

Ask HN: Review my website, please. - brfox
http://www.babynameclusters.com
I built my site a few months and have been tweaking it and trying to get more exposure.  There are some really bad baby name websites out there - and lots of them are in the top 10 search results for "baby names"  I thought I could make something better, and here it is.
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nickh
On the home page, it says "lighter is more popular, darker is less." That's
the inverse of what people expect. I recommend switching it around.

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brfox
That's interesting... I seem to intuitively think that brighter/lighter is
more popular and darker/dimmer is less popular. I wonder what the ratio is
overall of people's perceptions. Upvote this comment if you think lighter is
more popular (the parent comment had a vote of 8 when I posted this comment).

~~~
ErrantX
Why? In all honesty I've _never_ seen it done your way before. Lighter=weaker
impact=less. Darker=stronger impact=more.

:D

Especially as your using red! light red / pink is a very wishy washy colour
and the darker reds draw the eye much more easily.

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tyohn
My two cents: I'd change the design: I'd make the front page more like Google.
(Search box in the middle)

And your site is full of features - like "Browse baby names..." and "We have
amazing maps..." those thing are features - what you need to do is list the
benefits. You should tell the users what value they get. Example: Our coats
have double lining = feature: Our coats keep you warmer = value.

And from a users experience point of view: The site isn't very instructive and
its hard to navigate.

For me I want to use the site to find the least "popular" name - I guess a
user can figure it out by your maps and boxes - But wouldn't it be great to
just type in a name and get a page back with a "name popularity" map? Or if I
need suggestion for names maybe you could do that too via popularity - by
entering a state?

Like I said just my two cents.

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brfox
Thanks for the feedback about features vs value.

When we picked out baby names, the first letter was really important (to name
the kid after an older family member) for browsing names, but I guess some
people want to search for a specific name.

I used to have the tables sortable, so we could re-sort the names based on
least popular. The idea behind the clusters is that if you like a popular
name, but it is too popular, then you can immediately look at its "cluster"
and see all of the related names, then pick the least popular variant.

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brfox
I built my site a few months and have been tweaking it and trying to get more
exposure. There are some really bad baby name websites out there - and lots of
them are in the top 10 search results for "baby names"... grrrr.

I thought I could make something better, and here it is.

At first, my unique angle were these scalable "clusters" of names (based on
word similarity). And, I also had links to wikipedia grouped by name. I also
had very detailed popularity charts over time.

Just recently, I made these US maps which are shaded by popularity for each
state. That is a totally unique feature which is not available at any other
baby name website. They are actually really interesting to explore.

Anyway, what do I do now? I want more visitors and better search ranking. I
have some other ideas for the site itself - like to simplify the multiple page
types ("cluster" page vs. "single name" page) into one page for name details.
And I have a few other ideas with respect to the maps.

I think I am going to re-brand/rename my site to: BabyNamesAcrossAmerica.com
since my main feedback from friends is that my URL is kinds of geeky and hard
to remember. But, there are so many domains with "babyname" already taken.

Thanks for any suggestions.

~~~
okeumeni
Clusters makes it a bit too tech for regular people and a nice interface will
be a plus; you don't want this site to be just for hackers.

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wesley
I agree, get rid of the "clusters" name.

But not only that, the search results page is too complex. What is "rank
(modified)"? What is the "cluster popularity"?

The entire concept of the cluster chart is probably something most parents
aren't interested in.

~~~
brfox
Thanks for the feedback, I have changed the column names. I'm not sure which
chart you are referring to when you say "cluster chart" Are you talking about
the bar chart? If so, then that is just the popularity over time, which each
bar being a decade. Or, are you talking about the flash chary showing all the
indivudal names' popularity?

[http://www.babynameclusters.com/?search=wes&search_gende...](http://www.babynameclusters.com/?search=wes&search_gender=Search+Both&view=search)

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ErrantX
I found the site a little confusing (like the others on here).

Good concept - needs tweaks in the execution :D

Like: \- Needs plain english (no jargon) \- Explain what everything means(I
still dont quite get what the clusters are and how they work).

This page is probably your best! <http://www.babynameclusters.com/map/> nice
and clear and intuitive.

The clusters page really needs a map. The graph can be a little confusing? no?

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rationalbeaver
Looks interesting. Keep in mind that this site is probably your best known
competition when it comes to baby name charting:
<http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager>

I heard about it probably 2 years ago when it first started getting some major
press. Since then I haven't bothered looking for other baby name info sites
(and I actually named a baby 5 months ago, so I speak from experience).

~~~
brfox
Yes, Baby Name Wizard is very popular. I reviewed that site and other on this
blog article:

[http://www.babynameclusters.com/d/review_of_baby_name_websit...](http://www.babynameclusters.com/d/review_of_baby_name_websites)

But, I think those charts are really confusing... I don't know why everyone
likes them so much.

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jbrun
Pretty cool, I think simplifying the layout a bit would be good. Make it easy
to access names by location, time, etc. Also, it would be cool to suggest
other names based on preferences à la Amazon.com.

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nod
Blue links with yellow backgrounds on top of pink and lighter pink rows? With
red graphs and a purplish logo? Get some advice from a professional designer.
:)

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zzzmarcus
It'd be sweet if you had name forecasting--based on trends, what names are due
for a rise in popularity and which names are at their peak.

