. Right now, its hard to judge the quality of content before I
sign up, even if its free for 2 weeks. Its still a barrier and makes me not
want to.

On the about Us page and home page, I'd like to see more about the
contributors. Quality of content on a site like yours is key, so I need to
know more about who is contributing in order to get me to sign up. If you're
just launching with no prior reputation, this is very important. As you get
established and more known, this could probably be de-emphasized.

Think about possible redesigns for home page. Probably a good half of the page
above the fold is taken up by the large Track image and the Track offers.

~~~
endtime
Thanks, that's helpful. I'm surprised FF and Chrome are claiming there's
unsecured content on the https pages. I wonder if it's Google Analytics doing
that...I can't think what else it could be.

Adding a page that lists all our contribs is on my to-do list - definitely
agree that that's lacking. I also agree that the trial needs to be more
explicit, and we should probably upsell with more than just an email when the
trial progresses/ends. The other suggestions you made were helpful as well.

Thanks for taking a look!

~~~
perucoder
I took a quick look but couldn't figure it out either. I have good success
posting stuff to stackoverflow.com when I'm stumped. Maybe you can submit the
URL and somebody over there can help figure it out.

No problem and good luck with your site!

~~~
endtime
Thanks. I just worked it out - I had an nginx rewrite rule that was trying to
get people off https when not at ^/register/ or ^/accounts/subscription/. So
images were requested with an https but then returned over http. I added
^/static/ to the list of requests which can be served over https and it seems
to have fixed the problem. :)

------
oziumjinx
<http://www.kwiclick.com>

My name is vin@ domain name. Thanks in advance!

~~~
perucoder
Very cool! First impression is the site is great. I think you've hit
everything with this site. Unfortunately, I can't use your product because
there is no equivalent chrome extension. Is this on the dev roadmap? if it is,
make mention of it, as I would definitely bookmark this page and come back.

Love the bring a video with you option. Some thoughts on additional features,
can you add a compare to other sites besides Amazon? Perhaps newegg.com for
electronics. just some more choices would be great.

What about send a web page thru gmail? I haven't found a really good extension
for this. Something that sends the whole article rather than just a link and
keeps the formatting.

~~~
oziumjinx
Thanks for the feedback! Chrome extension is in the works, expecting a mid
December release.

Also in the works is an integrated shopping engine to compare across a variety
of e-tailer sites, not just Amazon.

Our "send to friend" feature simply emails your friend a link/video without
actually using your email account. It's like a simple form for your email,
your friends, and a short message.

Thanks again for the ideas. -=Vin

~~~
perucoder
Cool, I've got you bookmarked and I'll be checking back in December. Good luck
with this!

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MyBoxnRama
Please help us with <http://disqourse.com> ! :)

~~~
perucoder
Site and product look very good. You're doing everything you're supposed to be
doing. One question, are you based in the US and where are your clients based?
I noticed a couple times that certain words were used/spelled that are not
common in US english. For example, in the collect customer requests form, you
use surname instead of last name. On the same form, the button is labeled
"send enquiry" instead of "send inquiry"

If you click the pricing link at the top of the page, you go to
<http://disqourse.com/pricing/> but if you click the "Check out the pricing
options. Try our FREE Plan!" link at the bottom of the product tour page, you
go to <http://www.smartupz.com/pricing/>

Sorry I dont have more, but unfortunately, you left me with very little to
criticize :-)

------
kirpekar
<http://autolicio.us> \--> Thanks!

~~~
perucoder
Site looks great. Is there a way that you can combine the sliding copy on the
home page. Its great, but I have to click 3 times to see your guarantee. Its
below in smaller text, but easily overlooked. Always the best price, gimmick
free pricing, and satisfaction guaranteed could be combined as they seem
redundant.

On the get started now page, why does it say to enter 4 or 5 numbers for zip
code. Should be 5 and with no default zero added. It just makes it confusing
as I have to think extra and only enter the last 4 of my zip code when I'm
used to entering all 5 digits.

Model of cars should be alphabetized on step 2

On step 3, can you reverse the order of Google Checkout and PayPal. PayPal is
the most popular option and should come first. I've also read articles about
how Google Checkout doesn't help much and lowers conversions in some cases.
You might want to research this more and possibly get rid of this option.

------
dawie
<http://tabtrick.com>

Much Appreciated :-)

~~~
perucoder
On the take a tour page:

#2 should be for YOUR page layout, not for you page layout

#3 should be customize your images, not customize the your images

On about us page:

Sentence reads as: These tabs can contain anything and can be completely
custom, so what is the catch.

Should be: These tabs can contain anything and can be completely custom, so
what is the catch?

question mark should be at end.

Sentence reads as: Well, you have to learn FHTML and figure out how to get it
onto you Facebook Fan Page. This can be tricky, so we decided to call
oursleves Tab Trick.

Should be: Well, you have to learn FHTML and figure out how to get it onto
your Facebook Fan Page. This can be tricky, so we decided to call ourselves
Tab Trick.

Other than minor spelling mistakes, the site looks good. Very clean and easy
to navigate. One thing I did notice is that it looks like there's 2 "Features"
pages, one at <http://tabtrick.com/take-the-tour> and the other at
<http://tabtrick.com/features>

Can these be combined? I like how the images are bigger on the features page.
You're leaving a ton of white space on the take a tour page, so it should be
reformatted to make the images larger so I dont need to click on every one to
see what it is.

Since the whole thing is based on facebook, why do you have 3 login options?
They need a facebook acct to use your product, so perhaps they can just login
with their facebook login only. Also, should include directions on how to
setup a facebook account. If you can automate that part, then you've basically
done everything for them and made it even easier to use your product.

------
rakkhi
Late alpha feedback would be very useful simplesecurityra.com

~~~
perucoder
On home page, copy above try it now button is misspelled. Should be
prioritizing, not prioritize.

Overall, I would clean up home page as it looks like too much is crammed in
there. A cleaner look would help to focus on the most important things. Some
suggestions: Get rid of the big image of 3 phones and replace with the gallery
of images. The 3 phones really doesnt provide any useful info to me, but the
gallery does. Take the Find out more page, rewrite and condense what you have
there and put it on the home page. Make sure to be more specific about what
problem this solves for me.

Everything below the gallery should be moved to a secondary page. If you have
more testimonials, give them their own page.

The comparison between your product and Archer definitely should be expanded
and on its own page. Include more info if possible about differences,
including screenshots.

Its confusing that About Us link goes to your twitter page. I was expecting a
page with info about your company. Same with Contact Us link, and blog could
be a link of its own.

------
kabuks
Http://bettermeans.com Thanks!

~~~
perucoder
This is very ambitious! Home page video seems a little long. Seemed more like
a tutorial.

You have a ton of content on the home page and how it works page. You might
consider dividing and rewriting this content into more manageable chunks. Give
each one its own page and you can use these pages to drive people to your
site.

Same thing with the videos, convert some of these into an article and post on
the site.

On pricing page, its easy to overlook your free option as its not in the same
format as the other paid options. Free 30 day trial should be more prominent.
Also, highlight what you consider to be the preferred plan. Take a look at the
BaseCamp page for an example. <http://basecamphq.com/signup>

For the UI, because your app is so complex, I'm only able to go over a few
things based on your screenshots. You definitely want to be a/b testing and if
you dont have one, bring on someone who can do some in depth testing of your
UI.

With that said, the dashboard looks too busy. A dashboard should be more about
communicating important info quickly and easily. I wonder if so much stuff on
it is overwhleming to your users.

One idea is to make more use of the lightbox. I like this feature and perhaps
you can take stuff off the dashboard and include in the lightbox.

On the item estimation page, the dice are cute as a visual display of the
credits but really not intuitive. A 2 is 200 credits but then a 3 is 400
credits. Is the image or text something that can be clicked? Maybe just get
rid of the image and make the text look more like a link so I know I can click
it.

On the motion page, I can foresee that some users might want motions to have
anonymous voting. Is this an option?

Is the discussion forum something you created internally or are you using a
3rd party product. If the answer is internal, you may want to consider going
with an outside company for this part. Basic reason being that you're probably
not going to create something better than whats already out there, so why
waste your dev resources? Better to focus on the core parts of your
application. Obviously, this could be wrong if your discussion forum is deeply
tied into your other functionality, but its something to consider. You could
probably post on HN to get some good companies, but I've used
getsatisfaction.com and been very happy with their features.

Same goes for the wiki, doc storage, data security and backup. Decide whether
these are core parts of your app and outsource if they're not. There are a
number of companies building cool apps in these markets.

