

Ask HN: please give feedback on Fashionista Pals - yarek
http://www.fashionistapals.com
Please let us know what you thin of this fashion-sharing site.
======
JangoSteve
I like the idea. Conceptually, it reminds me of another site I worked on in
the past, <http://www.weardrobe.com>.

On first glance though, I thought it was a spammy affiliate marketing site for
clothing. If not for the fact that it was posted here on HN, I probably would
not have looked long enough to realize I was wrong.

Does it simply make money through affiliate links to Amazon? Can users only
post articles of clothing that are sold through Amazon?

Also, the hover effect for the images on the homepage makes my cursor a
crosshair. Definitely fix that, I reloaded my page a couple times thinking it
was some sort of browser bug. Then I tried it in a couple other browsers and
realized it's the site itself.

~~~
yarek
The intended way to make money at first is through affiliates program at
Amazon. We did wanted to expand selection to other sites and even for items
freely created by the user. That's in the future, there was enough to do just
getting the Amazon content.

The idea is that as a login user you can create your own outfit. Other users
can suggest better items either in lieu of existing ones or additional ones.
As a set owner you can choose to show the suggested items.

Some of the features are not visible until you log in. I'm thinking that this
should change, and instead make the non-logged user conted ephemeral, with a
reasonable TTL.

Regarding the cross hair cursor, it was intended to make the user think the
area was actionable, but perhaps that is a turnoff. It's hard to add a link to
the set there without making the display more crowded and clutter the display.

~~~
JangoSteve
What's wrong with the pointer cursor to make it obvious the image is a link on
hover?

------
njl
I like the idea, but you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

First and foremost, your design is lacking. I'm not good enough at design to
explain exactly what's wrong, but I can kinda wave my arms and say it needs
more texture, some richness. You need a design partner on this with some
illustration skills, I think. The grey and orangey-pink isn't working for you.
I think for a site like this, you need a bit of richness. A nice picture-frame
for your users, without being too overt... If you can't get somebody with
enough graphic skills to chip in, maybe you need to get starker. Black and
white and one bold accent color, maybe.

Most of the links are broken when I'm not logged in. You need to be super-
friendly to non-logged in users. Talk me into doing some work putting together
some awesome catalog of what I like to wear, so I feel like I'd lose it if I
don't create an account. Maybe you have that already, and the broken links are
keeping me from seeing that.

If those are actual people using the site, and not models, you've got to have
some of your less attractive and model-looking friends provide you the initial
seed ;)

All that said, good luck! I've been pondering how there are possibilities for
some sort of fashion site like this. I was thinking more along the lines of
having people assemble clothes from Amazon and then running daily contests for
best outfit... Buttons to share via facebook and twitter, all that stuff. I
think what you've got here has a lot of potential! Sort of a wardrobe
reddit...

~~~
yarek
Thanks for the feedback. I am sorry that the experience was sub par due to
problems on port 443. Try again.

Your other points are well taken. Design needs polish, and it needs content
from a wider audience of users.

Interesting thought "wordrobe reddit". That's a one sentnce pitch right there.

Any thoughts on the name?

------
woodall
If I use the search then try to click a nav link the page 404s- presumably
because it take me to an https connection when there is none. On top of that,
if I try to go back to the home page it keeps bringing me to the search.

*I see why it does that. After you search/go somewhere you "lock out" the home tab. What you might want to try doing is looking at the URL. if "invite" in url then change the colour. A bit of javascript can clean that up, and if the browser doesn't support it the tabs will just stay grey. No harm, no foul.

Even after I get back you still do not let me go all the way back. I am
literally stuck in the search, and the only way to see the homepage again is
to disable cookies. I like ajaxy stuff as much as the next person, but it's
set up wrong in this case.

If I am not logged in and try to view "my sets" i get a 404-
<http://www.fashionistapals.com/menu/my-sets>. Instead direct the user to an
example set page with the option to join up.

~~~
yarek
The server on port 443 was down, which affected the experience ( broken
links). Try that again if you can.

~~~
woodall
Your up and running! The only issue I see now is your search not letting me
back into the home page.

~~~
yarek
Hack: search for an empty string.

------
nandemo
You need much better design. It has to be beautiful.

I think big pictures right from the start give a better impression, like
<http://www.weardrobe.com> (posted by JangoSteve in this thread) and
<http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/>, and you could probably A/B test that.

I wonder if your team includes people who have worked with fashion before.

