

Ask HN: Please review my new website www.favilous.com - sw1205
http://www.favilous.com/

======
Jim_Neath
I'm being shown the line:

"Favilous is supported on all major browsers excluding Internet Explorer 6.
Upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer."

I don't think I need to see this as I'm on Safari.

~~~
middus
Same for me. I'm on Firefox 3.5 (Linux).

~~~
benhoyt
Also on Chrome 4.0 (Windows).

------
alilja
It's a good start, but it feels like it's a bunch of unconnected ideas at this
point. I think you need some better copy, but you also need to refine your
layout.

Overall, it feels too busy. Items are shunted together in a confusing way, and
they don't feel like they related to each other. Look at sites like
<http://www.pixelmator.com/> and <http://feedafever.com/> \-- their sites are
brilliantly executed.

Focus on what you want your site to do: 1\. Explain what you're offering 2\.
Convince people that they need it (especially as opposed to other, similar,
services) 3\. Make it easy to sign up and use

As it stands now, I feel like you have the rough beginnings of this, but it's
not a finished, polished version.

More technically, here's what I recommend. First, you need to snap things down
to a grid. This will make the page flow and FEEL better overall, and allow you
to control how the user views it.

Second, you need to make everything more cohesive. It looks like you have
seven different fonts now (the "favilous" name, "Bookmark Tools," the default
body text, the sign-in button, the rotating text in the main box, the
navigation links, and the "Follow Us" link), and a huge amount of colors. You
should come up with a simple color scheme of maybe three main colors and a few
shades of each, and cut the number of fonts you're using down to one or two.
Yes, one or two -- the Fever page uses just one.

There seems to be a lot of empty space. Not white space, which a good design
needs, but EMPTY space. Your main box looks like it's three times as big as it
needs to be for the content it holds. Fix that, because it distracts the eye
and looks unprofessional.

I would also recommend a color scheme that's black-on-white, instead of white-
on-black you have now. It's much harder to read white text on a black
background, especially for long periods of time, and since you're expecting
people to be reading and browsing, you should probably focus on making it easy
to read.

Finally, there are some instances on your site where you have an extra space
before the punctuation ends. This looks unprofessional, and to grammar-
obsessed reader, it's distracting.

~~~
bennyt
This is great feedback, thanks. I think you are right that the homepage needs
to explain who we are and what we are doing in a better fashion. We need to
show people that we are different to Delicious.

We are aimed at bookmarking rather than some other sites where it seems a bit
of an after thought.

I also think we need to highlight the bookmark tools more as 'favitlater' is a
really bug feature but one that doesn't seemed to have been picked up here.

You are right about the fonts and we will revisit this. With regard to black
on white - once registered a user can select from a range of different
backgrounds (including white ones) and you can also upload your own.

Thanks very much for your feedback. We will discuss it and keep you updated as
to any changes that we make! Much appreciated...as are all these comments!

------
teye
I clicked the link and immediately thought, "How is this any different from
Delicious? Why would I use this?"

Sell me! On the front page, above the fold.

~~~
bd
Exactly. Check how Pinboard differentiates itself against Delicious:

<http://pinboard.in>

------
evlapix
It took me a moment to find the "Sign Up" button/link. I checked in some of
the usual places.. At the top of the page near the "Sign In/Have an account?"
link, the main navigation, and in the actual slide show to no avail. I
eventually found it and felt stupid for not seeing it earlier.

~~~
samdk
This was the first thing I noticed, too. I'd recommend having a 'sign up' link
at the top right where the 'sign in' link is--that's where people expect it to
be, and that's where they'll look for it.

------
tdupree
Congrats, delicious needs more competition in this space. I started working on
something like this with a couple buddies of mine about two years ago with the
read sites later stuff, syncing across browsers, etc. Our project,
favtopia.com, ended up getting put on a semi-permanent hold as we had other
things we needed to work on. I think you guys are on to something really
useful, with a lot of great features other offerings lack. Just keep refining
your landing page (and the rest of your site), making what you do really clear
to your visitors, and I think you guys will do well.

~~~
sw1205
This is great thanks. You are right - we certainly need to make the homepage
clearer in message. It seems to be getting lost at the moment but we are
really pleased you have found the bookmarking tools and find them useful!

------
Vindexus
I'd move the "Take a Tour" link to a more prominent location and make it a
button. It took me a while to find it. The tour was good at showing me what
this was all about though.

~~~
bennyt
Where do you think we should move it to? Would it be more obvious in the main
bar running at the top of the page?

~~~
Vindexus
Sorry for the late reply. Here are two options I made quickly:
<http://imgur.com/F3V5d>

------
zzzmarcus
Guided tour didn't work for me. It loaded but never started playing. I didn't
immediately notice any other way to find out what exactly the site is or does.
Clicking the links in the bottom columns just took me to other sites.

~~~
bitslayer
You have to keep clicking the forward button. I figured it out, but it is
confusing.

------
daok
Positive : I like the guided Tour. It's not a traditional video and it's quite
interesting.

Negative: I found the color a little dark but this might just be me. Nice
website keep the good work.

------
richcollins
Design feedback: That background needs to go. Marketing feedback: Tell me what
I get out of using it, not how it works.

~~~
sgk284
I have to counter that I rather like the design, specifically the background,
but I definitely second the marketing feedback.

------
jparicka
Looks cool but the transparent background wasn't necesary. It's hideous. In my
opinion. All the best.

------
mikewhyley
Looks nice - need to experiment with a delicious alternative - this could be
just what i'm looking for.

~~~
ericclemmons
^ This is my main question with the site as well: what differentiates this
from other bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us?

~~~
sw1205
Hi, we see it as being a simpler more stylish alternative which appeals to
technical and non-technical people alike. We also distinguish between the
sites you might traditionally store in your browser favourites versus the
articles and blog posts you might view and store via delicious. So somewhere
in between the facilities you get with a browser and an application like
delicious. We also provide the facility to bookmark pages for viewing later or
to tweet a link straight from a bookmarklet.

