

Craigslist Redesign? Hiring UI Designer - tilt
http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/22/craigslist-redesign/

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awolf
If they are going to do a complete redesign I wish they would also offer an
API for developers. Currently, all third party apps built around craigslist
are dependent upon parsing the raw HTML of the listing pages. A re-design is
likely to break all of that.

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dredmorbius
That pretty much flies in the face of CL's stated intent. It's for humans,
transacting wth humans, locally. This is addressed in a few different aspects
in the CL TOU: <http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use>

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rguzman
i'm on the minority, but i find that the craigslist UI is pretty good. all the
"flows" work pretty well and are well explained. i hope that doesn't change
and that all they do is make the site easier to read.

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_delirium
I agree, but I think some of that might boil down to different priorities,
rather than design per se. EBay hasn't slowly turned into the rather annoying
mess it is because of incompetent design, but imo mostly because of aggressive
monetization, which hands non-negotiable constraints to their designers.
Craigslist just doesn't care about monetizing beyond their comfortable income
level, so there's less push from management to compromise the design. As a
result, it might be possible for them to create a "Web 2.0" looking site
without pulling in the bad aspects of other sites, because the bad aspects are
due to the aggressive monetization rather than to the Web-2.0-ness.

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hbz
I would think any sufficiently senior UI/design person hasn't touched C/C++ in
a while.

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mminer
Smashing Magazine ran an article in 2009 exploring a Craigslist redesign. The
author focuses on improving aspects like the login process, account
management, nagation, and visual appeal. It's an interesting read from a UX
designer who has considered the usability aspects of the site and suggests
more than style tweaks. While I appreciate Craigslist's uncompromising text-
heavy approach, the ease of use sometimes leaves much to be desired.

[http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-...](http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-
craigslist-with-focus-on-usability/)

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huhtenberg
> _Recognizable, fast-loading, but outdated as hell website_

Wait. What? No webfonts or gradients? No parallax scrolling? NO FACEBOOK LIKE
BUTTONS? Damn that's old.

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ForrestN
Who said they want to add those things? The website hasn't been changed in a
long time, and it does resemble designs more common several years ago.

I think there are lots of ways an update could worsen craig's list, but there
are also a lot of ways an update could make it better.

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huhtenberg
Current design works great, and it is beautiful in its straight-to-the-point,
bs-free nature. The term _redesign_ generally refers to a major overhaul,
including the ux and the visuals. The term is loaded with commitment to
_change_ things, and this is what I am afraid of - a change for the sake of
change.

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bizodo
I think airbnb needs to either raise the money to buy them or merge. If
Craigslist worked like airbnb the world would b a better place.

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jessib
I don't have a big problem with Craigslist's design so the redesign isn't that
important to me. Plus, I've been using ezLooker to browse it and it feels
better already. Don't need all the glitter to make Craigslist cool.

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sohn
Hey that's great. Let's convert it into another shitty 2.0 site where design
matters more than content

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kingmanaz
Exactly. Craigslist, like softpanorama or drudgereport, is refreshing in that
it doesn't attempt to look like a 19th century circus flyer.

If only the web were rendered more like a generic latex article. No rivers,
proper kerning, ligatures, optimal paragraph width, and - in general - respect
for the traditional art of typesetting. Instead, the web looks like a
menagerie of cereal box art.

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reneherse
"19th Century circus flyer". What a great way to summarize some of the kitschy
looks out there, and the first thing to make me laugh out loud all day!

Compelling, tasteful, unique design is incredibly difficult. Some of this has
to do with the tools we have available...

